It’s pretty widely accepted that when studying maths or one of the sciences, past papers are a great way to prepare for exams. The intuition is pretty simple – practice what you’re going to have to do, and you’ll be better prepared! This is definitely true, but there’s more to it than that.
To utilise past papers properly in your study, you shouldn’t just indiscriminately grind away at them and try and improve through sheer volume. Rather, it’s important to consider exactly when and where in your study they’re going to produce the most benefit, and it’s also important to recognise that past paper study actually plays multiple roles in your learning process.
Here are a few rules to follow when using past papers in study:
1. Don’t do past papers until you’ve revised all the material already
Past papers are very useful in many ways, but one thing they’re not great for is helping you comprehensively cover the syllabus.
The danger in the approach of beginning with past papers is that you could easily do two or three past papers without encountering questions on a particular outcome or type of problem, do very well in them, and gain a false sense of confidence in your proficiency in the subject without ever targeting your weaknesses.
Past papers are of course written to test a broad range of topic in every subject, however, there is certainly no single paper that is going to target everything you can be tested on. Ensure to thoroughly review all points of the syllabus and then do past papers to avoid this risk.
2. Do one or two past-papers open book before putting yourself under an exam condition situation.
Doing past papers ‘closed book’ and under time pressure is definitely a vital tool in preparation, as discussed in the next point. But, for maximum benefit, it’s a good idea to do a couple of papers without these added factors first.
This is because you are still in the ‘knowledge absorption and revision’ part of the learning process when you have the instant feedback of looking over the crib and your notes and reviewing your errors while you do the exam, rather than being in the ‘knowledge testing’ part of the learning process when you do papers under exam conditions.
It’s important to go through the first part of the process before the second to ensure your knowledge is already ingrained before you begin testing it.
3. Do papers under timed conditions once you’ve completed the first and second stages of past paper revision
Though we’ve stressed the importance of not rushing straight into doing full length, timed-conditions, closed-book past paper study, it’s still an absolutely crucial part of your revision in maths and the sciences.
Make sure to get through at least a few past papers in this manner; preparing for exams involves not only solidifying and testing your knowledge, but also becoming used to the pacing you’ll have to achieve to deal with the time pressure.
Ni pretty sana kukubaliwa kwamba wakati wa kusoma hisabati au moja ya sayansi, karatasi ya zamani ni njia kubwa ya kujiandaa kwa ajili ya mitihani. Intuition ni pretty rahisi <unk> mazoezi nini wewe <unk>re kwenda kuwa na kufanya, na wewe <unk>ll kuwa vizuri tayari! Hii ni kweli kabisa, lakini kuna zaidi ya hilo. Kutumia karatasi za zamani vizuri katika utafiti wako, unapaswa si tu indiscriminately grind mbali yao na kujaribu na kuboresha kwa njia ya kiasi kabisa. Badala yake, ni muhimu kuzingatia hasa wakati na mahali katika utafiti wako wao ni kwenda kuzalisha faida zaidi, na ni muhimu pia kutambua kwamba utafiti wa zamani karatasi kweli ina majukumu mengi katika mchakato wako wa kujifunza. Hapa ni baadhi ya sheria za kufuata wakati wa kutumia karatasi za zamani katika utafiti: 1. Usifanye karatasi za zamani mpaka umerekebisha vifaa vyote tayari Karatasi za zamani ni muhimu sana kwa njia nyingi, lakini kitu kimoja sio nzuri ni kukusaidia kufunika mtaala kwa kina. Hatari katika mbinu ya kuanza na karatasi za zamani ni kwamba unaweza kufanya kwa urahisi karatasi mbili au tatu za zamani bila kukutana na maswali juu ya matokeo maalum au aina ya tatizo, kufanya vizuri sana katika hizo, na kupata hisia bandia ya ujasiri katika ustadi wako katika mada bila kamwe kulenga udhaifu wako. Majarida ya zamani yameandikwa kwa ajili ya kupima mada mbalimbali katika kila somo, hata hivyo, hakuna karatasi moja ambayo itaelekea kila kitu unaweza kupimwa juu. Hakikisha kuchunguza kikamilifu pointi zote za mtaala na kisha kufanya karatasi za zamani ili kuepuka hatari hii. 2. Uwezekano wa kupata Kufanya moja au mbili ya zamani karatasi wazi kitabu kabla ya kuweka mwenyewe chini ya hali ya mtihani hali. Kufanya karatasi za zamani "kitabu kilichofungwa" na chini ya shinikizo la wakati ni dhahiri chombo muhimu katika maandalizi, kama ilivyojadiliwa katika hatua inayofuata. Lakini, kwa faida ya juu, ni wazo nzuri kufanya karatasi chache bila mambo haya ya ziada kwanza. Hii ni kwa sababu wewe bado ni katika'mafunzo ya kufyonzwa na marekebisho' sehemu ya mchakato wa kujifunza wakati una maoni ya papo hapo ya kuangalia juu ya kitanda na maelezo yako na kukagua makosa yako wakati wa kufanya mtihani, badala ya kuwa katika'majaribio ya maarifa' sehemu ya mchakato wa kujifunza wakati wa kufanya karatasi chini ya hali ya mtihani. Ni muhimu kwenda kupitia sehemu ya kwanza ya mchakato kabla ya pili ili kuhakikisha maarifa yako tayari ni ingrained kabla ya kuanza kujaribu. 3. Uwe na mtazamo wa kweli "Kama unafanya kazi chini ya masharti ya muda mara tu umemaliza hatua ya kwanza na ya pili ya marekebisho ya karatasi ya zamani, ingawa tumesisitiza umuhimu wa kutoroka moja kwa moja katika kufanya urefu kamili, masharti ya muda, utafiti wa karatasi ya zamani ya kitabu kilichofungwa, bado ni sehemu muhimu kabisa ya marekebisho yako katika hisabati na sayansi. """ Hakikisha kupata kupitia angalau karatasi chache za zamani kwa njia hii; kuandaa kwa ajili ya mitihani inahusisha si tu solidifying na kupima maarifa yako, lakini pia kuwa kutumika kwa pacing utakuwa na kufikia kukabiliana na shinikizo la muda.