With exam season fast approaching, teachers have a pivotal role to play when it comes to preparing their students.

If they’re to succeed in the exam hall, pupils will need to be confident in their abilities and prepared for what they will face.

This involves make the whole process easier to understand, often achieved via the use of learning tools and mock exams.

Here we have four top tips for teachers, so you can ensure your pupils are as ready for their exams as can be.

 

1. Your preparation is key too

 

Knowledge and understanding is needed close to home too, and every teacher should take time to ensure they know the exam process and what the assessment will look for.

This way, you’ll be able to answer any questions that your students may have, helping to put any potential fears at ease, while also being aware of any changes that may have recently occurred.

Pay careful attention to any minor curriculum changes and think about how parts of it could be assessed – especially in instances where the exams commonly follow a standardised format.

 

2. Revision sessions

Structured revision sessions can be a great way to boost your students’ confidence and to focus on particular areas of the curriculum that they may be struggling to understand.

First up, encourage pupils to discuss areas they are not sure on, as the revision sessions can then be tailored to best support them.

Pupils should also be encouraged to support each other in the sessions too, as peer to peer learning can also help to enhance their understanding ahead of exams.

 

3. Reflect on learning

If you’ve worked through past questions as part of the revision process, have a period at the end to chat through answers too and to note down the key elements of each answer.

You may also want to revisit some of the work from previous sessions when starting a new one, just as you would in lessons.

This serves to deepen knowledge and understanding, while also keeping the content fresh in pupils’ minds.

 

4. Constantly focus on the basics

As exams get closer, always remind your pupils of the exam basics they need to remember – using past papers can be a great way of doing this.

Ensure they know to always read the question through multiple times in order to answer effectively and make sure that your students recognise the language of exams too, as this will also influence how they go about answering on test day.

Explain the importance of looking out for key words which detail the task, such as ‘describe’ or ‘summarise’ and the role that time management plays – less time on questions worth fewer marks and a greater amount on those worth more.