Exam essentials: Using past papers

Hi I'm Derin.

And I'm Jack. We've recently been through our exams and wanted to share with you how crucial past papers can be in preparing for your exams.

If I were to recommend one tip to anyone, it would definitely be to do as many past papers as possible. They can give you an idea of what an exam paper looks like, and how it feels to actually take it, before you even set foot in the exam hall.

You can use past papers to…become familiar with the format of your paper. To recognise the command words used in the questions. And to understand how marks are allocated, and how much time you should spend on each question.

Past papers aren't about predicting the questions that are going to come up on your exam. They're not some crystal ball predicting the future.

But let's talk about how past papers are still really useful. When you get your hands on a past paper, start by simply reading it from cover to cover, so that you are able to see how many questions there are, what you need to do and how long you have to do it.

The next thing you want to focus on is the format of the paper, so you know which questions you need to answer… is it two questions from part 1 and three from part 2?

Make sure you're clear on this from the start. Then you want to focus in on the command words.

Command words are the words in an exam question that tell you how the examiners want you to answer that question. Like explain, list, describe, compare, and contrast.

There are loads of command words, and they are extremely important. Make sure you know what each one means so you know exactly what you need to do in the exam.

Read the question carefully. If you don't, you could lose marks.

JACK: After you understand the command word, look at the marks on offer. If a question uses the command word 'list' and has 3 marks allocated, it's likely that you're required to list three correct things to get full marks.

Don't be tempted to try to impress the examiner by writing more than you need. You can't get more than the three marks on offer anyhow.

Marks are also a really good guide for how you should spend your time. There's no point spending 10 minutes on a one mark question and leaving yourself with just 2 minutes for one with four marks.

Sometimes the questions near the end may take more thinking time than those at the start.

As you read through the paper, make a note of the marks for each question and roughly allocate an appropriate amount of time to complete each one. That way, you can keep yourself on track as you run through the exam.

Now that you understand how past papers are laid out and what to look for, it's time to have a go.

Try doing your past papers under exam conditions. Find somewhere quiet and remove all distractions. Clear your space of anything you wouldn't have access to in the real thing. Set a timer, and off you go. It'll give you an idea of what an exam feels like. And if you're nervous, doing this a few times might help to calm your nerves.

When you're done, take some time to review your answers. Was there anything that completely stumped you? If so, make more room for it in your study plan.

And think about whether you finished on time. If not, why not? What could you do differently?

Remember, the questions in exams always change, while past papers can't predict them, they can help you to improve and practice your exam technique.

Like becoming familiar with exam formats so that you know which questions need to answer.

Identifying command words and knowing how to answer them.

And understanding how marks are allocated, so you are able to know how much time to spend accordingly.

And finally, the more you practice, the more you'll know it when you walk into that exam hall on the big day.

Thanks for watching! Bye!