Replicating the stress of an exam to show the importance of planning.

“If I had 8 hours to cut down a tree, I’d spend 6 hours sharpening my axe”Abraham Lincoln“The battle is won before the battle is fought” Sun Tzu“Time spent thinking about how to approach a particular question and ensuring the response stays focused is time well spent” AQA Business Studies ModeratorDespite these wise words, it would appear, based on in-depth research from my classes and the 1000s of A2 students from the BUSS4 Revision workshops, that most students do not spend time planning their answers. Their reason is invariably “I don’t have time”.To dispel this myth I did the following; I asked a student to stand at the front of the class and gave him 30 seconds to answer an on-the-spot business studies question “Analyse the benefits of operating in niche market”. After lots of nervous umming-and-ahhing, the brave students managed to score one mark before the time was up.I then gave him 30 seconds to plan an answer to the same question. He came back strong and gave a fantastic 6 mark answer! Conclusive, empirical, irrefutable evidence (sort of) that a small amount of time invested in planning in the short term will reap great benefits in the long term.I wish you all the very best for the next month!