study these exam tips & they should add up to success
Guide to take stress out of Junior certs
LAST week we ran the top tips for Leaving Cert students ahead of next week’s State exams... and today it’s the turn of the Junior Certs.
Around 60,000 students will sit their first paper – English – next Wednesday with the exams running until June 21. It is a stressful time for those involved, so guidance counsellor Beatrice Dooley offers tips and advice to guide them through their first State tests. GAME PLAN Familiarise yourself with the timetable, make sure you know the day and time each exam starts and ends. There will be some variations in this between different subjects and levels. Two words: “exam papers”. Practise writing out answers to exam questions, time yourself. Ensure you answer all parts of each question. Work out what your strongest answers will be, once in the exam start with these – it will settle any nerves and make you feel more confident. Check out the exam hall ahead of time. Do you know which exam centre you are in and where you are sitting? Make sure you bring a copy of your examination number with you and check at the end of each paper that you wrote your exam number on all answer booklets and individual pages. THE GOOD NEWS 1 You know the drill, you sat the mocks and survived. Well done! 2 You will earn a significant cohort of marks for practicals, aurals, assessment tasks and for project work that you have already submitted. This takes significant pressure off you in the written exam. 3 The Junior Certificate is a practice run for the Leaving Certificate. Use it as a learning experience – in the unlikely event that you make mistakes – a valuable stage of learning – you will get it right next time. Have you ever watched a toddler learning to walk? How many times do they fall down before they get it right? Do they give up? No, they get right back up and try again. Give yourself permission to mess up and learn from the experience. TOP FEARS 1 “My teachers won’t let me do Higher Level in this subject in 5th year if I don’t get an A.” Not true. Your teachers have observed your progress over the past three years and if you don’t get your dream grade in the Junior Certificate they will take into account your exam grades to date. 2 “I will go blank and freak out in the exam.” We all go blank every now and again. Sometimes because we are over tired or nervous or because we don’t know where to start. It is OK, you can “self soothe” even in the exam.
HOW TO SELF-SOOTHE
Take a minute to relax, take deep breaths if appropriate. If not focus on sensations. What can you see, hear, smell, feel, taste around you? Bring your attention back to the now. Take your attention out of your head. Athletes use this to get their head back in the game if they are starting to lose or panic when under pressure.
FINAL TIP
Talk to your school’s Guidance Counsellor – you will be surprised how much more positive you will feel after you talk fears and worries out of your system.
■■Beatrice Dooley is vice president of the Institute of Guidance Counsellors.