What’s the point of mocks? Most year 10s have them a year before their real exams start. They are supposedly meant to give students a taste of what their tests will be like and better prepare them for their real life exams the next year. For some it gives them a wakeup call to get better if their results were disappointing and for others just the opportunity to look back and correct themselves on a few questions if they need to.

Some might think it’s adding too much pressure on pupils even though they are 14-15 year olds. They had only just decided their GCSE subjects the year before and started them this year. These harder lessons could be putting too much pressure on them and then the added pressure of their mock results.

Are the mock exams accurate? It has been shown that most mock results are quite different to the real results they receive in year 11. Generally students take a much more laid back approach to the mocks as they don’t count towards their actual grades. This in itself will lower their marks considerably. Also considering that some of their real exams take place at around about the same time and would mean that they had to revise for that harder than any other test because it’s more important.