- Bring the correct equipment (a pen, pencil, protractor, ruler, a pair of compasses, rubber and a calculator for a calculator paper).
- Make sure you know how to use your calculator. Be familiar with the functions and buttons you are very likely to use in your exam.
- Take care of the standard of presentation of your work. Use black/blue pen for your writing and pencil for diagrams.
- Don’t be put off by harder questions. You don’t have to answer the questions in the order they are written. Do the ones you can do and come back to the other ones later.
- Read each question carefully. Make sure you turn over one page at a time not two, or you’ll miss some questions and valuable marks too.
- Make sure your pencil marks in constructions and diagrams are clearly visible.
- Use a ruler for all constructions and transformation questions.
- Draw lines and plot points on graphs accurately.
- Look at the marks awarded. Even if you only start your answer, you can get some marks. Show your working out especially when the question is worth more than one mark. If you write answers only without working, you run the risk of no marks awarded.
- Do your working in the space provided. If you need more space, state clearly where this extra working is to be found.
- Make sure your teacher/examiner can distinguish between some of the digits, as 4 and 9, 1 and 7, 0 must not look like 6, etc.
- Don’t use text language as ‘enuf’, ‘sum1’ etc.
- Decimal points need to be shown clearly. Write 0.25 rather than .25.
- When adding/subtracting without a calculator, keep the units, tens, etc. in the correct columns.
- For big sums estimate what the answer should be. It will help you to spot a mistake.
- If you are asked to give your answer as a fraction in its simplest form, then cancel it down (simplify it), or you’ll not get the full mark.
- If you have to round your final answer to one or two decimal places or significant figures, then do it or you’ll not get the full mark.
- Always check factorisations by multiplying out the brackets again.
- When solving simultaneous equations, always check that the values you got are correct by putting them back in one of your original equations.
- Remember to write the units of measurements if asked to do so.
- Don’t mix the x-coordinates with the y-coordinates.
- Remember BIDMAS!
- Don’t confuse the area with perimeter. If the length of a square is 3cm, the area is 9cm2 (3x3) and the perimeter is 12cm (3+3+3+3 or 3x4).
- Don’t confuse a reflex angle with an obtuse angle.
- Probability should be written as a decimal, fraction or a percentage not as ‘3 out of 6’, ‘3 in 6’, ‘3:6’ etc.
- Don’t get confused with the median and mean.
- Draw cumulative frequency graphs and quadratic functions as a smooth curve not to join 2 points with straight lines.
- Unless you are asked to show your method, don’t use non-calculator methods on a calculator paper. You can make simple arithmetic errors, contradict yourself and loose some marks.
- KEEP AN EYE ON THE TIME! If you finish before the end, go back and check your answers!
YOU DON’T HAVE TO GET ALL THE ANSWERS CORRECT TO PASS THE EXAM!
GOOD LUCK!