Everyone wants their children to succeed, but there’s a fine line between pushing them to work hard and pushing them too far.
According to new research, a third of parents are planning to make their kids revise during the Christmas period, and 1 in 10 will even make sure they study on Christmas Day itself.
Parents are apparently expecting their children to revise for up to six hours on the big three festive days – Christmas Eve, Christmas Day and Boxing Day.
Of the 1,000 parents surveyed by Save My Exams, dads seem to be the stricter, with close to half (44%) making their kids revise compared to 23% of mums.
While every child learns differently, and some need more encouragement than others, taking breaks from work is vital – after all, kids can burn out too.
That’s why Jenna Quinn, head of revision resources at Save My Exams, has shared her top tips to help ensure you spur your kids on without pushing them too hard.
Start early
The early bird really does get the worm – as well as the ability to comfortably relax over the holidays.
Jenna says: ‘The key to holiday revision success is making sure they get plenty done in the lead-up to the festive period so that they can truly relax on the important days without having to worry about their workload.
‘Our advice is to sit down with your children and work out a revision plan where you can agree on time off for them to enjoy themselves but also decide on set dates and times where they can get stuck into their revision.
‘Your child might find it hard to get back into the swing of things after Christmas day, so we’d recommend they lay as much groundwork between now and the Christmas holidays as they possibly can.’
Get your kid to help with planning
As part of getting as much done in the lead-up to Christmas as possible, get your child involved with the planning.
Jenna says they should put together:
- A topic checklist detailing all the topics they need to cover before the exams
- A revision plan that accounts for every day up until their exams, and outlines what they’ll be revising each day
She adds: ‘Once they’ve got these two things drawn up, they shouldn’t waste any time in getting started.’
Don’t put it off
Taking much-needed breaks and procrastination are two very different things.
Jenna tells us: ‘When exams still feel a little way off, it’s easy to convince oneself that you can afford to put off revision for another day. But they’ll come around sooner than expected; and when they do, your child will probably wish they’d made the most of their revision time.
‘With this in mind, encourage your child to make the most of their free evenings between now and Christmas – and set aside a morning or afternoon at the weekend to get some good revision done.
‘They will find Christmas a whole lot more relaxing if they have broken the back of their workload before the big day.’
Remind them that yes, mocks are important
We know mock exams don’t count for the final grade, but these practise rounds are essential, and should be used as an opportunity to check for weak spots in their knowledge.
Jenna says: ‘In many ways, they actually do count because the revision done now is laying essential groundwork which will help your child to succeed in the summer.
‘If they revise properly now, they’ll have notes and other resources written and ready to be revisited before the “real thing” – which will save a whole lot of valuable time and effort.’
Not to mention stress!
Encourage them not to lose heart if they feel behind
If your kid has fallen behind on studying, remember it’s not the end of the world – and remind them of that too.
‘When it comes to revision,’ says Jenna, ‘little and often is better than nothing at all. So if they do find that they’ve fallen behind on their revision schedule, or are struggling to get their head in the game after Christmas day: encourage them not to give up completely.’
She continues: ‘Doing even just an hour or two of revision a day is better than nothing at all – so even if they know they haven’t got a whole day’s worth of working in, it is important that they just do as much as they can. It will be time well spent, I promise.
‘In order to maintain motivation throughout the festive period, make it more than just about revising for exams. Christmas can be a really important period because of where it falls in the academic year, particularly for students in year 11 and 13.
‘However, they don’t have to spend it all revising – they should aim for little and often – it’s crucial to strike a good balance between relaxation and revision.’
All work and no play makes the lead-up to exam season a slog, so break up the studying with festive fun and try not to pile on the pressure – your Christmas celebrations and their grades will benefit.
More general revision tips from Jenna:
- ‘The key thing is not to panic them and make exams this big scary thing. Start the conversation about effective revision habits early (year 10 or year 12) and start prepping at an early point in the year. If they can implement those healthy habits early enough in the year, exams do not have to be that stressful.’
- ‘Talk to them about it. Exams are a really important part of education but they are not the be-all and end-all of everything. There is a lot to be said for the effort of trying rather than always focusing on achieving top grades in every exam.‘
- ‘Discuss with your teenager how they like to study, and help to create that environment. Staying hydrated, having breakfast and having a comfortable space to revise are all crucial. We recently worked with Dr Audrey Tang to create a guide on how to make the optimum revision environment this Christmas which outlines how to create the perfect place for productive studying for your children.’
- ‘As a parent, it’s so important to encourage effort – reward the attempt, not the achievement. The goal of revision is to check understanding, reinforce what has been learned, identify what you are struggling with as a kid, and then try to improve knowledge and understanding in those areas. Any attempt at that is worth celebrating.’
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