It can be difficult to know what to do and how to help your child when they are feeling stressed out and overwhelmed ahead of exam season. Even if they remain cool cucumbers through the next term, there are a few things you can do to ensure they are organised and on the right track to efficient and productive revision. If you feel helpless and unsure of the best ways to support, here are our Founder Nyree’s “Top Tips” on how to encourage your child to productively prepare for the exam season and minimise exam stress as a result.
Things you can be encouraging your child to do now:
- Download a copy of their exam timetable from the WJEC website using these links:
GCSE exam timetable https://www.wjec.co.uk/media/vvylggia/summer-2023-wales-and-eduqas-gcse-final-exam-timetable-02-11-22.pdf
A level timetable: https://www.wjec.co.uk/media/leiijmb0/summer-2023-wales-and-eduqas-as-a-level-final-exam-timetable-v2-15-11-22.pdf
- Put their exam dates on a calendar or wall planner so they can visually see how much time they have left!
- List the order of their exams by date and use that order to help make a revision timetable. Feel free to use our template.
- Find out what they have to revise by downloading the subject specification which is the list of all subject matter that needs to be covered. If you want even more detail – download the guidance for teaching. Students can use this as a revision checklist – if their teacher or tutor hasn’t provided one – they can make one from the specification. To find these documents – click on the qualifications page https://www.wjec.co.uk/qualifications/ > select your subject > select specification
- Using the specification or the revision checklist they’ve made, students can identify topics they missed from school/haven’t covered yet and they rank them by difficulty or understanding – they can then visit BBC Bitesize for GCSE and write their own notes if they have gaps.
- Download the Advance Information 2023 for every subject by visiting the qualifications page (link above) and selecting the subject and then advance information 2023. The advance information provides key areas of focus for revision but please note, that their revision plans should still take account of everything that has been taught. We know that some students will have done all of this already and that some may not know when their first exam is and need bribery to get out a book, but hopefully, there will be at least one or two constructive things that they can do to get organised. Good luck!
Summary:
- Download exam timetable
- Display/dates on wall planner/calendar
- Use exam order to create a revision timetable
- Download the subject specification to use as a revision checklist
- Fill gaps in notes or understanding using BBC Bitesize
- Check advance information 2023 to guide revision