The mock exam results are in, and your heart sinks. The maths score is okay, the comprehension is fine, but the creative writing mark is a disaster. Next to the low score is a vague, unhelpful comment: “Needs more detail” or “Lacks structure.”

Your child’s confidence is shattered, and you feel a rising sense of panic. You’ve been practising, so what went wrong? And how can you possibly fix it with such useless feedback?

This experience is incredibly common. The problem isn’t just the bad result; it’s the lack of actionable advice that comes with it. Here’s how to turn that mock exam disaster into a powerful springboard for success in the real entrance exam.

Step 1: Understand Why Mock Exam Feedback Fails for Writing

First, you need to realise that feedback for creative writing is fundamentally different from feedback for maths or reasoning. A maths question is either right or wrong. A writing piece is a complex tapestry of structure, vocabulary, tone, and creativity.

Marking a single creative writing piece properly takes 15-20 minutes. A marker for a large mock exam company, who has to get through hundreds of papers, simply does not have that time. They can spot that a piece is weak, but they don’t have the time to explain why it’s weak and how to make it better. They resort to generic, tick-box comments that are easy to write but impossible for a child to learn from.

The Truth: Vague feedback like “More descriptive language needed” is a symptom of a flawed system. It tells your child what to do, but not how to do it.

Step 2: Become a Feedback Detective

Since the provided feedback is useless, you have to generate your own. Sit down with your child and their story and become detectives. Ask these questions:

1. Did they answer the question? This is the biggest and most common mistake. If the prompt was to describe a place and they wrote a dialogue-heavy action scene, they have failed, no matter how well they wrote it.
2. Is there a clear plan? Read the story aloud. Does it have a clear beginning, a developing middle, and a satisfying end? Or does it meander aimlessly before stopping abruptly when the time ran out?
3. Where is the “Show, Don’t Tell”? Find a sentence that tells the reader something (e.g., “She was excited.”). Challenge your child to rewrite it to show that excitement (e.g., “She bounced on the balls of her feet, a grin stretching from ear to ear.”).
4. The “Boring Word” Hunt: Take a highlighter and mark every boring, overused word (“nice”, “good”, “walked”, “said”). This visual representation is a powerful motivator to use more ambitious vocabulary.

Step 3: The Power of One-to-One, Expert Feedback

While being a feedback detective is a good start, it’s no substitute for an expert eye. To make rapid, meaningful progress, your child needs someone who can not only spot the mistakes but also demonstrate how to fix them in a way that resonates.

This is where the traditional model of written feedback completely falls apart. A child will glance at a written comment and forget it moments later. But what if they could watch a 15-minute video of an expert going through their own work, line by line, celebrating their successes and gently correcting their errors? What if they could re-watch that video as many times as they needed?

This is the magic of personal video feedback. It is the antidote to the vague, unhelpful comments of a mock exam. It provides the detailed, actionable, and memorable guidance that is essential for improvement.

The Ultimate Mock Exam Recovery Tool

If your child is feeling deflated after a poor mock exam result, our service is the fastest and most effective way to rebuild their skills and their confidence.

Instead of another generic mock, consider submitting that same disastrous mock exam script to us. Our £27 trial includes one personal video marking. We will turn that disappointing piece of writing into the most powerful learning tool your child has ever received.

We will show them:

Exactly where they lost marks and why.

• How to restructure their story for maximum impact.
• Specific examples of how to upgrade their vocabulary and sentence structure.
• The key techniques they need to impress the examiners at their target school.

Don’t let a bad mock exam result define your child’s journey. Use it as a catalyst. Use it to find a better way to learn.

Turn that mock exam disaster into a success story. Start your £27 trial and submit their paper today.