TRANSCRIPT:

You’re listening to The Parents of Hardworking Teens Podcast, episode 101: FIVE reasons why exam technique - the ability to work out exactly what the question is asking and how to respond - should be on your teen’s ‘must master this’ list this term.

Hey VIP’s! How are you? I am great and I’ll tell you why in a moment. 
Because - if your teen has ever come out of an exam feeling like they’ve done well, only to get a result that’s disappointing and likely therefore also somewhat puzzling or a bit confusing - like - what happened there? Then not only is this episode for you - but if you want a detailed free class with me - with insights, proven strategies and real life examples to help your teen tackle exams way more confidently and successfully- whether exams are the thing dragging their grade down, something they’d love to really maximise, or you’d simply love to have them feel less stressed and overwhelmed, then you can also register for my upcoming LIVE webinar:
 
Exam Success Secrets  -  What Exams Demand of Your Teen - But Schools Don't Teach.  

It’s on Tuesday 11th June at 7.30pm AEST (please check your time zone), you can register for free at  https://www.gradetransformation.com/exams

The event is free, but you do need to register to get a personal access link. 

Plus, you’ll also then be sent the recording, which will be available for just 6 days.

And this event - the Exam Success webinar is the reason I am especially great - particularly excited and high energy - at the moment. Partly because I just love diving into exam strategy and pulling back the curtain on all things exams - how they’re written, what goes into the marking criteria, must-do’s, must NOT do’s. 

But ALSO because I’ve already planned out the content and I know that it will be so impactful for so many parents of high school and college students. (Yes - you can definitely have your teen watch the webinar with you. And I would encourage it if they are up for it)

Because the feedback I hear most often- from parents and caregivers, students AND teachers -  is that:

1) The majority of students do best in coursework and assignments, and then the exam is usually their lower mark and then drags down their overall grade a little - or a lot.

And ALSO that

2) Exams are a major source of stress for students - and then of course a source of worry for parents and carers. The cramming and revising of all the subject content, doing practise papers, and then the fear of the unknown, that mystery of not knowing what they’ll actually ask or what will be on the paper, the panic of getting a question that totally throws them, and the time pressure of the exam plus the exam hall environment all combine to make things a less than fun experience.

And I’m not saying I’m going to make exams fun. If anyone has THAT magic formula, then please tell me. But what I definitely can do is make them less stressful, less of a mystery to be feared - or guessed at, and a lot more positive and successful for your teen.

So register now: https://www.gradetransformation.com/exams

And use this podcast episode as an intro and foundation and then join me next week at the webinar for the nitty gritty details and practical strategies. 

So, let’s first get clear on what exactly IS exam technique?

Here’s a quote that I included on the cover of the Catapult 6 workbook in the 10 Week Grade Transformation Program. It’s an old-ish quote. Back from the days of the online Whirlpool forums. I guess those are still going - do you remember those? 
But it was titled: notes from an exam marker. Not me - it was anonymous, as these forums are. But ever since the day I first read it, back when I was first getting into being an external exam marker and really diving into this world, I thought it was a great explanation. 

It says:

Just because someone knows a topic inside out, it does not mean (unfortunately!) they'll do well in the exams. 

Their exam technique might be poor, for example:

• Not properly allocating time to each question. 

• Not reading the question carefully (I've seen many instances where people mis-read the question/made incorrect assumptions and went off on a tangent).

• Not planning or checking their answers (their points are everywhere and incoherent).

Whilst it's true that exams are there to test your knowledge, the fact is, they also test your ability to do things the right way.

To answer the specific demands of the question, and construct a relevant, clear and focused response.

Of course, having superior exam technique will be completely useless, if you don't know a thing about that topic. 

But likewise, all the knowledge in the world will be useless if you can't put it across in the way the question requires!


Now I summarise this as: 

The ability to work out exactly what the question is asking and how to respond so your teen gets the maximum marks possible, given their level of subject knowledge.

Because exams are not just testing subject knowledge. 

You can listen to Episode 3 ‘ What Exams Are REALLY testing’ for more on that.

 

But the thing is, and I know this is happening for a lot of your teens: If your teen has good subject knowledge, does everything the teacher tells them to, but isn’t quite nailing it in exams, then they likely need to work on their exam technique - and here are 5 reasons to make that happen:

Reason number 1:

So they stop running out of time in exams. 

This tends to be a thing in the higher year groups. Teachers generally plan in plenty of time for exams in the middle years, right up to year 9 and 10. But in the senior years, Y11, 12, 13 time in exams is tighter. Being able to respond succinctly  and on target is part of what is being tested. 

Managing time, for example allocating minutes per mark is one thing. That is important. But the key is how to get across a great response in those allocated minutes. And to do that, they need to be able to provide a succinct yet sophisticated response. And especially in an extended response, any question worth at least 6 marks usually - they need to keep that response focused on what the question is asking, at the level of detail required and without unnecessary facts, info or - dare I say it - waffle. We need to stop your teen from any spaghetti throwing they might be doing - writing as much as they can hoping some of it sticks and get them strategically dissecting questions so they give focused, clear and structured answers so they get to every question and don’t miss out on marks because of time.

Reason number 2 to learn and hone their exam technique is so that - kinda obvious - 
They get more marks in their exams.

To do this they need the skill of being able to predict the mark scheme and they also need to understand how to meet the specific wording of the success criteria. Students are often provided marking criteria in assignments, but of course they’re not in exams. So often, students are effectively stabbing around in the dark trying to pick up marks or guessing at what the marker wants or what will move them up from ‘appropriate’ to ‘detailed’ to ‘sophisticated’ when it comes to higher level questions.

 

Why exam technique is essential - reason number 3 - is so that your teen feels less stressed about their exams - in the lead up, just before and actually IN the exam hall. 

Stress is caused by a feeling of not knowing what to do or how to do it. In the lead up to an exam, if your teen would score themselves at least, say, a 7 out of 10 for subject knowledge, then this stress is coming from not being in control of what they’ll ask, a fear of the unknown and not knowing what they want or how to give it to them. 

When your teen HAS control over dissecting any question, no matter what they ask, understanding exactly what it is asking and HOW to respond and APPLY the subject knowledge they’ve learned and revised, then they feel more in control, they don’t have to fear the unknown, and therefore they are much less stressed.

Which is closely tied to reason number 4: - More confidence. 

When your teen can honestly say to themselves: ‘they could ask me anything and I’ll be able to work out exactly what they want. And I have the skills and techniques to put that across in a clear and succinct way’, they feel WAY more confident. 

And of course, when their exam performance then translates into more marks and better results, that in itself breeds confidence. It’s a positive spiral. Because they know it wasn’t just a fluke, they know that they created that result, they were in control and they can therefore do it again, in future exams too.

That’s what true confidence is. Feeling competent. Being in control. Having proven results. And knowing how you did it and that you can do it again.

And finally that leads us to reason number 5: Getting a positive RETURN ON EFFORT. 

The self-belief and pride that comes from finally having their effort pay off and their hard-learned knowledge translate to results. This then increases motivation and elevates their self concept. Feeding into that positive spiral of a happy, smart, successful teen. Where they feel calm and in control AND successful, and you don’t have that niggling worry or anxiety.

So reminder - If you’d like more of the practical steps and real life examples of this - if you want to see these things in action, get some proven strategies to make this happen, along with a special invitation for the 10 Week Grade transformation Program with an added bonus you won’t want to miss. AND an opportunity to win a private coaching session with me for your teen live on the webinar - Then be sure to come to the live webinar I’m delivering on the 11th June: Exam Success Secrets  -  What Exams Demand of Your Teen - But Schools Don't Teach.  

REG PAGE: https://www.gradetransformation.com/exams

Have a great rest of your week, go save your seat for the free webinar and I’ll see you there next week!