Share your tips for helping your DC through the exam period with SchoolExams.co.uk – chance to win £300 voucher! NOW CLOSED

[EmmaMumsnet]

Whether your DC are at primary school, secondary school, or doing their A levels, exams can be a challenging time. SchoolExams.co.uk want to find out how you help your DCs through this period and for you to share any tips you have for making the process easier.

“You might not have the knowledge to help your child to revise for an exam, but you will be able to help them to gain the skills they need to maximise their success. You can also help to build their confidence, ease their stress and support them if things don’t go quite to plan. With experienced tutors, downloadable papers, and video tutorials SchoolExams.co.uk is the closest online experience which replicates the home tutor experience, at a fraction of the price.”

So how do you support your DC during exam time? Do you work with them on a revision timetable which includes planned breaks to help your DC stay focused and avoid last-minute panics? Or do you make sure they get lots of sleep and eat ‘brain food’ the morning of an exam? Is it a constant battle to get them to revise or are you more worried about them working too hard. Perhaps you are really involved and quiz them with flash cards on their subjects? Or maybe you're more laissez-fare, leaving them to get on with revision on their own.

However you help your DCs through the exam period, please share your tips below and you will be in with a chance to win a £300 voucher of your choice (from a list).

Thanks and good luck!

MNHQ

Standard Insight T&Cs Apply

Helping with visual aids to support her learning

Revision, revision and more revision! I don't let my daughter play with her tablet when she has an exam coming up and we usually spend at least 30 minutes practising or revising whatever she needs to :)

Not to stress my DDs and DS out I help them study and make sure they have breaks regularly as well as do fun things at the weekends and not put pressure on them.

Small 20 minute study sessions work best in our house. Oldest DD has adhd and her concentration is not great so we find this works best when followed by 30 minutes of free time for her and then another 20 minute revision period. She's only in year 8 and moved up to secondary school but it definitely worked with her exams and her exam results were really pleasing as a result.

To get started early even if just for short bursts. It all adds up!

Talking about how they feel about it is good. It has to be their responsibility really but encouraging them to set out some plans is good and then supporting it by gentle reminders and making sure they have the peace and quiet to focus!

Always remain supportive and on hand with drinks and snacks

I tell them to always read the question thoroughly and if they have finished the exam to re read their answers. If it is a multiple choice exam, never leave any question unanswered. There is a one if four chance of getting it right.

Reassuring them that trying their best is all they can do and helping them in to revise in any way you can without putting on too much pressure.

Just making sure that they have somewhere quiet and comfortable to study and letting them know that anything they need to make it easier for them is only a matter of asking.

To not pile on the pressure and to offer help and support where possible. If all that fails just being there at the end of the day for a chat and a slice of cake

Ensuring they have regular breaks from study is a must but also encouraging year round study - the revision guides are good for this throughout the year going over things as they do them.

Ensure they have a quiet uninterrupted place to study, & take plenty of breaks.

Plenty of sleep.
Some treats to look forward to.
No nagging them, & be considerate of moodiness.
Ask if there is anything you can do to help & support them.

i have a 17 year old and 16 year old and a 3 year old so ive already gone through the stress of SATS, GCSE's , B-tec and now A levels. I would say the best tips i can offer is to not put too much pressure on the kids. They are already putting enough pressure on themselves. I would say make sure they get lots of rest and make sure the structure revision properly But most of all , tell them that they can only do their best !

Short bursts of 1 to 1 revision, positive attitude with praise and encouragement so they just try their best. Plenty of sleep, fresh air and healthy food, try and keep routines the same.

Lots of refreshments, encourage breaks

Be supportive without putting pressure on your child, little and often revision with breaks in between.Decent meals and a proper nights sleep the most important thing is plenty of praise and tell your child to just try their best

We made revision into a game and tried to make it fun by piecing puzzles together, matching words, colouring etc

A good idea I saw was to stick revision flash cards on the outside of the shower glass facing in 😂

Let them discover revision methods that work for them; when I was at school the teachers told us we should revise in silence, not have noise distraction etc, but I discovered I revised best listening to football on the radio. It may be music, football, silence or random ramblings- whatever works best!

Make a timetable but ensure that there is time for other activities in the schedule too. I try to make a fuss of him a bit by taking him homemade cakes/biscuits etc and drinks to his bedroom so he knows that I'm supporting him.

Thankfully, my kids are too young for exams but I am dreading the day when they are stressed with exams.

Definitely look at past exam papers. You don't need to know every last detail about a certain subject - you need to be able to answer exam questions on it. These are two slightly different things.

It's easy to overlook English revision as it isn't the sort of subject with facts to learn but practising with old exam papers really can make a difference.

Use a variety of methods. Staring at highlighted notes is possibly the least helpful. Explaining it or teaching it to someone else can be one of the best. I have also used a little and often flash card game with my kids right from when they were small and learning number bonds or times table.

Look at apps too - quizlet is fantastic and duo lingo is also v helpful.

Keep reminding how bad I did in mine!

ensuring they take regular breaks and supporting them through this stressful time but the main thing is not to impose any further pressures on them