Student Blog

Top 10 Ways to Make the Most of your Mocks

With the relaxation and over indulgence of the Christmas holidays, it can be tempting to ignore the prospect of January mock exams, as phrases such as ‘it’s okay they don’t count’ ‘and ‘I’ll just wing it’ start flying around. As inviting as this kind of blissful denial may seem, it’s worth it to make the effort to get the very most out of your mocks. See them as a blessing rather than a curse…a chance to make the mistakes before they really matter.  Here are ten top tips towards making your mocks count…

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Revise

There’s a popular opinion that it’s a good idea to see how you do on the mocks without studying, so that you can confidently know that, with revision, you’ll do much better when it comes to the real thing. However, it really is better to study for the mocks. The results will give you a much more accurate idea of how you’d perform in a real exam, and it’s worth getting used to revision and the ways that you study best.

Evaluate your revision

Reflect on how you studied and make plans accordingly for when it comes to studying for the real exams. Perhaps you didn’t organise your time so as to cover all topics, or perhaps you studied too much (yes, it’s possible!). Maybe you tried to learn too much by memory when the real trick is to learn how to adapt spontaneously to different questions. Whatever it is, work on it!

Time it right

Do past papers beforehand so you know roughly how long to spend on each question. It’s often timing that causes students to lose marks, so be strict with it early on- it’ll help you learn how to put your best points across whilst working against the clock.

Get to know the questions

Find out what sort of questions will be asked so you know what to expect and how to prepare- for example, are full essays required, are they very specific or very broad, do you need examples and case studies?

Learn what they’re actually asking

Find out what is meant and required by words such as ‘examine’ ‘describe’ ‘assess’ ‘evaluate’ ‘discuss’ etc. Don’t worry if you don’t quite grasp it in the mocks- it’s a chance to note the kind of things that are likely to come up and learn exactly how to answer them.

Study the feedback

Let’s be honest, reading through pages of red pen annotations is often less than appealing! But going through the feedback carefully is an absolute must! Not only will it improve your knowledge, but there will also be exam technique advice. Make a list of the most important or recurring points in the feedback, and refer to this when revising in future.

Study the mark scheme

Mocks will usually be past exam papers, so there will be available mark schemes and exam reports. You can compare what you wrote with exactly what the examiners wanted, and get to know the sort of things they’re looking for.

Redo

When you’ve studied the feedback, redo some of your questions and get them remarked – this will show whether you’ve really understood where you went wrong.

Don’t compare results

 

It’s natural to have your confidence knocked if you haven’t done as well as your classmates.  Remember that when it comes down to it, the exam is anyone’s game, depending on individual performance on the day and the preparation done before!

Remember its not the end of the world

 

It’s disappointing when you don’t do as well as you’d hoped. This can be a positive thing, as it can motivate you to work hard to up your grade. However, don’t let the results take all your confidence away, and don’t give up- the point of mocks is that you still have time to improve, and with hard work and dedication, this really is possible. (I speak from experience, as someone who got Ds and Es on their first AS Geography mocks, but ended up with a high A grade!)

Written by Emma Jones

A MyTutor Tutor

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