10 Tips For Tackling A Maths Exam

10 tips for tackling a Maths exam

1. Find out all you can about the format of the exam.

Time allowed, number of questions, marks and average time spent per question. Number of parts, topics tested. Do past papers to be familiar with the format and standard.

2. Be prepared.

Revise, revise, revise! Bring pens, pencil, calculator (check that the calculator works and that you know how to use it!). Eat and sleep well, be early, be confident, be a little nervous.

3. Use the reading time to plan your exam.

Read all instructions carefully. Skim through all questions to see the work that is ahead of you. Mark the difficult questions with a star which will require more time and plan your time!

4. Spend the first minute of each question planning and thinking.

You don t need to be writing all of the time - what you re writing may be wrong and a waste of time. Read each question carefully and decide what needs to be found. Make sure you use all the information given.

5. Pace yourself and keep an eye on the time.

Work steadily and make sure you are not spending too much time on one question. Don t rush or you ll make silly mistakes, and your work will be messy. Don t panic if you run out of time it is better to get most questions right than to get all questions wrong. Complete the work you do know, rather than rushing.

6. Write clearly - and draw good clear large diagrams.

Show working, spread out your work neatly, use as much paper as you like. Demonstrate to the marker that you know your Maths. Write down the page, not across. Use words and diagrams if appropriate. Don t use liquid paper. Draw a line through mistakes. Use pencil only for diagrams.

7. Make sure you ve actually answered the question.

Does it sound reasonable? Correct units included? Correct no. of decimal places? Highlight the final answer in a box. Should you write it in a sentence? Easier questions are at the front. Do them first to boost your confidence. Feel confident about yourself when you have answered a question correctly.

8. Attempt every question.

Aim to earn some marks for every question, even if it requires an educated guess. Try to finish each question before moving on, so that you don t have to worry about coming back to it. If a question is too hard, skip it and leave time to come back to it later.

9. Move on if you re getting nowhere.

If your working-out of a hard question is taking too long, then it s probably wrong. If you re stuck, don t waste valuable time getting bogged down. Stop, retrace your steps, think about a simpler method, or start again. Sometimes it s even better to skip the question and return to it with a fresh mind.

10. At the end of the exam, check your work, and attempt any questions you may have missed.