2nd August 2019 9:00
By Blue Tutors
We must have written so many articles on tutors trying to get the balance between developing understanding and helping students with exam technique. Especially close to exams tutors make decisions about when it makes sense to teach something properly, and when the best plan is to give the student the tools to get some easy marks without properly understanding. It all comes down to time management.
A subtler point is whether students understand the difference between the two types of teaching. Something students often say as exams near is “what do I put down?” which is a clear indication that they can identify the difference between feeling like they understand something but also knowing that they have to use the correct keywords or method to be rewarded by the examiner.
As students continue through education they tend to become more focussed on not dropping marks in exams. This could be because they understand the exam “game” better as they mature, but it also might be because exams become increasingly important as we move from primary school to GCSEs to A Levels.
Is any of this important? Well good tutors try to explain when they’re helping students to play the academic game of ticking exam boxes because they want students to know when something hasn’t been covered properly. This is particularly important when the student is considering studying the subject at a higher level. A far too common problem is when a student is able to do well in an exam through exam technique and is then massively out of their depth when continuing to study that subject the following year. For example, in the step up between GCSE and A Level.