Why does entrance exam technique matter?

With so many students currently preparing for entrance exams for Trafford’s grammar schools, it is not surprising that many parents and carers are concerned about entrance exam technique. Whether you are preparing to sit entrance exams in GL Assessment format or CEM format, how your child approaches their exam papers is extremely important.

Find out how to improve exam technique at www.bettertuition.co.uk.

The above note isn’t real, but it represents a hot topic: how can we make sure children don’t lose marks through not answering all the questions.  The answer is by improving entrance exam technique.

The importance of answering every question

Firstly, it’s important to show child just how many marks they have lost through missing out answers.  Point out that multiple choice answers are easy to guess and you have a 20% chance of guessing correctly if there are five options (a-e) available.

Next, try a little exercise.  Ask them to write ten answers, each of which must be a, b, c, d or e.  There are no questions to be answered. Your child is simply guessing. You then mark them according to the following ‘mark scheme’: 1) a 2) b 3) e 4) b 5) c 6) d 7) e 8) d 9) a 10) c.

You’d have to be pretty unlucky not to pick up at least one mark in the above exercise, so hopefully this will show your child the benefits of guessing – whilst also demonstrating that it’s still better to know the answer to the question!

Why is it good to guess?

Guessing is, of course, the last resort not the first, but it is an essential entrance exam technique.  At Better Tuition, we aim to cover every possible topic so that your child will, in theory, know how to answer every single question.  However, time is very strictly limited in entrance exams for Trafford’s grammar schools, so there is very often not enough time to spend on each question and guessing becomes essential.

How to guess effectively in entrance exams

1.  Never guess straight away – put a ring around any troublesome questions and go onto the next one.  The ring is there so that you can easily identify which ones you missed out when you come to check your answers.

2.  When you have answered all the other questions, you can then approach the troublesome ones.  The second time you look at the question you may very well find it easier (our brains sometimes work away at a problem in the background while we concentrate on something else), so you can work out the answer.  If you don’t know how to work out the answer, make a guess and move on to the next troublespome question.

3.  When there are two minutes left, take your finger and run it down the answer paper, checking that you have answered every single question.  Guess any you have not yet answered.  If you don’t do this, you are throwing marks away.

Can Better Tuition help prepare your child for entrance exams in Trafford? Call Paul or Christine on 0161 748 3912 today.

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Visit our entrance exam page for up-to-date information about entrance exams at Urmston Grammar, Stretford Grammar, Sale Grammar, Altrincham Grammar School for Boys, Altrincham Grammar School for Girls, Loreto and Ambrose.

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Entrance exam technique can be tricky for a ten year-old so we will soon be posting on: how to speed up in exams; how to avoid making careless mistakes and how to conquer nerves.  In the meantime parents and carers can post their queries here or read more about the six ways we can help your child  through entrance exams (four are free).