How many mock tests, how often, and how to review them
Most candidates take too few mocks, too late, and review none of them properly. The review is where the marks are, and it takes longer than the mock.
Ask a candidate how their preparation is going and they will often tell you how many mock tests they have taken. It is a satisfying number. It is also close to meaningless on its own, because the mock is not the thing that improves you. The two hours after it are.
The number, roughly
For a three-month preparation window, something like one full-length mock every fortnight early on, moving to weekly in the final month, is a shape that works. That is around eight to ten full mocks, plus far more frequent short sets.
What matters more than the count is the distribution. Candidates overwhelmingly cluster their mocks into the final two weeks, which is the point at which the information a mock gives you is least actionable. A mock in week three tells you what to study for two months. A mock in the final week tells you what you no longer have time to fix.
Where mocks should sit in a twelve-week plan
- Weeks 1 to 42 mocks
Diagnostic. Expect a poor score and treat it as a map rather than a verdict.
- Weeks 5 to 82 to 3 mocks
Checking whether the gaps you found are closing. Review is longest in this phase.
- Weeks 9 to 113 to 4 mocks
Weekly, at full length and real timing. Now you are training stamina and pacing, not knowledge.
- Final week1 mock, then stop
Several days before, not the night before. The last few days are for revising your own error log.
Full-length mocks every fortnight through the first eight weeks, moving to weekly in the final month, with the last one placed several days before the exam rather than the night before.
The review is the actual work
Here is the part almost nobody does. Every wrong answer has a cause, and the causes need different responses. Sorting them takes discipline and it is the highest-return hour in the whole preparation.
| Cause | How to recognise it | What it requires |
|---|---|---|
| You did not know it | You could not have got it with more time | Study the content. This is the only cause that means revision. |
| You knew it and misread | The answer is obvious once you reread the stem | Slow down on stems. Check for negations. No content work needed. |
| You knew it and ran out of time | You reached it and rushed, or never reached it | A pacing problem. Fix the order you work the paper in. |
| You guessed and were wrong | You had no basis for the choice | Check whether the deduction rules made the guess correct anyway. Often it did. |
How to review a mock properly
Budget ninety minutes for a two-hour mock. It will feel excessive and it is where the improvement comes from.
- 1
Score it, then put the score away
Look at the number once. It is the least informative thing the mock produced and dwelling on it crowds out the useful part.
- 2
Re-attempt every wrong answer with no time limit
Before looking at any solution. If you get it right unhurried, it was never a knowledge gap, and that tells you more than the explanation would have.
- 3
Sort every error into one of the four causes
Write the cause next to the item. Be honest about the difference between not knowing and not reading.
- 4
Log only the not-knowing items
These become your revision list. Everything else becomes a behaviour to change in the next mock, not something to study.
- 5
Reread the log before the next mock
Five minutes. This is what converts a list into a correction.
One caution about short sets
Twenty-question practice sets are excellent for learning content and useless for training stamina. Attention at question one hundred and eighty of a two-hundred-question paper is a separate ability, and it is only trained by sitting the full length. Candidates who practise exclusively on short sets consistently describe the same surprise on exam day, and it is not about the questions.
Frequently asked questions
- How many mock tests should I take before an exam?
- Around eight to ten full-length mocks across a three-month window, spread from the start rather than clustered at the end, plus far more frequent short practice sets.
- When should I take my first mock test?
- Much earlier than feels comfortable, in the first few weeks. An early mock is a map of what to study. A late one only tells you what you no longer have time to fix.
- How long should reviewing a mock take?
- Longer than most people expect. Budget roughly three quarters of the mock's own duration. The review, not the attempt, is what produces the improvement.
- Should I take a mock the day before the exam?
- No. Place the last full mock several days out. The final days are better spent revising your own error log than generating new errors you cannot act on.