The return of mock exams in England and prelims in Scotland are replete with emotion.
At one end of the spectrum, pupils and parents can feel crushed by lower results than expected, at the other, pupils may have exceeded expectations and feel they can relax.
It’s easy to look at the headline grade and make an assumption about your child’s ability in the given subject. In much the same way, pupils, who are often tired and stressed at this time of year, can become easily demoralised by a set of poor results. It’s therefore important to understand how to read and respond to mock results properly.
Read on for further advice on steps you can take to support your child during this time.
It’s easy to forget that mocks and prelims reflect current performance, not potential. In most subjects, the full curriculum hasn’t been completed and teaching up until now has been content-heavy. Teachers will have, of course, embedded the teaching of exam-skills within their syllabus, however, there is rarely time to focus on these in depth until the full course content has been completed. Content teaching usually finishes by March, and teachers are then able to shift focus to consolidation, revision and targeted teaching of examination skills.
With mocks and prelims generally occurring between November and February this means that your child has not completed the entire curriculum yet, let alone have consolidated examination skills. What the mocks are designed to do is to highlight each pupil’s strengths and weaknesses to date. They are a means of formative assessment that act as a constructive starting point for improvement.
While it’s natural to focus on the grade, it’s not helpful. Instead, you should encourage your child to focus on the feedback. This works for children who have both underperformed and those who have done better than expected.
If your child’s attainment is lower than anticipated help them identify patterns:
If your child performed better than expected:
If your child has received a bad set of mock results, their confidence will naturally take a hit and it’s tempting to use reassurance as a crutch to re-boost their morale. But be aware; reassurance can only go so far. What your child really needs is clarity and targeted action.
Why?
Because pupils feel more confident when they know what went wrong and there is a plan in place to fix it. It’s worth reinforcing that the grade is inconsequential at this point. Instead, focus should shift to planning manageable, actionable, achievable steps that pupils can complete on a weekly basis.
This approach means pupils are working towards bite-size goals and can celebrate small successes as they continue to prepare for their final exams.
Think then, of the end of January as a re-set.
The majority of mocks have been returned by this point and it’s a natural time for pupils to take stock of feedback ahead of the most important time of a pupil’s exam year: the period between January and March.
Many of our tutors here at Aquinas are experienced teachers with years of classroom experience and can attest to the fact that January to March is the time when exam grades are made – it’s not during the revision cram.
This period has been found to be the most powerful improvement window because:
Our advice to parents at this point in the school year is to work with your child to take small, consistent steps now to reduce stress later. This can be done by turning mock feedback into a plan.
Effective post-mock support focuses on targets, not pressure.
Good plans break feedback into:
Our advice is to work through the following steps with your child:
If targeted improvement and action becomes the focus, pupils will feel supported and not judged.
After mocks, many families realise their child doesn’t necessarily need to do more work, they need to do the right work.
This is where structured tuition often helps because it offers a dedicated space for your child to ask for specific support that can be tailored to their individual needs.
Targeted tuition at this point in the year supports students by:
At Aquinas, we have tutors from some of the UK’s most prestigious schools and universities on hand to help. Our company also specialises in creating Personalised Learning Plans for each individual pupil. These are designed by your child’s tutor and will cater to their specific learning requirements. We also keep you up-to-date on your child’s progress via monthly reports. If you would like to learn more about our processes and what we can offer, do visit the “About” page of our website, contact us via our contact form or email us at info@aquinastuition.co.uk. We would be delighted to help.