A-Level Economics Week 4 Exam Preparation Tips

Past Paper Technique and Wellbeing

Reviewing Techniques

Last time I set out a method on how to go through past papers in a manner that would replicate an exam environment. The last step was to make a list of areas, topics or types of questions that you struggled in. Now I’ll discuss how to best go through this list of problem areas as we get closer to your exam.

1. Go through this list of areas with three different coloured pens, green, orange and red are the classics. Green for fairly confident, where they still needed to be reviewed but compared to the others were not as difficult. Orange for where they needed to be revised and practiced more than the green ones but you’re not extremely worried. Then red, for questions where you have absolutely no idea and need to go through the related topic extensively. For the red areas go through the content carefully, and consider remaking or editing your revision notes if you’re missing the required details. Also, look at your textbook for this specific topic as they may contain some end of chapter questions that could aid your understanding.

2. When studying ones that you labelled in green, it is important to continue doing exam questions. You have an understanding of them but extra practice provides more exam experience, as well it gives you a better understanding of the types of questions that might come up for this topic.

3. For the orange, understanding where you went wrong is crucial to target your revision. Once you’ve established where you went wrong, review your notes again. As with the green questions, practicing as much as possible will allow you to gain a better grasp of the topic and the types of questions that are likely to come up. Furthermore, it allows you to practice the style of questions better (i.e. essay questions, or questions where you need to draw a graph and explain the various shifts).

4. For the red, you should aim to review the entire topic, make more accurate notes or flashcards, and then practice as much as you can. These are the areas that should be reviewed the most. If you’re reviewing your green and red areas equally you’re likely to be massively misusing your revision time. When doing any other past papers be sure to look out for questions related to any red topics, when you’re done give special attention to checking they have been done correctly.

5. After doing this, go back to the questions that you originally struggled with, and attempted them again to see if you’ve improved. Then do the same method of identifying problem topics in green, orange and red for your next past. The main purpose of this is to make sure you feel confident in all the content that is likely to come up in an exam and don’t waste time just reviewing the easy stuff.

Wellbeing:

Along with discussing studying, it’s also important to take care of our mental and physical health before our exams.

- Firstly, don’t forget to schedule meals and breaks into your study timetable. This can include things like working out, going for a walk or practicing a hobby that you enjoy. Scheduling these breaks and keeping to them ensures you can avoid burnout from all your studying. Believe it or not, taking regular breaks can help you retain more of the information you’ve been studying.

- Next, establish an effective sleeping schedule, aim for 8 hours of sleep a night. Lack of sleep releases stress hormones, tiring the body out more quickly, leading to us feeling more drowsy during the day. Studying for long periods can be stressful and by pairing this with a lack of sleep, we have the perfect storm for ineffective revision.

- Be sure to eat healthily, try avoiding overly sugary processed foods, as these will spike your blood sugar leading to a short term boost in energy followed by a long term feeling of sluggishness. Don’t starve yourself when working though, having healthy snacks, like fruits or nuts, can keep your energy high without the risk of a crash. Also, be careful with you caffeine intake! Coffee is great but avoid any caffeine after 2pm as caffeine greatly disrupts the quality of our sleep, meaning even if we manage our 8 hours it can end up having the quality of only 4.

- Make sure to remain active, instead of sitting in the same spot for a hours at a time be sure to have active breaks, get up and move, maybe do some star jumps or have a quick walk outside. This can also be something to look forward to, if you plan it properly, maybe meet a friend for a quick chat while you walk or take the dog out.

- Set up a few good places to revise, maybe a desk in your bedroom and a spot at the dining room table. Never have just one space to work in, this will lead to you subconsciously trying to avoid it as you associate the spot with the horrors of revision, so move location daily to stay focused.

- Eliminate all distractions while studying. Distractions, like our phones, need to be reserved for breaks. This helps build a clear distinction in our mind between ‘study’ time and ‘break’ time allowing for both of them to be more effective/enjoyable.

- Take time at the start of the day to meditate or reflect on the work that you have ahead of you, this helps set priorities for the day. Also, try creating a physical to-do list before you start your revision. This will reaffirm your aims for the day and as you complete tasks the physical act of crossing them off a list will give you a stronger sense of accomplishment, encouraging you to continue with your work.

Have any questions about how to prepare for your A-Level exams? Having problems with any hard to understand content or tricky past exam questions? Then ask Mehnaz. Mehnaz will be hosting a series of Q&A webinars in the 2 weeks before final exams. Post your questions here, and Mehnaz will answer them in these sessions.