Pay attention, parents, it’s time for your REVISION!
Want to help your children with exam hell? You need our expert’s cut-out-and-keep primer How to tell if they’re really taking it in
As I write, I am in the departures lounge at Gatwick Airport waiting to board my easy Jet flight to Malaga. All around me are young families, heading off for a relaxing Easter break. No sun, sea and sangria for me, though; my trip is purely business. Exam business.
My son has been on a school trip in advance of his spanish GCSE in May. While his classmates return to the UK, the two of us are catching a train to Madrid to stay with my brother, who lives there with his son, in the hope this brainy spanish cousin will cement his conversational skills.
I am also, at his request, lugging a ton of geography revision halfway across Europe.
Like countless other parents, I’m not expecting these Easter holidays to be a lot of fun.
Whoever decided the best time to subject children to one of the most important academic tests of their young lives was when they are on the cusp of adulthood, and therefore at their most susceptible to the emotional turmoil of hormones and the distracting pull of pubescent pleasures, was either childless or possessed of a particularly perverse sense of humour.
still, it could be worse. Because although my daughter is sitting all hers at once, my son at least is staggering his. Thanks to his school’s wise policy, wherever possible they take GCSES early. so while his sister faces the full onslaught, he will do two this year and two next year — meaning that by the time he gets to next year, he’ll not only have plenty of crucial exam practice, but a lighter load.
BACK home, my husband is also on exam watch (when not trying to negotiate Brexit with John McDonnell, that is). For what feels like about three years (but is in fact only a few weeks) my daughter has been on a cycle of eat, sleep, revise, repeat — punctuated by the occasional tension-relieving sleepover with friends.
To be fair to her, she’s remarkably sanguine about the whole thing. she’s been astonishingly level-headed, planning her own revision schedule and sticking to it rigorously.
I’ve never been a helicopter parent, largely because I don’t think it does children any favours to do their work for them, but also because my daughter is a fiercely independent spirit who likes to do things her way.
Thus we respect each other’s boundaries, and this has been key to maintaining sanity: her job is to pass her exams; mine is to ensure she gets enough sleep and vitamin C, and to make sure there is ham and cheese in the fridge for toasties.
I’ve found a little goes a long way when it comes to relieving the pressure of revision. A trip to a charity shop to buy second-hand clothes, a movie, Nando’s. I figure a few hours here and there will be good for her mental health — and make her more likely to do her best on the day.
And, as I keep reminding her, her best is all she can do.
so if you’re finding revision hell this Easter, read our practical guide by parenting guru TANITH CAREY.
WHILE your child may look studious with a textbook in one hand and a highlighter pen in the other, it’s unlikely they are taking much in unless they are ‘actively’ learning.
Youngsters need to be engaged either by actively analysing material or being tested on it. So websites like Quizlet.com, in which pupils can devise their own tests, can help.
Academic coach Lucy Parsons, author of The Ten Step Guide To Acing Every Exam You Ever Take also suggests a ‘power hour’ of revision. This involves finding a past paper question and spending 20 minutes revising what they need to answer the question, the next 20 minutes answering it and the last 20 minutes marking their work. Another tactic is a revision ‘buddy.’ Help them choose a partner — you or a friend. They should tell their ‘buddy’ what they plan to revise at the start of the day, then report at the end of the day on how it went.