The time has come for the 2023 matric exams with a million young people now preparing to write for their futures across South Africa for the rest of November and the beginning of December. Like the prelims before these, studying for the year-end exams is a time-consuming process, one which demands significant effort and a lot of discipline.
It also means tedious preparation, and with the time of young people more limited than ever, we have put together a series of free resources that can be found online that can help during your studies and hopefully save you some time.
These include sites where you can find past papers, video tutorials, extra study material, memorandums, information on the exams themselves and even opportunities for after the exams.
Here are five great websites where you can find resources to help with prep for your matric exams in 2023:
The government of the Western Cape launched a unique website to aid learners in the province in preparing for this year’s final examinations. However, the material therein is free and available to anyone.
There is a host of options for matrics to take advantage of here, including past papers, study guides, exam memorandums and even video lessons tailored to grade 12s.
It’s a great aggregator of content, and there are even tips and tricks to maximise your studying potential and advice from successful matrics in the past. It even has a chatbot to help you find resources even faster.
Another vital online resource for matrics is the official website of the Department of Basic Education (DBE). Behind the latest news from the department and information on schools and learners that don’t necessarily affect exam writing, the DBE website contains quite a few helpful portals.
This includes a location to find official past papers and memorandums up to 2020, a downloadable digital exam timetable for the final exams in PDF, more information about the matric exams, including what the minimum pass requirements are and what to do if you were to fail.
Finally, the DBE website will also host the final marks of the exams which are usually published at beginning of the new year.
The final government-run site on this list is Woza Matrics, established by the DBE with the explicit purpose of helping matric learners study for their final exams, it has since received few updates into 2023.
You will find the WhatsApp Line and the “Velle” platform don’t work too well according to our latest attempts to reach the “subject specialists” that the site promises.
However, the DBE Cloud is still available, which is a large repository of information, not just for matrics but for all grades, even into the foundation phase. On the cloud, you can find memorandums, past papers and more for every subject offered for the National Senior Certificate (NSC) curriculum.
There is also a link to the Woza Matric YouTube page, which contains playlists of recorded lessons for Grade 12 subjects which detail the basics of several subjects throughout the year. This is helpful for spot assistance on specific problem subjects, like mathematics, because you can rewind and follow along at your leisure.
The Matric College is an institution that helps adults in efforts to attain their matric certificates and aids former matrics who may not have passed the final exams in trying again.
Its website has a host of information about the processes of the final exams for the year, including timetables for both NSC and IEB examinations in 2023.
Further, the college offers information on what to do after matric, whether or not you want to continue into tertiary or you want to engage in other short course studies.
The college also offers catch-up courses for matrics who are preparing for next year’s matric exam rewrites – the Second Chance Matric programme. This is for learners who did not pass or those who want better marks. The Matric College can help you prepare.
You have studied so much you simply cannot fit another page into your engorged brain, you are finally ready for the exams and you are now thinking about the future.
Yes, there is life after matric and most will be looking towards university. Bursaries.co.za is the place to find opportunities to fund your studies for next year. The website collects the latest bursary offers from a number of organisations, both private and public.
These bursaries are organised according to the field of study, for example, the KwaZulu-Natal (KZN) Department of Health is offering bursaries in the medical field – these bursaries are specific for KZN residents interested in studying medicine.
Through a nifty search feature, you can explore what bursary opportunities are available, and even apply directly on the site.
Hypertext will have more coverage on the 2023 matric exams, including further resources and information on when the results will be released and other important topics. We hope these few resources listed above will provide a good start. Good luck!
[Image – Photo by Tamara Gak on Unsplash]
