Bring three pieces of your own work that show the same kind of trouble, plus one sentence saying what you think links them. That is the evidence sheet, and it is the most useful thing you can carry into a one-hour trial.
It replaces “I am bad at ratio” with something a teacher can test. The page follows on from explaining where your working stopped.
Why does evidence beat a description?
A description of a difficulty is always filtered through how you feel about it. The work on the page is not. It shows the actual line where marks went, and a teacher reading three such lines side by side can often spot what you cannot.
A trial is one hour. Spending fifteen minutes of it guessing at the problem is expensive, and three pieces of evidence can shorten that.
How to build the evidence sheet
- Collect three pieces of work from different days, ideally different topics or question styles.
- Mark the line where the trouble started on each one.
- Write the pattern in one sentence, using words like “every time” or “only when”.
- Note what you did to fix it and what happened.
- Bring the originals, corrections in another colour.
Worked example
A student keeps losing marks on scale and ratio questions. He gathers three.
| Piece | Question | What he wrote | What went wrong |
|---|---|---|---|
| Homework | Map scale 1:500, distance 4 cm. Find real distance. | 2000 m | 4 × 500 = 2000 is right, but the unit is cm, so the answer is 20 m |
| Class test | Plan scale 1:200, length 3 cm. Real length in metres? | 600 m | 3 × 200 = 600 cm = 6 m |
| Practice set | Map scale 1:25 000, 6 cm. Real distance in km? | 150 000 km | 6 × 25 000 = 150 000 cm = 1.5 km |
The multiplication is correct all three times. The slip is always the unit, so the pattern sentence reads: “The numbers are right but I forget the answer is in centimetres until I convert.”
Checking the third row: 6 × 25 000 = 150 000 cm. Dividing by 100 gives 1500 m, and dividing by 1000 gives 1.5 km ✓.
With this sheet, a trial can start on unit conversion directly. Without it, the teacher might spend time re-teaching ratio multiplication that the student already does well.
The mistake to watch for
The usual slip is bringing only the worst paper or a pile of everything. One bad paper shows a bad day, and thirty pages show nothing because no one can read them in an hour.
Bring a small, deliberate selection. If the three pieces show three different patterns, choose the pattern that appeared twice and leave the others for later. A single clear pattern is easier to teach to than a long list.
When the evidence is thin
If you cannot find three pieces, bring what you have and add one fresh attempt. Ask the teacher to watch you solve one question out loud. That is also evidence, and sometimes the most honest kind.
Check yourself
1. A student loses marks on three questions: one wrong sign in expanding brackets, one wrong sign when solving an equation, and one wrong sign in a coordinate question. Write the pattern sentence.
Show answer
“Across three topics, the method is right but I lose a negative sign.” The common cause is sign handling, not three separate topics.
2. Why is it better to bring original work rather than a neat copy?
Show answer
The original shows the actual step where the slip happened. A neat copy has already been fixed, so the teacher cannot see where your thinking went wrong.
3. A plan scale is 1:200 and a length on the plan is 7 cm. What is the real length in metres?
Show answer
7 × 200 = 1400 cm. Dividing by 100 gives 14 m.
Where this leads next
The post-trial reflection guide helps you look back on the hour afterwards, and comparing repetition with targeted feedback explains why three pieces of evidence can be worth more than thirty more practice questions.
Self-study may be enough when your evidence sheet shows a pattern you already know how to fix. If you cannot explain why the pattern keeps returning, how the paid trial works is set out on its own page, including that the rate is confirmed before the lesson.