Your teachers want the very best for you. They look for ways to give you all the marks you could possibly have earned.

You already have a lot of knowledge stored in your memory. The problem is pulling out the correct information when you need it. Picture your brain like a giant filing cabinet full of file folders and the hard part is remembering the headings on the file folders.

FIVE WINNING STRATEGIES 

        Strategy 1  By the end of first hour of working on the exam, determine which questions are likely your best 6. Don't spend any more time on the two worst because whatever you do on them won't count for marks. Concentrate on getting more marks out of your six best, and digging out marks for the part (c)'s.

        Strategy 2  Once you have decided which questions will be your 'six best', make attempts on all parts of them. At least use a formula, draw a diagram, write a sentence, do some algebra even if you haven't a clue. Then at the end, go back and attempt to dig out even more marks from the part (c)'s.

        Strategy 3  During the final half hour, focus on checking that you've got the right formula for each question. For questions without formulas, check to see that the way you have tried to solve the problem is the correct way. The easiest way to do this is to see if your answer is correct is to plug it in the question. Check the points you plotted on the graphs.

        Strategy 4  DO NOT LEAVE ANY QUESTION BLANK. During the final minutes, when you just are unable to answer any more questions, try guessing at the missing solutions in your 'best 6'. Do not just guess randomly, but by estimation and trial-and error of various answers, see if any one makes sense. An additional mark may be found this way.

        Strategy 5  Paper 2 is not more difficult than Paper 1. It's just that it has the most difficult problems (linear programming, vectors). But these are optional and you don't have to attempt them. The remaining questions are no more difficult than those on Paper 1. For example, Trigonometry and Coordinate Geometry are not difficult because, if you've memorized your formulas, YOU WILL GET NEARLY FULL MARKS for a question if you just write the formula and plug in the numbers. So it is possible to do better on Paper 2 than on paper 1.

Detailed Strategies

• First look over the entire test. You'll get a sense of its length. Try to identify those problems you know how to do right away, and those you expect to find difficult.
• Do the problems in the order that suits you! Start with the problems that you can do. This builds confidence and means you don't miss any sure points just because you run out of time. Then try the problems you think you can figure out; then finally try the ones you are least sure about.
• Time is of the essence. Time limits are the way exams are made fair for everyone. Work as quickly and continuously as you can while still writing legibly and showing all your work. If you get stuck on a problem, move on to another one - you can come back later.
• Tick tock, tick tock... On the L-Cert Paper 1, you must answer 6 questions for the 300 marks in 2.5 hours. That's 300 marks/150 minutes, or 2 marks per minute. Strive for two marks every minute. If you spend two minutes on a question and can't find anything, MOVE to another question! Starting with the easy questions will probably put you ahead of the clock. This extra time will be useful at the end. But do not spend valuable minutes on a problem which will yield few or no points when there are other problems still to try.
• Show all your work: make it as easy as possible for the examiner to see how much you do know. Try to write a well-reasoned solution. If your answer is incorrect, the examiner will assign partial credit based on the work you show. (see Five Winning Strategies above).
• Don't waste time erasing. Just draw a line through the work you want ignored and move on. Not only does erasing waste precious time, but you may discover later that you erased something useful (and/or maybe worth partial credit if you cannot complete the problem). You are (usually) not required to fit your answer in the space provided - you can put your answer on another sheet to avoid needing to erase.
• In a multiple-step problem outline the steps before actually working the problem.
• Don't give up on a several-part problem just because you can't do the first part. Attempt the other part(s) even if the actual solution depends on the first part, at least explain how you would do it.
• Verify your answers - does each answer make sense given the context of the problem? 
• ESTIMATE an answer and compare tour actual answer to the one you provided.
• If you finish early, check every problem (that means re-work everything from scratch).