Advice
Your teachers might be getting you to revise for mock exams – which don’t affect your final grade. So why bother putting in too much effort? Well despite how it sounds, mock exams are still an important area for your grades and a necessary indicator to yourself and universities of how you’re doing. Here’s why.
Mock exams help you measure how you’re progressing
A mock exam allows you to receive your predicted grades and tell you if you’re on the right track, they’re also useful for letting you know what you might need to revisit before moving on to A2.
Whether or not your mock exam results go towards your final grade, that foundation-level knowledge is still absolutely necessary to your education.
Your university choices will be able to see your mock exam results
You’ll most likely have to declare your mock exam results on UCAS. Like your teachers, universities will use your mock exam results as an indicator of the final result you’ll receive at the end of your A Levels. As they’re the university’s most recent record of your performance, they may influence the university’s decision about your conditional offer.
Don’t despair if you can’t take a mock exam!
That doesn’t mean you’ll be at a disadvantage if you don’t have the option of a mock exam. Your teacher’s predictions, your GCSEs and any other work you've done will all be assessed by your university choices. This means that your first-year performance is still taken into account, as your effort and progress will still be measured.
Any exam is an opportunity to improve
Answering questions under pressure and testing your knowledge of a subject is great practice and will help you improve your exam technique. Exams suck and everyone knows it, but they’re a challenge to beat rather than a task to avoid. If you’re having trouble getting your revision head on, we’ve got plenty of tips and tricks in our exams and revision section.
