Exam help- not tutoring

[MrsThaskala]

Hi all,

DD is year 7. Doing well in her new school. She's had assessments and managed to get good scores. She always struggled with tests in primary school but this year seems to be coping well. Her school have told us about the upcoming end of year exams. She's gotten herself worked up about this. Maybe because the word exams. Up to now, I've helped her by buying the CGP books which have revision guides and practice tests.

My question is..are the sites with practice test papers? I remember downloading SATs papers in the past. There's no knowing what tests they'll use, and I'm really just about helping her understand how to answer questions fully. She's told me that a question might be worth 8 marks for example and she's gotten 4 marks. So I thought I'd help with actual tests rather than get a tutor. She's doing well (for our expectation) so don't get me wrong, I would just like some help with actual tests/exam answering.

They are unlikely to be any different to previous assessments in terms of question style.

The best way to improve would be to look at previous tests/assessments and see what she missed. Was it not knowing the work, or missing what was needed. Key words mean thinks eg 'Explain' means say this is xxx BECAUSE xxxx.

Different schools will do things differently. e.g. At DDs school in y7 humanities told them exactly what the sub topic would be (so they didn't have to learn the whole year's content) as they were testing skills rather than content.

In contrast maths will probably be on all the year's work. Depending which set she is in, she may need to expect not to be able to answer all the questions as set 1 may have tackled harder versions of topics than say set 3. This is perfectly normal and starts to help prepare them for GCSEs where only the top of the top sets will be able to do all the questions on the higher tier paper.

Y7 exams don't matter much, they may for some subjects impact sets for y8 but probably not many.
Exams in y7 are about getting into the mindset of revision and sitting exams. I personally think it is important to try revision techniques out in KS3 so that when they get to KS4 they have an idea what works for them.
You don't want to be one of the y11 parents that says 'my DC has no idea how to revise' because all exams up to then 'don't really matter'.

The school will probably set their own tests for end of year 7. So it will depend on the individual subjects and departments. Most likely the lessons and class work/homework will be relevant so if your DD knows well the content and skills her teachers have been teaching in class then she should be reasonably well prepared.
If you are really concerned about this then maybe speak to a few of her teachers to point out that DD is keen to do well but she is anxious about what the exams will be like and how she can prepare.
As always in exams she needs to remember to read the questions carefully, check she has not missed out any questions etc and don’t panic if there are some questions she thinks she can’t do.
In year 7 teachers would usually be helping students to tackle the exams well so DD should be reassured that the intention is to find out what level she is working at, not to catch her out. Most secondary school teachers nowadays spend a lot of time in lessons trying to explain how pupils can give a good answer and get a good mark/level/grade.

Thank you for the responses. You're right. It will be fine I'm sure and it's all good practise.

If you can afford a tutor I’d get one.

Helping a stressed child with exam prep will tend to stress your relationship. If you have a good tutor you can step back and focus on parental support rather than teaching.