Why are mock exams important?

Helping students practise in a controlled environment and receive accurate feedback in preparation for their GCSEs.

Giving students a chance to improve

While no student wants to perform poorly in an exam, it is of course infinitely better to do so in a mock exam than in the GCSE itself. There are so many aspects of sitting GCSE-style exams for the first time that can trip students up. By addressing these traps and blunders at the first opportunity, and providing accurate and informative feedback, you can help students give a true reflection of their knowledge, hard work and dedication in the GCSE exams.

Do students fail exams or do exams fail students?

You can help prevent both by giving students an opportunity to practice in similar conditions, and ensuring their feedback is helpful and instructive. There are many ways in which a student can be tripped up by the formatting of the exam, the questions themselves, and the stressful environment. Mock exams can help make GCSE exams fairer by reducing the

How to flop at mock exams

If you are wondering why mock exams are important for students, the most prescient reason is that students perform much more poorly in mock exams than the real thing. Even with good preparation, instruction and hard work this can become undone by many means:

Misunderstanding the exam material

Answering the wrong question, the wrong number of questions, or numbering answers incorrectly is a tragedy in a GCSE exam, but an important lesson learned and recovered from in mock exams.

Test anxiety

Some students suffer from anxiety and nerves in exams to the point where they cannot think clearly, causing mistakes or complete mental blocks on questions. Identifying this early can save a whole set of GCSE results.

Time management

It is important to make sure students are prepared for dealing with questions and challenges with time constraints, and practising mocks can help them divide their efforts and manage their time, so it is not wasted on one technical problem.

Revising the wrong material

Mock exams can often be a wake-up call for students who focus too much on one area of study, or for those whose revision methods are ineffective, allowing teachers and pupils to address this in a timely manner.

The old saying is that failing to prepare is preparing to fail. But the truth is more nuanced. There is no such thing as failure in mock exams. Think of it as a dress rehearsal. The more things that go wrong during a rehearsal, the more steps you can take to correct these problems in time for the GCSEs themselves.

Taking mocks seriously

It is also important that mocks are taken seriously by both teachers and students. For many students asking why mock exams are important, during the Pandemic, the mock exam results were used alongside input from teachers to make up the students' final grades, meaning those who had taken the mocks most seriously and studied most diligently were rewarded with good grades.

With our help, you can make sure students receive the very best feedback in a timely and professional manner from our specialist marking team, and help make mock exams the instructive and useful stepping stone they were meant to be.