Helping your child revise for their English Language mock
Whether your child is rereading everything they've ever done, downloading practice papers and cramming their evenings with after school revision sessions or trying to cope by ignoring their exams completely, it's likely that the adults at home will feel stressed that their children are doing too much or not enough. Luckily, there are things we can do to help make the most of their mock exams and revision time.
Try to keep in mind that all behaviour is a communication of need
One of the first things new teachers learn in training is that children may not know what they need or want, but their behaviour gives us clues to how we can help them.
Children who try to cram, do as many practice papers as possible or sacrifice sleep for trawling the internet for tips often do so because they are fearful of under-performing, or because they have never been shown how to revise.These tips should help children who are panic revising by giving them more useful strategies and helping them to break their revision down instead of trying to do everything at once.
Conversely, other children will either tell you that everything is fine and they do not need to revise or will simply show no signs of caring about their exams at all. This kind of shut down can be as stressful for the adults at home as it is for the children and can happen for a number of reasons: they may not know where to start, they might feel so out of their depth that they don't think revision will do any good, or they may simply be so overwhelmed they just can't make themselves do it. These tips will help you to help them. If you both understand what they could be doing, they can be encouraged to do a specific activity instead of just being sent off to 'revise'.
Make sure they know what revision means
Sounds simple, doesn't it? Revision does not have to be (and really shouldn't be) printing off and filling in once past paper after another. Without real feedback, this can be a fruitless and time-consuming task. They could try the following instead.
Make flash cards
Making cards with terminology on one side and a definition on the other are just one way of using flash cards. They could write a sentence on one side and the sentence type on the other; write a character name on one side and their qualities on the other; quotes on one side and themes and ideas it links to on the reverse. I will post a blog in the next week or so of other ways flashcards can be used.
One of their benefits is that they're small and less overwhelming than a blank document or piece of paper. Another benefit is that making them is as beneficial as playing with them.
Get to know the mark schemes
There is value in practice papers, otherwise they wouldn't be as popular a resource as they are but children need more than a stack of past papers to do well in their exams. They are great for young people who already know what is expected of them in their exams, but less good if your young person struggles to answer questions in exam conditions.
I would suggest that rather than completing whole papers at this point in the year, your child is reading the examples given the mark schemes and then trying to create something similar for each question. They can build up to completing the questions first and checking the mark scheme afterwards.
If your child is using practice papers for their revision, it is helpful for them to time themselves so they get used to writing the right amount with the right focus in the time they'll be allowed on exam day.
Use the revision guides you bought in year 10.
When children start Key Stage 4, various departments will encourage you to buy revision guides. Chances are that by year 11, these are sitting forgotten on a shelf.
Revision guides are brilliant resources but only if they're used. Typically, they have questions and notes pages alongside extracts from texts and key ideas. One of the best ways to encourage your child to engage in this work is to let them write in their books.
While this will mean you can't sell them on after your child's exams, it will mean you've really got your money's worth out of buying them.
They have spaces provided for answers which help show how much should be written.
Your child can start their revision with only their revision guide and a pen - they won't need to spend any time gathering equipment (which can sometimes be an obstacle).
Break their subjects down and focus on where they can make the most improvement
Your child's teachers and/or tutors should be keeping them informed of the progress they have made, what they're doing brilliantly and the areas they should be working to improve.
If your child is in school, they should expect feedback from their subject teachers at least fortnightly; if they have a tutor, this will be more frequent.
Ask your child about their feedback and check their understanding of it. Do they know what they need to work on?
If they are making excellent points, how is their analysis? If their analysis is good, how is their understanding of literary techniques? Do they have ideas of their own about the novels, poems and plays they have studied for literature? Can they articulate these ideas in a way that makes sense? How about writing them down - is this as easy as speaking about them?
Rereading texts, asking questions about why the author made the choices they did will help them to build these analytical skills.
Use Association Mapping
Association Maps make use of words and pictures to help revise a whole novel, whole play or a cluster of poems.
Using a sheet of A4 paper or a page in an exercise book, we draw little pictures of themes, ideas, characters or plot points and then join them together with tiny quotes or ideas.
The magic of this revision technique is that we are actively thinking about the ideas and quotes the writer has used while the dual coding of writing and drawing at the same time sticks the ideas in our brains. Dual coding makes stronger neurological links than writing or drawing alone, making facts and ideas easier to recall at a later date, like in an exam.
Use sensory clues
Have you ever walked into a room and a smell takes you back to a different time or place? We can use this olfactory response to help us remember things. Wearing a different body spray or eating a different sweet when revising different subjects can help bring ideas back when we smell it again. Having a Werther's Original when revising maths or a rhubarb and custard when reading A Christmas Carol and eating another one on your way to your exam can take your mind back to what you were doing last time you smelt that smell.
Use the room
Similarly to smells, visual clues can help with our recall. If your child will be sitting their exams in a hall at school or college which they can access during the day, they can use features of the room to help anchor specific facts. Looking at a focal point, like a curtain, piece of apparatus, a corner of a stage, while reciting a small fact can help them to 'stick' that fact to that point. When they are in the exam, looking at the specific point can help them to recall the fact that they stuck to it. This works particularly well for formulas in maths or science, or dates in history but could also be used for short English Literature quotes.
On exam days
Breakfast
Having had something to eat will help your children perform better. If they won't eat at home, having something they can take to school with them will help, even better if it's something they can share with their friends. If there isn't breakfast at home, there will be someone at school with a cupboard full of goodies - drop an email to their head of year/head of house in the morning to make sure someone is looking out for them. (Back when I was a head of house, I had an office full of year 11s drinking juice and eating fruit and croissants every morning during exams - it was a lovely way to start the day.)
Equipment
The school will have provided year 11s with a list of equipment but they may not be able to find it amongst the piles of papers they get every day.
In short, please make sure they have:
More than one black pen
A pencil, rubber and pencil sharpener (one that catches the shavings is best)
At least one highlighter
For maths and sciences they may also need
A ruler
A compass
A protractor
A scientific calculator (I have never seen a school with enough scientific calculators for everyone who needs one, while they may be able to borrow one, time will be wasted asking for one and waiting.)
Schools should be able to help with equipment loans for exams. As with everything, the earlier they ask the better. If they are nervous about asking, drop an email to their tutor or head of year in advance of their exams.
Hold out your hand
I mean this metaphorically rather than literally.
Be about when you can and let your child know you are there to listen if they want to talk and keep making this offer.
We can't expect our teenagers to put a brave face on; when they are worried, they will likely be short or quiet, or shouty. Pre-exams is not the best time to tackle their attitude but to remind them that if they want to talk, you are there.
When they leave for school, a quick," I hope it goes well," can go a long way. Please don't worry if they don't want to talk about the exams when they get home. They have a lot to deal with all at once and may just want to get on with the next one, not linger on a finished exam.
If you feel like your child could do with some extra support in the run up to their exams, please fill in the contact form and I'll get back to you within a day or two to arrange a chat about how I can help.
Best of luck!
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