IHETC School
Starting upper secondary — proving rather than applying
The instruction stops being « apply » and becomes « prove ». The answer alone is now worth a fraction of the marks, the rest goes to the written reasoning. Many pupils solid until then see their marks move at this transition: it is a change of contract, and it can be explained in one session.
What changes at this transition
The instruction stops being « apply » and becomes « prove ». The answer alone is now worth a fraction of the marks, the rest goes to the written reasoning. Many pupils solid until then see their marks move at this transition: it is a change of contract, and it can be explained in one session.
- The reasoning appears on the page, step by step
- A justification precedes the answer, unprompted
- Revision is done by active recall, not rereading
- Units and orders of magnitude are checked as a matter of course
- One method per subject is identified and applied
They get the answer and collect half the marks
The pupil can do it, and hands in a paper where the intermediate steps stayed in their head. The examiner marks what is written: the grade falls while the level has not moved. The tutor requires the justification to be written before accepting the answer, and works on marked papers to make the scheme visible. Revising without knowing the mark scheme is training without knowing what you are judged on — and that point is corrected within weeks.
What the tutor works on first
- 01
Write before concluding
The justification is written first, the answer second. The reverse order costs marks on every paper.
- 02
Read the mark scheme
With marked papers in hand, the pupil sees where the marks go. Revision stops being guesswork.
- 03
Revise by recall
Ask the question and attempt the answer without looking. For equal time, the gap with rereading is considerable.
- 04
Separate the two difficulties
In physics the phenomenon is checked without calculation, then the mathematical tool is handled separately. Conflating them loses a pupil.
Subjects covered at this stage
All are included in the same subscription: a pupil moving from a maths difficulty to a reading difficulty changes subject without changing plan. The cycle governs, never an add-on option.
- subjects in upper secondary
- 4
- subjects from primary to upper secondary
- 13
- stages to validate one concept
- 4
- Mathematics
- Physics and chemistry
- Natural sciences
- French and philosophy
Parents' questions
Should we revisit the secondary basics?
On three or four ideas, almost always: algebra, proportion, reading a graph. The diagnosis names them one by one, and the catch-up takes a few sessions. Redoing the entire earlier syllabus consumes the time the current one needs.
My child has good marks and feels lost.
It is the most useful signal of this year, and it precedes any movement in marks by months. It usually means the contract changed without being made explicit. One session is enough to name it, and the work then targets writing out reasoning rather than adding content.