How to study

Pick any question at random

Compute reading and planning time (number of marks divided by 2 = number of minutes to read and plan)

Separate piece of paper, under timed conditions, read that question and plan an answer

For a 20 mark question, you have just 10 minutes to read and plan 20 relevant, correct, markable points that cover ALL parts of the question requirements

After 10 minutes, stop, and assess how many points you have managed to get together. These are the points that you would have filled out into proper sentences when faced with that question in an exam

When planning, use bullet points (better still, just one word that will remind you of the point that you wanted to make) Do NOT write out full sentences within your plan

In your reading of the revision kit, may I assume that you became increasingly aware of the importance and (sometimes) subtle differences between the verbs used in the question requirements? The differences between ‘identify’ and ‘describe’; the difference between ‘list’ and ‘discuss’; and others

Also the difference between ‘state what evidence you should expect to find ‘ compared with ‘list the procedures that ….’

Spend this next week planning answers

In addition, get to know how much you are physically able to write (legibly) in 1 minute 18 seconds

Get a friend to time you ‘Start’ and, after 1 minute 18 seconds, ‘Stop’

Copy from any source – it doesn’t matter if it’s a study text, revision kit, magazine, user manual for a washing machine, medication instructions from inside a packet of paracetamol … it doesn’t matter. The point is that, after 1 minute and 18 seconds, you stop writing and consider the length of your achievement.

Because that, Gaga, is the maximum length of any single sentence within your exam answers and that sentence contains just 1 markable point.

Leave a line between these sentences – effectively each sentence becomes a paragraph in its own right

OK?