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| Photo by Green Chameleon on Unsplash |
It’s January and when you have a child in year
11 and getting ready to sit their GCSE examinations in the summer, that means
mock exams time at most schools. My son is right in the middle of his, he had
three in November and now the rest of them in a three-week block in January. So
far, he has sat eight of them and whilst he’d happily go without the mocks, I am
really pleased the schools do them.
When I’ve asked secondary school teacher friends
what the best way to revise is, they have all said that the best thing your
child can do is complete past papers. This doesn’t actually give them new
knowledge or even revise what they know already but it allows them to recall
their learning, to give exam-style structure in the answers and to gain
valuable feedback from the person marking it, as to where they could improve
and gain valuable points. An extra point or two on a paper could be the
difference between grades, and thus a pass or a fail.
Let me share with you how I am supporting JJ in
the run-up to his GCSEs -
1. Being available - have you noticed that
teenagers never want to talk to you when you make yourself available? My JJs
favourite times to chat to me are as soon as he walks in from school and I’m
working, or around 11.15pm, when he should be sleeping! Yes, it can be
annoying, but I’ve learnt it is far more important to stop what I’m doing and
give him 15 minutes to download his concerns, thoughts or questions. This is
particularly important during the actual exam period, then if your child feels as if an
exam went wrong it’s good to be able to talk about it and externalise the
associated feelings.
2. Let them set the agenda - your child is now 15
or 16 years old and as such we have to give them a level of trust. Allow them
to choose what they will study and when, of course, we can offer advice, but it
is really important that we don’t continually badger them to do things our way.
I know that if I asked JJ too much about his revising he would clam up and
probably do less as he’d be annoyed at me.
Let’s afford them the level of trust they deserve, and of course, each child is different.