the carpet man wrote:
Just as a matter of interest.

What would a typical exam question be ??

When I took it a couple of years ago there were two paper - one of 30
short questions each worth 2 marks, and one answer-3-from-7 essays
worth 20 marks per question.

The short paper asks questions such as "State, with named examples, two
ways in which plants have adapted to survive in a low-water
environment" or "List two advantages and two disadvantaged of F1
hybrids".

The essay questions might say something like

"Describe with named examples the site selection, preparation, planting
and establishment of a small soft fruit garden [20]"

or

"Describe a named floribuna rose cultivar [6]

Describe, with the use of diagrams, the site preparation and planting
of a circular island bed, 3m diameter, of the rose decribed. [10]

List 8 annual tasks for the maintenance of the bed [4]"

With the long questions there is usually ample scope for diverging into
subjects you know well. When it comes down to it there are fundamental
subjects in gardening which impact on all others - eg soil, water,
light, nutrients, pests and diseases etc.

When talking about the site selection and preparation, instead of
saying

"choose an open area of gound and double dig it, incoporating plenty of
organic matter, add a handful of Growmore."

you could put

"Choose an open area of ground, so that the plants will receive
sufficient light to promote good growth and fruit development. Remove
the turf or other existing planting and double dig the area.
Incorporating plenty of organic matter will help to improve the soil
structure, which will help to retain water, and will also help to
replenish and nutrients removed by the previous planting or leached
from the soil. Adding a general purpose fertiliser with NPK 777 at a
rate of 35g per sq m will ensure the plants get off to a good start and
are more able to resist pests and diseases when establishing." - you
get the picture.

Regards

Neil