The Importance of Mocks

Many students see mock exams as a completely unnecessary evil, a cruel way of making you take your exams twice, when you didn’t even particularly want to take them in the first place! Although you may not think it, mocks are actually an amazing opportunity to ensure you do really well in your upcoming exams and, perhaps most importantly, they also offer students a real sense of support and confidence in the lead up to the 11+. So, here is our list of the magnificent things mocks offer, which you probably never really realised, and which make them so very important in the final weeks before exams.

 

1. Mock exams get students in the right mindset

Much like a massive football match or an opening night performance, your exams need to be prepared for and mocks are, undeniably, the best way for you to do that. Not only is it great practice to sit down and take a timed paper, in exam conditions, but also, the process of preparing for mocks really allows students to get themselves into a focused and prepared mindset, which will help them a huge amount when it comes to taking the real thing. Actively entering into a studious state of concentration is perhaps the most profitable preparation any student could do before and exam and mocks offer us the chance to do that.

 

2. Mocks provide an opportunity for structured revision

Convincing your children to sit down and revise the likes of sibilance and pathetic fallacy, can sometimes feel like a rather insurmountable challenge. Thankfully though, mocks provide a really useful chance to engage your child in a structured revision plan, comfortably in advance of their actual exam. When the prospect of exams feels incredibly far away, children are much less likely to actually sit down and commit to the necessary time to their exam preparation. However, Mocks gently move that sense of urgency a little further forward, helping children to throw themselves into their exam preparation before it’s too late.

 

3. Mock exams help you to spot your errors and knowledge gaps

Doing well in your mock exams is great, but actually, doing badly in them is even better. Mocks offer an amazing chance for you to find out exactly where the gaps in your current knowledge are. By taking practice exams, you can then make a detailed list of all of your weaknesses and regular errors and ensure that you focus your efforts on ironing out these issues, before you have to sit the real thing. Unlike independent revision, where, let’s face it, we just tend to ignore the topics we don’t much like the look of, mocks force us to really address where we’re falling short and thankfully, they come just in time for us to then be able to fix these short fallings before it’s too late.

 

4. Mocks ensure you feel prepared in the exam

It may sound silly, but simply having seen an exam paper, endured exam conditions and completed a test under time constraints, can make the world of difference when it comes to students actually sitting down and taking their entrance exams. Mock exams give students the chance to become familiar with the process of answering an exam paper and that sense of familiarity can really help to dilute a student’s fear when faced with the real thing.

 

5. Mock exams help students cope with pressure

Mocks, more than anything else, can really help to build a student’s confidence and ensure they are able to cope with the pressure of their upcoming exams just that little bit better. By taking mocks, students know that they are as prepare as they could possibly be and in the absolute strongest position as they go into their exams. This gives them a sense of confidence and internal calm to cling onto. By helping students to understand and target their areas of weakness, while also encouraging them to feel familiar with the entire exam process, mocks are able to lift the lid on the pressure cooker that is the 11+ exams, let a little steam out, and ensure that students feel more composed and confident when they eventually step onto the exam hall.