This is the method I use for exam coaching – by using it, I have helped a number of students improve by two or more grades at GCSE and A level (UK exams):

1 I get hold of at least the past 5 papers for the exam(s) they are going to sit.

2 I sit by them and work through the oldest paper, explaining carefully the methods I am using for each question and allowing my student to ask anything they like about topics covered. If the student is confident, I let them work through any questions they think they can do, explaining the topic to me as they go. This is by far the longest session we do and it may even take two sessions to get through, depending on the time allowed for the exam.

3 I tell the student to go and do the second paper on their own, taking as much time as they like over it, and using notes or text books if they really need to.

4 I mark the paper without the student but tell the student their mark as quickly as I can. I then go through the paper with them, praising their methods where they were correct and carefully correcting any mistakes or filling in gaps – again allowing any questions and taking great care that the student understands the methods for corrections.

5 I ask the student to do the third paper taking as long as they like but not looking anything up. Then I repeat step 4 for that paper.

6 I ask the student to do the fourth paper under proper exam conditions – to time and without looking things up. Then I repeat step 4.

7 I read through the syllabus for the paper with the student and we check whether there are any topics we haven’t covered. I make up questions (or find older papers) to cover these. We do these together.

8 I ask the student to do the fifth paper under proper exam conditions. I repeat step 4.

At this stage, the student is usually getting marks in the 90%s, having steadily improved throughout the process, and can confidently go into the exam and aim for a high grade. If I have been able to get more papers, and if we have time, we continue step 8, building up the student’s confidence and speed.

I have found this method extremely successful and efficient, particularly for Maths exams though I have used it for other subjects too. It can be followed comfortably in a couple of months, meeting up once or twice a week and, in an emergency, it can be compressed into an even shorter time.

I would be very interested to hear other methods for exam coaching, particularly for languages as I am much newer to language teaching (I have been coaching for Maths exams since I was about 14, which is a very long time ago!)

What methods would you recommend?

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Still interested in replies about coaching for language exams and wanted to add 1 to the post count :)

Very interesting, Mair. I usually don’t offer exam coaching (at least not this type of exam), but I can see that it is very beneficial. Thumbs up! :)

i will try this. however, it can sometimes be difficult to have access to the past exams~ so much ado

i remember a university experience when i asked to see an exam i had recently sat. the claws came out~ both the administration and the lecturer whose permission i asked had their hackles up.

why are some so defensive about students who want to be apply their learnt knowledge and to be responsible for their own education? Of course we are questioning~ it is what we are trained to do!

I am glad you are going to give this a go Charmayne. It is strange how institutions can be protective about information which will help students succeeding. Things have improved a lot over time here in the UK and most exam boards provide some past papers free and some can be bought. You can also buy marking schemes and examiner’s reports and this really does help in understanding what will be required of students. I wish you lots of success and let me know if I can help :-)

When I was doing my GCSE exams this is exactly what I did. Great method to ‘get inside the examiners’ heads’. Highly recommended.

It looks like you’ve come up with an excellent, finely honed coaching method, Mair. I am not familiar with GCSE or A level exams but your method seems similar to the approach I took in preparing for the GRE exam in the U.S.

Language tests, however, can require a totally different approach. For example, I have coached thousands of students before they took the IELTS speaking test and from that experience, I do not believe that previous exams can help students develop the language skills they need to do well. Students of language must simultaneously deal with pronunciation difficulties, word choice, sentence structure, and comprehension issues.

To do that well requires practicing a variety of skills that I’ve attempted to explain on some old web pages which you can see here: http://www.teacherjoe.us/IELTSSpeakPractice.html. The design of those pages is not very good and the content should probably be updated, but it gives you an idea of what language students need to succeed on a test such IELTS.

That site looks really excellent to me Joe. I have had a quick look and i see you have managed to explain clearly, with examples, exactly what is required for the tests. I think your students are lucky to have such a thorough teacher and I expect they do extremely well.

Hi Mair,
Pretty interesting method. I like it.

Somehow inspite of teaching students for over 10 years, I have not been able to develop a good format ! I’ll try to copy yours :)

I will try it out with some new students who want a comprehensive course with me. As I look back, I notice, most of the students I have taught for exams have been through a formal course before with Kaplan/ Princeton/ others before they come to me. I typically found that they needed help in specific areas.

I let students tell me which areas they want to focus on and try to approach similar problems in 3-4 differnt ways trying to gauge which method he is more confortable with. Once I have found where their strengths lie, I try to refocus each question to an area that he is ideally more comfortable in.

General sessions are either
1) Q&A – most of my classes
2) Topics- like speed, time, dictance- I’ll explain basic concepts and relations. Some easy ways to remember the formula. Give them sample problems. Ask them to solve it.
See where they went wrong. provide hints. But I try my best to get them to solve.
Then i typically suggest some short calculation steps – but I would prefer them to be more confident and solve it accurately than faster.

Thanks very much Kamal – approval from you is much appreciated. I think in fact we are doing very similar things, though I am relying on performance on exam papers to indicate where help is needed, while you are using more student perception. I have a reputation in my home town for rescuing students at the last minute and I think what I do works well for the kind of last minute help often required of me. With more time available, I would certainly encourage more input from the student on where they would like to focus effort.