The summer holidays are a great opportunity for students to use their time effectively and get ahead of their peers who take a break from their studies. For students taking the Selective Test next year, this is a crucial period that can be used to hone their exam preparation strategy and ensure they are ready to tackle the big exam in May. Other students can use this chance to prepare for the year and take pressure off their studies when the term starts.

Unfortunately, this period of time can be a great cause of concern for parents as students lack motivation and guidance from teachers. In response, we have created a list of steps on how you can help your child stay on track including building foundations through theory, repetitive practice via time drills and taking trial tests. 

BUILDING FOUNDATIONS THROUGH THEORY

A strong understanding of theory is the foundation of doing well in an exam. For students who still have a while before their exams, the holidays are the perfect time to learn new concepts and develop their understanding of theory that they have previously touched on.

At this point, most students taking the Selective Test next year should be fairly comfortable with topics examined in the exam and should be familiar with the theory examined. However, there is always new material that students can commit to learning since every extra piece of knowledge acquired reduces the likelihood of being caught off-guard in the exam.

We recommend creating a study plan for your child and focus on learning something new every week. For example, you could identify question types in Mathematical Reasoning & Thinking Skills that your child has not encountered before and focus on applying theory to these questions. 

Vocabulary is also a vital part of preparation as it can help greatly in the Reading and Writing sections. We recommend learning 5 to 10 new words each week by identifying three synonyms (which is extremely important as tests often examine word association) as well as trying to write a sentence with each word to learn how to apply it in the correct context. 

REPETITIVE PRACTICE THROUGH TIMED DRILLS

Timed drills are the perfect way to transition between learning a concept and becoming comfortable applying it to a question under exam pressure. Time your child while they complete worksheets that focus on a specific concept (e.g. Area of Triangle Worksheet) to train accuracy, speed and improve confidence. 

These drills will not only help your child become more familiar with applying the theory but also allow them to process questions faster by recognising small details, eliminating incorrect options and more. Prepare worksheets of similar difficulty and aim to reduce the amount of time taken with every worksheet to ensure your child becomes comfortable with the theory.

Worksheets can be found online, in bookstores or on Alpha One’s Facebook groups, the OC Discussion Group and Selective Discussion Group where we post free worksheets every week.

TRIAL TESTS

Taking trial papers under exam conditions is the final stage in preparing for the OC or Selective Test. It is important to note that students who lack theoretical knowledge may find this step too difficult to tackle, so we recommend parents focus on the first two stages first. However, trial papers are by far the most valuable form of practice so we highly suggest students work on this stage in the final months before an exam.

Every year we notice that students who have sat more trial papers are most confident on the day of the exam. For these children, the ‘big daunting exam’ is just like any other paper they have done in the past. The other students who do not have as much experience with trial tests will often feel increased levels of stress and pressure that ultimately stem from a lack of adequate preparation.

These trial tests are extremely effective at developing test-taking skills including time management, error checking, eliminating incorrect answers, making informed guesses and finding shortcuts to solving questions. Ensure your child takes the trial papers in a quiet environment with no distraction as well as under the same time restraints as the actual test so they become used to these exam conditions. 

Trial papers are also the most useful way to determine which areas your child needs to work on. Review the questions after the exam and identify the reason why your child is losing marks. These can range from a lack of focus, careless mistakes, running out of time or overall weakness in a particular concept. Many of these errors are common mistakes amongst all students and can be easily rectified once identified. For example, a lack of focus can be fixed by starting with short drills and then increasing the length until your child becomes used to focusing for the entire duration of the exam. 

By ironing out any avoidable mistakes, students can become more consistent and confident in their test taking abilities.

Alpha One’s January Holiday Program for 2024 Selective Test preparation is still taking enrolments. Enrol today to help your child better develop their test taking skills before the upcoming test this year. Limited spots available.

Published 26 November 2020