We recently caught up with one of our expert teacher panel members, Maths teacher David Wilson to discuss exam techniques. He’s told us the 3 things you need to know. Whether you’re studying with AQA, Edexcel, or OCR exam boards you’ll want to grab your pen and paper for these exam techniques!

Here’s what David had to say:

1. Is time a factor? Watching the clock can improve your exam technique.

  • Are you completing papers under exam conditions?
  • Remember the rule of thumb is 1 minute a mark.
  • If you are spending too long on questions, it may be better to move on and return to a problem question at the end, if time allows.

2. Are you showing enough working out on your exam papers?

  • Mark schemes are generous and method marks can be awarded even for incorrect answers.
  • If you are showing minimal working out, this is definitely an area to focus on improving your exam techniques.
  • On a calculator paper, it is easy to get so absorbed with typing numbers into your calculator, that you forget to show on paper what calculations you are doing.
  • Also, don’t forget to show your working out in your exam paper, especially in Maths papers you can get marks even for the incorrect answer! Now THAT’s good exam technique.

3. Are you putting too much pressure on yourself under exam conditions?

  • You can still achieve good grades, even if some marks may be lost through incorrect answers!
  • Try to remain calm, read questions carefully, and use any time left over at the end to check your answers.
  • In order to try and reproduce the exam experience as best you can in revision, you should attempt papers under timed conditions.
  • By doing this, you will be able to practice matching the amount of time spent on each question, to the amount of time you have to complete the paper.

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