Mock review planner: turn one test into next week's practice

Quick Answer

To review a mock test, record why each wrong answer happened, group the reasons, and choose the two skills that cost the most marks. Practise only those for a week, then recheck them before sitting another full test. This planner from Braintree Coaching Australia gives you a printable error-to-action grid, one completed (fictional) example and a seven-day plan. It works for OC, selective and scholarship mocks, and needs no sign-up.

Who is this planner for?

A parent whose child has just finished a practice test and whose first thought is to book the next one. If scores have stayed flat across two or three mocks, the missing step is usually review. A mock tells you where marks were lost. It does not fix anything on its own.

You do not need to be able to solve the questions yourself. You need the test paper, the answers or solutions, a pen and about 35 minutes.

How do we sort the mistakes? Five reasons an answer goes wrong

For each wrong or guessed question, ask your child to explain what they did. Then pick the closest reason. Use the code in the grid.

Code	Reason	What it sounds like
R	Misread the question	"Oh, it said not." "I gave the perimeter, it asked for area."
K	Did not know the content or word	"I've never seen that word." "We haven't done that in class."
M	Knew the idea, used the wrong method or slipped mid-way	"I knew it was fractions but I added the bottoms."
T	Ran out of time or rushed	"I guessed the last six."
G	Guessed between two and cannot say why	"It was B or C."

Count guesses that happened to be right as well. A lucky guess hides a gap that will cost a mark next time.

The error-to-action grid

Print this page (your browser's print option will do) or copy the grid onto paper. Fill in one row for each wrong or guessed question.

Q no.	Section	Reason code (R, K, M, T, G)	Skill or topic	What my child said	Action

Then fill in the summary:

Reason	How many?	Which skills or topics came up more than once?
R: misread
K: did not know
M: method or slip
T: time
G: guess

My two skills for this week: 1. ______________________ 2. ______________________

How to choose the two skills

1. Look for a skill or topic that appears in three or more rows. That is your first choice.
2. For the second, choose the reason code with the highest count and name the most common skill inside it.
3. If time (T) is the biggest count, check which section the time ran out in. The skill to practise is usually the question type that was slow earlier in that section, not the questions that were guessed at the end.
4. Leave everything else for another week. Writing a list of nine things to fix is how review turns into nothing being fixed.

What does a completed grid look like? A fictional example

This example is made up to show how the grid works. "Aanya" is not a real child and these are not real results.

Aanya is in Year 5. She sat a 35-question mathematical reasoning mock and a 30-question reading mock on Saturday. She got 22 and 21. On Sunday she and her dad spent 35 minutes on the review. Here are some of the rows from her maths grid.

Q no.	Section	Code	Skill or topic	What Aanya said	Action
7	Maths	M	Fractions of a quantity	"I found one third but forgot to times by two."	Fraction of a quantity, 5 questions
12	Maths	R	Perimeter and area	"I worked out the area. It asked for the fence."	Underline what is asked
15	Maths	M	Fractions on a number line	"I counted the lines, not the gaps."	Number line set
19	Maths	K	Ratio	"I don't know what 3:2 means."	Ask teacher; leave for now
23	Maths	M	Fractions, adding	"I added the bottom numbers too."	Fraction of a quantity, 5 questions
28	Maths	G	Time, elapsed	"It was B or D."	Redo untimed
31–35	Maths	T	Mixed	"I ran out of time."	See note below

Her maths summary: R 3, K 2, M 5, T 5, G 3. Fractions appeared in four rows.

Her two skills for the week: 1. Fractions (finding a fraction of a quantity, and reading a number line). 2. Underlining what the question asks for before starting, because three misreads all came from answering a different question.

What her dad decided not to do: ratio went on a list to raise with her teacher, because it had not been taught yet. The five timed-out questions were not treated as five separate problems. She had spent a long time on the fraction questions earlier, so fixing those should free up time.

What does the seven-day plan look like?

Fifteen to twenty minutes a day is enough. Day 1 is the review itself.

Day	What to do	Time
1	Review the mock with the grid. Choose two skills.	30–40 min
2	Skill 1: read one worked example together, then do 5 questions untimed.	15–20 min
3	Skill 2: the same. One worked example, then 5 questions untimed.	15–20 min
4	Skill 1 again with 5 new questions. Your child explains each answer aloud.	15–20 min
5	Rest day, or reading for pleasure.	—
6	Skill 2 again with 5 new questions. Your child explains each answer aloud.	15–20 min
7	Recheck: redo the original mock questions for both skills, plus 4 new mixed questions, lightly timed.	20 min

On Day 7, decide:

• Both skills are mostly right on new questions: choose the next two skills from the grid, or sit another mock if it has been at least a week.
• One skill is still shaky: keep it for a second week and add one new skill.
• Neither has moved: the gap is probably content your child has not been taught yet. Ask their teacher, or find a worked lesson on it, before practising more questions.

Use new questions on Days 4, 6 and 7. A child who gets the original question right a week later may just remember the answer.

What mistakes do parents make when reviewing a mock?

• Marking it and moving on. The score is recorded and the paper goes in a drawer.
• Reading the solutions aloud. Your child nods along and does not do the thinking. Ask them to explain first, then read the solution.
• Treating every wrong answer the same. A misread and a missing topic need different fixes.
• Reviewing straight after the test. A tired child will say "I don't know" to everything. The next day works better.
• Fixing everything. Two skills a week is a pace a family can keep up.

For patterns our tutors see across OC, Selective, SEHS and ASET mock reviews, read common practice errors in selective exam mocks.

What should we do after the first week?

• Keep the filled-in grid. After three mocks, the grids side by side show whether the same reason code keeps coming back.
• If your child has not sat a mock yet, the free mock tests are a starting point. They need a free classroom account.
• If the grid shows your child needs more full tests with worked solutions for a particular exam, compare the practice packs by exam and entry year and check the test count, access period and price before choosing.

Sources and review

About the method: this planner is Braintree Coaching Australia's own review routine for practice tests. The reason codes are a teaching tool. They are not an official classification from any exam authority, and nothing here predicts a test result or placement.

About the example: "Aanya", her scores and her grid are fictional and written for this page.

Author: James Rush, content writer, Braintree Coaching Australia.

Review status: a named teacher review has not yet been recorded for this planner. If something is unclear, please tell us.

Last updated: 2026-10-05.