The Law of the Lid: Why You NEED to Do Practice Papers

Think about the greatest sprinter of our time — Usain Bolt. For him to run so fast, break records and win Olympic medals, he would have had to run that fast or perhaps even faster during his training. Do you want to know why? Well, it all comes back to The Law of the Lid. 

Let’s take a closer look at exactly what that is and how it applies to your study! 

What is the Law of the Lid?

How does the Law of the Lid work?

What should you do next?

Practice Papers

What is the Law of the Lid?

Whatever you’re able to achieve during your practice is the ‘lid’, the best or maximum result you’ll be able to achieve in the actual thing.

Now, this doesn’t necessarily mean you won’t do better than what you’re getting in practice because sometimes you might be lucky with a question you’ve already practised or perhaps you perform a lot better than your peers. However, we don’t want to be relying on luck. 

We all know that the actual exam is harder than what you’ve been practising because there are a lot of extra factors that come into play. We’re talking about stress because you have time constraints and your competitors are sitting right next to you. 

So, that’s why you want to have a strategy that can help you and that’s why the Law of the Lid is so important. 

How does The Law of the Lid work?

The best part about The Law of the Lid is that it can be improved. You can always improve your practice which means your ‘lid’ will also improve.

We often ask students what their goal is and they usually say to get a Band 6 or to get 80 or 90 per cent. Now, these are definitely great goals, however, if they haven’t done any practice or are only sitting at 75% in their practice, then that’s their ‘lid’.

They’re not going to get a better result in their exam because if they’re not getting that 90% during their practice, they’re not going to get it in the real thing. 

What should you do next?

You need to think about what your goal is and how you’re going with your practice. Now, you need to think about whether there is a gap between them because where you’re at with your practice is your ‘lid’.

You need to understand your ‘lid’ so you can improve your practice and increase your maximum result. 

You want to go into the exam knowing that you can get 90% in it because in your practice, you were getting at least 90%. So, that way, you know what you’re going to achieve in your exam which also makes the actual exam a lot less stressful because you’ve worked hard, you’ve practised and prepared. 

Practice Papers

If you’re looking for practice papers to help you prepare well, we’ve got just what you need:

• HSC Past Papers
• QCAA Past Papers
• VCE Past Exams

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Tanna Nankivell is a Senior Content Writer at Art of Smart Education and is currently in Germany completing a year of study for her double degree in Communications (Journalism) and Bachelor of Arts (International Studies). She has had articles published on Central News – the UTS Journalism Lab and wrote a feature piece for Time Out Sydney during her internship. Tanna has a love for travel and the great outdoors, you’ll either find her on the snowfields or in the ocean, teaching aqua aerobics or creating short films.