YOUTUBE BOOST IN FINALS COUNTDOWN

Clips by top teachers give matrics tips on tricky subjects in the run-up to exams

WITH only 40 days until the National Senior Certificate (NSC) exams, the province’s matric candidates will be able to use a new support website to help them prepare for their finals.

The Matric Support site, launched yesterday, can be accessed through the Western Cape Education Department’s website at wced.school.za.

It provides a link to more than 180 revision YouTube videos in maths, physical science and geography, Education MEC Donald Grant said yesterday.

The videos are edited recordings from the department’s and Stellenbosch University’s telematics programme, which broadcasts lessons via satellite to a number of schools in the province.

“The videos include discussions on previous NSC papers, and presentations on topics that candidates often struggle with,” Grant said.

The lessons were presented by some of the top teachers in their respective subjects.

Candidates could also use Matric Support to access the Tips for Success book to learn time management and how to prepare for the exams, as well as study guidelines and other information.

The site also had answers to 57 frequently asked questions on results, supplementary exams, remarking, certification, information for immigrants and teacher enquiries.

“We encourage all our learners to visit the website. Candidates will soon receive their September results so this is the perfect opportunity to access videos or examination papers in areas in which they are struggling.”

Asked how matric candidates were meant to access the content, Grant said: “Most of our schools are connected (to the internet) so the real issue is how do they connect after school hours at home. That’s why we’ve gone the YouTube route because most of the children have cellphones.”

Department spokesman Paddy Attwell said the Western Cape “is moving rapidly towards rolling out broadband and that will be towards the end of next year”.

“So certainly we are gearing ourselves up for making the most of broadband, which will be accessible in our poorer areas.”

He said the lessons, which could be more than an hour long, were cut into logical slices and placed on YouTube.

This meant candidates could go directly to the topic they wanted and could also save on data costs by not having to watch the full video.

This year, 48 768 full-time and 10 826 part-time candidates registered for the NSC exams, which start on October 28.