Debunking Practice Papers Checklist

What is this worksheet?

You can use this worksheet to remind you of the three steps to balance your use of
practice papers with other revision methods. These three steps can help you
achieve a higher level of mastery over your content and increase your retention
significantly. Make sure you check off each sub-step as you progress.

STEP 1: SEEK
Before starting your revision:

Acknowledge that the purpose of doing revision is to seek gaps in your

knowledge. The more gaps you find in your revision, the fewer gaps you have during
your assessments and exams! When you're starting your revision, prioritise
challenging questions and revision techniques.

STEP 2: REFLECT
During your process of revision, you will find many mistakes. This is a good thing
because it means you can now fix them. Make sure to not simply brush off your
mistakes as “silly mistakes”. Instead, engage in a process of reflection on the
mistakes you make. Remember, mistakes are not the opposite of success, they are a
necessary stepping stone for achieving consistent and reliable success.

WHAT - You want to list what the question is, what your incorrect answer is and
what the correct answer is.

Example 1:

QUESTION: “You fully submerge two balls of different materials into separate
beakers filled with water.

Ball A is a rubber ball of 100cm^3 and 800g.

Ball B is a metal ball of 50cm^3 and 800g.”

Which ball will displace more water, and why?

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MY ANSWER: I said that Ball B would displace more water since metal is usually
heavier than rubber.

CORRECT ANSWER: Ball A displaces more water as it has a larger volume, regardless
of its material.

WHY - Take a look at your answer and the correct answer. Identify why you got
the question wrong. You should investigate the process used to get to the answer.

Example 2:

When I took a look at the question, I noticed that the differences between the balls
were the material it was made out of and the volume. I thought the volume was not
the contributing factor to displacing the water, and I thought it was material.
Intuitively, metal is heavier than rubber but in this question here, I have mixed up the
concepts of material and volume. It’s actually the volume of the ball that determines
the amount of water that is displaced.

HOW - Taking a look at your process dissection in the “WHY“ question, determine
how you can change up your process to arrive to the correct answer.

Example 3: Now when considering the displacement of water, I need to remember the
only factor I need to consider is the volume of the ball, the dimensions of the ball (ie.
radius/circumference) and the degree to which the ball is submerged. Factors such
as material, density and weight will not be something that needs to be considered.

STEP 3: EXPLORE
Diversify the methods you use during your revision. Instead of just using practice
papers or one method of revision, integrate multiple methods to revise. This is
because you want to be using the start of your revision, seeking as many gaps as
possible from multiple angles.

You can try these two interleaving methods to get started:

Teaching an imaginary student

Teaching your content to an imaginary student or a friend will force you to explain
the concepts in a relational and simplistic manner. This is better than rote
memorisation as this makes you consider multiple angles in which the information
can be taught and expressed.
 Challenging questions

Creating deliberate challenging questions to test your knowledge is an extremely

effective way to consider angles that you may have missed during your note-taking.
Be sure to create questions you do NOT know the answer to. Challenge yourself!

Once you have integrated multiple angles and found as many gaps as possible, you
can then do practice papers to become more familiar to the exam format.

STEP 4: JOIN OUR COMMUNITY!

Access our public Discord Channel, with overr 20,000 students, by scanning the QR
code! Engage with like-minded learners, ask questions, and explore free resources to
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