Real risk vs perceived risk
Real risk is the actual chance a performer will be harmed -- it does not depend on how they feel. Perceived risk is how dangerous they BELIEVE the activity to be, and can sit well above or below the real risk. A beginner trampolinist feels high perceived risk though the real risk stays low with a spotter and crash mats used correctly. The reverse happens too: a familiar performer's perceived risk falls while the real risk is unchanged, breeding complacency.
Risks vary by environment
Each environment has its own hazards to name. An indoor sports hall: collision with a wall, equipment or another performer, plus a slippery floor. A playing field: uneven ground, holes and bad weather. A swimming pool: drowning if a swimmer struggles, and misjudging the depth. An artificial surface: harder underfoot, friction burns when sliding, joint strain. Name the environment AND its exact hazard.
Seven strategies cut risk or severity
0413 lists seven strategies; a genuine RANGE scores best. Protective equipment cuts injury SEVERITY; appropriate footwear adds grip, cutting slip RISK; safe lifting protects the spine; hydration reduces fatigue and cramp; warm up and cool down cut strain risk; following the rules cuts dangerous contact; suitable competition level matches age, weight or ability. Some cut the CHANCE, others the SEVERITY.
Drawn from real examiner reports.
Perceived risk is a belief, not a measure
Real risk is usually defined well, but PERCEIVED risk is often confused or vague -- treated as another way of measuring danger rather than the performer's own BELIEF about how dangerous the activity feels, which need not match the real risk. Lock it to the word BELIEVE: how safe or dangerous it feels to that performer, not the objective chance of harm.
Digest 4.13: real risk understood, perceived risk poorly understood (s23 P12 Q10a(i); w23 P11 Q1a(iii)-b).
Same strategy reworded, not a range
Asked for strategies or protective equipment, candidates repeatedly give the SAME item in slightly different words (two phrasings of "wear padding") instead of a genuine range. Before writing, sort points into distinct categories -- equipment, footwear, technique, rules, fitness -- and take one from each, so no idea is counted twice.
Digest 4.13: strategy/protective-equipment answers repeat the same item rather than a genuine range (s23 P12 Q10a(i); w23 P11 Q1a(iii)-b).
Risks outside the stated location
Risk questions are often scoped to one precise place, and candidates give risks OUTSIDE it -- a swimmer on the poolside (a risk AROUND the pool) when the question asks for risks IN the pool, meaning in the water: drowning or colliding with another swimmer. This is answering an adjacent, wrong version of the question. Re-read the exact location and delete anything outside it.
Digest 4.13: risks given outside the stated location, e.g. around a pool rather than IN it (s23 P12 Q10a(ii)).
Giving a strategy the question excluded
When a question explicitly EXCLUDES a named strategy -- for example ruling out flotation aids in a pool question -- candidates give it anyway and score zero. The knowledge may be fine; the error is not registering the exclusion. Before finishing, re-read any ruled-out strategy and replace it with a different, allowed one.
Digest 4.13: a strategy explicitly excluded by the question (flotation aids) is given anyway (s23 P12 Q10a(ii)).
Vague hazard instead of a named one
A generic "you could get hurt" earns nothing. Tie each environment to the SPECIFIC hazard it creates: a wall or stored equipment in a sports hall, uneven ground or a hole on a field, drowning or a misjudged depth in a pool, friction burns or joint strain on an artificial surface. Name the environment and the exact way it could harm.
Generic answer, no named activity
Risk and strategy answers are frequently left generic instead of applied to a named activity from the assessed list. "Wear the right shoes" is capped; "studded boots grip an artificial hockey pitch, cutting slips" is not. Name a specific activity and link the risk or strategy directly to how it plays out there.
Feeling safe means it is safe
Students assume that if an activity FEELS dangerous it IS, and if it feels safe it IS -- but the two can point opposite ways. A nervous beginner has HIGH perceived risk though the REAL risk is low with a spotter and mats. An experienced performer can build a LOW perceived risk while the REAL risk is unchanged. Perceived risk is a BELIEF, not a measurement, wrong either way.
Digest 4.13: perceived risk poorly understood compared with real risk (s23 P12 Q10a(i); w23 P11 Q1a(iii)-b).
Give a genuine range across categories
Sort your points into different categories -- equipment, footwear, technique, rules, fitness -- and take one from each. A range across categories scores better than restating one idea, and it stops you giving the same point twice in different words.
Respect the exact location and exclusions
Re-read the question for scope: note the precise LOCATION named (IN the pool means in the water, not the poolside) and any strategy RULED OUT, then delete anything outside that scope. Misreading scope, not lack of knowledge, loses these marks.
Apply the answer to a named activity
Name a specific activity from the assessed list and link the risk or strategy to it -- studded footwear cutting slips on an artificial hockey pitch, not a generic "wear the right shoes". Applying to the named activity is the most repeated thing examiners reward.
Example: a beginner trampolinist has a HIGH perceived risk (the height/bouncing feel scary) even though the REAL risk is kept LOW by a spotter and crash mats used correctly. An experienced performer can develop a LOW perceived risk ("it feels routine") even though the real risk has not changed -- this can lead to complacency.
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