8 study tips to prepare your child for examination

Don’t start crashing at the eleventh hour. While some students do seem to score on last-minute cramming, it is hands down not (for most of us) not the best way to approach an exam. Cultivate a habit make a timetable for your study. List down all the exam topics and dates which you have to sit them. Next, organise your study plan accordingly. Depending on individual, you may want to spend more time on certain subjects than others. (probably the weaker ones).

1. Organize your study space

Ensure that you have enough room for you to spread your textbooks and notes out. Is there enough light in the room? Is your chair comfortable? Are your phones, laptops, computers, out of your sight?

We strongly encourage students to get rid of all distractions, and ensure that you feel as comfortable as possible to have full focus. For some people, this may also mean complete silence, for others, a little background music does helps to increase their ability to focus better. Studies shows that certain group of children needs everything completely tidy and organised in order to concentrate, while others perform better in a more cluttered environment. Take a few minutes and think about what works best for you.

2. Use Flow Charts and Diagrams

Visual aids can be extremely useful when you do your revision. At the start of a new topic, challenge yourself to pen down everything you already know about in that particular topic – and then pay attention to those areas where the gaps lie. Closer to the exam, summarise your revision notes into one-page diagrams. Listing your ideas down in this brief one-page format can then help you to promptly recall everything you need to know during the exam.

3. Practice past year papers

One of the most competent ways to prepare for exams is to practice past year papers / questions. This helps you get used to the style and format of the questions phrased and asked. Concurrently, you may also time yourself while practicing the past year papers. This can also be good form of practice for making sure you spend the right amount of time on each section. Be exam smart, plan your time well and make every minute count.

4. Explain your answers to others

Parents and siblings may be a huge distraction at critical times when you’re preparing for examination. However, you can leverage on them and use them to your advantage. Grab them to be a listening ear. Explain an answer to a question to them. That will help you to get it clear in your head, and also to highlight any areas where you need to brush up more work.

5. Organise study groups with friends

Plan a study date together with a group of friends for a study session. Sometimes, you may have questions that they have the answers to and vice versa. Most importantly, as long as you make sure you stay focused on the topic for an agreed amount of time, this can be one of the most effective ways to challenge yourself to maximise your learning potential with the same amount of time spend studying alone.

6. Take regular breaks

While you may think it’s best to study for long hours continuously, this can actually be counterproductive. Here’s an analogy, if you were training for a marathon, you wouldn’t try and run 24 hours a day. Correspondingly, studies have shown that for long-term retention of knowledge, taking regular breaks would be more effective to increase your learning curve.

However, everyone’s different, so establish a study routine that works for you. If you study better in the morning, start early before taking a break at lunchtime. Alternatively, if you’re more of a nocturnal person, take a larger break earlier on so you’re prepared to settle down come evening.

Don’t be guilty about being out enjoying the sunshine instead of mugging over your textbooks. Fun fact – Vitamin D is important for forming a healthy brain.

7. Snack on brain food

Sometimes, after a long day of mugging, you may feel like you deserve a treat but what you eat can result in a huge impact on your energy levels and focus, so stay away from junk food. (at the very least) Keep your body and brain energised by favouring nutritious foods that have been proven to aid concentration and memory, such as fish, nuts, seeds, yogurt and blueberries.

This applies to exam day too – eat a good meal before the test, it is advisable to consume foods that will provide a slow release of energy throughout. You wouldn’t want to start growling in exam hall. It can be a huge distraction when you’re trying to pen down your answers. Sugar may seem appealing, but your energy levels will crash an hour later. Best to avoid food high in sugar.

8. Plan your exam day

Make sure you get everything well prepared in advance of the exam. Don’t leave things hanging. Ask around if you have any questions on what to bring to exam hall or what not to bring. Be sure that you have the documents and stationaries before you step into the exam hall. Read through all the rules and requirements thoroughly, and plan your route and journey time. If needed, do a test run of the trip from home to examination hall. If not, note down clear directions to exam hall.

3 ways to help your child make friends

Where you stand in relation to your child’s friendships is one of the more strange questions of being a parent. There’s no doubt that friendship is an essential childhood passage. Kids learn how to compromise, share, and work through disagreements with their friends. Yet it can be hard for parents to watch from afar.

1. Teach Friendship Skills

Childen wants to play with other children who can have fun without taking over and shouting at everyone else. Seeing you reach out to friends is your child’s first lesson in how to do that.

2. Tune in to Your Child’s Friendship Style

Without knowing, you could limit your child if you assume he relates to friends the same way that you do. Let your child show you what kind of social interactions are suitable for him. If your child enjoys group situations, perfect! But if groups upset your child, see if he prefers playing with one or two children at a time.

3. Playdate at Home

If your child is young, invite her friends over for a play date at home. Be sure to have a couple of fun activities prepared. “Younger kids need to be instructed,” says Mr Lim, a father of 4 children. Activities might include several board games or a plan to bake cookies, depending on your child’s interests.

7 Things that Build Discipline in Children

Instilling a sense of discipline in our children and students is something few parents and tutors feel very comfortable doing. “I just want them to have fun and be kids!” the guilty parent or tutor says. But discipline, like it or not, is the foundation for understanding responsibility and values — things all kids will need to learn as they grow. Even though discipline is important, do remember that your child will do her best work if she is motivated by the joy of learning.

1: Make your children realize that how they study is important.

Show them some good examples. Bring your children to a person who is disciplined with the studies, and have your children ask why he or she enjoys studying or loves studying so much. Tell them stories of your childhood at school and explain how challenging and fun studying is.

2: Start young.

As soon as your child starts to receive any form of education, start teaching and showing them how to manage their time. Teach them that studying is a priority over things like games and TV, and guide them into the habit of finishing their school work before anything else.

3: Teach consequences.

Depending on where the school you child is enrolled in, your child’s school may not require students that fail a subject to do any sort of make-up course. Your child probably won’t love the idea of extra classes — but this can be a great way to teach them that if they studied harder during the year, they would have more free time during the holidays.

4: Try not to force studying on your child.

As time passes, forcing them to study may condition them to avoid studying totally. If you sit your child down at the study table for three hours with a textbook and lock the door, chances are that they will refuse to do what you want them to do. If you stress them constantly about the importance of studying and raise your voice at them when they don’t, the child may begin to resent both studying itself and you as a figure of authority at home. If you ask your child to study in a relaxed manner and make them realise the importance of studying, the outcome could be vastly different.

5: Set a good example.

Let your child see you working on something work-related. When your kid studies or completes a homework assignment, sit with her and work on something that you need to do. Set an hour aside each night for study—this includes you!

6: Take breaks.

Strike a balance between rigorous studying and unstructured play time. Make sure that your children take short breaks to relax and have fun in the midst of a study session, or else they may get too stressed—which can negatively impact their social life, their health, and their academic performance. Studying for over 20 minutes at a time can lead young children to lose focus, so 20 minutes of rest for every 20 minutes of study may help your child memorize what they’re reading. Remember this Twenty-Twenty rule!

7: Look at your child’s friend group.

If your child’s friends aren’t very into school and studying, there’s a good chance that their habits and behavior are influencing your child’s attitude. Consider whether it is your place or your responsibility to interfere with your child’s social life. If the problem continues, you might consider speaking with your child, speaking with the parents of his/her friends, or limiting your child’s time with certain friends. Ultimately, short of changing schools, there may be few invasive ways to change your child’s social life.