Thoughts on exams and revision from YouTuber Seb Bicen

It’s that time of year again – when the thoughts of countless maths teachers and students across the UK begin to turn to preparing and revising for exams.

We want to offer as much support as we can during this testing period. That includes sharing resources and making connections within the education community.

Seb Bicen is a maths teacher and content creator whose YouTube channel has clocked up nearly 17 million views across more than 1,400 videos. We recently had the chance to speak to him about some of the most popular content on his channel, as well as his thoughts on exam preparation, revision and the most useful applications of the fx-CG50 graphic calculator.

Seb’s top videos

The three most popular videos on the Bicen Maths channel are all from his ‘Everything you Need to Memorise for A-level Maths‘ series. They are broken down into pure maths, statistics and mechanics.

These recordings give an overview of various topics and concepts that help to make up the A-level maths curriculum, including algebraic laws, trigonometry, vector motions, projectiles, normal distributions and hypothesis testing.

Seb told us these videos appeal to students who are looking for a convenient summary of lots of information and want it all in one place.

There’s also another category of videos that have attracted lots of viewers to his channel: longer-form playlists that take a deep dive into a particular topic. Many of these were recorded live in the classroom while Seb was teaching, which is a key part of their appeal.

“When a student watches a playlist that might have ten or 15 videos in, it will take them through a particular topic – maybe it’s differentiation or integration – and it gives them a much more in-depth understanding,” Seb said.

“But what it also does is give them a feeling of what it would’ve been like to be in my classroom, hearing the things I would’ve said, the questions that students would ask me and the questions I would ask them.”

Another big hit is Seb’s Calculator Tips & Tricks video, which is full of useful pointers and examples of functionality on the fx-CG50 and the fx-991 ClassWiz, our most advanced scientific calculator.

Students can watch this video for practical demonstrations of various tasks, including integrating functions, solving equations and performing binomial distribution calculations on the fx-CG50. Exam-style question examples are included at each stage to give some practical context.

Videos as a learning and revision tool

When it comes to revising and students reinforcing their understanding of topics they’re struggling with, Seb said there can be great value in accessing alternative sources of guidance and information.

He pointed out that, depending on how they learn, students might find it difficult to connect with how a challenging concept, problem or solution is presented in the classroom.

“I think there’s huge power in being able to access other lessons and teachers on YouTube, because it can open up fresh and different perspectives on things,” Seb said.

“I would encourage students who are struggling with certain parts of A-level maths to go and seek out alternative explanations – and not necessarily from me – because often just the slightest difference in style or presentation can make something click.”

Watching videos and being part of an online community can also help students feel like they’re not alone in finding maths difficult.

To put this into context, Seb gave the example of livestreams that he’s hosted, which aim to mimic the classroom environment and give him the opportunity to interact with students in the online chat.

“There’s something very powerful about lots of students all going through the same experience,” he added.

“Last year I had 1,500 students on a livestream, all answering the same questions at the same time, and it gives a nice reminder that they’re not doing it alone and they’re part of a bigger community.”

Seb’s exam and revision tips

Seb’s top tip as far as revision and exam preparation are concerned is for students to get lots of practice doing past papers and working under timed, exam-style conditions.

That means switching their phone off, giving themselves time to carefully check their answers and, if they’re using the fx-CG50, knowing how to put the handset into exam mode.

He also noted that the calculator offers enormous potential for students to gain reassurance in exams by checking their work.

“The fx-CG50 has so many powerful features to check your answers, whether we’re talking about integration, about sketching a modulus graph, about finding a tangent to a curve. It can do so many of these things,” Seb said.

“When students finish an integration question, for example, they should be routinely using the calculator to check the numerical answer and compare it to their own answer. If they’re the same, they can give themselves a big tick and move on.”

Discussing the fx-CG50 more generally, Seb said his students tend to be particularly positive about the handset’s large colour display and how that can make it easier to visualise a chain of calculations.

He has also heard lots of positive feedback about the calculator’s Distribution mode, with some students even telling him he should be using it more in his lessons.

What’s coming up on Bicen Maths?

Seb has recently been working on some mid-level content that bridges the gap between his high-level videos and the longer, more in-depth playlists.

These videos – some of which are already live on the channel – summarise specific elements of the A-level maths syllabus, including projectiles, constant acceleration and numerical methods.

They highlight key points to remember and demonstrate the different ways students are likely to be assessed on the topic in their exams, with questions that Seb has created himself. He expects these to prove popular ahead of examinations, when students will be looking to brush up on particular topics.

Seb is also planning to host some more livestreams in the build-up to exam season and is always looking for other ways to develop his content, so students can learn, revise and access good-quality maths teaching from anywhere.

Keep an eye on his channel for updates and new videos that could prove useful for your students in the coming months.