Why Practice Exams Are the Real Secret Weapon

Asked by Anonymous on our Parent Webinar series.

I remember when we first did our research back in 2001. I was only a few years out of high school, and I had a Eureka moment that came with an immediate side order of regret. I was interviewing a student named Yvette, who'd scored an ATAR of 99. We got talking about what she'd done in the lead-up to her exams, and she told me she'd spent those weeks doing nothing but practice papers. I asked how many. “Ten to fifteen,” she said. “Across all of your subjects?” I asked. “No, 10 to 15 per subject,” she replied. My jaw hit the floor. I remember thinking, “No way she did that many. Who has that kind of time?” She could tell I didn't believe her, so she disappeared and came back with an enormous stack of completed practice exams, so proud of the pile that she'd kept it for two years.

I walked out to my car and immediately understood why she'd beaten me. I'd done fine in Year 12, an ATAR in the 90s, but nowhere near 99. And now I could see exactly why. I was lucky if I did one practice paper before an exam; for plenty of subjects, I did none at all. Yvette was doing 10 to 15 per subject, per exam. By the time we both sat our English exam, I'd done four practice papers. She'd done sixty. We weren't playing the same game.

As the research went on, I realised Yvette wasn't the exception. She was the rule. Every top student we spoke to had made practice exams the centrepiece of their study, typically doing 5 to 10 per subject per exam. After each interview, I kept thinking, “I wish I'd known this in Year 12.” Luckily, I was still at university, so I applied the lesson to myself and started doing 10 practice exams before each one of mine. My marks shot up almost immediately. I coasted through the rest of my degree, relaxed, all from one change. Thanks, Yvette.

So let's get into why this works, and why so few students actually do it.

Three reasons practice exams matter so much

First, there's only so much an examiner can ask. The curriculum sets natural boundaries on content, so the more papers you work through, the more familiar the structure, angle and focus of questions becomes. Second, and more importantly, practice exams train the process of answering: breaking down a question, figuring out what's actually being asked, and building a coherent response. Do this enough and it stops being a conscious effort; it becomes muscle memory. Third, practice exams build far stronger memory retention than passively re-reading notes. Explaining a concept, weighing it up, and comparing it to others creates a web of neural connections that sticks far better than rote repetition ever will. Given the choice between rote-learning and a practice exam, always take the practice exam.

Why students still don't do enough of them

It's not ignorance. Almost every student we've spoken to over the years already knows practice exams matter; their teachers have told them often enough. The real reasons are more practical. Some simply underestimate how important practice exams are, assuming one is enough when it should really be the main event. Others genuinely run out of time, usually because they haven't kept their notes up throughout the term and end up scrambling to write and memorise them right before exams, with nothing left over for practice papers. And then there's the simplest reason of all: practice exams are hard. Sitting still for hours, writing until your hand aches, thinking under pressure, getting stuck on a question you can't answer, none of it feels good.

But those difficulties are exactly why practice exams matter. Sitting still and writing for long stretches is uncomfortable, but that discomfort is coming on exam day regardless. Better to build the stamina beforehand than discover the gap in the exam room. The struggle is the point.

How to actually get started

The trick is to strip away the pressure for the first one to three attempts. Don't sit the whole paper. Start with a single section, for 30 minutes to an hour, then take a break before continuing. It feels far less intimidating, and most students end up doing more than they planned once they're in the groove. Skip the timer at first, too; if the clock is what's stressing you out, take it away and let yourself work at your own pace. And do these early attempts open-book, with notes and textbooks on the desk. Looking something up isn't cheating or a sign of weakness. It reinforces understanding and builds confidence rather than undermining it.

Once the nerves settle, gradually add the real constraints back in: longer sittings, a ticking clock, no notes. By the final few practice exams before the real thing, you should be sitting them exactly as you will on the day, and walking in already knowing you can handle whatever comes up.