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Having taught for 30 years I always felt sad that so many students failed to achieve their full potential when it came to exam success. I have developed strategies over the years to improve student performance. Here are some of them.
Finish the course as soon as possible to be able to spend several weeks on revision and past papers. Even the brightest students fail to give the examiners the information they want. Even a pass of 80% means that two out of ten answers are wrong!
Do as many past papers as possible, starting them as early as possible. AQA have many past papers with answers on the internet which can readily be copied.
The first 2 or 3 papers should be done using the answers so that you can look at areas that you find difficult. You will be surprised to find that the questions tend to be very similar and start repeating themselves but with a slightly different twist. This will give you confidence in your ability.
Look at the mark scheme and see how the examiners award the marks. It is so easy to miss out obvious information. Two marks need two pieces of information.
Do at least another 3 papers without the answers and then mark them. Once again, analyse your examination technique as well as areas that you need to learn more thoroughly.
A few days before the examination go through several past papers learn the information. Say to yourself "If i can get high marks on the last 5 past papers then I will obviously get high marks on the paper which I am going to do". It will not take you a long time to go through these papers if you have prepared well in advance.
A student going into an examination with confidence is always going to do far better than one who is negative.
Enjoy doing the past papers. It can be very satisfying too see your performance continue to improve.
Finally the key advice is "Answer the question which is asked, not any other". In a stressful situation it is so easy to panic and write anything down without first of all really really looking at the question and being quite clear what is needed.
