Many students feel Mock exams have no importance or are sometimes cruel adding more pressure than they already have preparing for their GCSEs. There are many ways in which these exams help you get your best possible grade. Firstly they help you sharpen your revision skills. Revision is one of the hardest and most vital parts of preparing for an exam. What you learn within revision determines how many questions you will be able to answer on your paper.
One of the best ways to revise is by doing past papers and exam style questions. Mocks are previous exam papers. These are also an opportunity to find weaker areas in certain subjects. This in turn will help to reduce stress and anxiety about how to revise.
Secondly you can practise your exam techniques. Learning how to craft concise answers within a set period of time reassures and understanding how to act in a real exam situation reassures the exam is the last obstacle in all your months of hard work. Although this is a practise test take it seriously as if it is the real thing as this will help you prepare when the time comes.
Testing yourself is an effective way to improve learning capability and the ability to recall information. In a study on Mock exams researchers found that students who did a practise test after spending some time doing revision performed better on the final exam then students who spent the whole time revising and did not do a mock.
Even if students perform badly in the mock exam they can identify their weaknesses and are shocked before the final exam. It can act as a lesson that the student needs to do more work, develop skills when performing under pressure and change revision strategies.
Predicted grades will be worked out based on your mock results, so although these are not exact predictions they are an important guide. It is good to have a grade to aim for and also helpful if your mock results truly reflect your ability. You want the most precise mock results even if they aren’t as good as you thought they would be as it is easier to identify flaws.
