BBC Practitioner study plan

Map the four exam domains against your current knowledge and rank your weakest sub-areas in News and Sport

Define a repeatable daily news-scan routine covering UK and international headlines

Build a glossary of 40 core news terms (e.g., embargo, off the record, lede, standfirst) with your own one-line definitions

List the major UK and global sports governing bodies and the competitions they run

Distinguish hard news, features, and opinion formats and identify the structural conventions of each

Explain the editorial chain from reporter to sub-editor to editor and where fact-checking sits

Summarize the rules and scoring of two major sports well enough to explain them aloud in 90 seconds each

Trace how a breaking story moves from wire copy to a published article

Apply media-law basics (defamation, contempt, privacy) to five short hypothetical scenarios

Identify named sources versus anonymous sourcing and the risks each carries

Match ten major sporting events to their formats, venues or cycles (e.g., biennial, annual, quadrennial)

Draft a correction or clarification for a deliberately flawed news paragraph

Complete a timed 20-question mixed News and Sport set under exam conditions

Review every wrong answer and write the underlying rule or fact you missed

Explain the difference between a press release, a wire report, and original reporting

Identify transferable skills between news and sport reporting (interviewing, verification, deadlines)

Map the TV production chain from commissioning to broadcast and name each role

Distinguish genres (sitcom, drama, soap, reality, panel show) and their conventions

Explain how ratings, share, and audience measurement are defined and used

Outline the commissioning pitch process and what a commissioner evaluates

Compare public-service and commercial broadcasting models and their funding implications

Describe the scientific method and distinguish a hypothesis, a theory, and a law

Explain how a nature documentary sequences footage to build a narrative without misrepresenting behaviour

Identify common statistical pitfalls in entertainment and science reporting (base rates, correlation vs causation)

Summarize core ecology concepts (food webs, biodiversity, conservation status) in your own words

Explain evolution by natural selection accurately in under 200 words

Describe how a science story is verified: peer review, replication, and expert comment

Identify the major taxonomic groupings and give one example organism for each

Complete two full timed mock exams across all four domains and compare scores

Re-drill only the sub-areas still scoring below target using spaced repetition

Practice explaining one concept from each domain aloud in 60 seconds

Finalize a one-page revision sheet of the highest-yield facts across all domains