This set covers the five skills of revision and transition decisions: sharing hours by gap, checking a resource, rechecking codes and years, asking an institution, and building a trial agenda. All data are invented for practice, and no real syllabus facts are stated. For anything current, use the Cambridge page for 0654.
Work the questions on paper first, then open each answer. Questions are ordered from easier to harder. Log any error you make in the mistake log and retest queue and the scientific investigation critic is useful for experiment-style questions.
Questions
1. A student has 42 revision hours. Marks lost: Biology 6, Chemistry 12, Physics 24. Allocate the hours in proportion to the gaps.
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Total gap = 6 + 12 + 24 = 42. Biology 6/42 × 42 = 6 hours. Chemistry 12/42 × 42 = 12 hours. Physics 24/42 × 42 = 24 hours. Check: 6 + 12 + 24 = 42.
2. There are 24 hours and the marks lost are 5, 10 and 5 for Biology, Chemistry and Physics. Allocate the hours.
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Total = 20. Biology 5/20 × 24 = 6. Chemistry 10/20 × 24 = 12. Physics 5/20 × 24 = 6. Check: 6 + 12 + 6 = 24.
3. There are 20 hours. Marks lost: Biology 9, Chemistry 6, Physics 10. Allocate to one decimal place.
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Total = 25. Biology 9/25 × 20 = 7.2. Chemistry 6/25 × 20 = 4.8. Physics 10/25 × 20 = 8.0. Check: 7.2 + 4.8 + 8.0 = 20.0.
4. A syllabus contents list has 45 topic lines. A revision book covers 36 of them. What percentage is covered and how many topics are missing?
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36/45 = 0.8, so 80% covered. Missing = 45 − 36 = 9 topics.
5. A book has 60 chapters and 15 are outside the syllabus list. How many chapters are in scope, and what percentage of the book is out of scope?
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In scope = 60 − 15 = 45 chapters. Out of scope = 15/60 = 0.25, so 25%.
6. A student is 40 weeks from the exam and rechecks the syllabus page every 8 weeks, starting at week 0. List the checkpoints and say how many there are.
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Weeks 0, 8, 16, 24, 32 and 40. Check: 40 ÷ 8 = 5 intervals, so 6 checkpoints.
7. A student prepares 16 questions for a college. 12 are answered by the published admissions page. How many remain and what percentage is answered?
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Remaining = 16 − 12 = 4. Answered = 12/16 = 0.75, so 75%.
8. A one-hour trial agenda has 8 minutes of diagnosis, 27 of teaching and 20 of application. How many minutes are left for a plan, and is that enough to include one?
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8 + 27 + 20 = 55. Remaining = 60 − 55 = 5 minutes. That is enough for a short written plan for the next week.
9. A friend says a Combined Science revision book “covers everything” for Co-ordinated Sciences 0654. What should you do, and why?
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Compare the book’s contents list with the current 0654 syllabus for your exam year. The two qualifications are different, so scope and integrated assessment may not match. Tick covered topics, mark extras, and find another source for any gaps.
10. A student wants to know whether a Co-ordinated Sciences result will be accepted for a course at a particular college. Who answers this, and what should the student ask for?
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The college decides its own entry requirements, so the student asks the college directly. Ask which routes and grades are accepted for the course, which results and series are considered, and the deadline. Ask for the answer in writing and note the date.
If you got these wrong
- Wrong totals or wrong hours in questions 1 to 3: return to allocating time using actual gaps. Check that your final hours add up to the total available.
- Percentage or counting errors in questions 4 and 5: return to comparing a resource to the correct current syllabus.
- Checkpoint counting in question 6: remember that checkpoints are intervals plus one, because week 0 counts. See why a future code or year needs another check.
- Missing the source of an answer in questions 9 and 10: go back to discussing progression with the actual institution.
- Agenda totals in question 8: revisit preparing a focused trial agenda.
If the same error keeps coming back, it is worth looking at it with a teacher in online one-to-one Co-ordinated Sciences tuition.