Best wishes with June examinations

Tomorrow, 1 June, the Free State's learners start with their physical and technical sciences June examinations. Best wishes to all our learners. Do your utmost best to achieve the best possible marks.

September Exam Timetable for Grade 12

The September examination dates for grade 12 are available. Please note that technical sciences in grade 12 write on the same dates as physical sciences in grade 12. 

Click here to go the calendar with other assessment dates.
Click here to access the official circular with dates for other subjects as well.

June dates for examinations and IBP memo discussions.

All the dates are available, including IBP memo discussions.

• Please make timeous arrangements with your principals to attend the IBP memo discussions.  
• To see the dates, click the item that refers to "Dates..." under "Pages". You can choose how you want the calendar to display the information for you; month, week, agenda, etc.

Please note:

• Technical sciences write on the same dates as physical sciences in grades 10 and 11. In the case of grade 12, technical sciences write on the same date as physical sciences paper 1.
• The fine detail about the duration for practical papers/experiments are not given in the circular, but it is given in the above-mentioned calendar, which is in line with the Free State Assessment Guidelines, Appendix B6. Please stay with these times.

Memo discussion for technical sciences grade 12: A face-to-face memo discussion will be held during the week of 18-22 June when the CAPS training takes place. Teachers should take along their learners' scripts for this purpose.

2018 Eskom Expo for Young Scientists in Welkom

The organisers of the 2018 Eskom Expo for Young Scientists in Welkom are ready to receive your registrations.

The Expo is scheduled for 24 and 25 August 2018 at the Welkom Campus of the Central University of Technology. Closing date for taking part is 3 August 2018.

Click here to find all the detail. The following image shows the names of the files you need:

Take note that this is the information for the main regional competition for grades 7 to 12. For the grade 1 to 3 and grade 4 to 6 Expos, there are other letters/forms/entry sheets. If you need them, just contact the organisers.

Career opportunities as Secunda

Career opportunities as Secunda; I have received the following pictures from a colleague.

School holiday December 2018/January 2019

Schools will close this year on 12 December (Learners) and 14 December (Teachers) and will re-open DV in 2019 on 7 January (Teachers) and 9 January (Learners). Click here for a circular about the summer holiday, related dates and the closing of schools in the first week of December in future.

2018 Free State Science Olympiad for Grade 10

Very exciting!

This is the first announcement of the arrangements for the 2018 Physical Science Olympiad and Quiz for Grade 10. Click here to download the official circular (LTA 7 of 2018) in which the dates and preliminary arrangements are given. 

Please note the following

• All quintile schools will be allowed to go through to round four. See details in the circular, especially for rounds three and four. 
• It is compulsory for all schools to enrol at least 50% of the Physical Science learners in grade 10 for round one of the Olympiad. However, we want to expose as many as possible learners to this opportunity and the more you enrol in addition to your 50%, the better. 
• A school can only continue to round two and further if learners have participated in round one. 
• A master copy of the question paper for round one will be provided to schools and duplication of the question paper must be done at school. 

We see forward to this exciting event for our grade 10 learners. Let them take part and help them with their preparations; this is an important aspect in the strive to improve the success of our Free State learners in physical sciences.

More information will follow! Prepare in the meantime!

Best wishes!!

Technical Sciences: Examination Guidelines and Exemplar Papers for Grade 12

Towards the end of March, the NDBE has released these documents for grade 12 technical sciences. They are available on the NDBE website, but for your convenience, they are also available on this website.

For examination guidelines, click here.
For exemplar papers, click here. The papers are saved in the sub-folder called National Exemplars.

Memo PhySci Grade 12 March Control Test

Question 5.3
The question is invalid and will be excluded from marking. The frictional force cannot stay 20 N when F is removed. Apologies! Total of Q5 will become 11 and the four marks will be distributed as follows:

Q3.6: The last criteria of the graph (B above/below A) becomes a package of two marks; award 2 or 0. Total of Q3.6=6

Q4.1: Three marks for the law as follows:
When a resultant/net force acts on an object, the object will accelerate in the direction of the force (tick) at an acceleration directly proportional to the force (tick) and inversely proportional to the mass of the object. (tick)
OR
The resultant/net force acting on an object is equal to the rate (tick) of change of momentum of the object (tick) in the direction of the resultant/net force (tick).
Total of Q4.1=3

Q4.4: The relationship between a and m becomes 2 or 0. Total of Q4.4=2

Q6.2.2: The name counts three marks as follows:
Identify hexane (tick)
Identify the fluoro and dimethyl (tick)
Correct numbers(positions) and sequence. (tick)
Total of Q6.2.2=3

Memo PhySci Grade 10 March Practical Task

Questions 1.4 and 1.5
Apply positive marking from the graph to questions 1.4 and 1.5. Penalise learners as prescribed for mistakes in drawing the graph, but if their answers, based on their graphs, are correct for 1.4 and 1.5 they can be rewarded. 

Memo PhySci Grade 11 March Control Test

Question 3.3
Changes in the penalties as follows:

Question 7.1.5
The mark can be awarded if a learner says "covalent"; the "polar" is optional.

Questions 1.9 and 3.7
Apologies for the following corrections; marks will be moved to different questions so that it is not necessary to convert totals.

Question 1.9
Bonding angles are not clearly prescribed in the curriculum (sad!). Hence, cancel question 1.9 (two marks). 
*   One of the marks goes to Q7.1.3.
*   The other mark goes to Q7.1.6.
*   New total for Q1 = 18.
*   New total for Q7 = 18.

Question 3.7
Some of the information that should have been in the question went missing. Hence, cancel question 3.7 (two marks). 
*   One of the marks goes to Q2.3 (see red tick below).
*   The other mark goes to Q2.4 (see red tick below).
*   New total for Q3 = 15
*   New total for Q2 = 14

Memo PhySci Grade 11 March Practical Task

Question 1.5

The mathematical relationship was asked with "acceleration directly proportional to net force" in mind. However, the inverse of mass is represented by die gradient. I believe there is a difference between the two concepts, but accept it if a learner gives an answer referring to the "inverse of mass" in words or correct symbols.

A great scientist has passed away

Prof. Steven Hawking has passed away at the age of 76 in his home in Cambridge.

(C): https://edition.cnn.com/2018/03/14/health/stephen-hawking-dead/index.html

It is proper that this website and its readers pay tribute to this extraordinary man! The media will be full of his life. Take the time to read about him!

Applications for Free State provincial SBA moderation 2018

Applications are invited from persons who are interested in doing provincial SBA moderation (grades 10 to 12) in May 2018. Information and application forms are available here. 

Please note that the dates are also available and teachers should keep themselves ready for this if they are selected for moderation.

Formal assessment dates for 2018

Final dates for the first term's control tests and practical tasks/experiments were agreed upon at a recent meeting in Bloemfontein. Provincial common papers will DV be available for these dates. Look under "Pages" for the link that will take you to the dates or click here.

PAT for Technical Sciences: Grade 12 for 2018

DBE has released the grade 12 PATs for technical sciences. Please note this PAT is for 2018.

Click here to download the Afrikaans version (Not available anymore).
Click here to download the English version (Not available anymore).

Technical Sciences Grade 12 Examination in June

Please note that this examination will DV take place on the same day as physical sciences grade 12 P1, i.e. 15 June. We want technical sciences teachers to have scripts to take along to the training scheduled for 18 June and further, during which period the memo discussion and moderation will also take place.

All the dates for terms one and two are available for the Free State. Look under "Pages" for the link that will take you to the dates for formal assessment tasks or click here.

Question papers of 2017

All the question papers that were used in the Free State in 2017 are now available. Go to the "Pages" link on this website and click on "Question papers". That will take you to a page with another link from where you can download the question papers and memoranda.

The process to upload some of the 2015 and 2016 papers are still in progress.

Examination dates: NSC 2018

(C) https://pixabay.com/p-308611

Are you looking for the dates of the NSC supplementary examination in February/March or the final examination in October/November 2018? Click here.

Free State Asssessment Guidelines 2018

The 2018 edition of the Free State Assessment Guidelines are available. Click here to go to the page from where you can download your e-version.