Is it exam time in your house? In the past, our parents might have left us alone to study; these days, parents are taking annual leave from work to help prepare their kids for exams.
While there is a limit to how much you can help your child, and how much tuition and extra classes you should send them to, parents can still help their children prepare for exams.
Parents play an important role. They can either coach and prepare their kids to do their best. Or, they can be over-anxious and contribute to their child being overstressed which could lead to the child having mental block on exam day.
Here are some tips that will help you:
1) Brain food – fish is said to be brain food. Proteins are also good. Avoid sugary and starchy food which will just put your child to sleep or make them irritable. For exam days, pack your child something not too starchy or too filling for recess. If your child is too full, she will just be sleepy for the exam papers after recess.
2) Sleep is important. There is no point staying up till 4am studying for an exam, if it makes you too sleepy to function at your best on exam day. A sleep-deprived child will not remember a lot of things he normally would. Remember, we all function best when we get sufficient sleep.
3) Revision means revise not memorise. Your child should know and understand what has been taught throughout the past few months. The time leading up to the exam is purely for revision. This is not the time to be scrambling to understand math theories. That should've been done when the teacher was teaching.
4) Make sure your child wakes up at a reasonable hour on exam days because you don't want her to rush and be in a frazzled state when she gets to school. Being frazzled won't help her with the exam. It's much better if she arrives in school in an alert yet confident state, rather than a ball of nerves.
5) Remind her to prepare her schoolbag the day before so that she's not scrambling for her 2B pencils or sharpener in the morning.
6) Teach your child to relax by doing some deep breathing exercises. It helps if she closes her eyes and relaxes just for a few minutes before the exam begins. This will help her calm down, focus better and improve her memory.
7) Remind your child that you are proud of her and it's the effort that counts. Although you want her to do well, the most important thing is for her to know that she has tried her best. Aiming for straight A's will just add undue pressure on your child and not all children can handle this type of pressure.
8) Try to boost your child's self-confidence. Tell her she can do it. And, after the exam, reinforce this. If your child says she is stupid and some other child is cleverer, remind her that she has many strengths and qualities. If she's weak at math, she may be better at science.
9) Remember, your child is the one sitting for the exam, not you. Learn to calm down and relax. Your over-anxiousness is not going to help your child score more A's. In fact, it will just make your child more stressed out and nervous.
10) Remind your child not to cheat, and to report to the teacher if someone is cheating.
11) Some children feel better if you tell them you'll be saying a special prayer for them.
12) Help your child revise what they have learnt by testing them.
13) Don't get angry and scold your child if he can't remember the answer. He's trying, and you should, too. Losing your temper will get both of you nowhere.
14) Prepare a study timetable. Let your child have a nap after returning from school so that she is fresh to revise her lessons for the exams when she wakes up. Forcing your child to study all the time with no proper rest will just be counterproductive.
15) Prepare a proper space for studying. Studying on the bed is a no-no. So is studying in front of the TV. Prepare a study room, or corner, if you can. It should be some place devoid of distractions like the TV, music and phone. It also shouldn't be a noisy area of the house. It should preferably be in a room where your child won't be distracted by siblings playing or screaming. Remove the TV, digital music player and phone from that room, if you have to.
Lastly, parents should remember to breathe. This is your child's exam time, not yours. You can only do so much. Let your child do the rest and believe that everything that happens, will happen for a reason and for the best.
If your child fails her exam, it is not the end of the world. Life goes on. Failure in one exam can be turned into a lesson on humility, hardwork or just a different way of learning. Teach your child to learn from the experience and move on.
Your child's failure in one exam is not a reflection of your parenting skills or lack thereof.
Good luck!
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