USE YOUR MOCK EXAMS TO GET AN A*: A-LEVEL BIOLOGY TIPS WITH MISS ESTRUCH

If you’re currently enrolled in A-level biology, a good way to prepare for your tests and get the highest possible mark you can is to properly use your mock exam feedback to prepare for the real exam. Reviewing your mock exam and using the technique below, you’ll have a much higher chance of achieving that A* when it comes to sitting the real test. If you haven’t done a mock exam yet, you can do your own using the mock exam freebie available on my website.

GETTING YOUR MARKS BACK

After you write your mock exam and get your mark back, use another colour or highlighter to single out any mistakes you’ve made. You will then use a MARCKS analysis to direct your skill and theory revision. 

A MARCKS analysis looks like this: 

M standing for Maths, A standing for Application, R standing for Reading the question, C standing for Clarity of Answer, K standing for Knowledge, and S standing for Statements Per Question. Using this table, you will tally up how many questions in each section you got incorrect. This will then inform you of which area you need to study further. 

MARCKS: AN EXPLANATION

“Maths” is fairly straight forward – if you got a maths question wrong, you would put a tally mark in that section.

In contrast, “Application” questions might be trickier to spot. To help you remember which is which: an example of an application question would be when you’re given unknown information, or possibly an experiment, and you then use your own knowledge to explain the information that was given in the question. Essentially, you are applying your knowledge to an unknown situation to find the correct answer.

“Reading the Question” is when you don’t take enough time to read the question, and therefore write the wrong answer. For example, a question like ‘explain five properties that make water important for organisms.’ If you misread this question, you might have just stated the properties instead of explaining what causes those properties.

“Clarity of Answer” would be when what you wrote was correct, but was not explained accurately enough, or with enough key terms.

“Statement Per Question” is when you failed to write enough correct points. For example, in explaining the five properties that make water important for organisms, you only listed three properties instead of five.

Once you look through your exam and identify which mistakes fit into what category, you then tally up all your incorrect answers. That should ends up looking something like this:

The total number or tallies should be equivalent to the total number of marks you lost on your paper. 

From here, you can see if there is a pattern or a particular skill that you need to spend more time revising and help you plan your post-mock exam study schedule. 

SMART TARGETS

Using your MARCKS analysis, you can then create SMART targets.

SMART target stands for:

SPECIFIC

MEASURABLE

ACHIEVABLE

REALISTIC

TIME SPECIFIC

Any goals you set should then correspond to each letter in SMART. This is essential because creating SMART targets actually helps you achieve your goal instead of just dreaming about achieving saying it. For example, simply saying ‘I will improve my application questions’, has no actions behind it that will actually achieve your goal. However, if you instead creating a SMART target such as “I will complete Miss Estruch’s A-Level Skills Assessment Bundle by the end of the month” – which is Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic, and Time Specific – you create an action step that will actually bring you closer to completing your goal. 

Other SMART goals you could set based on your MARCKS analysis include making flashcards, completing targeted exam questions, or blurting. If you’re looking for more support how ideal exam techniques and SMART targets, definitely check out my YouTube channel, Miss Estruch Biology, where I go over all of these topics regularly!

MORE OF A VISUAL LEARNER?

Check out my YouTube video reviewing all this information: