Improving your exam performance and knowledge of the content comes most effectively through simulating the exam environment on your lead-up to your assessments. There are no two ways about it. If you want to do well in your exams you have to practice as though it’s the real thing.
The Exam Environment
Take note of how I said, ‘exam environment.’ Getting better results in your test does NOT only include doing past papers; this is a fallacy, or at most, a half-truth. Sitting a past paper under timed conditions, without notes, without noise, and writing out your errors afterward is the recipe that will guarantee higher marks.
But that is what this method is, a ‘recipe’. You cannot skip out on an ingredient and hope that the final product will be the same. In the end, the burden for your achievements does not fall on your teacher, your tutor, or your parents, it comes down to yourself and how much you want excellence in all aspects of your life. Even though your studies may be a small facet of your life, it is nevertheless one of them.
“It comes down to yourself and how much you want excellence in all aspects of your life”
So below I will include a quick method on achieving exam success through the use of past papers. This methodology can be applied and adapted to any subject, but for the sake of this guide, I will be focusing only on math. Stick to this method and the advice I give you and you will find your stress will reduce and your goals that much more attainable.
Step 1: Creating your F.D.T
FDT refers to Frequency Distribution Table and essentially, it’s a fancy word for a table that will make you seem smarter to your friends. Your FDT is your companion, it will guide you through your subject and track your progress as you get better.
Create an excel spreadsheet and mimic the table below:
Make sure you include all the columns as above. Available marks refer to the marks from only the topics you have studied. However, your percentage has to be your mark over the total mark. I do not care whether you haven’t learned 90 percent of the paper, you must put your mark over the total mark so you can see your percentage slowly improve throughout the terms.
Step 2: Sitting the Past Paper
Go to thsconline and find a paper that is suitable to your subject and term. Different schools have different difficulties with their papers. Riverview is different from Sydney Tech which is also different from James Ruse. Over time you’ll learn which ones are more difficult.
Conditions for Past Paper:
1. Timed
2. No notes
3. No music
4. On your desk (not kitchen table)
5. Must contain full exam solutions
Step 3: Record Marks
Mark your past paper and record them in your FDT.
Step 4: Mistake Book
This is the most important part and the one that is most frequently skipped. If you skip this part and don’t see your marks improve then you’re to blame.
Get a new book, name it Mistake Book (Subject), write the past paper, the date you completed the paper on, and write the question & solution to every single question you got wrong. I recommend that you do not sit a past paper and do the solutions on another day. You will forget to do the solutions and you’ll leave it undone.
Do all these steps back-to-back on one day. I cannot stress this enough. This is for your sake, not anyone else’s. If you really want higher marks then do it.
Step 5: Pack it Up
Yes, pack it up.
Put away all your books, your stationery, and tech, and go take a break. Sitting a past paper under these steps and conditions is exhausting and you should dedicate 2-3 hours on average for Prelim and 3-4 hours for HSC/Year 12 papers.
Think about your tasks, plan ahead, and execute accordingly.
Anthony, from the Kalibre Post.
