Begin mocks once the basics are covered. Take only what you can review, rehearse the real timing in the final weeks, and track your error causes more than your raw score. A mock is a diagnosis. The treatment is the review.
When to start
When you have covered the basics of all three sections. Before that, practise sets by topic.
How often
| Stage | A reasonable rhythm |
|---|---|
| Early mocks | About one a week, with a full review |
| Middle | Two a week if you can review both |
| Last weeks | Rehearsal mocks at your slot time |
This is a rough rhythm, not a rule. If a mock sits unreviewed for three days, you are taking too many.
Rehearse the exam
- Same time of day as your slot.
- Respect the 40-minute section limits and no switching.
- Practise your pre-exam routine: breakfast, journey, water, no phone.
Read the score properly
One score is noise. Four or five give a trend. Pair the score with the error log: what share of lost marks came from concept gaps, slips, time sinks or bad guesses?
Where this doesn’t apply
Mock providers differ in difficulty and scoring, so scores are not comparable across series. A mock percentile is an estimate against that provider’s takers, not a CAT prediction. We have not measured how mock count relates to final scores.
This chapter is our own method. No third-party figure is used and no score improvement is claimed.