Happy Holidays!

It’s tempting to think that happiness comes from not being in school over the Christmas break but I want you to think further ahead than the next two weeks. I want you to think about next summer and how happy you will be with a good grade in your GCSE Physics examination!

Thinking ahead is a key skill – and it’s one that young children don’t have. You, however, are young adults and I expect you to focus on the prize and go for two chocolates in the summer instead of one now! What am I talking about? I’m referring to the famous Marshmallow experiment conducted by a team led by Walter Mischel at Stanford University, starting in 1970 and continuing to this day. In short, the tests generally show that young people who can exercise delayed gratification (waiting for something good instead of grabbing the goodies straight away) tend to be more successful in life. There are several short videos about the experiment on YouTube, such as this one.

So I’m asking you to think ahead and work actively towards a successful outcome in the summer. One way to do that is to continue revising. The best revision, of course, comes from answering questions. Thanks to the generosity of CGP (the company that publishes your revision guide) there is an online 10 Minute Test you can take as part of your revision. You haven’t done all the content for the course yet so please don’t expect to get full marks. In fact, if you do get full marks then you will beat me as I only got 48/50 (see below).

My mistakes? Both due to not reading the question carefully and trying to race against the clock! That’s why I’m always telling you to read the question carefully and take your time… these are not just a throw-away comments: they are things that really can make a difference when it comes to getting every last mark!

You can find a variety of tests on the CGP website but, if you prefer, you can click here to go directly to the GCSE Physics test. Be warned, however, that if you use the direct link the clock will start counting down as soon as the link loads, so make sure you’re ready.

Please screen-grab your results and send them to me. The fact that you’ve done this revision will be the best Christmas present you could send me.

Happy Holidays!