Straight from the horses mouth... (Helping your child cope with exam stress)

Member Name: bigbtommy

Product:	Helping your child cope with exam stress
Date:	16/07/02 (368 review reads)
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Okay. I'm not a horse. I'm actually a student who has just done 3 AS'es and another GCSE. So, I hope I can give you a slightly different perspective. The perspective of the examined.

Firstly, I'm going to look at the different exams and give some specific help, then go in to some general advice.

[ Options ]
You can save a lot of heart-ache and pain by helping your child decide and do what they want to do. At the end of the day, their options (whether for GCSE or A-level) are their choice, and their choice alone. Don't force them in to anything. You may have been a science whizzkid in your day, but that doesn't mean that your child will be. A student doing subjects they want to do will be a lot more succesful than a student doing subjects that their parents bullied them in to doing.

[ CAT's and ALICE's ]
CAT's are done by most school as a basis for seeing someone's basic rate of intelligence. It is similar to an IQ test and tests children on their vocabulary, number crunching and visual ability. These are not exams as such, but simple tests to see how children are doing. Do not force your children to worry about these tests. They should not be revised for. ALICE tests are similar but for people just about to start A-levels.
Don't let your kids worry. They only take an hour or two.

[ SAT's ]
These are national tests, which don't lead to qualification but are to provide comparison between schools, help with applications to secondary schools and also for getting the sets correct for GCSE. Don't put pressure on your kids on these tests, because they are not as important as the later exams. They are useful as a benchmark to see where kids are at.
The three sets of SAT exams are done at ages 7, 11 and 14 (after the kids complete a 'Key Stage'). Kids definitely shouldn't worry about the 7-year-old ones. The 11-year-old ones should be worried a little.
At my primary school we did about 2 or 3 practice essays in the week running up to these, but otherwise don't worry.
The 14-year-old exams you should get your children to do a bit of revision for. Achieving a good level in these always helps the school target the GCSE tuition correctly. The key with SAT exams is to don't put too much pressure, but to tell your children to do their best.
I didn't do brilliantly in my SAT exams. I get a pretty good grade for maths. My science grade was appaling. My English grade was average.
But, it didn't stop me. I'm now doing A-level English. I passed maths GCSE at grade B. I passed science GCSE with a double C.

QUOTE and TOP TIP!
"Bodily exercise, when compulsory, does no harm to the body; but knowledge which is acquired under compulsion obtains no hold on the mind." - Plato
Good ol' Plato teaches an important lesson. You can't force learning. Remember that when harrasing your kids to revise. Tell them to do their best. It doesn't matter whether their best is an E or an A*. As long as they have done their best, then that is all you should demand.

[ GCSE ]
The same is true with GCSE's. Remind your children that as long as they do their best, you will be proud and satisfied.
Don't push them to try and get grade A. As long as they are motivated to do the best in their exams, and they do that, you should be satisfied.
Most sixth form colleges (to take mine as an example) ask for 5 or 6 passes at grade C or above. I passed 7, and hope to pass another one this year!

[ AS-es and A2's ]
Hopefully your children will be more mature and independant when they take their AS-es and A2's. Help them by providing space to study and the freedom to work and relax. The two should be closely watched and have equal importance. Social interaction is as important as textbook learning, and can often teach just as much.

ANOTHER
QUOTE:
'I never let schooling interfere with my education." - Mark Twain
An important lesson to us all.

Be sure to tell your children that the grades on the results slip are not the end. There are remarks, resits and other opportunities in life that will let them do wat they want. Exams aren't the be all and end all.

Good luck to you, and your young students.

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