Your Common Entrance exams are the first set of academic tests that are of major significance. This is why practice is crucial; mock papers papers from the top schools are an absolute must.
Forget “French vocab” tests on a Tuesday morning, and “Spelling and Grammar” on a Thursday; these are the first tests whose results count beyond the pristine walls of your prep school. This is one of a whole host of reasons why it is critically important to get them right.
Then there’s the question of meeting the required grades for your next school. It’s likely that you will have made your choice quite some time ago and for reasons very dear to you, and so a scenario in which you are refused your consolidated preference on account of your grades is not one that you want to be faced with. Remember that this is the school where you are going to be spending your formative years. What’s more, your grades will determine which sets you enter into at your new school; it’s a simple equation then: if you want to reach the top sets, you must reach the top grades.
However, in terms of your general approach and mindset towards what are the determining channels of your school, university and indeed later life, it is extremely difficult to break the disruptive habit of weak, lethargic exam preparation. Get it right now and you not only mark yourself out as someone to be taken seriously, but you put yourself at personal ease. Time to get practising!
