How should I prepare for my mock exams?
When students produce mock exam timetables, they are usually on bits of scrap paper in tutor sessions, and to be honest, they aren’t very good.
They are generally vague - listing a subject, such as ‘Politics’, assigning it a colour and giving it an estimated time within the day. That’s impossible to stick to!
In this post, i’m hoping to outline the things that you can do to plan ahead in a more proactive, and achievable, way.
Be Specific:
Students usually go wrong by being too vague about what they intend to study during their scheduled time - your teacher should have provided you with topics to cover, so use these as a basis. (If they haven’t, first of all, ask them. If no luck, use the exam board specification, you can download it online!)
Break down each topic to ensure you’ve covered everything that is listed within that subtopic on the specification - e.g. if in History we are given the topic Sino-Japanese War, i’d be expecting you to know:
Background of the topic- what were the causes of the conflict?
Key developments/main events/specifics & numbers (focus on chronology, what actually happened in this event and how specific can you be?)
What effects it had? Consider factors such as political, economic, social, military effects.
What was it’s significance short term/long term?
Did it cause or contribute to anything else?
Schedule 3-4 hours per topic, over multiple days, to ensure you’ve covered it in enough detail.
Try to prepare some essay plans so that you know how you could use this topic in a possible question.
2. Be strict with your time:
Work in 40 minute - 1 hour chunks, and ensure that you can work undisturbed. Work in a designated space where you can’t be distracted.
Some key things that will help with this:
No mobile phones - put them in another room and ignore them for an hour!
Ensure all of your notes for that topic are already gathered together - you don’t need to search the internet for everything, your teacher covers those topics for a reason. Youtube does not know everything!!
Set a timer for 1 hour, and give yourself a break when you get to that point.
Don’t work all day, every day. You will resent it and burn out quickly. Schedule revision at the best times for you - either early morning or late afternoon/evening - then you can still enjoy your own time
3. Be realistic:
Don’t schedule 6 hours of revision on a day where you know that you have plans
Find a balance between enjoying your Christmas holiday, and preparing as necessary for mocks in January.
Revise when it suits you - but don’t leave it all to the last minute
Take your mocks seriously, but acknowledge that you won’t be able to cover everything in the level that you intend to for the real exam
Balance school work with seeing relatives, friends and just generally having a break
Accept that mocks are designed to be a practice run - focus on exam technique AS WELL as content. When you sit your exams, timing is everything, so practice questions as part of your revision process can be really helpful.
Give yourself day(s) off - you don’t need to revise every day, you just need to be effective when you DO choose to revise.
And lastly, remember to KEEP ALL RESOURCES that you make as part of your revision preparation, you can review and add to them as you continue through your studies. Future you will be grateful that past you put the time in!
Best of luck and if you find you need someone to provide you with some extra help, you know how to contact me!
CGA xx
