subject: Mistakes To Avoid In Your Gcse Maths Exam [print this page] Year after year, the majority of students sitting GCSE maths examinations drop valuable marks by making a variety of elementary errors. The following seeks to provide pointers in avoiding these mistakes, achieving exam success and the highest grade possible.
1. Candidates should ensure that they have been given the correct paper, as mistakes can (and do) occur. Complete the front page carefully with name, candidate number and the number of the examination centre.
2. Students will have been entered at the relevant level for their ability, so there is every reason to be confident of performing well in the examination.
3. Most marks are lost by examinees failing to read the questions properly. It is vital to read each question carefully and thoroughly. Having determined a suitable method to work out the answer, check that the calculations performed actually answer the question asked.
4. Gain all the possible marks by showing full workings. For the majority of questions, a certain number of marks are specifically allocated to the use of the proper method, with separate marks for a correct answer. By showing all formulas and calculations, it is possible to gain a significant percentage of the marks for a particular question, even though the final answer may be incorrect.
5. Work steadily through the exam paper, avoiding spending too much time on any particular question. The marks awarded for each question are clearly shown. In a 2 hour exam, marked out of 100, each mark equates to 1.2 minutes, so, for example, a 5-mark question should be allocated 5 x 1.2 = 6 minutes.
6. If any question proves particularly difficult, put a mark by it and come back to it once the remainder of the paper is completed.
7. Be certain to attempt ALL the questions on the paper. Clearly, if only three quarters of the questions are attempted, it is only possible to attain three quarters of the marks, at best. Even if a question looks particularly daunting, precious marks can be gained by attempting the more straightforward parts of the question.
8. Remember to write answers to the degree of accuracy for which the question asks (usually a certain number of decimal places or significant figures). If the question does not ask for a specific order of accuracy, look at the numbers in the question and use a similar level of accuracy in the answer.
9. Examinees often overlook the fact that GCSE maths examination papers include a formula sheet, containing useful information that may include (depending on the level of the paper) equations for the area of a trapezium, volumes of prisms, spheres and cones, together with the Sine / Cosine rules and the Quadratic equation. Whilst it is useful to know these in advance, the formula sheet can provide invaluable assistance, particularly in the pressure of an exam situation.
10. Examiners are particularly keen that answers to questions on area and volume are expressed in the proper units. With area, be sure that the answers are expressed in cm, m or whatever units are appropriate. Similarly, volumes should be written as cm, m, and so forth.
11. In questions on transformations, gather all the marks available by describing any transformation FULLY, for example, "a 90 anticlockwise rotation about the origin" rather than merely "rotation".
12. With questions involving diagrams, it is often helpful to add lines, especially for questions on geometry or graphs. Additionally, with graph questions, take special care as the scales on the x-axis (horizontal) and y-axis (vertical) may be different.
