Trial exams can help you to review the extent to which you are on track to achieve your target grade, and to calm pre-examination nerves. Trial exams are particularly useful if you feel you need extra testing and feedback on how ready you really are for the actual exam itself. If you are working on your own – or with minimal support – through a GCSE or A level qualification, trial exams can keep you on track and provide you with feedback on how close you are to the grade you need. To help you decide whether or not a trial exam would be useful, ask yourself these questions:

• Do I really know what I think I know?
• Can I adapt my knowledge to the answer the exact question? This is not the same as providing everything you know on a particular subject.
• How clearly and quickly can I think in exams; can I pace myself under the pressure of time and nerves?
• A trial exam is an opportunity to replicate as closely as possible the conditions with which you will be faced in the real exam. The sooner you begin to prepare, the better.

How is your trial exam arranged?

There are five steps:

1. Application: complete an online application by following the link above;
2. Selection of your trial exam paper: either you can choose a paper in your application or, with guidance from you, we can choose one on your behalf;
3. Taking your mock exam: either you can sit a self-invigilated mock exam at home or come into Greene’s, where the exams are invigilated under full examination conditions;
4. Marking and grading your mock exam script: once we have received your mock exam script it will be marked and graded by one of Greene’s approved examination assessors, and returned to you. We aim to do this promptly from the time we receive the completed paper;
5. Feedback on your script: in addition to our marking and grading of your script, you will receive a short feedback report, highlighting areas that may need further work.

All your results and marked scripts are available using your login to our online learning platform – called Greene’s Online – for you to review from anywhere and at any time.

If you need more help preparing for your exams, we also offer supplementary tuition and short courses throughout the year.

Fees

Set trial exam days

Please ask us about the trial exams you can take at home; we can advise you on how best to organise your self-invigilated trial exam.

For invigilated mock exams at Greene’s, we will accept applications as close to the scheduled trial exam days as possible – although, as places are limited, all applications are treated on a first-come-first-served basis.

Preparing for your trial exam

To get the best out of your trial exam, we highly recommend that you prepare thoroughly and think carefully about the following points:

• working against the clock;
• understanding the format of your exam – e.g. selecting questions, the weighting of marks, etc.;
• revising – e.g. memorising, learning techniques, organising work etc.;
• structuring your answers – e.g. layout, showing working, planning, paragraphing, conclusions etc.; and
• using only the relevant knowledge for specific question types.

There are also a number of helpful sources of information available to you on the examination board websites, such as:

• Mark schemes – they illustrate the importance of paying attention to assessment objectives, mark allocations, how to answer specific questions; and
• Examiners’ reports on past examinations you may have already tried.

Trial exams and revision

Trial exams are part of an overall revision strategy. Whatever your plan, it’s important to think ahead and identify the best times to sit trial exams.

If you have early summer exams, you might be tempted to wait until Easter – or later – to begin trial exams. However, as long as you have covered the material, it is worthwhile sitting each paper as soon as you can. Leaving timed examination practice until the last minute will not enable you to make the best of the experience. Examination techniques are learnt over time rather than acquired in a single sitting.

In addition to full-length trial exams, short, timed essays or sets of problems can be very effective in the early stages of your course – reinforcing what you have learnt and ensuring you adapt your knowledge to specific questions. The key is to time your work.

Please contact us to learn more about how we can help or support you with your exams or revision plans.