Passing P7

It sounds like the problem lies in the area of examination technique!

Pick any question from the revision kit … it doesn’t matter whether it’s a 35 marker or a 25 marker or a 20 marker because you’re scheduled to tackle a number of these over the next 2 weeks

Divide the marks available by 2 and that result tells you the number of minutes that you are going to spend reading, thinking and planning an answer

The ‘divide by 2’ applies to the individual sub-parts of the question requirement and not just to the overall question – it is important that you tackle each and every part of the four questions that you have chosen to answer

Ok, here we are now with a (say) 25 marker sub-divided into 10, 8 and 7 marks with planning time allocation of 5 minutes, 4 minutes and 3.5 minutes

On a piece of paper, within those time allocations, jot down 10 thoughts that come into your head for part a, 8 thoughts for part b and 7 thoughts for part c

Do NOT spend longer than 5 minutes on part a, no more than 4 minutes on part b and maximum of 3.5 minutes on part c

At the end of that 12.5 minutes, STOP

Have you got 10 separate points for part a? 8 for part b and 7 for part c?

Because that’s what you’re aiming for … 10 separate, relevant, correct, markable points for a 10 mark part question

I would be really surprised if you have scored more than 8 or 9 out of 25 in this first exercise! And probably no more than 2 for the 7 mark part c!

It’s difficult enough to score the required 50% in these examinations but if you’re only scoring 2 from 7 available for part c, that means that you need to score 11 from the other 18 to score a pass in this question! 11 from 18 is just slightly more than 61%

if you miss part c off completely, you’re now looking to score 13 from 18 and that’s an asking rate of more than 72%

Check out the printed solution and say to yourself (as I used to say to myself!) “I knew that, and that, and that. And that point is obvious!”

Yes, you knew those points and those other points were in fact obvious. But you didn’t write them in your plan did you!

Why not?

For the next 2 weeks, practice planning answers and develop the technique where you can accumulate enough markable points within the time allocation to be able to look forward realistically to a score of 75% – 80%

And, of course, the more you practice, the easier it becomes and that 80% mark can be surpassed.

But it takes practice and you now have just 2 weeks

Ok, what are you waiting for?

You need a pen, a revision kit, a pad of paper, a quiet room, an understanding family and friends and the ability to tell the time

You need to repeat this exercise for a mix of 35 markers, 25 markers and 20 markers and, at the end of 2 x 25 markers or 1 x 35 marker and 1 x 20 marker, give yourself a break … not excessive – say 15 – 20 minutes

But most of all, enjoy what you’re doing

Away you go and post any questions that you feel that you need to ask on this forum

Hope this helps!