Our Mock Exams start the first full week back after the Christmas break. We see the Mock Exams as being an incredibly beneficial experience for our students. Helping them to see that is part of the challenge. Having Mock Exams can help students to start revising early, to practise effective revision strategies, to improve their knowledge, to familiarise themselves with pressure, and act as a guide moving forward.

• Motivating students to start revision early

In essence, summer exams feel like a lifetime away for teenagers so some will only really start working hard for them after Easter. By having mock exams halfway through the year, our students have the opportunity to focus their attention and effort earlier.

• Practising effective revision strategies

Mock Exams let students practise revision strategies that are proven to be more helpful and discover what works best for them.

• Improving knowledge

Instead of seeing an exam as a potentially threatening event or as some sort of judgement on their ability, we try to help our students to see their mock exams as a handy way of improving their knowledge and memory. Also, if students have a particularly bad mock exam, better to have the “shock in the mock”, than the final exam. It can act as a call to action that perhaps they need to do more work, change revision strategies and work on developing the skills needed to perform under pressure.

• Practising under exam conditions

It takes time and practice to perform well under pressure. If the final summer exams are the first time students experience these conditions, it can be a lottery as to how they react.

• Identifying topics that need attention

Doing mocks early enough in the year gives students time before the real thing to target areas that need improvement. Mock exam results can identify how best to spend the coming months for our students. Once these areas are identified, it is then a case of putting in the hours. It is not enough for students to think about what they need to do better, it is the action and the doing that really makes a difference.

Please find Year 12 and Year 13 mock exam timtables attached below. Year 12 mock exams run from Monday 16th until Friday 20th January. Year 13 mock exams run from Monday 9th January until Friday 20th January.