Transition Project: The Jump from KS3 to Ks4

This week, the We At Tenby team is back with a new project called the ‘Transition Project’. This project aims to help Year 9 Tenbians who will go through the transition to Year 10 soon. The We At Tenby team received three key questions from the Year 9 Tenbians in February, and the team have answered them!

Question 1: Is there a significant increase in difficulty in the subject you choose?

Darshana: Personally, there has not been that significant of a change in the difficulty of the subjects I have chosen. But it depends on the subjects you choose. It is not that difficult if you have a KS3 level understanding of the subjects. If you are planning to choose subjects that are new to you, there might be an increase in difficulty. However, it gives you an opportunity to gain new knowledge and increase your skill set.

Angela: I agree with Darshana. If you are studying Math, Sciences and Languages, there is no significant increase in difficulty of the content. It depends on the subjects. You might experience some difficulty when attempting exam style questions. But, this is perfectly normal as the questions and the style of answering is different from KS3. You might find it hard to get used to the question styles for IGCSE. In my case, it was hard to get used to answering exam-style questions for English as the structure of the Language paper was entirely new for me. However, if you practice different papers, it gets easier in Year 11.

Question 2: What will the Year 10 schedule look like?

Darshana: The timetables are slightly different from KS3. There is a specific timetable for each student. Math and English are the only subjects that all the students have at the same period. Others differ by the subject choices and combinations that you have made.

Question 3: Are there free periods for studying?

Angela: In Year 10, there is no free period to study. However, if you have an exam coming up, you can ask your teachers to give a lesson for revision. In Year 11, there are study skills lessons twice a week for you to spend time on revision and other tasks. These lessons are only for students who finished their language/math exams in Year 10. This is helpful because the classroom gives you a perfect learning environment to focus on your study with no distractions.

Thank you for reading this article! The We At Tenby team wishes the best of luck to all the Year 9 students who are moving up to Year 10 soon. If you have any further questions, do not hesitate to ask them in the comment section. To all Year 10 and 11 Tenbians, please feel free to give your advice to the Year 9 Tenbians in the comment section as well.