Exam Technique — Core
Pace: 80 marks in 90 minutes ≈ 1 minute per mark plus checking time. A 3-mark question deserves about 3 minutes — if you are stuck at double that, move on and come back.
How marks work: M marks = correct method (shown working!), A marks = accurate answer following your method, B marks = a correct fact/answer on its own. Wrong final answer + right method still collects the M marks — this is why working is not optional.
Show every step — one line of working per operation. Examiners cannot award M marks to blank space.
Read the demand words: “write down” = no working needed; “calculate/work out” = working expected; “show that” = every step to the printed result; “hence” = use the previous part.
Answer to the accuracy asked. Default: 3 significant figures (money: 2 d.p.; angles: 1 d.p.). Keep FULL calculator values until the final line.
Check units and sense. A person walking at 200 km/h or a bag of maize at P3 should ring alarm bells — recheck.
Never leave a blank. An educated attempt can catch a B or M mark; a blank scores zero with certainty.
Non-calculator paper: write fraction arithmetic in full, use the column methods you practised, and leave answers as exact fractions unless told otherwise.
Calculator paper: type the WHOLE expression in one go using brackets, press = once, then round at the end. Retype to check.
- Sit each mock in ONE timed sitting — no notes, no pauses. Paper 1 mocks: NO calculator. Paper 3 mocks: calculator allowed.
- Mark yourself honestly from the explanations, then return to the strand of every lost mark and redo that unit’s quiz.
- Space them out — one mock per week beats six in a weekend.
- Aim for 60%+ before moving to the next set. Three attempts are allowed per mock; the timer runs each time.
Sleep well. Bring: black pen, pencil, ruler, protractor, compasses, eraser — and your calculator for Paper 3 (charged, degree mode!). Scan the paper first, bank the easy marks, then fight the hard ones. You have prepared across nine strands — trust the training.