Examination Preparation Update and Tips

The exams are less than a month away, and all of us wish to see our Anthonians do well - me included. P1 teachers are not allowed to see the P1 papers, so having my pupils take the exam not only stresses them out, but me as well. It's harrowing to say the least...

By now, all Anthonians have been issued with an examination spelling list (12 out of 30 words will be tested), the list of topics covered for the SA1s and also the examination schedule. If your child has misplaced the paper, please do drop me an email or a note in their diary requesting for a new one.

Also, in an effort to keep you abreast on what your child has accomplished, I've taken the following steps:

• Math: Topical Tests and mock examination papers will be administered and promptly marked and graded for you to determine your child's areas for improvement. Math textbooks will also be returned to the child at the end of the day. While this may make your child's bag a little heavier, it will help to reinforce your child's studies at home.
• English: 'Revision' words have been added to the end of every spelling test. These words are simply two chosen words from previous spelling tests in Term 1. This is to ensure children don't forget their old spelling words. Also, there has been a greater emphasis on writing in prose in class. Exercises that encourage children to write in prose have been made more frequent, with emphasis on tenses, punctuation, sentence structure and vocabulary. These will be given to the children for your perusal within the next two weeks.
• Examination Procedures: Exam procedures and etiquette is being taught to them during Math tests so that when the exam comes, this familiarity with the process will hopefully make it a less daunting experience.
  

Perhaps one of the key areas that parents can help their children is to encourage them to practice reading, whether it be for mathematics or English. When practicing exercises, encourage your child to always read the instructions and understand them before each exercise. This is a good habit to develop that will help them for years to come. If your child has difficulty in answering a question, tell them to leave it blank and remember come back to it later.

Try not to be too quick with giving aid to the child. I have personally seen demonstrations of fortitude in our children when they complete a question correctly that they had previously said that they could not do or understand. If they have tried and did not get the answer correct, encourage them on their spectacular effort and then help them. But I'm sure I needn't tell you this, I've noticed that the parents of my Anthonians are very supportive and encouraging. :)

All in all, while we both want the Anthonian to succeed and demonstrate his full potential, it is important to instill in our children that in examinations, just like the Olympics, striving for personal excellence is far more important than getting the best marks in class. Marks do not make the person, though our children do feel immense pressure to be the best in our competitive school system and thus feel upset when they are not 'the best' or when they 'fail'. Each child is different, with their own set of unique strengths and capabilities. It is impotant at this early age that we show them that they are still an accomplished individual whatever they score.

Logistically, it would be best to ensure that our children come with a ruler, eraser, several sharpened 2B pencils, a self-contained sharpener and sharpened colour pencils for every exam. It would be best to ensure that these 2B pencils are relatively new and all pencils are sharpened the night before. This is to ensure that they do not have to waste valuable exam time sharpening pencils, walking to the class sharpener, walking to the dustbin to sharpen their pencils or waiting to borrow stationery from the teacher.