Mock exams are a great way to test students’ learning and ability to apply their knowledge to questions in an exam setting. Often students fall into the trap of thinking that they already know the subject well, hence don’t spend enough time revising or simply don’t do practice papers. Together these factors can result in lower scores in mocks than expected, which can be understandably upsetting and cause extra academic stress. With a couple of months until the real exams, this article offers steps you can take as a parent to put your child back on track to succeed in their exams.
1. Change the mindset
The most important thing is to help your child to change their mindset in believing that there is still time to improve on their grades if they take the right steps. If they truly adopt this mindset, this should motivate them to do well and put the right work into achieving their desired grades.
2. Analyse what went wrong
As difficult as it might be, it is important to spend proper time discussing with your child what went wrong. The most likely case is that they haven’t put the right time into their revision. It is essential to understand how much time they actually dedicated per subject. Try to find out how they revised, whether they made revision notes and how many practice papers they did. I would ask them to make a list of the work they have actually done, as it is otherwise easy to overestimate. This should provide a good indicator of where they are with their studies.
3. Explain the importance of revision notes
From many years of being an educator, I have observed a strong correlation: students who do not make revision notes are the ones who underperform in exams. The common excuse is that “it is a waste of time” or “I am good at keeping information in my head”. Obviously this is not the case. Making revision notes is there to help students paraphrase the theory and simplify it in a concise manner. As a parent, try to explain the importance of revision notes and back it up with scientific evidence which you can find summarised in my blog here (https://www.york-weaving-education.co.uk/post/the-power-of-pen-and-paper). After the mocks, the initial academic plan should be completing all revision notes as a priority in preparation for the upcoming exams.
4. Ensure regular practice of exam papers
As the saying goes “practice makes perfect”. This should be the motto for students in preparation for the exams. Ensure that your child does plenty of past paper questions to learn the required exam language. Students can tend to work through papers using notes and looking up answers as they go, which I would advise against. You could help by creating exam conditions for practising tests by providing set time and no access to their notes.
5. Help create more time in a day
If your child struggles to find time to study, consider checking their screen time. If it adds up to several hours a day, you could propose limiting their social media usage for the exam season. From my experience, reducing social media usage has a strong positive effect on grades. Similarly, if your child’s timetable is constantly full with extra-curricular activities, it might be a good idea to put a pause on some of those. It is important to ensure a healthy work-life balance.
6. Get a subject-specific educator
A private educator can make a huge difference to your child’s understanding of the subject content, exam questions and practice. The syllabus can be taught much faster and in a more efficient manner in time for exams.
If you need any further advice about any of the points above, then please do not hesitate to contact me and I would be very happy to offer a free consultation. With the right actions, there can still be a transformation to your child’s education.
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