Exams? You need a strategy

We usually read the pages of a novel consecutively, from the first to the last page. But is this the best way to read an A-level biology examination paper? Former A-level senior examiner Martin Rowland argues not, and suggests that students may fail to do themselves justice when they do

Like the fruit on this apple tree, in an examination some marks are easier to get than others

Invigilators were often surprised by the behaviour of my A-level biology students during examinations. As soon as it was announced, ‘You may now turn over your examination papers and begin’, many opened the back of the booklet. One invigilator asked me afterwards, ‘Is it because, like you, they start to read a newspaper from the sports pages at the back?’. My answer was, ‘No, it’s because they know that the last question on this paper happens to be a high-scoring, free-response question testing AO1 and answering that first is part of their exam strategy for this paper’.

Let’s examine why you need an exam strategy and then look at how you might develop your own.