Before exam day: a practical checklist

Some exam-day disasters have nothing to do with English. A name on the booking that does not match your identity document, a journey that takes twice as long as you planned, a bag full of things that cannot go into the room: all of them can be fixed days in advance. This checklist puts the jobs in the order you should do them.

Two weeks before: read the paperwork

Open your booking confirmation and read every line, not just the date. You are checking four things: the exact name, the start time, the address of the test centre, and any instructions about arrival and identification.

Next, compare the name on the booking with the name on your identity document, letter by letter. If anything differs, find out today how to put it right. A queue at the desk on the morning of the test is a bad place to discover the problem.

The rules about which identity documents are accepted vary between countries and can change. Do not rely on a friend's story or a forum post. Read your booking email and Pearson's current instructions, and if anything is unclear, ask before the day. Never guess.

Check the expiry date while you are at it, then keep the document and anything the confirmation tells you to bring together in one folder. If you need special arrangements, ask well before the day, not at the desk. And if your booking is for something other than a standard test-centre session, follow your booking email wherever it differs from this list.

Route and arrival time

If you can, make the journey once, at the same hour as your test. Note the real door-to-door time, including the walk from the stop and the search for the entrance. Your confirmation says when to arrive. Treat that as the latest time, not the target. Nobody speaks better after running for a bus.

Then work backwards from the start time. This is an illustrative example, so use your own numbers:

Have a second route in mind, check for road works or transport disruption the day before, and keep the centre's address and phone number on paper as well as on your phone.

What goes in the bag, and what stays at home

The rules about what may be taken into the testing room are set by the test provider and the centre, and they can change. Find the official list in your confirmation or in Pearson's current guidance and read it as carefully as you would read an exam question. Expect limits on things like phones, bags, notes, watches and food, but do not assume. If a rule is unclear, ask the centre beforehand.

Pack the night before:

• the identity document your booking email accepts, not one that merely looks similar
• the confirmation, if you were told to bring it
• money or a travel pass for the journey home
• a layer you can put on or take off, because testing rooms can be warm or cold
• a charged phone for the journey, knowing it may have to be put away on arrival

Leave anything valuable that you do not need at home.

The last week: light and familiar

Cut the hard sessions and the new ideas. This week is for short practice on tasks you already know, a read through your error log, and sleep. Do not start a new method or learn a new template. Scoring is automated, and memorised scripts can be penalised anyway.

If you want one more full mock, take it early in the week and spend the next day reviewing it. A mock the night before only gives you something to worry about.

A ten-minute warm-up each day is plenty:

1. Read one short paragraph aloud, in phrases, at a steady pace.
2. Type one paragraph from a book without looking at the keys.
3. Listen to a minute of any English talk, then say its main point aloud in one sentence.

On the last evening, stop studying early. Eat a normal dinner, lay out your clothes, check the bag, set two alarms and go to bed at your usual time. In the morning, eat something you know suits you and leave when the plan says, not when you feel ready.

If something goes wrong on the day

Tell the staff straight away. A headset that crackles, a microphone that seems dead, a frozen screen, a noisy neighbour, details on the screen that do not match your booking, feeling unwell: say so at once, politely. Staff can only help with problems they know about, and a problem reported immediately is far easier to deal with than one mentioned afterwards. Do not sit and hope it will fix itself.

If you are delayed on the way through no fault of your own, phone the centre as soon as you know and do what they say.

Tonight, open your confirmation, check the name against your document and write the arrival time on a sticky note. When that is done, read a calm routine for exam-day nerves for something to use once you sit down, and keep your practice going with the practice tests on this site.