Howdy Friday Peeps!
GCSE-takers will be in the midst of mock exams for the next couple of weeks and the year 10s will be waiting to start theirs after year 11 have finished.
This may be the first time some of them have experienced exam pressure, so go easy on them (see Revision Time! and Is Your Child Stressed? for stress-free study tips).
They should try hard and treat them like real exams because the conditions are good practise for the real thing. BUT (and it’s a big but) they mustn’t stress about the grades they get!
I’ve seen many a student go up by 2 grades between mocks and the real thing in the summer, my cut-off for tuition is February half term, until that point I am certain they can go up at least 1 grade. I have know the odd one or two go up a grade from Easter to exams!
Now is not the time to worry about grades (I could argue that it’s never worth worrying about them as there are always re-sits and other pathways, but that’s for another day).
The point of this is to learn from the exam experience (timing, equipment etc) and to see if there are any major gaps (like if you couldn’t do a whole topic in maths, that’s the one to study).
Simple, not stressful…there’s plenty of time.
Anna x
A Peace of Life 