Exam technique: read, plan, answer, check.
Each unit of the modular course is a written paper of 1 hour 40 minutes for 90 marks. That is about a minute a mark, with a few minutes left to check. These habits help you use that time well.
The marks tell you how much to write
- One mark is usually one creditable point. A 3-mark Explain needs three linked points.
- Aim for about a minute a mark. If one question is eating your time, move on and come back to it.
- The space given is a guide: if you fill it with one idea, you have probably not made enough points.
Quick check A question is worth 4 marks and asks you to explain. How many points should you plan?
Answer: Four separate, linked points, in a chain: one for each mark.
Read the question twice
- Box the command word. It tells you the job (see the Command words A–Z).
- Underline the context: which organism, which process, which part of the graph.
- Circle any units and anything the question tells you to use, such as “use the data” or “use the information in Figure 2”.
Try it: “Use the graph to [describe] how the rate of transpiration changes as [wind speed] increases.” The job is to describe, the context is wind speed, and the data must come from the graph.
Quick check What two things does “Use the table to explain…” ask for?
Answer: Data quoted from the table, and reasons (Explain). An answer with only one of the two cannot get full marks.
Use the data
- Quote values with their units: “from 12 to 40 bubbles per minute”, not “it goes up a lot”.
- Process the numbers when you can: give the difference or the percentage change.
- Describe the whole pattern, including where it changes, such as where it levels off or peaks.
Model line: The rate increased by 28 bubbles per minute between 10 and 40 units of light, then stayed at 40 bubbles per minute.
Quick check A heart rate rises from 70 to 140 beats per minute. What is the percentage increase?
Answer: (140 − 70) ÷ 70 × 100 = 100%.
Key terms, not vague words
- Use the scientific term: “diffusion”, “active site”, “denatured”, “limiting factor”.
- Avoid “it” and “they” when it is not clear what you mean. Name the thing.
- Watch the classic slips: respiration releases energy (it does not make it); a pathogen is a microorganism or infectious agent (including viruses) that causes disease; enzymes are denatured, not killed.
Model line: At 70 °C the shape of the active site changes, so the substrate no longer fits and the enzyme is denatured.
Quick check Rewrite this so it would earn the mark: “The heat kills the enzyme.”
Answer: The high temperature denatures the enzyme: the shape of its active site changes, so the substrate no longer fits.
Calculations
- Write the method or formula, then the numbers you put in, then the answer with its unit.
- Give the number of decimal places or significant figures the question asks for. If it does not say, match the data.
- Check the answer is sensible: a percentage of germinating seeds cannot be over 100%.
Model line: Mean = (12 + 14 + 13) ÷ 3 = 13 seconds.
Quick check Why write the working even when you are sure of the answer?
Answer: If the final answer is wrong, the working can still earn method marks. A bare wrong answer earns nothing.
Check before you finish
- Re-read each question and your answer: did you answer the question asked, or a question you hoped for?
- Look for missed parts, such as a table to complete or a graph line to draw.
- Multiple choice (What, Why, Which): read every option, cross out the ones that are wrong, and give one answer only.
Quick check You have six minutes left. What is the best use of them?
Answer: Find any questions left blank and write something for each, then check the units and the working in calculations.