Good marks are a different problem from passing
A candidate who passes with 55 percent and one who scores 85 percent usually studied a similar number of hours. The difference is where the hours went and what reached the paper. Passing is about knowing enough; good marks are about converting what you know into marks with almost nothing lost.
| What a pass needs | What good marks need | |
|---|---|---|
| Coverage | The heavy, frequent topics | Every topic on the syllabus, including the rare ones that separate the top band |
| Recall | The main points, roughly | Exact terms, formulas and steps, produced from memory under time |
| Answers | Something relevant for each question | Every mark on each question: all parts, all steps, the key words the scheme pays for |
| Timing | Finish the paper | Finish with ten minutes to check, with the easy questions done perfectly |
| Feedback | Know which topics were weak | Know which marks were lost and why, question by question, and fix the cause |
If you are not yet sure of passing, start with How to pass an exam, which covers the syllabus, the pass mark and the exam room. This guide assumes you pass and want more.
What counts as good marks depends on your board: a grade 7 to 9 at GCSE, an A1 or B2 at WAEC, an A at KCSE, 90 percent and above at CBSE, a 6 or 7 at IB, a distinction or first at university. The method below is the same for all of them, because every board awards marks the same way: for specific things written on the paper.
Step 1: learn exactly how the marks are awarded
Top scorers know what the marker is told to reward. That information is public, and almost nobody who scores in the middle reads it.
- Get the mark schemes for the last three papers. They are usually free on the board's website or from your teacher. For each question they list the points, steps or features that earn marks, and how many. Read them beside the question paper, not alone.
- Read the examiner report, if your board publishes one. UK boards, Cambridge International and many university departments publish a report after each exam saying what candidates did well and where they lost marks. It is the marker telling you the answer. Read it once, write down the three mistakes it repeats, and avoid them.
- Work out the marking style for each question type. Short questions are usually point-marked: one mark per correct fact, step or term. Long answers and essays are usually level-marked: the marker places the whole answer in a band (for example "clear, well-supported explanation") and then picks a mark inside it. Point-marked questions reward completeness; level-marked questions reward structure and judgement.
- Make a list of the words the scheme pays for. Mark schemes name the key terms a full answer must contain. A vague paraphrase often earns nothing where the exact term earns the mark. Put those terms on cards.
| Marking style | Where it is used | What earns full marks |
|---|---|---|
| Point-marked | Short answers, definitions, calculations, labelled diagrams | Every point on the list, in the subject's words; every step of the working; units and the final answer |
| Level-marked | Essays, extended explanations, evaluations | A direct answer to the question, developed points with evidence, both sides where asked, a conclusion that follows |
| Method and accuracy | Maths, physics, chemistry, economics calculations | Method marks for the right approach even if the arithmetic slips; accuracy marks for the correct final answer |
| Best answer | Multiple choice | Every question attempted (unless wrong answers are penalised); the options you can rule out crossed off first |
Step 2: study for full recall through the term, not in the last week
Marks in the top band come from material that is fully learned, not recently read. Fully learned means you can produce it, in full, from a blank page, weeks after you studied it. That takes a weekly habit, not a long final push.
- The same day: rewrite the lesson in your own words on one page, with the key terms underlined. Unclear parts get a question mark; ask about them before the next class.
- At the end of each week: close everything and write the week's main points, definitions and methods from memory. Mark it against your notes and the mark scheme. Whatever you missed goes on a mistakes page.
- Every weekend, ten minutes per subject on the older material: cards for terms and formulas, answered before you flip; the ones you miss come back the next weekend.
- Past questions as you go. When a topic is finished in class, answer two past questions on it from a closed page and mark them. You find out what the marker wants while the topic is fresh, not in the last week.
- Explain it to someone. If you can teach a method to a friend without notes, you can write it under exam time. If you stumble, that is the part to study.
The day-by-day version of this, counting back from the exam date, is in How to study for exams. For facts that will not stick, use How to memorize faster, and for the one-page notes, How to prepare notes for an exam.
Step 3: collect every easy and medium mark first
Ask candidates who scored 65 percent where their lost marks went and most of them point at the hardest question. Mark their scripts and the picture is different: a large share of the lost marks sits on questions they could do, dropped to slips, missing parts, missing units, a method left unwritten or an answer that stopped one point short.
| Where the marks go | Typical cost on a 100-mark paper | The fix |
|---|---|---|
| A part of the question not answered | 4 to 8 marks | Count the parts before writing; number your answer to match |
| Working not shown, or units missing | 3 to 6 marks | Every step on the page; units on every line; final answer underlined |
| Answer stops one point short of full | 4 to 8 marks | Match points to marks: a 4-mark explain needs four developed points |
| Careless slips (signs, names, dates) | 2 to 5 marks | Keep the last ten minutes for checking; re-read the short questions first |
| The hardest question | 5 to 10 marks | Study it last; after the easy marks are safe |
So the order is: make the easy and medium questions perfect first. Full marks there usually moves a 65 to the high 70s before you have learned anything new. Then the hardest topics, which are what separate the high 70s from the 90s.
Step 4: write answers that earn every mark
A full-mark answer is not a longer answer. It is an answer with every mark-earning element present, in the order the marker expects, and nothing that wastes time. Here is the same 6-mark question, "Explain why the price of a good rises when supply falls", answered at three marks and at six.
| Answer | What is written |
|---|---|
| A 3-mark answer | When supply falls there is less of the good so the price goes up because people still want it and there is not enough for everyone, so sellers can charge more. |
| A 6-mark answer | 1. A fall in supply shifts the supply curve to the left, so at the original price the quantity supplied is now below the quantity demanded. 2. This shortage means some buyers cannot buy at that price, so buyers bid the price up (or sellers raise it) to ration the smaller quantity. 3. As the price rises, quantity demanded falls and quantity supplied rises along the new curve, until the market clears at a higher equilibrium price and a lower quantity. (A labelled diagram showing S1 to S2 and P1 to P2 supports every point.) |
The three-mark answer is true. It loses marks because it does not use the subject's terms (supply curve, shortage, quantity demanded, equilibrium), does not separate its points, and does not show the mechanism step by step. The six-mark answer does nothing clever; it gives the scheme what the scheme pays for.
- First sentence answers the question directly. Then the explanation. Markers find the answer faster and level-marked questions start in a higher band.
- One point per mark, each developed. For "explain", every point carries a reason ("because", "so that", "which means"). For "describe", every point is a stage in order. For "evaluate", both sides and a judgement that follows from them.
- Use the subject's own words. The term on the mark scheme earns the mark; your paraphrase may not.
- Calculations: every step, the units, the final answer underlined. Method marks are paid even when the arithmetic slips, but only if the method is on the page.
- Essays: a one-line plan before writing, one idea per paragraph, evidence in every paragraph, a conclusion that answers the question in the words of the question.
- Diagrams and labels count. In science, geography, economics and biology, a labelled diagram often carries marks of its own and supports the text.
- Write to the marks, then stop. A 2-mark question does not want a paragraph; the time belongs to the 10-mark question.
Step 5: timed past papers and the score gap
From about four weeks out, the fastest way to raise marks is a timed past paper, marked strictly, followed by a short list of exactly where marks went. Call the list the score gap: it is the only study plan a high scorer needs in the last month.
- Sit a paper under the real time limit, with no notes. One a week from four weeks out, then one every two days in the last ten days.
- Mark it with the mark scheme as if you were paid to be strict. Half an answer gets half the marks. A paraphrase of the key term gets nothing if the scheme names the term.
- Write the score gap. One line per lost mark: question, marks lost, and the cause from a short list: did not know, could not recall, missed a part, no working, wrong term, ran out of time, slip.
- Fix the biggest cause first. If "missed a part" cost eleven marks, the fix is a habit (number the parts), not a topic. If "did not know" is concentrated in one topic, that topic is the week's study.
- Redo the lost questions from memory two days later. Then check. Only then move on to the next paper.
Write your target for the next paper on the gap page. Most learners who do this see the score rise by ten to fifteen marks across three papers, because the same five causes stop repeating.
Step 6: the exam-day habits of high scorers
| When | What high scorers do |
|---|---|
| The first five minutes | Read the instructions and every question. Note the marks beside each. Start with a question they are sure of, done perfectly. |
| Each question | Read twice; underline the command word and count the parts. Plan a long answer in three bullet points. Write to the marks; stop when the marks are earned. |
| Halfway | Check the clock against the marks completed. Behind? Shorten the remaining long answers; never skip the short ones. |
| When stuck | Write the definition, the diagram, the formula and the first step; leave space and come back. Part marks add up to whole grades. |
| The last ten minutes | Check units, signs, names, dates and every two-mark question. Make sure every part of every question has something written. |
And the day before: no new topics, a short run through the score gap page and the cards, everything laid out for the morning, and sleep on time. A tired brain drops the slips that cost the top band.
A worked example: from 61 to 84 percent in one term
Daniel takes chemistry. His last exam was 61 percent: a comfortable pass, and nowhere near the marks he wants for the course he is applying to. The next exam is twelve weeks away.
- Week 1. He downloads three past papers, their mark schemes and the examiner reports. The reports repeat three things: candidates do not use the term "activation energy" where the scheme requires it, leave out units in energy calculations, and describe when asked to explain. He puts the key terms of every topic on cards.
- Weeks 1 to 8. The same-day one-page rewrite after each class, the Friday closed-book recall, ten minutes of cards every weekend, and two past questions per finished topic, marked against the scheme. His mistakes page fills with the same five lines; by week six they stop appearing.
- Week 9. First timed paper: 68. The score gap: 9 marks to parts not answered, 6 to missing working, 5 to a rare topic (electrochemistry), 4 to slips, 8 to the hardest question. He fixes the two habits first: number the parts, every step on the page.
- Week 10. Second paper: 76. The habits held. Electrochemistry gets the week.
- Week 11. Third paper: 81. The hard question is now worth 6 of its 10 marks instead of 2.
- Week 12 and the exam. Papers every two days, score gap each time, cards, sleep. He scores 84. Nothing in his brain is new except the exact words the scheme pays for and the habit of giving them.
The habits that keep marks high all year
- Finish the topic in class, not at exam time. The one-page rewrite and two past questions while it is fresh.
- Treat homework as a practice test. Closed notes first, then check. Homework copied from the book teaches nothing an exam can measure.
- Ask the question in class the same day. A gap carried to exam week costs marks on every question that touches it.
- Keep one mistakes page per subject all year, and read it before every test. Most lost marks repeat until they are named.
- A fixed weekly recall hour beats a long night before each test. Marks come from what is learned, and learning happens between tests.
Mistakes that cost good students marks
- Studying hard without ever opening a mark scheme. You are aiming at a target you have never seen.
- Re-reading until it feels familiar. Familiar is not recalled. Close the notes and write.
- Starting with the hardest topic. The easy marks are not safe yet, and they are worth more.
- Writing long instead of writing complete. Length earns nothing; the missing point costs the mark.
- Describing when asked to explain, or listing when asked to compare. The command word decides what earns marks.
- Skipping timed papers because the first score was disappointing. That score is the cheapest lesson available.
- Trading sleep for one more topic before the exam. Sleep is where the term's work settles; tiredness produces the slips.
Your good-marks plan
- Mark schemes and examiner reports for the last three papers; the key terms on cards.
- Same day: a one-page rewrite of each lesson. Each week: closed-book recall, marked against the scheme.
- Two past questions per finished topic, from a closed page, marked strictly.
- Easy and medium questions perfect first; the hardest topic last.
- Answers: direct first sentence, the subject's terms, one point per mark, every step and unit.
- From four weeks out: timed papers, a strict mark, a score-gap page, the biggest cause fixed first.
- In the exam: minutes follow marks, read twice, count the parts, nothing blank, ten minutes to check.
- The night before: score gap and cards only, things laid out, sleep.
Save this plan: print the page or save it as a PDF from your browser's menu, or keep the plain-text version.
Frequently asked questions
Why do I study hard but still get low marks?
Usually because the studying is reading and the exam is producing. Check three things: do you close the notes and write what you studied; have you read the mark scheme to see what earns marks; and have you sat a timed paper and listed where the marks went. Most learners who study hard and score in the middle fix all three in a month, without studying more hours.
How do toppers score such high marks?
Not with more hours in the last week. They learn each topic fully when it is taught, recall it from memory every week, know exactly what the mark scheme pays for, make the easy questions perfect, and use timed papers to find and fix the marks they lose. Every one of those is a habit anyone can copy.
How can I get full marks in an exam?
Full marks means every mark-earning element on the paper: every part of every question, every step and unit, every key term, with ten minutes left to check. Aim for it on the short and medium questions first, where it is realistic, then push the hardest question up one mark at a time with the score-gap method. On most papers a candidate who is perfect on the easy questions and good on the hard ones is already in the top band.
How can I get good marks in exams without studying all day?
Study in short, frequent sessions that end with recall from a closed page, and spend the saved hours on the two things that move marks most: reading the mark scheme and sitting timed past papers. An hour of recall and marking is worth more than three hours of re-reading, and it leaves time for sleep, which protects the marks you already have.