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how would u suggest studying after mocks? what techniques should we use? do u recommend focusing on yearly past papers or topical?
After mocks, it's important to refine your weak areas. Identify topics you are weak in based on your mock performance and if you are struggling with any concept, focus only on its topical Qs to strengthen that area. Topical past papers are good for targeted practice. Use them only for topics/concepts you find difficult. Keep doing yearly papers at the same time. Review your mistakes and work on the related concepts. Once you feel confident in your revision, shift your focus to yearly papers. Yearly papers help with time management and full paper practice. Do full papers under exam conditions, without breaks/extra time. Focus on stuff that needs to memorized like definitions, equations, processes etc. Avoid passive revision (re-reading notes/book), instead actively test yourself.
AOA. I wanted to ask now a day due to upcoming exams i have been trying to do past papers but mostly topical. The thing is it's quite difficult trying to find topical papers as in papa Cambridge it's difficult. There's alot of adds and overall it's hard to obtain them. Other website's that I have encountered give old past papers, although a few questions came from them that I remember, the other topics in that website for the particular subject was just wrong. For example the chapter 6 momentum in that website was wrong. So I really overall wanted advice on how to find these questions and what website should be my go to. Thank you in advance.
Walaikum Assalam. Here are a few websites I use and recommend: Exam Mate - It offers free topical questions from 2017 onwards. - But requires a subscription for access to the most recent ones. - It's great for quick quizzes after revising a topic. MarkHint - It lets you filter questions by topic, year, variant, and difficulty etc. - And is useful for targeted practice. Rocket Revise - It provides downloadable topical past paper questions. - Not sure if they have the latest ones, but it has definitely helped me.
I wanted to ask about past papers, what do you say about which till which year should I practice? And should I only practice the variant in my region, or is it better to practice all variants? And also, should I do topical first, or should I immediately start yearly past paper? Also, thanks in advance for answering.
Right now as mocks and CIEs are very close, you should complete your revision first. Then if you are struggling with any concept, do only its topical Qs to strengthen that area. Once you feel confident about your revision, switch to yearly papers as soon as possible and practice with a timer for proper exam practice. Keep reviewing topics along the way. Yearly paper practice will only be effective if you have a good grip on concepts. I suggest doing all variants because it gives you an idea on different question styles and how the examiner tests the same concept differently. Prioritize recent years, then work backward and do as many papers as you can! Keep a target of at least 5 years' worth of past papers before CIE. Also, keep reviewing your mistakes and revisiting those concepts to avoid repeating them.
What study techniques or strategies have you found to be most effective for achieving higher marks, and why?
Throughout the year, whenever a chapter was covered in school, I would read the book (for physics and chemistry) and go through my notes to make sure my concepts were clear. Then, I would solve topical past papers until I was satisfied that I fully understood the topic. I would do this for every chapter in every subject until the syllabus was complete. This approach helped ensure that my concepts for all topics were clear and that I was also prepared for any quizzes in school. After the mock exams, I quickly reviewed my notes and started working on the yearly past papers. I did around 6-7 years of past paper practice. For physics and chemistry, each question in the past papers presents a different scenario, but the concept applied is the same, so I would try to think about the concepts I learned for the related topic in each question. For math, it's all about practice since each question follows a similar pattern. The key is to practice as many past papers as you can.