Below is a model answer that gained full marks in the prelim exam.

Question: Evaluate the advantages and/or disadvantages of the approaches used leading up to this event. You must make reference to your performance development. (8)

The approaches I used in the lead up were self-talk and visualisation. An advantage of self-talk was that it would motivate me for the game which is useful as it will make me play better as I will want to win more as I have told myself that I could beat anyone which motivated me to go on and win the game. Another advantage of self-talk is that it can build my confidence as I can give myself hope that I can win and this is useful as I would perform a larger variety of skills during the game which would make it harder for my opponent as he doesn’t know what I am going to do. However this could be a disadvantage as if I use self-talk multiple times I could make myself overconfident and this could affect my performance as I want to play as well as I think that I have already won the game which means I might make more mistakes as I wouldn’t be trying as hard. An advantage of visualisation is that it allows me to see what I want to do during the game and gives me and idea of what the game is going to be like which can motivate me as well as make my anxiety level good and this is useful as I would be more motivated to do well which means ill try harder and do everything I can as well as no having my anxiety too high or low so I wont get tired out at the start but still try my hardest during the game. A disadvantage is that I wasn’t able to concentrate fully on visualising what I wanted because it was hard to concentrate in my surroundings so it wasn’t as effective. Another disadvantage is that I could only do it before the game and I was focusing on my performance I wasn’t remembering what I had visualised so it made it less effective.

by Euan Simpson