If your child is about to sit for the PSLE very soon, you are likely feeling the stress like never before. Perhaps your mind is filled with thoughts like all the topics your child has yet to master, their grades which hasn’t seemed to improve even with all the practices and tuition lessons, and the same mistakes they have been making again and again. With such limited time left in the lead up to the actual PSLE, what is the most effective way to help your child study and get ready for the exams?
Our tutors provide some tips on how to revise when the exams are approaching:
1. Target the “Low-Hanging Fruit”
No one should expect their child to study and master the entire syllabus in one week before the exam. This is especially if there are some topics or areas the child is still quite lost about. Trying to teach your child these topics from scratch at this late stage may only add to their stress, make them feel discouraged, and add to your frustrations.
Targeting the ‘low-hanging fruit’ means identifying those areas which are easy to fix, rather than attempting the impossible. Look for common mistakes and bad habits that your child can correct immediately, and brush up on topics that they already have a good foundation on, helping them hone their strengths.
2. Review past assignments
By now, your child will have a stack of past assignments and mock papers to look back on. These contain a treasure-trove of your child’s most common mistakes as well as feedback from their teachers. Compile a list of these mistakes and advice that your child should be keeping in mind when doing the exam questions.
You can also let your child re-do some of the assignments and tests as a way to unlearn their mistakes and reinforce the right way to tackle the problems.
3. Practise exam-style questions
Redoing assignments may not be enough because most worksheets are organised according to topic and difficulty level. So, besides redoing assignments, another helpful thing to do is do past year exam papers or similarly formatted questions.
Focusing on past year papers in the lead up to the exam will attune your child’s mind to the difficulty level of the PSLE papers, and ensure that those commonly-tested questions are fresh in their mind. Most importantly, make sure to mark their papers and go through the answers to learn which keywords are important in answering the questions.
4. Set time limits
In the last days before the exam, you can’t expect much to change in terms of your child’s content knowledge or abilities. However, you can work on their exam skills – especially time management!
Doing mock papers under timed conditions is important to get them used to the pressures, spurring them to work quicker and with more focus. These timed practices may also reveal other ‘bad exam habits’ that they can fix before the real exams, such as bad handwriting, poor planning, failing to check their answers, and so on.
Conclusion
The finishing line of your child’s first educational milestone is in sight, but now is not the time to lose hope! There are still many ways you can help your child, whether it is in terms of their study or by creating a supportive environment for them. To all parents whose child is taking the PSLE soon, we wish you all the best!
And if you are reading this ahead of time for your child who is sitting the PSLE next year or in the coming years, don’t panic – yet! Let us help you minimise the last minute stress by starting early. We offer primary school tuition classes across most subjects, including PSLE Math Tuition and PSLE Science Tuition, which aim to help students revise in an organised manner and equip them with the relevant exam skills.