You’re listening to The Parents of Hardworking Teens Podcast, episode 134 - If your teen's losing marks in exams due to small slips or silly mistakes under time pressure, then listen in because I’m going to share a real student story where we needed to dig deeper to identify the exact issues stopping them from getting the marks they could in their maths exams, and how your teen can do this too for any subject.
Hey VIP’s. I hope you and your teens are doing great.
I am recording this the morning after the Exam Mastery Workshop LIVE 2025.
And it was FANTASTIC.
So many awesome, committed, dedicated students there, learning how to get more marks with more confidence and with less stress, and less guesswork in their exams. Gaining the skills to dissect any question so they know exactly what it’s asking, AND getting the training and techniques to then be able to deliver that in their responses - confidently, succinctly and really effectively.
I was a bit worried that my voice might be a bit croaky this morning because it was a half day workshop - over 3 hours of me delivering this training with the Q&A at the end as well - so many great questions - really specific, considered and smart questions - but I actually think my voice is going okay. You’ll be the better judge of that listening to this.
Now if your teen couldn’t make it live, or, you’re only just hearing about it now then the full workshop recording, the workbook and the special included bonus resources - which are: 5 BETTER Ways to Use past papers and 17 ways to make revision more active and therefore faster AND more effective will be available for you to purchase for your teen in the coming week. It’ll be at www.gradetransformation.com/EMW but it’ll take a little while for us to get that set up. I’ll put the direct link into the show notes and I’ll send you out an email If you’re on my email list to keep you updated.
Because if your teen could use all the details, insights and training on exam technique, exam prep, exam performance, extended responses, short responses, how to reach the criteria on the mark scheme, how those criteria are written, exactly how the questions are worded and written, then the Exam Mastery Workshop is IT.
And now, let’s get into this week’s episode, which is definitely linked to exams, but actually comes from a coaching moment I had on a consult I had with a new enrollee into my coaching program. And that coaching moment was based on my realisation over the years that we need to dig deeper when it comes to reviewing completed assessments and figuring out where marks were lost or how to do things better next time. And this can be in something that was disappointing and marks were lost that they weren’t expecting, the result was lower than we thought it would be. Or where a result was good, but we still want to figure out where those one or two or few extra marks could’ve come from.
I’ll give you a really specific example of what I mean.
So, like I said, I got into this when I was on a consult with a student who told me that Maths exams were becoming a weakness for them.
Now, this was a Maths Methods student. So it’s not that they weren’t good at Maths. It’s not that they were weak in MATHS but their actual Maths EXAMS were becoming a weak area of performance for them.
So, we dug into this a bit and they told me that they were losing marks in silly slips, little mistakes that were then costing them sometimes in small ways, a mark lost here or there, but sometimes in bigger ways, because a small slip or error early on in a big lengthy multi-part question or calculation can end up having a big impact. And this is quite a common issue. I definitely know it was an issue for me when I did my A-level maths back as a student - that’s basically the equivalent of Maths Methods or Maths Advanced. And it especially happens or seems to increase when we’re under time pressure - which is of course in an exam - which of course is also when the marks matter the most. So it’s a bit of a double-whammy negative. Yes, there are follow-through marks - sometimes called method marks - when this happens - where you still get credit for following the correct method but you have the wrong numbers from an earlier error. … But there is still an impact.
Now, what I’ve seen and heard over the years is that students just put that down as the issue. Or teachers state that as the issue. That this issue is that they’re making silly errors or small slips. Now, to get more specific for a moment - because this is literally what I’m getting at here - specifically this could be:
transcription errors - where we carry across information incorrectly when we write it down, like putting a plus instead of a minus on the next line or as we copy out the question,
Or it could be
- simple mental calculation errors, where we’re rushing and so make a simple slip, like saying 10 squared is 10 times 2 - so ending up with 20 instead of 100.
Or
- it could be accidentally writing the units wrong - using cm instead of mm which then throws out everything by a factor of 10.
These things tend to happen more when we’re under time pressure and they can totally mess up an answer AND our timing. Because if we get half way - or the whole way - through a question and realise it just doesn’t look right, like we’ve got a negative value and there’s just no way it can be a negative let’s say, then we have to back track or start again and that’s taking time away from the other questions.
These issues don’t come from not knowing something. They’re not from an incorrect decision or mark up or use of the wrong formula.
These are simple errors, but they don’t always feel simple to fix.
It’s almost like they’re so small that they just easily slip through the net.
But, like everything with exam skills and exam technique, they are fixable. But we need to get more specific. We need to dig deeper than just saying, my issue is that I make silly slips.
We need to spotlight exactly what they are if we’re going to bring more awareness to them and actively overcome them. And please substitute in any subject or exam issue for this. This isn’t just for Maths.
It might be skipping or missing certain punctuation or grammar under pressure in English exams. Or, it might be something similar like mixing up units or transcription errors in Chemistry exams.
Whatever it is we need to know exactly what those slips are. And then put a specific focus on them. Now for this student, I directed them to a specific resource I have on 18 ways to tackle calculation based questions accurately and effectively.
If you want a taste of this, especially if this is happening for your teen in their maths exams, then go check out episode 17 of the podcast: How to stop Losing Marks in Maths exams. Not only do I go into some of these issues in more detail, but I also have a free resource download there with 5 tips to avoid the most common maths exam mistakes. You can find that at: www.rocksolidstudy.com/17 and I’ll put a link to it in the show notes here.
But, today I really want to focus on the process of going that level deeper, that step further in identifying the real issues at play, no matter the subject, or type of questions, or exam.
So, I gave this student the action step of going back through a couple of their most recent maths exams and actually looking at what those slips were.
Was it a plus instead of a minus? Was it a mental calculation error? Was it a transcription error? *Specifically* what actually were the slips?
Because if we stop at the culprit being ‘simple slips’ then it’s very hard to do anything about it.
Once we get clear on exactly what those slips are we can then take steps to address them.
I said - Just pick out the top two. Now - even top two could be considered in a couple of ways: It could be the two most common ones. Or the two that led to the biggest mark losses. That’s something to consider on a situation basis. But even just the awareness of them will help our brain put more focus on them, but more than that, we can then put in some specific strategies to really ensure we’re proofing against them. Tangible, active proofing strategies specific to the exact slips. And I encourage your teen to do the same.
Don’t just say, oh I really tend to mess up my writing or my grammar in extended responses under exam pressure. Look for what it is. Is it run-on sentences that really need some full stops and commas? That’s something I see a fair bit.
In which case, the specific issue is breaking up my points or information into smaller sentences. Using full stops between each point. Then, okay, that’s good to know. Even being aware of that, having it stuck up on my wall during any exam practise is a good start. But, then what specific strategies can I put in place to proof against those simple slips in an exam? And how can I start practising them now so they become second nature, automatic, in the exam hall.
For the more vague or general small things, we really need clarity on exactly what they actually are. What is it ACTUALLY that is losing them easy marks or exactly what are those simple slips or small errors?
Just saying that I lose easy marks or make silly mistakes, that’s not all that helpful. That’s a category of issues. We need to dig into things further to find the actual issue.
A vague problem is very tricky to solve. It’s much easier to come up with a specific solution, that’s also much more likely to be effective, when it’s directly matched to a specific problem.
And if you’d like my help and experience in doing that for your teen, that’s exactly what we do on their personal one-to-one Gameplan consult with me when they join Next Level Coaching. If they’re in Y12 and you’re worried ‘ is it too late to make a difference?’ then don’t - it’s absolutely not too late and I have a specific ‘Finish Strong’ focus group right now to do exactly that.
Additionally, if your child’s in Y7 or 8 and you want to get a head start for them, then I’m currently running the Study Smart Blueprint for these students.
The best thing is to simply send an email to support@rocksolidstudy. com, let me know where things are at for your teen and then I’ll send you the relevant information.
And top tip! All of my coaching students get access to the Exam Mastery Workshop as part of their membership, so if that’s something you missed out for them live, but you’d love for them to have access to the recording, the workbook and all associated resources, then this is a great way to do it. I will eventually have the recording and workbook available to purchase, but I’ll keep you posted on that, but this way you get the coaching as well. And I’m a girl who loves getting most bang for my buck so thought I’d share that.
So, digging a level deeper. Getting specific about exactly where easy marks are being lost, exactly what type of slips are happening, that’s my advice for today.
I’d love your feedback on this if you use it. What did you discover, what is your teen going to action to overcome it? Hearing the reality of these things means I can produce more resources or trainings that are of most use to students and that’s what all of this is about.
So let me know what you come up with. I hope you get some useful light shed onto things and here’s to less lost marks and more exam success.
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