By the Tadrees team
You can know the syllabus well and still lose marks through poor exam technique. A few simple habits make a real difference on the day. Practise them in your mock tests so they feel natural when it counts.
Divide the total time by the number of questions to find the average time per question, then keep a little time in reserve for review. If you have 60 minutes for 50 questions, you have a little over a minute for each, so a question that has taken you two minutes needs to be flagged and left. Checking the clock after every ten questions helps you stay on schedule without wasting time on constant watching.
On the first pass, answer every question you can do confidently and quickly, and mark the ones you are unsure about. On the second pass, return to the marked questions with the time you have saved. This way you collect all the easy marks first and avoid spending ten minutes on a single hard question while easy ones wait unanswered.
Read the question stem carefully, underlining words such as not, except, only, always and first. Read all four options before choosing, because a good-sounding first option can be beaten by a better fourth one. For calculation questions, check which unit the options use.
When you are not sure, remove the options you know are wrong. Often two are clearly impossible, such as a number of the wrong size or a statement that contradicts a basic fact. Choosing between the remaining two gives you a far better chance than a blind guess. Absolute statements like “always” or “never” are often wrong in science, but check each one against what you know.
Check whether wrong answers lose marks. If there is no negative marking, answer every question, using elimination to improve your odds. If there is negative marking, only guess when you can eliminate at least one or two options with confidence, and otherwise leave the question for a later decision.
Many marks are lost on the answer sheet rather than in the head. Mark the bubble for the right question number, fill it completely as instructed, and check regularly that your answers have not slipped a row. Do a final check of the sheet in the last few minutes rather than changing answers without a reason. Your first instinct is usually right unless you have found a clear mistake.
Every student meets questions they cannot do. Take a slow breath, mark it, and move on. One unknown question does not affect the next one, so do not let it spoil your focus. Confidence and a steady pace are part of the skill, and they improve with practice.
Take full timed practice sessions in the last weeks before the exam, in a quiet place, without notes. Afterwards review your timing and mistakes, as described in our guide to using practice tests. Tadrees offers an end-of-exam results mode for exactly this purpose, so you can rehearse real exam conditions.
Try free sample questions with explanations, or create a free account for full practice exams and progress reports.