Dear OCR GCSE PE students, this is how to ace your Paper 2 exam

Editor's note: This post was originally released in May 2023 and has been updated to make it relevant for teachers supporting their students with their 2024 PE and Sport exams. 

Dear OCR GCSE PE student,

Yes, you! The one reading this post. I wanted to ask for a few moments of your time in order to share with you a few ideas about how to really prepare sharply for your OCR GCSE PE Paper 2 exam.

With the Paper 1 exam behind you – I hope it went well! –, I want to share guidance for OCR GCSE PE Paper 2.

The aim of this post is to give you 10 ideas that you can use to prepare better for your exam. Follow these guidelines as part of a thorough revision experience and I am confident you will fly.

1. Practise lots and lots of one- and two-markers.
2. Learn the command terms and what they mean.
3. Be prepared to explain.
4. Use the E-I-O method when making examples.
5. Know Factors affecting participation, Health, fitness and well-being and Balanced diet inside out..
6. Reorder the paper for maximum performance.
7. Be aware of the Paper 2 topics that have appeared on Paper 1 in the past.
8. Complete and mark the National Mock Exam.
9. Learn our model answers.
10. Watch our revision sessions in May.

You will notice that none of these top tips involve common sense advice such as eating well, exercising regularly and getting enough sleep. You don’t need me to tell you these things. Instead, we’ll be focusing on the key behaviours that lead to success.

Top Tip #1 Practise lots and lots of one- and two-markers 

Well, this one is pretty obvious. One and two-mark questions make up, on average, 32 of 60 marks on average on an OCR GCSE PE Paper 2 exam. Take a look at this graph:

Therefore, there is nothing more impacting that you can do in order to prepare for your Paper 2 exam than to practise writing and marking one- and two-mark questions.

There are hundreds of examples available for you to practise on. If you do not already have access to ExamSimulator via TheEverLearner.com, speak to your teacher about this. Within this system, there are hundreds of one- and two-markers for you to engage with.  

Top Tip #2 Learn the command terms and what they mean 

It is so easy to think of your exams as testing your knowledge... Well, they do, of course. But your exams (and, in this case, your OCR GCSE PE Paper 2 exam) also test your skills. 

Take a look here:

And here:

The skills that you need to perform have a degree of consistency. “Identify” (often for one mark) is obvious but take a look at explaining and describing. If you are able to really understand the requirements of these skills, you are going to develop an excellent advantage.

So, what do these skills actually mean? Take a look at the table below and start to think about how to respond when asked to develop each different skill. I also encourage you to highlight the skills that appear most commonly on OCR GCSE PE Paper 2 exams.

Top Tip #3 Be prepared to explain 

As you can see above, explaining is a key skill. OCR consider this about explaining:

In other words, you need to be able to state “how” and/or “why” for every single topic on the course. Simply knowing a definition or being able to describe a concept will, within explain responses, not be enough.

Let’s take an example. Let’s say I get two different questions about the same topic. The answers to each question are completely different. Let’s have a go:

Now, if I changed Q2 to “Explain how James blogs,” can you see how the answer would change? Do you agree that we may need to talk about my use of English, my computer, my website and even processes such as getting the articles proofread and a graphic designer making the imagery? Can you see that my answer is specific to the question posed? You need to do this.

If you are asked to explain, which you will be, you must explain! Here’s some language that you should use in your explain responses:

Just like you prepare for your knowledge, you need to prepare for your skills. I will take this further below.

Top Tip #4 Use the E-I-O method when making examples 

AO2 skills (otherwise known as making examples) is the second biggest feature of a successful OCR GCSE PE Paper 2 performance:

On average, 20 marks (33% of the paper) come from making examples effectively. Therefore, you need to prepare for this and I encourage you to use the E-I-O method. Thankfully, this is nice and simple:

When you make your example, you MUST state the impact and the outcome of the concept on the example. Let’s take our own example:

Our author has clearly stated what the example is (manual guidance in table tennis), has stated the impact of the concept/manual guidance and has gone on to state the outcome of the concept. This is the standard I urge you to achieve when making your own examples.

Let’s look at another example from Paper 2:

This second example has a double outcome, in fact.

Teachers and students wishing to study the E-I-O method in more detail should visit...

• 100 Practical Examples in PE (Part 1)
• 100 Practical Examples in PE (Part 2)
• 100 Practical Examples in PE (Part 3)

Top Tip #5 Know Factors affecting participation, Health, fitness and well-being and Balanced diet topics inside out 

How can I put this without being accused of predicting your 2024 paper? I guess the only way I can say it is that, by some margin, Factors affecting participation, Health, fitness and well-being and Balanced diet have been the most heavily examined topics between 2018 and 2023.

Therefore, only a fool would not have these topics absolutely nailed down in preparation for their exam in 2024.

Let’s take them in turn:

We know the following about Factors affecting participation:

1. It has been examined every year so far with substantial marks available on most papers.
2. Most marks from this topic come from the “Identify “ and “Describe” skills.
3. Being able to analyse the factors affecting participation is also critical.

So, guess what? This topic and these skills are going to be a central feature of my revision sessions (see tip 10) in May.

We know the following about Health, fitness and well-being:

1. The topic has appeared on every paper between 2018 and 2023, with substantial marks available on all of the papers.
2. The “Explain” skill is critical for success in this topic.

We know the following about Balanced diet:

1. The topic has appeared on every paper between 2018 and 2023, with substantial marks available on most of the papers.
2. The vast majority of marks on this topic come from AO1.
3. Being able to “Identify” and “Describe” features of a balanced diet is critical to success in this topic

So, in summary, whilst there are no guarantees about what might appear on a 2024 exam paper, preparing for these three topics diligently and with the key skills in mind is a very good investment of your revision time.

With this in mind, I urge you to take part in our utterly free Paper 2 revision in May.

Top Tip #6 Reorder the paper for maximum performance 

Okay, this recommendation will provide you a choice but I want you to at least consider what I am suggesting.

On OCR GCSE PE Paper 2 exams, questions begin to “heat up” from question 21 onwards. Take a look at these three images and make reference to question 21 in each case. 

On each occasion in the these three years (and before), question 21 has seen an increase in the mark tally of each question but also a relative increase in the proportion of marks coming from higher skills such as AO2 and AO3. Therefore, I recommend the following:

1. The invigilator states “You may open your papers.”
2. Turn paper immediately to question 21.
3. Read through questions 21 to 23 and make notes on spare paper you have already requested from the front.
4. Once you have read through these questions, return to question 1 and commence your answering.
5. When you arrive at question 21, return to your notes to support you.

Now, this is entirely optional but, in my opinion, high-performing students on this paper will follow this outline. The processing time between when you read questions 21 to 23 and eventually answer them is valuable, in my opinion. Others will prefer a different structure but this is my broad recommendation.

Finally, I strongly recommend that you ask for extra paper before the exam starts. You can use that paper to make notes and plan answers or scribble down keywords. I like the idea that every GCSE PE student will start their Paper 2 exam by asking the invigilator for paper before the exam itself begins. Let’s see a sea of raised PE arms in exam halls this summer!

Top Tip #7 Choose your synoptic links ahead of time 

As you will likely know, OCR GCSE PE six-mark, levelled questions require you to have knowledge of topics from both Paper 1 and Paper 2 for both papers. For example, on Paper 2 in May, you will receive a six-mark question that requires you to provide writing on both a Paper 2 and a Paper 1 topic.

Knowing which Paper 2 topics have been included on Paper 1 in the past is helpful. Take a look at this table:

*Written by The EverLearner Ltd  NOT OCR.

Do you identify any patterns? Can we predict anything? Well, there are certainly patterns. This is what I recognise:

1. The Paper 1 topic featuring on Paper 2 has tended to come from the unit on training but has also included injury and hazards.
2. The Paper 2 topics featuring on Paper 2 six-markers have come from a broad range of content.

Now, nobody can predict your exam paper. Anyone trying to do that should be ignored. However, all of the following statements are fair:

• High-performing students will be capable of writing content from the 1.2 Physical training section of Paper 1 including injuries and hazards (*1.2c).
• High-performing students will have an excellent knowledge of the Sociocultural influences, Sport psychology and Health, fitness and well-being from the Paper 2 section of the specification in order to be prepared to successfully answer the six-marker.

Please note: I am absolutely not suggesting that anyone only prepares these sections. This would be very foolish. I am encouraging you to over-practise and over-learn these sections in preparation for a potential six-marker.

Top Tip #8 Complete and mark the National Mock Exam 

As I think you can probably tell, I think quite a lot about how to perform well on OCR GCSE PE Paper 2. All of my thinking has been put into writing a highly relevant National Mock Exam paper, which The EverLearner published in January 2024. I urge you to download this paper and mark scheme and answer it, ideally under assessment conditions, before marking it using the mark scheme. You will find our OCR Paper 2 PE National Mock Exam in our OCR Revision Hub.

There is quite literally no better preparation for your exam that you can do. 

Top Tip #9 Learn our model answers 

The model answers for the National Mock Exam are available for everyone to download and read. I am going to make a very fundamental point about them here: LEARN THE MODEL ANSWERS. I mean, really now, please learn them. The model answers are hyper-relevant to your exam experience this summer and represent the ideal ways to answer all kinds of questions including the skills discussed in many of the points above. You will find my model answers for the OCR Paper 2 PE National Mock Exam in our OCR Revision Hub.

Please, please, please, learn those answers. You will not regret one second of doing so.

Top Tip #10 Watch our revision sessions in May 

And finally… a very, very simple message: We broadcast our live revision show based on all the points made above on Wednesday 29th May (recording available after live show). 

Folks, I cannot make this clearer: Watch it! Whilst I can’t promise you entertainment like Netflix or giggles like going out with your mates, I can guarantee you that this session is delivered with everything I am and will help you massively in your preparations for the exam itself. The revision is utterly free and comes with an entire notes pack as well as the previously published infographics, mock exam, mark scheme and model answers. You can access the revision session here live on the day or on demand.

Thank you for reading and have a wonderful day.