We spoke to parents, teachers and students to gather some tips to make exam preparation a little easier and here’s what we found:

Know your child: Is he a self-starter or does she require constant motivation from you to get study time on track? This will determine how directive you need to be. For those children who know the drill and tend to be more independent in their organisation you may need to focus more on emotional support rather than specific or organisational support. If your child is relatively new to exam preparation and test taking you may need to spend more time working out a timetable (for forget to factor in some fun time).

Environment: We often underestimate this but parents can really help by providing the right study environment. Our physical space always influences our mental space. The most important elements here are adequate lighting, the right temperature, no sound or visual distractions and preferably no personal electronic devices around as these are the most distracting objects according to our students who confessed that when the phones were put away they always studied with more focus and therefore retained the information better.

Praise: This one may seem obvious but we can forget to do this often enough. Praise when you see things going well and don’t shy away to talk about things when you need to get them back on track. Keeping a positive attitude about your child’s abilities is critical for them to believe they can succeed. The research on emotion and learning has shown us that this link is strong. Children learn best in the absence of excessive stress and fear. Having said that, a few butterflies in the stomach indicating mild stress can help keep students focused on the task at hand so that they don’t slip up and become complacent.

Good luck to everyone and we look forward to another round of fantabulous results!

Devika Mankani
Chief Positive Psychologist