Study tips for exam season

Let’s face it, when children are gearing up for tests and exams, parents need to as well! It’s a team effort, so here are some creative ways to encourage your children to learn and study.

Comprehension and grammar skills

• Start a family tradition of writing letters to friends or family members. Make it competitive by rewarding the best letter. Don't forget to post the letter! This is a fun and inventive way to practise essay-writing and general writing skills.
• When you’re driving, tell the kids to look out for billboards and signs on the road. The aim is to complete the alphabet from A to Z. As you see the letter on billboards and signs, you shout out the letter. You can either play competitively or see how quickly you can get to Z by working together.
• Use a simple word, like "nap." Everyone takes turns going around the car, finding words that rhyme with the chosen word.
• Make an interesting or funny three-word phrase from the letters of the number plate. So if the letters are VCK, you might come up with Very Crazy Kids! Or make a word that uses all three letters in it.
• Encourage daily reading. Discuss stories, ask questions about the text and ask your child to explain the meaning in their own words.
• Get your child into the habit of writing short essays or paragraphs on topics they enjoy. Review their work together, focusing on grammar, sentence structure and creativity.

Logic and brain training skills

• Bring out the board games and stage an elaborate winner-takes-all board game competition. Brainstorm a cool prize for the champion and go all out on the fanfare! Don’t forget jigsaw puzzles. Start small and simple and gradually move to more complicated designs that have hundreds of pieces. These games are helpful in teaching reasoning and patience.
• Mind maps are a fantastic way to visually organise information for subjects like history or science. This activity encourages creative thinking and helps with memorisation by linking concepts.
• Encourage your child to keep a journal, where they write down the daily challenges they faced and how they solved them.

Maths skills

• Make it a habit to practise daily, you and your kids can do it together! Work on multiplication tables, addition and subtraction – try to do it verbally and then write it down. This strategy helps to strengthen problem-solving speed and accuracy during exams.
• It’s always helpful to take big problems and chunk them up into smaller steps. Help your child to understand the logic behind each step. This technique shows children how to approach problems systematically and takes the pressure off learning everything in one go.
• You can’t go wrong with bright flashcards! Create flashcards with the most important formulae and concepts and use them for quick quizzes.
• Find opportunities to intersperse maths into everyday activities like cooking (measuring ingredients), shopping (calculating total costs and change) or planning trips (calculating distances or time). This is a useful technique to demonstrate how maths works outside the classroom and can reinforce important concepts in a relatable and fun way. 

Disclaimer

This article is for informational purposes only. Always check with your doctor or medical practitioner about any health concerns, before embarking on any fitness or nutrition programme, or using any medication.