Exams are coming. Here are 7 tips to help you beat the exam blues!
1. Start Preparing for Exams, Early!
When students start early, they have the luxury of time to review what was done daily. Over at all our centres, we start from day 1. Using our in-house revision papers, we give time for our students to review concepts that they have learnt. If they are unsure of any of these concepts, our friendly teachers will be sure to recap and review with them until they have grasped it.
2. Checking Homework for Completion
Homework is a teacher’s way of checking for children’s understanding of what they have learnt in school. As such, checking their assignments for completion (not accuracy) will help our teachers in schools know where your child’s learning gaps are. If we are too excited to share perfect answers to our children, they might end up relying on us for answers instead of producing them during the examination hall.
3. Focusing on the Little Things 🙂
Spelling and 听写 are great tools to measure a child’s inclination towards the language. Apart from that, they are good formative assessments to test students’ grasp of new vocabulary. This has a strong relationship with Composition and Comprehension of both the English and Chinese Language exam papers.
Helping our students with spelling is a regular affair at PlayFACTO School Student Care. Our Serangoon North Supervisor, Joanne, often shares with parents, “We do a few words every day so that by the time they actually start their spelling, they have gone through their list of words more than once.”
4. Learning Beyond Textbooks!
One thing that will help build ‘ammunition’ before an exam, is to promote the process of learning. These can be done through play, reading, enrichment, crafts, outdoor activities, etc.
The list goes on… the only thing that is important is the learning objective + the tie-in (how they bring what they learnt into the activity).
Over at our centres, we do a myriad of structured activities to ensure that every child has multiple opportunities to put what they have learnt to practice and this makes learning far more enjoyable.
5. Rest Is Vital For The Soul
It is proven that children need adequate rest. With rest, their brains develop better. They also perform academically better at school as they are better focused during lessons. Over at our centres, we understand that children in Singapore lead active lives and might need an occasional nap or two.
As such, over at our centres, we allow students to take power naps after school so that they are able to focus better. Some centres have even introduced the power of mindfulness to aid children in their studies.
6. Environment Plays A Part
Children are still learning to regulate their emotions and having the right environment and atmosphere does help them focus better. At our centres, the design of the layout of the environment is key. From the height of the chair to the type of lighting, everything is made in place to ensure a conducive study space.
Similarly, having a dedicated room or area with their dictionaries, books, research files, stationaries, etc, all in place helps them “build” their mood for learning. The only challenge that many parents highlight is their inability to restrict their children from using the TV or their electronic devices.
In case you were wondering, we do not allow mobile devices at our centres, and screen time is limited to a group education movie screening every Friday.
7. Structure At Home Is Key
Children from 7 to 12 are consistently learning how to regulate their emotions and mood. The allocation of time for specific tasks reduces the need to explain or nag. Without structure, children would most likely head out to run or dive right into screen time and parents would have to remind them otherwise. With a structure, it’s as simple as getting them to do what needs to be done at that time.
While monotonous, this gives children a sense of security and stability helping them to focus on what is most important – homework, dinner time, play time, or whatever is required of them to do.
We do acknowledge that even at our centres, it takes time (at times more than we can imagine) for children to get a hang of things. But in the long run, this is helpful to maintain the harmony at our centres.
If you have clarifications, enquiries about our campus, contact our hotline at 97734336
Learn more about our locations here.
Learn more by viewing our centres. Click here to book your tour!
