Giles Tollit, Headmaster at Horris Hill Day and Boarding Preparatory School, shares his advice to help manage your child?s exam anxiety
“Although GCSEs and A-Levels have been cancelled for the second year in a row, many younger pupils are still facing exams this term: Common Entrance will be sat by Year 8 pupils across the UK, and overseas, in the first week of June; in addition, academic, music and sports scholarships are being held. Many year groups will also be having internal end-of-year exams now pupils are back in the classroom. With various exams quickly approaching, parents will begin to plan for their child?s revision. How much revision a child should do is a key question and yet it is hard to answer. It is important that as parents you make the judgement that teachers in the classroom do, which is to gauge motivation, progress and exam anxiety levels. However, revision is like exercise, we all know that doing none is a bad idea but beyond a point, doing more stops bringing the benefits.
“Revision is also a high-level skill, requiring good knowledge of the curriculum, self-awareness, the ability to sit still and focus unsupported. Whilst your older child may be busy with their A-levels notes, the Year 5 boy expected to revise for half an hour may well need a large amount of input from an adult, as he would receive at school.
“Looking through a practice paper is a valid method. Being familiar with the format of the exam is often just as powerful ...