5 Exam Techniques That Guarantee Extra Marks

Before writing a single digit, spend the first five minutes reading the entire paper from front to back. Do not solve anything — just read every question. This does three powerful things. First, it activates your subconscious: while you work on Question 3, your brain is already processing Question 17 in the background. Students who scan first regularly report that solutions “come to them” when they reach later questions, because their brain had a twenty-minute head start. Second, it identifies easy marks hiding at the end. Many students never reach the last page, but there are often two- or three-mark “state” or “write down” questions at the end that take thirty seconds. The scan ensures you know they exist. Third, it prevents panic. If Question 5 looks terrifying during the scan, you have mentally prepared. When you reach it during the exam, it does not feel like a surprise — you already have a plan: skip it if necessary and return later.

If you have read a question twice and cannot see how to start, circle the question number, skip it, and move on immediately. Do not spend a single second more. The reasoning is mathematical: if a four-mark question will take you eight minutes of struggle, those eight minutes could earn you eight marks on easier questions elsewhere. Spending eight minutes for a possible four marks when you could guarantee eight marks in the same time is a losing trade. The rule is simple: if after ninety seconds you have not written meaningful working, skip the question. Come back at the end of the paper. Often, the second time you read the question — with fresh eyes and less pressure — the method clicks. Many students tell me they solved their “impossible” question in two minutes on the return visit after struggling for eight minutes the first time. Your brain was processing it subconsciously while you worked on other questions.

Many students look at a five-mark question, cannot see the complete solution, and write nothing. This is the single biggest cause of lost marks across all exam boards. On a five-mark question, the first one or two marks are almost always awarded for starting the problem correctly — writing down a relevant formula, drawing a labelled diagram, or identifying the right approach. Even if you cannot finish the question, you can harvest these marks. Consider a trigonometry question asking you to find the length of side AB. You are not sure how to complete the calculation. But you can draw and label the triangle (one mark), identify it as a cosine rule question (one mark), write down the cosine rule formula (one mark), and substitute the given values (one mark). That is four out of five marks for a question you thought you “could not do.” The only mark you missed was the final calculation. Mark harvesting across a full paper — writing something on every question, even if incomplete — typically adds ten to fifteen marks.

Checking your answers does not mean re-doing the question. That takes twice as long and you will probably make the same mistake again. Instead, use the Backwards Check: take your answer and work backwards to verify it fits the original question. Solved an equation and got x = 7? Substitute x = 7 back into the original equation — does it balance? Found the area is 48.3 cm²? Does that look reasonable for the shape shown in the diagram? Calculated a probability of 1.3? That is impossible — probabilities cannot exceed 1, so you know there is an error without re-doing a single line of working. The Backwards Check catches errors in thirty seconds that would take five minutes to find by re-solving. It also catches “reasonableness” errors: a person cannot be 2.3 metres tall, a car cannot travel at 400 miles per hour, and a triangle cannot have an angle of 200 degrees.

The last ten minutes of a maths exam are the most valuable minutes of the entire paper — if you use them correctly. Most students either frantically try to finish a question they are stuck on, or sit doing nothing because they have “finished.” Both are wrong. If you have ten minutes remaining, follow this exact sequence. First, spend two minutes returning to any questions you skipped — read them one more time with fresh eyes and write anything you can for partial marks. Second, spend three minutes running the Backwards Check on your highest-mark questions — a five-mark question with an error is worth verifying before a one-mark question. Third, spend three minutes re-reading every question that includes rounding or simplification instructions — “give your answer to 3 significant figures” or “give your answer in its simplest form” — and confirm you actually followed the instruction. Fourth, spend two minutes scanning for blanks and writing at least a formula or diagram beside any completely unanswered question.