No one would argue that schooling has been tremendously difficult throughout the pandemic. With excess closures, home learning and exam postponements, it has unsurprisingly been extremely distressing for children, and many have taken a knock to their confidence as a result.
For many parents of exam-age children, mental health and stability remain their top concerns.
It has come down to parents to provide educational structure and guidance to their children. This is no mean feat for most parents who have jobs of their own. Read on for all the information you need to help your children excel in exams in a post-pandemic world.
Preparation
Ask the school for more information on what resources they are offering to help children prepare; these may be physical resources such as textbooks or online ones. Your child may feel like they’re behind due to a number of factors, meaning they might have more subject matter to cover in order to catch up. Help them make a revision timetable that can in turn help them keep track of their subjects and requirements. Make sure they keep to a routine and start early in the morning; they will likely be more efficient than if they started later on.
Encourage them to take notes and try a variety of revision methods other than simply reading out of a textbook. Prioritise the subjects that they struggle in. You may even want to consider enlisting extra help. For example, if they struggle with English, you could get them an English tutor from Tutor House. This website will allow you to filter the required subject and level of study before finding available tutors that can help. The sessions are online, and can fit around your child’s schedule.
Review Past Papers
Depending on your child’s level of study, simple revision tools may not be enough to help them get ready for their exams. Either ask the school or look online for past exam papers; you may also be able to find online mock papers that come with answer keys and marking schemes. Using old papers, your child can begin to familiarise themselves with the types of questions they can expect, as well as any patterns to the questions and the level of difficulty.
Reviewing old papers is also an excellent way to try and gauge what questions or topics are favoured by exam-boards and are likely to reappear. It also allows the children to experience an exam-like situation, meaning they will be much calmer when they sit the actual exam.
Diversifying Their Workload
Some people think it is better for children to spend an extended amount of time – such as a day – on each subject, but this is not the case. Whilst building their revision schedule, you should try to model it after a typical school day, changing subjects regularly and scheduling breaks in. Taking the time to study each subject individually helps them to cover the course content more efficiently.
If there is any required reading for your child’s exams, encourage them to complete it and discuss what they have read with them afterwards. This helps them to retain the information better. Some examinations also require coursework or other graded work that is done outside of the examination; keep an eye on their progress to make sure that they aren’t neglecting this in favour of studying for the exams themselves.
Encourage your child to access a variety of resources to help them work out which style of learning suits them best. They could be a visual, auditory or kinaesthetic learner. They may simply find classic methods of revision to be the most effective. However, utilising a variety of methods ensures that the revision doesn’t get repetitive or dull.
Study-Buddies
As this past year has been heavily focussed on online learning or learning outside of the traditional environment, you should encourage your child to study online in groups too. As restrictions ease, perhaps in-person study groups would suit you better, although you may wish to monitor these sessions if your child is prone to distractions. It may help if you vet the group first so that you know who is included. Encouraging your child to attend or host group study sessions is a great way for them to get help with any problems or subjects that you can’t help them with. In addition, they can test each other and fill any gaps in knowledge.
Rest & Sleep
Regular breaks are a must to ensure maximum information retention. If not, your child risks suffering from information overload, and they won’t be able to remember anything they’ve actually learnt. On the other hand, with breaks, they will find that they get distracted less, and they can actually focus for longer. In addition, you can also use breaks to fit in exercise or a snack to better equip them for their return to studying.
During their schedule, you should encourage a regular bedtime and scheduled wake up time. On average, a child needs between seven to nine hours a night for their brains to function at maximum capacity. Sleep is an amazing tool, and it actually helps them to commit what they have learnt that day to their long-term memory as well as improving their cognitive function for the following day.
Set Goals and Celebrate the Achievement
Work with your child to set daily or weekly goals that you know they can achieve. These can be added into their revision timetables, and it gives them smaller incremental goals to work towards as well as acting as a good measure for their progression. Next, decide on specific rewards that your child gets for achieving their set goals; these can be smaller things or more substantial. Either way; they should act as incentives.
Exercise and Healthy Eating
Encouraging your child to be more active during their revision period is strongly advised. Exercise can be incredibly beneficial for children as a whole, especially during their revision. It can help to increase and renew their focus and improve their memories. It also gives them the chance to readdress tough topics or subjects with a fresh mind. It doesn’t have to be intense exercise; a simple walk around the block can help.
This emphasis on healthy choices during the exam season should carry over in their diets too. What they put into their bodies will dictate what they can get out of it. Encourage brain foods such as nuts or fruit, which will leave them less lethargic and with more energy to continue learning into the afternoon. That being said, balance is key; you can’t expect them to completely cut out treats or favourite foods.
In Conclusion
The pandemic has undoubtedly been hard for everyone but has impacted children considerably. The return to schools also signals the return to exams, and it is important that children are prepared for this. It isn’t fair to let their results and potentially their future be affected by factors outside of their control. Using the above tips, you can help your children to prepare as best they can for their exams and encourage them to strive for success.
