Realistically I don’t know if you’ll be able to do it in days, but you can certainly make a drastic improvement between now and your real exams. I wouldn’t worry too much about what you get in your mocks; they’re really not that important, just use them as an indication as to where you need to improve for your real exams. I’m current Y12 so just done my GCSEs, went from a 4 to a 9 between Y11 December mocks and real exams so here’s how I did it:
- Study the mark scheme and ensure you understand all the assessment objectives and required skills for each question
- Look at model answers (you can find them easily on Google) - if you want grade 8/9 you should be aiming to hit L3/4 (ideally L4) on the mark scheme in your answers. Follow the way the answers are structured for each question in your own answers. Also use PEEL paragraph structure - you can do this for all questions in Section A on both papers (except paper 2 Q2)
- Watch YouTube tutorials on how to answer each question - Mr Bruff does good summary videos for each question, Mr Salles Teaches English does more in-depth ones if you’re struggling with a particular question. Mr Everything English is also good
- Timed practice - number of marks per question is roughly how long you should spend e.g Q3 is 12 marks so around 12-15 mins. Timings are tight so this is important. Do past papers and see if you can get your teacher to mark and give you feedback
- For Question 5, pre-learn a paragraph structure and ensure you know lots of language and structural devices you can use eg rhetorical questions. Spend 5 mins planning, 40 mins writing. It’s very much quality over quantity - aim for 2-3 pages. Good and varied SPAG is key - examiners love semicolons if you can use them correctly
If you have any further or more specific questions feel free to ask : )