By Cyril KimbiExaminer reports repeat themselves. Year after year the same handful of failures accounts for most of the marks lost across a whole cohort — and almost none of them are about not knowing the material. They are about how the answer was written.
1. Describing when the question said explain
The single largest source of lost marks across every subject.
Describe asks what happens. Explain asks why it happens. “The stomata close” describes. “The stomata close, which reduces water loss by transpiration when the plant is losing water faster than it can absorb it” explains — and the clause after the comma is the mark.
The fix: whenever you write a change, ask so what? and write the answer. That question converts descriptions into explanations mechanically, in every subject.
2. Ignoring what the marks are telling you
The mark allocation is an instruction about how many distinct points you owe, and it is far more reliable than the size of the answer space.
A four-mark question wants roughly four scoring points. Writing one point at length earns one mark. Candidates who write beautiful paragraphs for two marks and one line for eight are losing marks to allocation, not to knowledge.
The fix: before writing, glance at the marks and decide how many separate points to make. Three seconds, and it changes the answer.
3. Not showing working
In every calculation subject, method marks are awarded for correct working even when the final answer is wrong. A bare incorrect answer earns nothing at all.
This is the cheapest mark on any paper and candidates give it away under time pressure, believing the working is a formality. It is the opposite — it is the part that pays when the arithmetic fails.
The fix: write the formula, then the substitution, then the answer with its unit. Always, even when you are certain.
4. Unlabelled diagrams
Across biology, physics, chemistry, geography, economics and commerce, the marks in a diagram sit in the labels, not the drawing. An accurate, beautiful, unlabelled diagram usually earns nothing.
The fix: draw large, label everything the question could want, use a ruler for label lines, and add a title. In Economics, label both axes and every curve, and mark the change.
5. Answering the question you revised
Candidates who prepared a topic thoroughly meet a question on it and deliver the prepared answer rather than the one asked. It is heavily penalised, and it is more common among well-prepared candidates than weak ones.
The fix: underline the command word and the specific focus of the question before writing, and check your final paragraph actually answers that. A prepared essay on “the causes of X” does not answer “to what extent was X caused by Y”.
6. Leaving blanks
A blank space is the only guaranteed zero on any paper. Partial credit is real.
If you cannot complete a question, write what you can — a definition, a labelled diagram, a formula, the first step of a method, the structure of an algorithm with a comment. Method marks and point marks are frequently awarded to incomplete answers.
The fix: make it a rule that nothing is left empty. Two minutes at the end spent putting something relevant into every blank is usually worth several marks.
Three more, briefly
- Describing around a term instead of using it. “The tube that carries water up the plant” does not score where “xylem” does. Mark schemes frequently require the exact word.
- Writing two descriptions instead of a comparison. When the command is compare or distinguish, both items must appear in the same sentence on the same axis.
- Poor time allocation. Watch the clock against the marks, not the questions. A 15-mark question deserves three times the time of a 5-mark one, regardless of which you prefer.
How to find your own version of this list
The general list above is useful. Your personal list is worth more, and producing it takes about ten papers.
- Answer a past paper under timed conditions.
- Mark it yourself against the marking scheme, strictly — as though someone else wrote it. If the scheme required a term and you described it, you did not earn the mark.
- Write down every mark you lost and why.
- Repeat. After ten papers the list will be short and repetitive — almost always three or four habits recurring.
- Spend the final weeks drilling only that list.
Marking yourself generously is the most expensive habit in revision, because it trains you to keep writing answers that do not score. The discomfort of strict marking is the improvement.
The past questions library supplies the papers and schemes.
Frequently asked questions
Why do I lose marks when my answer is right?
Usually the command word wanted something different, a required term was missing, or fewer distinct points were made than the allocation demanded.
Is neat handwriting worth marks?
Legibility is. An examiner cannot award a point they cannot read.
Should I answer questions in order?
No. Start with what you can definitely do. Marks count the same in any order, and early success steadies you.
Does extra information cost marks?
Rarely directly, but it costs time and can bury the points that score. A contradiction can cancel a mark.
How many past papers should I mark strictly?
Ten is enough to produce a reliable personal list. Fewer papers marked strictly beats many attempted loosely.
