Parent and child chat room: How does your child prepare for exams?

Being properly prepared for the exams is vitally important. In a previous ‘Care Share’ page you spent time with your child identifying his/her learning styles. Knowing your learning style really increases study and exam effectiveness, but exams and study both require planning, effort and hard work. Talk to your child about effective ways to ensure study and exam success using the ideas below.

The importance of planning

Do you have a study plan? Do you design a user-friendly exam study timetable before exams?

Before you can think about how to study, you need a plan of action to ensure that you use your study time effectively.

Any study timetable must:

• Be time efficient: Ensure that you have enough time to study for each exam. Prioritise and organise your time to ensure that you spend study time effectively.
• Be specific: – Your study timetable should be specifi c about what you will study in each study session, for example, Session 1: English Literature – Othello: Act I.
• Be realistic: – It’s not possible to study your entire Geography book in one hour on the morning of the Geography exam.
• Allow for regular breaks: – Don’t spend hours staring at a book hoping that you will magically absorb the information. Study for one hour at a time and take a 10 minute break at the end of each hour. During the break, get up and move around. Don’t start watching TV because your 10 minute break will turn into a three hour break!
• Work at areas of strength and weakness: – It’s always easier to study for subjects we are good at. Ensure that you give enough time to subjects that are diffi cult for you.

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