NewBridge Graduate Institute Exam Prep Workshops 2025
This October, NewBridge Graduate Institute (NGI) hosted its annual Exam Prep Workshops for 2025. Sessions were hosted interactively via Zoom between the 4th and 21th of October, delivering in-depth 3-hour, revision sessions to hundreds of matric learners across the country preparing to take on their final exams.
This packed line up of preparation workshops focusing on IEB and NSC subjects consisted of: Mathematics (including Maths Literacy), Physical Sciences, Life Sciences, English Home Language and First Additional Language and Afrikaans. Each workshop was facilitated by senior high-school subject specialists and experienced exam-room teachers from partner schools across the province, giving learners the combination of critical syllabus breakdowns and explanations as well as exam strategy tools needed to convert studied knowledge into top marks.
“It is a privilege working with young people at high school and at tertiary level. The NGI exam prep workshops provided a wonderful opportunity to have a positive impact on our future leader’s preparation and confidence going into their all-important final matric exams. The team at NGI are looking forward to running more of these initiatives in 2026.” Said Cheryl Baxter, Reginal Principal of NGI Kwa- Zulu Natal.
The NGI Exam Prep Workshops are designed to be interactive by encouraging student, teacher collaboration. Students had the opportunity to ask live questions in the chat, they worked through past-paper problems with teachers in real time, and received practical “hints and hacks”, time management strategies, detailed checklists of what to look out for, and how particular questions are marked and what the marking allocations consisted of. Feedback from participants described the sessions as practical, motivating and instilled a greater sense of confidence in them for the final exams; many students left with concrete revision plans and a clearer idea of which topics to prioritise in the weeks leading up to the exams.
The core message these sessions aimed to instil in grade 12 learners was that “passing” is not the goal of attending the Exam Prep Workshops, but rather “excelling”. Nationally the Class of 2024 achieved an historic overall NSC pass rate of 87.3%, and half (47.8%) of learners qualified for admission to bachelor’s-degree studies, a marked increase in access to degree programmes year-on-year. Achieving a bachelor’s degree pass (and a competitive Admissions Point Score, or APS) is often the gateway to the university and course of choice many degrees set APS or subject-level minimums that exceed the basic NSC pass requirements.
Maths and Physical Sciences remain “gateway” subjects for many, engineering and health-science pathways; in 2024 the national pass rates for these critical subjects showed notable improvement, underlining both the demand for support in these areas and the value of targeted intervention. For learners choosing between career routes, improvements in subject marks can meaningfully affect eligibility for entrance into specific university programmes, which is why NGI’s focus is on equipping students to excel. Better marks expand options and reduce the need to re-apply or take bridging courses later.
These special workshops equipped grade 12 learners with practical study techniques and expert insight, forming a roadmap for the final revision weeks. As these revision sessions were presented online, learners from outlying areas could join without travel barriers, this format enabled the sessions to be recorded shared in condensed recap clips for later revision. Early feedback and teacher reports suggest improved confidence and sharper focus going into the final exams.
NGI would like to wish all our Matrics around the country the best of luck for the final examinations and we hope you enjoyed the NGI Exam Prep workshop for 2025. We look forward to seeing you apply the knowledge you have learned and put into practice to not only pass your final grade 12 examinations but to excel and get into the career field you have always dreamed of.