Start with a Half Volley
Rule 1 of any exam should be: Relax The Candidate
27 January 2026
When I’m playing cricket, I'm always a bit nervous before I go out to bat. How fast will the bowling be? Will there be awkward bounce? Might the ball spin unexpectedly?
As the bowler runs in to bowl the first ball at me, what I’m hoping for is something easy to hit. A slow half volley outside my off stump, or a long hop that I can paddle away to the leg side. Basically anything that allows me to get bat on ball and, if I’m lucky, score a run so that I’ve opened my account, and won’t be heading back to the pavilion with a humiliating zero runs (a 'duck'). Then I can relax a little, and play my best game.
I believe that exams should be like this, too. The first question you are faced with should be something gentle that allows you to get off the mark. A question that anyone can answer if they have been paying some attention in class for the previous year, to demonstrate they understand the essential basics of their subject.
Imagine, then, an 18 year old taking their A Levels. They are studying Geography and History, two subjects they enjoy and feel comfortable with. They have also been encouraged to take maths because of the doors it might open later on. They aren't aiming to do a maths degree.
Their school has chosen the Edexcel exam board. There are three A Level exam papers, and the first of these is “Pure Maths”. They turn over the paper and see Question 1*:
To an experienced maths teacher, this might look straightforward and routine, and to a confident mathematician it might even seem easy. But for somebody less fluent in algebra, this is quite a jolt. They are expected to recognise that this involves the Factor Theorem, from which they are to infer that g[3]=0, substitute correctly, and solve for k**. It's a lot to process, and they know that this is Question 1 and that things are only got to get harder.
Of course there need to be challenging questions like this at A Level, and harder ones too. It’s not supposed to be a friendly game in the park. But does this opening question represent the foundation level of understanding that we expect of a school-leaver who has studied maths to A Level?
I like to think of the first question in an exam as the first exchange in an interview. “Welcome to my subject, how are you today, have you had a good journey?” A gentle half volley. It recognises that the best assessments test understanding, not the ability to overcome nerves.
For the student who isn’t a natural mathematician, I reckon that the g(x) question wasn't a half volley at all. It was a short-pitched delivery that whizzed past their outside edge.
* This question comes from Edexcel's June 2024 Paper 1. Some Q1s in other years have been equally challenging.
** k = 12
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