The achievement of receiving 11 A’s in the mock exams is not as difficult as it may appear at first. Realistically, anyone can achieve these results if they are willing to put in the hard work through their studies. However, this is easier said than done of course. First of all, you must be aware of how to study effectively.
1.Hard Work
Studying is not all about the amount of time you put in it’s the amount of work you put in during that time. Although there are many theories as to how to study effectively there is really only one fail-safe way to perform well in exams and that is to put in the hard work during the year and coming up to the exams. Having said this hard work can be aided by clever techniques and the right mind-set.
2.Create a schedule
One such clever technique is to plan your study schedule realistically. Many enthusiastic students decide to study five hours a night but realistically on a Friday evening will you want to study five hours? No. Creating a schedule is also a way of motivation because each time you tick something off on your list you feel a sense of accomplishment and you can see your own progression. A key way to stay motivated is to remind yourself regularly of how satisfied and proud you will feel when you achieve exactly what you want to achieve in your exams, especially if your goal is to get 11 A’s in the exams.
3.Be well organised
A vital technique to study effectively is to be well organised. Title all your notes well and make your writing easy to read. Have binders or folders for each subject. Make sure all the stuff you are studying from is logically laid out as this will help you remember it. When all of your work in each of your subjects is well organised, you are perfectly prepared to overcome any obstacles you may encounter throughout your studies – maximising your chances of achieving 11 A’s in the mocks.
4.The Right Mindset
Another way to achieve 11 A’s is to have the correct mind-set. You should only study for yourself and not because a teacher or parent is telling you to. You should realise the benefit of working hard in school and achieving good grades instead of another person telling you this is what you should do. People must realise the study they do helps them in many ways. It helps them to become a better person and also become statistically wealthier than a person who has no time for study and simply does not bother.
5.Cover everything in time
An obvious lesson of advice for studying for the mocks is to study all the areas and topics in each subject – you must do this of course. You must also be constantly tackling past Junior Certificate exams and learning questions that frequently appear on the papers. One key thing you have to do is to quickly learn how you should go about answering the various types of questions that are asked in the exams, and what the examiner will expect in your answer. You may know everything in the course, but if you do not know how to answer a specific question, you will not get full marks.
6.Avoid tasks that take up a lot of time like note writing just before the exam
One of the most important pieces of advice you need in order to get 11 A’s in the mocks is to not waste your time copying out chapter after chapter from one of your school books. You must use your time wisely, and to do this, you need to develop your own version of these chapters, in a shortened version which allows you to learn these topics quickly and perfectly. You should be constantly reading these chapters too, and practising past exam questions on all the topics. The process of writing long sets of notes can be a huge waste of your valuable time. You should focus on learning the material, but in smarter ways which use your time more effectively.
7.Focus on the stuff you know as well as the stuff you haven’t covered
The mocks exams can be often be seen as more difficult than the actual Junior Certificate, as you have probably not finished the courses in each of your subjects. Therefore, you must learn everything you have covered very strongly in order to let yourself feel more confident going into these exams. You also must study the past exams in each of the subjects, and see if there is any areas that you have not studied in class yet, but which always appear on the papers. If there is, and if you do want to get 11 A’s in the mocks, you must make yourself aware of these topics, and study these few topics to ensure you have the ability to achieve 11 A’s in your exams.
Last but not least a good way to prepare for exams is to sign up to our online study aid, www.jclearn.ie. JC-Learn is a website which simplifies the Junior Certificate for students and provides many resources. On JC-Learn there are notes, A-grade exam answers, study tips, forums and a ‘message an admin’ service, which replies personally. Our website offers exactly what any student needs in order to achieve high grades in the Junior Certificate. This modern way of studying is the way forward and can drastically increase your chances of getting the grade you want, especially if that means getting 11 A’s in your exams.