Past papers are crucial
Past papers are extremely important in allowing you to attain high grades in your IGCSE exams. By continuously solving questions you are essentially training your brain to understand what type of answers the examiners want in certain questions. Moreover, as you are doing so, you will be reinforcing your knowledge. Really, past papers are a win-win-win situation – Do NOT skip this crucial step in your revision!
How should I use them?
The main idea behind past papers is to use them to reinforce your knowledge and at the same time, get to understand the type of questions that examiners like to ask and the answers that they are looking for.
It is wise to start solving past papers as soon as you believe that you have more-or-less grasped most of the main concepts in the syllabus.
As I suggested above – It is definitely recommended to have physical copies. As you are solving the questions, bear in mind that you should not be spending too long on each question. You should attempt to halt ALL waffle and answer the questions with just the key words/phrases that they are looking for. These key words and phrases in each topic/subject will become more and more apparent to you as explore the marking scheme.
As you are solving the questions and marking your answers, it is very important that you are attempting to learn while doing so. It is not just a matter of “correct” or “not correct”. For example, if your answer was correct, were there alternative answers that could’ve also gotten you the marks? If so then write them down and attempt to memorize them. If your answer was wrong, make sure you fully understand what the correct answer was, and how it was derived.
Useful tip: Highlight the questions you got wrong and re-do the same questions a day later
The more papers you solve, the more knowledge that you will reinforce.
Conclusion
- Reinforces conceptual knowledge via repetition
- Reveals key words/phrases that examiners are looking for
- Highlights weak areas in your knowledge (i.e. if you are consistently getting questions about a particular topic wrong, then you know that is an area of weakness)
- Active way to study (Surely solving questions are more exciting than writing notes 24/7)
Hey sir,
You own the most amazing and helpful website online.
I really appreciate your hard work ❤️
I really hope that you will check on the rest of the revision topics because they are not opening ! Is it for you not finishing the revision notes yet?
I hope that you will read my comment and solve the problem soon
Thank you.