Hey Blog! Yesterday I sat an exam of a kind I’ve never done before, but have been studying for for nearly a year. I actually sat the Environmental Management exam I have told you so much about, so here is how it went.
In How to Manage the Environment, 19th Feb 2024, I told you about the course, and the impending exam. I said last week that I had both papers upcoming. I have now done the first of these, the In Theory paper. This is as opposed to the second, In Practice paper, which is a case study. I have never done a GCSE or equivalent before, and as this was an IGCSE it was my first go at anything of the like. There are a dozen or so rules, some of which are very specific, which prevent people cheating. For instance, no phones, watches, note-inscribed handkerchiefs, opaque water bottles or anything that could be used as information to help you pass are allowed. Personally, I think the easiest way to cheat would be to write notes on your hand with ultraviolet ink and then take a UV torch in with you to check the notes, as they do not ask you if you are carrying UV torches. However, as I didn’t want to cheat the system, but be happy that I had done well without cheating, I did not use this method.
The papers are locked away in “paper jail” for a year after the exam, so they can be used as mocks by schools for the year after the first sitting. Therefore, it’s best if I don’t tell you what was contained. I can, however, say that there were two units from the textbook with no associated questions in the paper, which gives a good chance of them being key topics in paper 2; and that it was relatively doable. Hopefully the mark scheme will not be stupid like one of the past papers I’ve done; that mark scheme gave barely anything for sensible answers and what they wanted was not the same as what the question implied.
I was finished about five minutes early, which gave me time to check through the paper properly rather than being finished in a mad dash at the end which is what I have done for almost every mock. This is good as it means I can both make some educated guesses about the next paper and relax during the process of writing the answers. I came out of the building first (closely followed by everyone else except for those with extra time) and had an enormous smile on my face. I think it went well, and am hoping (as always!) for an A*. I think I’ll probably do quite well.
I have paper 2 not next week but the week after, so wish me luck! I’ll get the results in July/August, and be sure to tell you what I got then. In the meantime, I have to go and revise so see you next week!