ActEd solutions with exam technique

[Meher]

I am interested to know what advantage does the ActEd solutions as revision item offer especially for SP subjects? If anyone has used them before and are they very different from the solutions for past exam papers or from the mock exam marking?

 

[Mark Willder]

I am interested to know what advantage does the ActEd solutions as revision item offer especially for SP subjects? If anyone has used them before and are they very different from the solutions for past exam papers or from the mock exam marking?

Hi Meher

I've added some thoughts below on the different solutions and how they can be used in revision, but it would be interesting if students could add their own thoughts on what they used and how they used it.

Examiners reports - the IFoA website includes examiners reports for all the past SP1 exams. These include full solutions. The more recent papers add a marking schedule. The examiners add brief comments on how well students performed on each question. But the reports do not tell you how to tackle the question.

ASET - these cover the past exam papers too. However, they give much more than just the solutions. We have added a page of hints to get you started if you're not sure how to tackle the question. We've then added lots of commentary to the solution to explain the exam technique required to generate the answer, eg how to interpret key information in the question and common traps to avoid. So ASET is perfect for students who find it difficult to know how best to tackle the question. The examiners solutions can be very long, so ASET first gives an answer that would score full marks using the most important ideas, before going on to show some of the less important ideas that still would have earned credit.

Mocks - these cover different questions than the past exams, but should be of similar standard to the exam. So they give extra questions to practice on, but most importantly an opportunity to get your work marked and receive feedback. The solutions give a full marking schedule, but do not give the extensive exam technique commentary that ASET gives. However, your marker will be able to comment on your use of exam technique.

I hope this helps to explain the differences, but do let me know if you have any further questions or any comments.

Best wishes

Mark

 

[philoxenos]

I am interested to know what advantage does the ActEd solutions as revision item offer especially for SP subjects? If anyone has used them before and are they very different from the solutions for past exam papers or from the mock exam marking?

The Acted solutions are much better than just having the solutions in my opinion.

If you only have the solutions, you can tell if you are right or wrong, but can't always find out why or what you could have done to improve technique etc (without some deep delve into notes etc.)

Acted solutions go a step further and systematically break down the answer into relatable parts of the course/notes/revision so that you can understand why the answer is the way it is. It also provides more information on exam technique, discusses the difficulty of each question, how much to write, which are the easier points etc. Basically it provides the solutions as well as the technique in how to answer the question.

For me, a lot of my revision goes into acted solutions as if you can answer all the questions on these as well as understand how to apply the technique you are pretty set for the exam imo (as you have a good understanding of many of the fundamental repeated questions and have the technique to tackle more unusual questions too).

Of course then you can supplement this revision with other past papers & solutions (but you have the added knowledge of knowing the technique so these then become easier).