I keep running out of time in exams, how can I avoid this?

Most GCSE papers are split between a number of short answer questions worth a few marks and then one or two longer 'essay-style' questions which are worth considerably more. The key thing to focus on is ensuring that you have a depth of knowledge that makes you feel comfortable when answering the earlier questions quickly so that you don't spend too long thinking about what the answer might be. Concision is also key- aim to write a sentence or two per mark for the shorter questions so that you aren't writing long paragraphs for a 4 mark question as you can easily get all of the marks using few words, since there are certain key ideas that the examiner is looking for. The AQA GCSE exam gives 1hr45 mins for 3 topics, so aim to limit yourself to an absolute maximum of 35 minutes on each, and try not to exceed this time as otherwise you will limit how much you can do for the later questions! Staying calm and avoiding waffling about narrative is important- stick to discussing ideas and aim to tick the boxes of the mark scheme rather than write everything you know about the topic.