On-screen exam practice should include using the paper’s navigation, organising calculations or notes within the permitted setup, and completing a deliberate digital check before time runs out. Subject knowledge still matters most, but a student meeting the format for the first time can lose marks through avoidable decisions about where to work, what to revisit, and when to move on.
At 8:40 on a Saturday morning, Samira, a composite A Level student who keeps colour-coded revision cards in a pencil case, clicked into her first on-screen practice paper at the dining table in Accra. The first question looked familiar. Then she noticed the timer, the question navigation, the response field and the working she had begun on a separate sheet.
She answered two parts, moved forward, and could not immediately tell which question she had left half-finished. A calculation from the previous page was somewhere on her rough paper, crossed through twice. With only a few questions completed, the possibility was suddenly clear: she could understand the content and still submit an incomplete paper because the format had taken over her attention.
This is an illustrative scenario, but the pressure is real. As Cambridge International introduces first on-screen examinations across a range of subjects, students need practice that treats the digital environment as part of exam technique.
The screen changes the order of decisions
In a paper-based exam, a student may physically see a spread of questions, fold a page corner, circle an instruction or scan their booklet at the end. An on-screen paper can require a different routine. The student may need to use on-screen navigation, keep track of answered and unanswered items, and decide how to record working in a way that supports their final response.
The first practice session often reveals habits that have stayed invisible. A student who usually writes a question number in the margin may need a new way to mark where they paused. Another may spend too long making a response field look tidy, then rush the final questions. A third may move quickly through the paper, trusting memory rather than using the navigation tools to check every item.
The skill is not speed for its own sake. It is knowing what to do when the screen asks for attention at the same moment the subject asks for thought.
For Samira, the first useful change was small. Before answering, she took a moment to look at the paper structure and identify how she could move between questions. She then gave each piece of working a clear question reference. When she returned to a calculation later, she found it without reopening the whole problem from the beginning.
Build working-space habits before exam day
Students need enough working space to think clearly, especially in subjects where calculations, plans, diagrams or multi-step reasoning matter. The right arrangement depends on the exam rules and the platform used, so families and tutors should check the current instructions for the relevant qualification rather than assume that a familiar paper-based routine will transfer unchanged.
Practice can still build useful habits:
- Label every piece of rough work with the question number before starting the calculation.
- Keep one area for current working and another for questions to revisit.
- Pause after completing a multi-part question to confirm that each required response has been entered.
- Use realistic timed practice so switching between thinking, typing and checking becomes familiar.
A curriculum-specific tutor can help here because the routines should fit the subject. An A Level mathematics student may need a method for tracing calculations back to an answer. A student writing extended responses may need a plan for drafting, editing and checking that every part of the prompt has been addressed. The goal is a repeatable method, not a generic set of computer tips.
Checking digitally needs its own final routine
The final minutes of an exam can disappear quickly when a student has no checking sequence. “Look over your work” is too vague under time pressure. A useful digital check has a clear order.
First, scan the navigation or question list for anything unanswered or flagged for review. Next, return to the questions most likely to contain an omission: multi-part prompts, calculations with a final answer field, and extended responses with several instructions. Then check that the response entered on screen matches the work completed elsewhere, where that format is permitted.
Students should also practise deciding when to stop revising an answer. Reopening every response can create doubt and consume time. A stronger rule is to revisit answers for a reason: a missed part, an uncertain calculation, an instruction that needs checking, or a response that was left incomplete.
Later that morning, Samira tried the paper again with a simple three-part plan written beside her workspace: map the paper, label the working, check the navigation. Near the end, she spotted a second part she had skipped while moving between questions. There was still time to answer it. The screen had stopped feeling like an interruption and become part of her routine.
Make the first on-screen paper a diagnostic, not a verdict
One practice paper cannot prove that a student is ready. It can show exactly what to practise next. Parents and students can note where time was lost, whether working became hard to follow, and which navigation decisions caused hesitation.
That review works best when it stays specific. “I struggled with the format” is difficult to act on. “I spent too long finding my unfinished questions” creates a plan for the next session. The same approach can support broader preparation, including the structured catch-up planning discussed in A Level Subject Change Tutoring: Building a Catch Up Plan Without Restarting.
Before the next timed practice, set up the permitted workspace, open the relevant format, and rehearse the final five-minute checking routine before answering the first question.
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