With a few days remaining before the Primary School Leaving Exams (PSLE) starts, knowing how to prepare and revise for PSLE is crucial. It’s also the best time for your child to improve their revision methods.
Depending on how your child performed during the mid-year exams or their ability to grasp concepts during revision, as parents, we must come up with better reading strategies as they prepare for the national examinations.
Having the right mindset and tools will help a child study effectively. Keep reading to get tips on how to prepare for PSLE.
Why is PSLE Important?
PSLE is the first national examination that children in Singapore take at the end of Primary 6. The exam is a big deal because it determines the secondary school your child will enroll into.
Students sitting for these exams are tested on four subjects: Mathematics, Science, English, and Mother Tongue.
Study Smarter, not Harder
There’s no fun in reading all topics in your syllabus and forgetting them during exams. Help your child to develop a good learning strategy that keeps them motivated. Studying smart helps students to:
- Have higher self-esteem, competence, and confidence that reduces anxiety before and during exams.
- Your child can have better memory retention.
- Students will feel their effort pays off because they will have better grades in the PSLE exams.
Set Clear Goals
Most students start their revision for PSLE using past exam papers. However, setting goals and identifying areas that need attention are significant.
A well-defined goal sets your child on a clear path because they understand what they want to achieve. After your child meets all their goals, they have some sense of accomplishment, which helps them tackle exam questions confidently.
In a caring and supportive manner, ask your child about their aspirations. Such thought-provoking questions help them have a clear focus on their goals.
Use Past Papers
Find assessment books that duplicate past PSLE exam papers, and let your child practice answering the questions. Help them note down questions that have appeared regularly throughout the years so that they can be well versed in them.
Looking at past questions is a good way of familiarizing yourself with questions that may appear in the exams. Also, during revision, you can act as an invigilator and ensure your child avoids distractions when tackling exam papers.
Your child should take note of questions they have difficulty answering and seek assistance from their teacher.
Hire a Tutor
Education programs apply an exam-focused evaluation plan in most cases. Such a strategy causes most students to struggle with their performance, despite being familiar with the questions.
Truth be told, remembering all answers during exams has nothing to do with knowledge or intelligence. Students need a skill that involves studying and passing exams. Unfortunately, not all students are equipped with such ability.
Fortunately, our home tuition agency has tutors who understand the formula for major education programs that can help your child.
Some of the things our tutors can help with include:
- Come up with strategies that help students remember Mathematical formulas or memorize and understand the Science syllabus.
- Guide students on preparing for exams and the questions they’re likely to come across.
- Devise methods to help them reduce anxiety, which might lead to poor grades.
- Use time wisely when studying and completing the examination.
Provide Adequate Support
As a parent, you should be available to motivate, encourage, and support your child.
When preparing to sit for the first PLSE exams, a child may be overwhelmed with nervousness. Be there and offer assurance. Answer all questions they may have and provide tips on how best they can answer questions during exams.
Nudge them to follow the study schedule so that a child doesn’t panic. Being supportive during this period fosters positivity and confidence in a child.
Practice
Practice together with good study habits is essential as final exams approach. However, it’s important to help your child concentrate on areas that will help improve their results.
Because of limited time, you can’t introduce new strategies and skills on basic concepts they don’t have a good grasp of. Instead, focus on areas they can excel in.
When your child practices in areas they understand better, they have a high chance of scoring good grades. At this point, a parent must have honest discussions about topics they will concentrate on.
Create a Study Schedule with Your Child
A study schedule helps your child set aside enough time to read for exams and retain the information they learned in school.
Help the child to plan their study sessions on a calendar. Taking this path ensures both of you remember the time put aside for reading.
Decide the subjects your child will read on specific days and ensure each subject receives priority by allocating enough time. For example, Mondays and Wednesdays can be days for Math, while Tuesdays and Thursdays can be for Science.
Afterward, go through questions topics to see if your child can answer them confidently. In case they are unsure, develop strategies that will help your child understand the topic better.
Allow your Child to Have Enough Rest
Finally, as your child prepares for the upcoming PSLE exams, create a balance by encouraging them to get sufficient rest.
Studies show that rest helps a student have better concentration and stay focused, leading to good results. On the other hand, insufficient rest may cause disorientation, sour mood, and memory lapses, a bad sign for a student sitting for their final exams.
Conclusion
Most Singaporeans take the PSLE seriously because it plays a pivotal role in a child’s academic journey. Your child needs to prepare well for PSLE so that they can sit for the exams confidently and score.
When preparing a child for these exams, make quick assessments regarding their proficiency in each subject. This will help them read topics they don’t understand, which will make them score better grades.
Good luck!
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