When to do practice exams?

[fridge]

More specifically, now that mid-years have been cut, when should you start going through past/practice exams. We've been given a whole booklet of Unit 3 exams for Physics, but I'm not sure when and how much I should do now. On one hand, I think I should start them now because I'll be pressed for time at the end of the year (+ it'll be good revision). But on the other hand I don't want to do too much so that I don't have enough for end of year and I also fear that if I do them now, I won't remember what I've learnt from them by the time end of year comes.

How are you guys planning to handle your practice exams now that there are no mid-years?

[Randall]

More specifically, now that mid-years have been cut, when should you start going through past/practice exams. We've been given a whole booklet of Unit 3 exams for Physics, but I'm not sure when and how much I should do now. On one hand, I think I should start them now because I'll be pressed for time at the end of the year (+ it'll be good revision). But on the other hand I don't want to do too much so that I don't have enough for end of year and I also fear that if I do them now, I won't remember what I've learnt from them by the time end of year comes.

How are you guys planning to handle your practice exams now that there are no mid-years?

That's a matter of choice. If you want to maximise the benefits of your revision, you need to do what's best for you. If your priority is to get as much 'practice' as you possibly can, starting earlier can be beneficial, but only if you understand the entire course at a sufficient level.

I would at least do a few exams around this time for old mid-year subjects just to get a feel for the areas that I need to work on (either now, Term 2 holidays, or the Term 3 holidays).

For example, I'm going to do section 1 of the 2008 English Language Exam tomorrow (to prepare for a SAC), the 2002 Specialist Maths Exam 2 this weekend, and as a Chemistry Class, we work through the 2012 Unit 3 Exam question by question as we finish a topic.

If you have concerns about forgetting content, then make some notes for yourself and you can use these as the basis for your revision before diving back into practice exams. Depending on how well you benefit from notes and summaries, this may save you a lot of time. Good luck for the year.

[Charmz]

When ever you think you are ready. I wouldn't do full exams yet because its unlikely you finished the course this early. Maybe get some topic tests and try those so you know how you are doing on the stuff you've learned so far. You could also select a few past exams and ignore questions on topics you haven't learned.

[Mr Keshy]

I'll be starting as soon as I finish the coursework for that subject. For some subjects like chemistry, it'll be a lot earlier than say methods, but there's no point in wasting practice exams if you aren't at your best for the subject!

[Charmz]

But keshy I doubt you'll get through them all so it's not exactly wasting.

[Checkmate]

More specifically, now that mid-years have been cut, when should you start going through past/practice exams. We've been given a whole booklet of Unit 3 exams for Physics, but I'm not sure when and how much I should do now.

Like you, I have a pile of U3 practice exams, but how our physics teacher has gone about it is basically do the specific sections of what we've learnt so far in older exams. When we've sufficiently finished enough for U3, then it's the goal to start knocking about half of them off (provided you don't have too little papers). Then repeat with U4 practice exams and by exam prep, you should have a suitable (not too many or little) number of untouched exams to go back and forth between doing U3 and then U4. Well, at least that's the theory my teacher proposes.