Contributor Spotlight: Adele Norton

This term we're shining a light on Adele Norton, who teaches a variety of subjects across the mathematics and science domains for Years 7–12 students. Adele has worked with Neap on many publications, including our VCE Biology, Chemistry, Mathematical Methods and Specialist Mathematics Trial Exams and Diagnostic Topic Tests. 

We sat down with Adele to learn about how she prepares students for end-of-year exams and her tips for creating and using assessment resources in the classroom. 

Can you tell us a bit about your teaching experience?

I have taught in a variety of different educational settings in Victoria, including government and independent schools and co-educational and single-sex schools. I’ve held the role of Head of Department for Mathematics and Science and have also worked for the Victorian Curriculum Assessment Authority (VCAA) as an assessor for VCE Chemistry Units 3&4 and contributed to their Digital Assessment Library. 

What tips do you have for creating assessment materials? 

Creating assessment materials for a publisher is quite different from creating assessment materials for an individual school, but in both contexts, a thorough knowledge and understanding of the curriculum is fundamental.

My first tip is to know the curriculum extremely well and use it to develop assessments. I like to have a hard copy of the curriculum beside me and a copy of the most recent official examinations, if they are available. Next, I break down the assessment requirements, noting the number of multiple-choice, short-answer and extended-response questions, and the total number of marks allocated for each section. 

I then consider the relative length and weighting of each curriculum topic and estimate how many marks should be allocated to each topic and question type. This helps ensure fair and balanced coverage of the curriculum throughout the examination.

From there, I prefer to construct the extended-response questions first. This enables me to develop questions worth approximately 8–17 marks that integrate a range of topics and sub-topics from the curriculum. I particularly like to begin with the highest-mark question, as this provides an opportunity to develop a strong scenario-based question that incorporates elements such as a graph, data and a number of related sub-components. Once the extended-response questions are complete, I move to the short-answer questions and then the multiple-choice questions.

Throughout this process, I maintain a tally of the marks allocated to each curriculum dot point. This provides an immediate overview of which areas have been adequately assessed and which may require greater representation. Leaving the multiple-choice questions last ensures that any remaining curriculum areas can be incorporated appropriately in meaningful, scenario-based questions. The multiple-choice section often requires the greatest amount of time to construct effectively as it requires a clear understanding of common student misconceptions and errors to develop plausible distractors. 

What tips do you have for using assessment materials in the classroom? 

I initially encourage students to study and consolidate their learning by topic and then to complete some key topic tests or diagnostic topic tests with an open book. With a wide range of assessment materials available to students, it is important that they do not simply rely on their teacher to mark an assessment and provide a percentage result. Students need to take an active role in their examination preparation by analysing mark schemes and understanding why they did not receive full marks – or any marks – for particular questions or topics.

Once students have practised these skills, they are ready to complete a practice examination under authentic examination conditions, including the same time allocations as their final examination. This provides valuable experience in managing time, interpreting questions and maintaining focus under examination conditions. Teachers and students should maintain a record of practice exam results to identify patterns in student errors and inform future revision.

What tips do you have for preparing students for end-of-year examinations?

My most important advice is to focus on the quality of students' preparation rather than the quantity of practice examinations they complete.

The most valuable part of examination preparation is the reflection that occurs after a practice exam. As previously mentioned, students need to compare their responses carefully with marking schemes and understand exactly where and why they gained or lost marks.

Although this process takes time, I strongly encourage students to print a diagnostic topic test or practice exam, complete the task, and then physically annotate the questions and solutions using a marking scheme. This allows them to objectively evaluate whether they have actually answered questions as required, rather than simply thinking about or verbally discussing what they could have written.

Ultimately, examination preparation is not about how many trial papers a student completes. It is about how effectively they analyse their responses, identify areas for improvement and apply what they have learnt to subsequent questions. I also use the analogy that if a student was preparing to perform on stage, they would practise on the stage itself and rehearse under conditions that closely replicate the real event. The same principle applies to examination preparation.

In addition, for science and maths subjects, students should practise graphing skills under timed conditions. They need to develop the ability to accurately include all required components of a graph while working efficiently, so that it becomes an automatic recall skill rather than something that requires significant thought during an examination. 

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