Why do I always do worse in tests?

schoolpupil2003

So I recently sat a biology test as our real exam is coming up. I was a little nervous but nothing to serious because i had studied very hard for it. By that I mean, focusing on my weakest areas (even if i didn't want to) and memorising marking instructions for 4 mark questions, along with all the biology knowledge that you should know. I came out of the test very confident and happy as i thought i would score in the high 80s at worst! i got my results back and the score was only the high 70s. Many people would not be upset with that as it is an A but there is a lot of competition and from what people were saying I definitely was more prepared.

Im quite scared for the final exam now, any thoughts??

Reply 1

username3782690

Original post by schoolpupil2003

Don't be nervous?

Reply 2

MimiElf

Have you gone through what you got wrong in the test? If you're getting high 70s, you obviously understand the content very well and remember most of it.
If you find you were just forgetting a few things, maybe do more testing to ensure you get perfect answers. Seneca Learning (exam board specific) or Quizlet (fun little quizzes) can be good for this
If you got a few areas wrong - ie your understanding wasn't quite right - maybe try and look up different explanations to see if it helps make it clearer. Youtube channels can be good - freesciencelessons, primrose kitten, science with hazel etc - and Seneca Learning also has explanations which go well..
If you just don't get full marks in a lot of the questions, especially the longer one, it will probably be a matter of exam technique. try and do more practice of past paper questions, and keep going really thoroughly through the markscheme. With Biology, a lot of it is literally using the word they want so learn all of the nuances!

Reply 3

Lexi4096

The exams are really specific so even if you know the answer they may want you to have said it another way using specific words - just exam technique really :smile: