With the Primary School Leaving Examination (PSLE) drawing closer, with the oral examinations having just been over. As the students start to feel the heat, many parents across the island may wonder what they can do to help their children cope with the national examinations anxiety.
Fret not, as there are a variety of ways through which you can offer support and help your child achieve the best possible physical and emotional state for the biggest examination of her life, to date. Whether incorporating regular exercise into their daily routine or simply allowing your child to relax and have fun whenever they can, this blog examines how you and your child can tackle the PSLE preparation together.
Discuss Near Future Goals With Them
Speak with your child about their aspirations. These could include asking them which secondary school they want to attend, if they did not go through Direct School Admissions (DSA), or simply what they would like to be when they grow up. By doing so, you are helping them visualise a goal they can work towards and reinforcing the importance of studying and working hard to achieve these aspirations. When speaking with them about their goals, try to do it collaboratively so that it comes across as you being genuinely interested in what they want to do.
Also, on the same note, you can work out a schedule or timetable with them for their revisions and studies. Your child needs to start PSLE preparation early, especially since last-minute cramming can be ineffective. Devise a practical and realistic timetable that your child can follow – this could be as simple as “Finish homework and revise two science chapters on Monday”. Setting simple goals helps your child stay focused on the tasks at hand. But, we recommend that you avoid doing it alone for them. Sitting down and planning together encourages your child to take ownership of their learning and studying.
Encourage Your Child To Be Proactive
To ensure that they are not over dependent on their teachers or tutors for their academic progress. Instead, you should encourage your child to be more proactive by asking their teachers questions, reviewing their mistakes, and revising on their own. All of these will help make your child feel more responsible and confident in their learning experience, leading to them putting more effort into their education.
Furthermore, it is important to recognise your child’s efforts when they have shown improvements in their studies, no matter how big or small they might be. As we all know, the journey of learning is equally important as the results, so you can always provide positive reinforcement such as rewarding your child whenever they accomplish small goals like completing their weekly revisions.
Understand Your Child’s Strengths And Weaknesses
You should also take time to understand your child’s learning abilities. This lets you discover what comes naturally to them and the subject or topic they tend to struggle with more. Equipping yourself with this knowledge helps you guide them more strategically in their PSLE preparation – allocating more time for them to invest in the topics they are weaker in.
For instance, if they are weak in Chinese, you can sit with them to read the Chinese newspaper or have them repeatedly work on Chinese worksheets. This helps strengthen their foundation in the language, ensuring they can learn from their mistakes. Furthermore, as they start understanding the subject on a deeper level, they will make lesser mistakes, and this helps to boost their confidence.
In addition, you can also get your child to practise on past years’ papers. Doing so familiarises them with the types of questions and the structure of the paper, building a stronger foundation for the types of questions they will be tested on. Nearing the examination dates, you can also put your child in a similar environment as in the actual examination and set a timer to help them get used to completing a paper under timed conditions.
Ace PSLE The Champion Mindset Way
Besides providing your child with the academic support they need, it is also crucial for you to support them emotionally as well. Putting them through unnecessary stress and pressure may sometimes prove to be ineffective. But you and your child are not alone in this; we’re here to help!
Not only does MindChamps Enrichment provide tuition for PSLE students, but we also have a programme known as PSLE – The Champion Mindset Way. This programme is tailored to help your Primary 5 or 6 children understand, relate, and apply concepts across various subjects through the Optimal Flow MethodTM. The programme is offered in all four PSLE-examinable subjects (English, Chinese, Mathematics, and Science), with each session lasting three hours. This is an intensive PSLE preparation programme that helps to reinforce what students already know and hone their answering techniques.
Book a visit to our centre today to find out more about our curriculum and learning environment.