Exams, irrespective of the student’s age, can prove highly stressful. Almost every student lives under pressure starting a few weeks before the exam date until the end of it. And the goal of each kid is to perform better than others or at least better than what they did in the previous exam.
While it is critical to complete the curriculum, it is also essential to utilise the time on hand efficiently. Even though kids, especially those in Japanese high school, are capable of managing their time and studies properly, they do require a little help from you to be better at what they want to do.
As a parent, you can do a lot more than you can imagine. Below mentioned are a few things you can do to keep your kid engaged in studies without overworking them.
How to Help Your Child Prepare for Exams?
Below are some useful tips to help your child perform better in exams.
1. Help with Early Preparation
The best way to assist your kid in managing things is by helping them understand the benefits of starting early. Educate your kid how leaving the preparation for the last moment will only backfire and result in added stress.
Start by helping your kid set up a timetable to manage the time effectively. Check how many subjects your kid has and the days when they have to take them. Accordingly, set up the study schedule. Also, understand the need to allocate more time for certain subjects than others.
2. Organise Their Space for Study
Creating an ambience is more important than anything else. It is easy for kids to get bored within minutes of starting the preparation. Similarly, distraction is yet another issue with kids.
Start by organising their study area. Keep it as organised as possible with minimal to no distractions. Keep the smartphones, video games and other devices away while they are at the desk studying. Also, ensure there is ample light in the room, with a comfortable chair to help them focus.
You can also help them create handouts with summaries of each chapter written. These can be used as last-minute referrals.
3. Arrange for the Old Papers to Practice
Practising and reviewing old exam papers is one effective way of preparing for exams. It not only familiarises your kid with the format of the question paper but helps them manage their time while answering the paper.
You can arrange for old question papers from your kid’s school teacher, library or even through online educational platforms.
4. Help Them Create Study Goals
It is important to have a study goal for each study session. This helps in tracking what needs to be studied and what needs to be revised.
Sit down with your kid to note down the study goals at the beginning of the session. Or you can create one at the end of the study session to be followed for the following day.
Here are some examples of study goals you can create for your kid studying in a Japanese school Tokyo:
● Work on at least five equations or questions answers,
● Summarise 5 to 6 chapters,
● Understand key concepts of things that were taught in school.
5. Organise Study Sessions with Friends
Another thing you can do to boost your kid’s exam preparation is by organising study sessions for your kid with a school friend.
The notion behind such sessions is to allow kids to share and get answers to challenging concepts. They also help kids to contest themselves to keep moving towards their goals.
But, it is important to ensure that the kids don’t waste their time and instead focus on preparing.
6. Help Them Understand the Learning Style
No two kids are the same, meaning their learning styles will differ, too. As a parent, you need to understand what learning style suits your kid. For instance, do you find your kid listening to music a lot? If yes, then it seems he/she is an auditory learner. How about encouraging your kid to record the notes and listen to them on the go?
If your kid prefers visual aspects, introduce visual learning sessions in their life. You can easily find various platforms that provide educational content. The notion behind acquiring a learning style is to make it easy to memorise facts and key concepts better.
7. Encourage Regular Intervals
Studying for hours doesn’t necessarily make the session productive; instead, it just does the opposite. Your kid may run out of energy to actually retain any knowledge.
Therefore, it is important to ask them to take breaks every now and then. This is not only important to retain the information but to freshen up the mind, too.
As mentioned before, every kid is different. So, encourage them to take intervals at times that work best for them. For instance, do they prefer a five-minute break every 30 minutes or a 30-minute break every 2 hours?
Whatever suits best for them must be preferred. And don’t forget to check what hour of the day works best for your kid. Some kids prefer studying at night, while others feel productive early in the morning.
Also Read: How to Overcome Laziness while Studying?
8. Prevent Your Kid from Cramming Information
Never force your kid to stay up all night to cram the information into their mind. This only leads to sleep deprivation, anxiety and stress. This is especially true a day before the exam.
A day before the exam, the revision should be limited to reviewing the notes, testing oneself on the main concepts, setting the alarm, and gathering the study materials.
Lastly, teach your kid to seek help whenever required, whether it is asking you for help or the teachers at school for things that are out of understanding for him/her.
Over to You
With the tips mentioned above, you can easily help your kid make the most out of their exam preparations. However, it is worth noting that every kid is different, meaning certain things may work better for your kid while others won’t.
It is best to explore the options to determine what suits best for your kid.
