Before using a shared lesson, run a short scope check: match what the lesson teaches against the rows of your own coverage grid. Study the matching parts, note the extras, and mark gaps the lesson does not fill.
This lesson uses the grid from building a coverage grid and the code check from verifying 0653.
What is the four-step scope check?
- Name the target. Pick the grid row you want to improve, for example “explain a limiting factor”.
- Find the lesson’s aims. Read the description, chapter markers or contents page.
- Compare. Does each aim match a learning point in your syllabus, extend one, or sit outside it?
- Decide and record. Use fully, use in part, or skip. Write which parts in your grid’s resource column.
The third step is the important one. “Extends” does not mean harmful, but it means you must know which part is revision and which part is background.
Worked example
A student wants to improve the row “describe how the structure of a leaf is related to photosynthesis”. She finds a twenty-minute video titled “Leaf structure and photosynthesis”.
The chapter markers read:
| Time | Marker |
|---|---|
| 0:00 | Why leaves are flat |
| 3:30 | Layers inside a leaf |
| 8:00 | Gas exchange and stomata |
| 12:30 | Detailed light reactions |
| 17:00 | Summary |
She compares each marker with her grid:
- 0:00 to 3:30 matches her row directly.
- 3:30 to 8:00 matches.
- 8:00 to 12:30 matches a related row she had scored 2.
- 12:30 to 17:00 sits beyond any statement she can find in her syllabus, so she marks it “background”.
Her decision: use the first twelve and a half minutes, skim the rest, and record “video, 0:00 to 12:30” in the resource column. She does not have to be sure the last section is out of scope; she only needs to know she could not find it in her syllabus and will ask her teacher or school if it worries her.
The mistake to watch for
A student decides that a lesson is relevant because its title matches a topic name.
Mistaken thought: “The title says photosynthesis, so the whole video is revision.”
A topic name can cover far more or far less than your syllabus asks. The title does not tell you which parts apply.
The correction is to compare content with learning points, as in step three. This also protects you from the opposite error, skipping a lesson that has good material in its first half.
Self-check
1. What is the first step of the scope check?
Show answer
Name the target: choose the specific row in your coverage grid you want to improve.
2. A lesson has a chapter that you cannot find in your syllabus. What should you do with it?
Show answer
Mark it as background or skip it, record that decision in your grid, and ask your teacher or school if you want confirmation.
3. Why is a matching title not enough?
Show answer
A title names a topic, but your syllabus defines how much of the topic you need. The lesson may go wider or deeper than the learning statements.
What next?
Pure-science material is the common case of scope mismatch, so the next lesson looks at it in detail. For help choosing lessons against your own grid, see Combined Science tuition. Later, the scientific investigation critic supports practical reasoning.