Together we'll succeed - March 2006
succeed@kirklees.gov.uk

 

From David Jaffa, founder of SAM Learning

Log on to Sam learning using the password supplied by your school.

1. Lots of Easy Marks

   If you want to do well the first thing you need is a little inside information about how exams are marked!

   Examiners use something called a Mark Scheme for each question, which is a list of points they will award marks for. If your answers are on their mark scheme, you'll get the marks. And if not, you won't. It's as simple as that. The good news is there are lots of easy marks!

2. Maths

   There are marks for writing down your method even if you get the answer wrong. Amazing isn't it!

3. Science

   There are often extra marks for writing down units e.g. the answer ‘3 cm' would score one more mark than ‘3'.

4. English Comprehension

   Back-up each of your points with a quote. There is an extra mark for each quote.

5. English Essays

   Go through your answer at the end and make some corrections – you'll get extra marks simply for doing this.

6. Never leave a ‘blank'

   If you're not sure about an answer, guess. Yes I DO mean it! Examiners are surprisingly generous and usually award marks if your answer is not quite right but they can see you're on the right lines. But you won't get any marks if you leave a blank. Even if your answer is completely wrong you can't score less than that. So you've nothing to lose by guessing.

7. Practice makes perfect

   Needless to say it really pays to understand what examiners will and won't award marks for. So how do you find out? The best way I know is exam practice.

   If you're lucky enough to go to a private school or have a private tutor, they'll probably spend a lot of time taking you through past exam papers. If you're at a state school you could ask your teachers to take you through some past exam papers – especially if they have experience as an examiner.

8. Revision Websites

   Revision websites are accessible from school and home computers. SAM Learning (www.samlearning.com), for example , contains loads of exam style questions and mark-schemes designed so you can mark your own answers and get a level or grade. In fact ‘SAM' stands for Self-Assessment Method because it's by marking your own answers – self-assessment – that you learn what the examiner is looking for. There are examiners hints to help with the hard bits.

   With SAM Learning your progress is tracked automatically. So much of the organisational headache is taken away. You won't need to spend as much time re-writing revision timetables, organising your notes and tidying your room!

9. Don't panic

   There's an old Chinese saying "a journey of a thousand miles starts with a single step". So whilst your exams may be daunting, and the amount of work you need to do may seem immense, don't worry, don't panic and get started. Once you do, you'll find things will come together.

10. The best antidote to exam stress

    Many students get stressed about exams. The best antidote is to find out what you're up against. So if you're feeling stressed, simply do some exam practice. You'll probably do better than you think!

Give it a go! With a little exam practice under your belt, you'll soon find yourself on the inside track to exam success.

Finally - good luck with your exams!

About SAM Learning:

SAM Learning is an online exam practice and revision service. It has just released an independent report, “Impact of eLearning on GCSE results of 105,163 students, 2004”, which proves that using eLEarning to prepare for GCSE exams really does improve grades. Evidence shows that 10+ hours use of SAM Learning improves student's results at GCSE by 4.7%.