Preparing For Assessments

We’ve had Halloween, the clock has changed, we’re back for the second half of this longest of terms and Assessment Season is upon us.  Lots of you will be preparing for these and thinking of little else. 

Here’s some tips to help you get through it with the minimum of stress. 

Prepare

By that I mean don’t over-prep.  Over prepping will only stress your child out, make them resent the time taken and build up the assessments as a big scary thing.  That’s not healthy.  But there’s a very big difference between tutoring/over prepping and exam practice.  Do exam practice – timings/practice papers – just so they are used to working to time and have an idea of what the papers may look like.  If they do too many practice papers they can be thrown when the questions they’ve seen don’t come up in the papers – but enough to just make them familiar with what they might face, and they can work within the timings, is fine.  Try to get your child reading – anything and everything – expands their mind, drives their curiosity and gives them lots to talk about in interviews. 

Get a mentor

I would say that but having someone that your child relates to, finds easy to talk to, feels they get them, can really help to put them in a good frame of mind for assessments – that sort of preparation is much more useful than doing papers over and over.  A few sessions – including some academic and interview preparation in particular - prior to assessments can add confidence and lessen the angst. 

Chill

Make sure you and your child chill the night before any assessment.  There shouldn’t be any prep that day – other than packing the pencil case, making sure they have all they need ready so there is no rush in the morning.  Cook their favourite supper, chat about anything but the next day and get them to bed at a decent hour.   

On the day - arrival

Plan ahead to cover any travel issues.  Do your own homework in advance and work out if there’s a café you can pass time in if very early – have a hot chocolate and calm any nerves.  Schools work to strict timings and won’t be able to take your child in early.  Don’t make a fuss when saying goodbye – a simple hug is all that is needed.  I have seen parents carrying Good luck banners – not helpful at all to their child – or the whole family coming along.  Do NOT say “just do your best”, “what will be will be” or anything like that – it will only stress them out and make them fear failure.  Don’t worry about loo stops – the school will sort that before they start.

Pick up

Make sure you’re there on time.  Be calm and reassuring – it’s fine to ask how it went but don’t make a big deal of it.  Move on and get away from the school – it doesn’t help to be going over and over answers given with their friends as they start to question what they put and worry creeps in.  Ideally if your schedule allows, have a treat planned – pizza/hot chocolate/lunch – whatever works at that time – and then chat about the day and how it went, but without in any sense stressing them. They may want to talk about it and tell you what was in the papers/what they wrote – they may not but do give them the opportunity. 

Follow up

If - and this does happen – something went badly wrong in the assessments, you should follow up with the Admissions Team.  I’m thinking of circumstances where another child was particularly disruptive and your child couldn’t concentrate – you may find other parents have raised this too – perfectly legitimate to do so.  You might want to get your Head to ring the Admissions Team too – this carries weight – and ask that it be taken into account.  If your child was really unwell on the day but went along anyway, let them know they were not at their best.  Any good Admissions Team will take a note and have this on the grid when making decisions.  They will though only want to hear genuine issues!

Moving on

Once assessments are all over, forget about it – I know that’s hard when everyone is talking about it but try and avoid the playground/school gate chat/Mumsnet.   If you have questions about timing of decisions or the process ring the Admissions Team directly – they’re the people who can help.

For now, you’ve both done all you can – move on and put it behind you. 

The next stage is waiting for results and decisions. That’s a whole other scenario for another blog!

By Cat Sutherland-Hawes