Learning from Exam Papers

If I told you you were going to be involved in a boxing competition on Friday what would you do? My students have so far told me:

• Learn how to box
• go to the gym
• run off
• read up on boxing

Not one of them asked me “what do I have to do?”

And in the above example, I forgot to tell them they would be the ticket person on the door! So they may have done all that preparation for no purpose whatsoever, as they failed to find out what was expected of them.

See the analogy to exam prep here?

The modern A-level student seems obsessed with “learning everything” and then “doing” questions in the hope that what they learned comes up. I think it’s more to do with procrastination and putting off the inevitable.

The bottom line is this. The past papers represent a window into your own boards expectations of you. I don’t mean that you can predict questions etc..that’s plain stupid, but you can easily see the followig patterns and getting familiar with the papers helps you …

• get used to the ways in which the board ask questions
• get familiar with the style and wording to minimise missunderstanding of what they are getting at
• find out which bits of the syllabus are commonly used and which aren’t
• practice with the specific types of caclulation, mechanism and see what the mark points are from their schemes etc
• get use their own mark schemes to improve and develop wording of answers (no more “I lnow what I want to say but I don’t know how to say it!”)
• desensitise you to tfeel of the paper to reduce anxiety of the day
• develop your ability to concentrate for the duration of the exam period
• help you develop strategies eg section B first … a certain type of question because you like it … a certain type of question because you hate it … etc
• prevent you from learning a pile of stuff you don’t need on the day

Simply put, by looking at papers early in your preparation will guide you to focussing your efforts where they are needed … and that means a higher return in the exam.

If you find yourself asking “what if they ask something else?” then ask yourself this … if you knew a certain driving examiner nearly always did a reverse aroundthe corner at  the jinction of High Street and Low Street, where would you practice your reverse around the corner? Everywhere other than that?

The first rule of combat is KNOW THE ENEMY, know their strengths and weaknesses and in the case of exam boards, these are all out on display in the past papers.

It’s never too early to start so prepare wisely and good luck!