Final Preparations for Entrance Exams 2020 It’s been a long road to Trafford’s entrance exams this year but the journey is nearly over. This time next week, thousands of children will travel from all over the north-west to sit the CEM entrance exam at grammar schools in Trafford. Before that, on Friday 16th October, many children will sit exams for Loreto Grammar School and St Ambrose College. The stakes are high. So how can we best support the children over the next few days?
Confidence is key. We must do everything we can to boost the children’s confidence over the next ten days. We can do this by being relentlessly positive about all their hard work.
For example, supposing your child scores 6/10 on a maths test. Point out how impressed you are that they answered a particular question correctly. And do bear in mind that they do not need to score 100% in order to pass the test!
If your child is showing signs of exam fatigue, s/he is not alone by any means. Signs that your child is suffering from exam fatigue include very low scores (compared to previous scores), making lots and lots of ‘silly mistakes’ and throwing tantrums when asked to do exam preparation activities. It may seem counterintuitive but the only way to address this is to give your child a total break. You really will be amazed by the difference this can make. It’s up to you how long the break should be. You might decide to do no exam preparation between now and the big day. Or you may choose just to take a break for two to three days.
If you do decide to take a break, we strongly recommend that you have your child take part in lots of physical activities such as running and playing sport. This literally builds synapses in the brain so you will still be preparing for the exam (just don’t tell them!). Keep an eye on their diet, as I am sure you already do, avoiding processed and sugary foods. Keep screen time low and play board games etc as a way of keeping their strategic brain engaged. We know it can be hard to find time for all this, particularly during the pandemic (we certainly won’t be finding the time to play board games for a couple of weeks!) so please don’t feel that this is a strict set of instructions. These are just suggestions and none of them is essential for exam success.
If your child has to self-isolate
If your child has to self-isolate and therefore cannot sit the exam as scheduled, the school will provide you with an alternative date. You may have to extend entrance exam preparation for three or even four weeks. We recommend that you continue to practise slowly and steadily, giving your child a break for the half term week. After all, this has been a really difficult time for all the children and they deserve their break more than ever.
If your child is registered for lessons at Better Tuition, we can offer them online lessons either as part of a group lesson or individually at their usual time. If your child is not registered with us but you would like some lessons, please contact us about this. We will try to fit them in if we can.
We would like to take this opportunity to thank all our customers for their support during this time. We cannot put into words how much we appreciate each and every one of you. We wish your child lots of luck in the exam and we can’t wait to hear their results.
