You might have thought that you should wind down tuition as exams begin. But with the loneliness of study leave, and the anxiety of going from one exam to the next, tuition during exam time can be a lifeline for stressed teens.
Here’s how a tutor can help your child stay motivated, focused and confident from their first exam to their last. Read on for our top ways that a tutor can help your teen stay motivated, focused and confident from their first exam to their last.
1. No last-minute panic the night before
Even if your child has every fact and figure memorised for an exam, becoming overwhelmed by worry the day before can make them less able to remember what they know. With a tutor in the day or so before an exam, they can go over everything calmly and also be reassured that they’re ready.
Tutors know all too well that there’s no point in cramming extra knowledge the night before. So in a pre-exam tutorial, instead they’re more likely to discuss exam technique, how they should pace themselves, and what else to expect. As tutors have sat lots of exams themselves, they can demystify what might have otherwise scared your teen about what happens in the exam hall.
2. Boosts their confidence before (and after) each exam
Once their first exam is out of the way, it becomes clear that your teen will need some stamina to keep doing their best until they’re all finished. It’s normal to feel self-doubt after exams too, as they play over in their head what questions they could have answered better. With more exams ahead of them, it’s easy to get overwhelmed by everything they need to remember. It’s important they stay calm and confident through exams, but it’s easier said than done.
A tutor can go over anything that’s worrying them in the safety of a one-to-one lesson, and also remind them of everything they already know. The confidence boost this can give your child is really powerful. Confidence leads to better results too, so the positive effect can be huge.
3. Keeps them organised throughout their exam schedule
As your teen hops from one exam to another, balancing different subjects each week, a big part of doing well is staying organised. But while they will have been told the importance of a study plan lots by their teachers, for teens sometimes teens need a helping hand with staying disciplined. With lots of different things to remember for several subjects, even the most conscientious students can become anxious and disorganised.
By checking in with a tutor each week, they can get the expert advice from someone who’s been sitting exams for years. A tutor knows how to balance long-term revision for exams a couple of weeks away, with last-minute technique for the one tomorrow.
4. Exam techniques ready for each exam
Memorising every equation and quotation they need to know is one thing, but getting through the whole exam with the appropriate time put into each answer is quite another. It makes sense for your teen to have focussed on all the information they need to understand for each exam, but in the final lead-up, getting their technique down is just as important.
By having one-to-one lessons throughout exam season, your child’s tutor will make sure they strike the right balance of knowledge and technique. Whether that means going over past papers, or relaying their own experience of exams, a tutor will know when to switch from remembering content to making sure your child knows how to apply the content to pick up the best marks.
Our tutors are all either students or recent graduates of top UK universities, so while they know how to ace exams, because they were at school few years ago, they can explain things in a way that’s super relatable to teens. With MyTutor, the great thing is that lesson times are really flexible. So as your child weaves their way through their exam timetable, you can book lesson times that fit around it as needed.
Get in touch to find a tutor today!