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With close to 90 DAYS left before the written papers of the PSLE 2019 exam…

and having your child finished his or her mid-year exam with less than satisfactory results, you may now be anxious and at wit’s end as to who to turn to and what other foolproof strategies to take to help your child make the best of the three months.

Here we would like to share a few tips that could help you help your child.

You reckon that a successful plan executed now over the next three months could have a profound influence on your child’s PSLE grades and the school he or she will end up may decide his or her future. So how can you help your child with his or her revision and in partnership draw up an effective revision schedule?

 These tips and advice can provide a starting point.

Divide sessions to suit your child’s revision patterns plus attention span and include breaks in between. Vary the kinds of studying – attempt past-year questions; recalling formulae in Maths or key concepts in Science; try mind-mapping or talking through a particular topic and at times, make them fun too.

You could also adapt various multi-sensory activities of oral testing like visual learning (by sight), some auditory (hearing) and others kinaesthetic (touch).

For more visual learners, visual aids tap into the visual memory and help in recall and retrieval, so together as a project, search out interesting diagrams or flow-charts, Alternatively, both of you could place visual notes on post-its of key information to be remembered all around the house or bedside walls, on mirrors and fridge doors.

For auditory learners who learn best through listening and talking, parents could be their study buddies and discuss the topics at hand, make up songs and rhymes about tough concepts and make use of mnemonics to help remember a list of facts in a certain order.

First discuss with your child to zoom in on the difficult and more challenging topics of each subject and plan study sessions to address such concerns.

Kinaesthetic learners who learn best through physical movement or touch/feeling could try setting up different activities around the room, so the kids need to move to find out or write down answers. Using gestures or dance movements could also be one way to help them remember.

It is always good to give them the space to work out some studying independently, too. Here praise them for good work when you genuinely mean it. Do reassure them that when they fail to get their answers right, it’s ok. They learn from mistakes made now so as to avoid making them later. Should anxiety get the better of them, there is always breathing techniques that you both could practice in order to calm one’s nerves down.

HOW CAN WE HELP?

Should you feel helpless to such strategies and not find yourself to be a good study buddy, we have a comprehensive PSLE Intensive course 2019 that you can sign your child up. Topics will be discussed methodically and effective revision methods including comprehensive notes will be imparted to help your child with the last lap of revision.

HOW MORE CAN WE HELP?

If you are not able to ascertain what predominant learning style your child is inclined towards, look us up. We offer a FREE three-segment quiz that can elicit your child’s learning style. This will help him or her and our educator co-ordinate his revision schedule and study approach which will definitely help him be a more efficient and effective learner.

Children taking up Primary 1 in Singapore have a lot to prepare for throughout the year even if they do not have longer exams to contend with. They will need to prepare for pop quizzes, oral exams, and presentations, all of which can cause your child to break under pressure if they are not supported in any way.

Considering this problem, how can you help your son or daughter cope up with their busy academic life and the problems that may arise because of it?

  I didn’t get enough time to study for my test.

Primary 1 students have quite a lot to do over summer and winter, which can be overwhelming for kids to keep up with. Ideally, being able to handle everything and staying on top is good. However, this is challenging to achieve due to the various activities in the child’s plan. Because of this, your child will not be able to prepare properly when they learn they possess an exam coming up.

Solution

In order to help them prepare without resorting to cramming and still do the things, they have on the schedule, create a study timetable for your child to follow. This study timetable should allow time for the child to do constant revisions for them to understand the concepts closely. Of course, you should not forget to add breaks for your son or daughter to relax after studying hard, as well as a clear time when your child needs to go to sleep.

You should also remove any distractions in the room where your child would be studying so they can focus properly in their revisions. [explore if your child is ready for P1 studies]

Unknown Test scheduled date.

Overwhelmed with a new study environment and tedious routine, your child can make the mistake of forgetting carrying out their homework, or worse, their test dates. Instead of jumping into bottom line that your child is definitely lazy and doesn’t care much for his studies, look carefully into his daily timetable to check if he is struggling to maintain.

Solution

Aside from making sure your child is on top of his research and regularly revises at home, you must be able to help them track their schedule and see which checks or presentations are coming up. This will guarantee they are not taken off guard when the examinations come up. Once they get a hang of their research schedule, let them deal with it independently.

If there is a test approaching, you can ask them if they’re ready for the test or display and what they need to prepare for it.

Nervousness tend to forget Lessons.

Math drills tend to get children nervous to the point that they may end up forgetting what they reviewed in the first place. The same can also be said for Mother Tongue classes. If your son or daughter is well prepared in the home but seems to have amnesia when he’s sitting in the examination halls, he has a strike of the nerves.

Solution

To be able to help them relax, encourage them to do their best and clarify why these exams would give them the opportunity to show that they understand their classes. You must also take into account which areas your child will need help with and describe to them the principles through practice questions. As they learn how to handle these questions and understand how the concepts work through these questions, they will feel self-confident in answering these queries and even learn from their mistakes.

In Mom Tongue classes, you can help your child rest in their examinations by practicing the people with them at home. This will help them remember the heroes and recall what they are. You can also use Mandarin terms or phrases in your daily routine to give the kid examples of how these phrases can be used.

  Shyness to present at show-and-tell.

Everyone can feel nervous when they are required to stand in front of an audience to provide and kids are no exception to this rule. Your child may enjoy presenting or also performing at home before his family but he clams up when it comes to public speaking.

  Solution

In order to get your child get rid of their nervousness before their presentation, talk to your kid regarding their presentation. Ask them how he will start, what is his topic and how he’ll end his presentation.

Allowing him to practice regularly can also help build confidence and practice his speech. You can also get your entire family to listen to your child’s speech so he can feel comfortable discussing in a group. You may also use the period to teach them how to make eye contact, adjust their tone and get the audience to listen.

Of training course, don’t forget to motivate them as they practice and with your advice, you can help your son or daughter build their self-confidence. Should they need to present in Mandarin, encouragement, and practice might help them talk naturally in the language.

  I couldn’t understand the lesson as others.

Your son or daughter may hide the fact that he is struggling to understand the concepts taught in class and he may just be too embarrassed to admit that he needs help. His self-self-confidence has taken a beating as he watches his classmates sprint through chapters after chapters while he’s still baffled over the fundamentals.

Solution

The key to identifying this problem is whenever your child struggles to complete his homework without your help. Sometimes, he might end up disliking going to school because it made him experience worthless.

It might be a good idea to look into hiring a personal tutor to help your child get ahead of his classmates. A good tutor can response any questions that he could be afraid to ask his teacher in front of his class. In addition, a tutor can provide extra focus on repetitive teaching on subjects that require attention.

  My teacher told me that I should be louder enough in class.

In Singapore, Primary 1 classes have an average size of 29 learners. It can pose a serious problem when your child is unable to speak up before his class. If his instructor cannot hear him, it may plummet his self-esteem and in turn, refusing to request any queries when he needs to or volunteering his answers when he knows them. This will decrease his participation in the classroom.

Solution

When presenting a speech, it is important that your child has the right posture and self-confidence to perform flawlessly. Help your son or daughter by teaching them how to stand straight and concentrate on the crowd because they talk. The group can help your child determine how loud they should talk.

You can even record your child’s speech and see if they are speaking clearly. If there are parts where your child’s voice tends to become softer, let them try again and correct the fragile parts.

Need Expert help in studies?

If you want to support your efforts in assisting your child handle their workload, you can even enroll your child in one of Singapore’s tuition academic institutions or get them a tutor for personal coaching in Math, Science, Physics, Chemistry, History, Chinese & English home tuition. These schools and the tutor you will get for your son or daughter can look into your child’s problems more closely and apply the right strategies to solve the problem.

  Handling school work is zero walk in the park, especially for kids who are just in their Primary 1 level. With some help and encouragement, your kids would slowly have the ability to change to the workload school brings. Remember, don’t scare your children or push them to improve because the results will be contradictory to what you are after!