HEALTH PLUS:In the last crucial weeks leading up to the State exams, it's amazing how students can turn things around, writes MARIE MURRAY.
WITH the Leaving Cert a few weeks away it is important that students use their time most productively.
At this stage study sessions should primarily be examination preparation sessions. As students read and re-read past examination papers, they will notice that there are specific formats to the questions asked in each subject and the number of questions to be attempted.
Students need to become so familiar with exam papers that when the exams begin they will know exactly what style of paper to expect and have practised providing answers. They need to know how much time they can allocate to each question and have timed themselves answering questions.
The psychological benefit of studying in this way is that students are often surprised by how much they know if only by “osmosis” and if they discover things they don’t know there is still time to study them.
As students revise with questions in mind, they will begin to know when to provide bullet points and when to provide more elaborate text. They will learn how to read a paper, how to make a choice of the questions they want to answer and how to set about answering questions.
Students usually find that the best way to revise maths is to keep solving mathematical problems ensuring that they understand what they are doing. They need to mentally bring themselves through experiments in science.
They need to recall historical events, what lead up to them, who the principal players were and how the situations ended. They should prepare answers to social and scientific questions.
They need to prepare essay points and generic introductions and conclusions. They should compose language essays in their minds, choosing impressive phraseology, captivating opening sentences and useful vocabulary with which to make their points.
Mental preparation for exams is important and it is never too late to get started. Regardless of what has or has not been studied up to this time, it is important in these last weeks to set aside the past and look to the future and do as much as can be done. Guilt is not useful. Purposeful study is.
This is the time to designate a specific place to study and establish a routine of going there, and only there, to study. Good lighting and correct room temperature are important.
Studying on the bed is not recommended as it can induce sleep when studying and prohibit it when trying to sleep. Study and bed should not become mentally interlinked.
Exercise is helpful and eye-exercises, such as looking out the window into the distance, rotating neck, swinging arms and loosening up can help fatigue and concentration. Study plans are helpful and students should know exactly what they are going to do when they sit down to study. Revision books make courses seem more manageable.
Students who are finding it difficult to get down to study need to remember the maxim of “just go in for 10 minutes”. If they get themselves into the room to study they are likely to stay there, particularly if they have a study plan.
Drawing maps, diagrams, spidograms, preparing revision cards and mentally reviewing what has been learnt in each study session all help exam preparation. It is also important for students to practise writing at speed.
Every odd moment should be used to read revision cards or go over questions mentally: waiting for the bus, for dinner, before a TV programme. We can gather up to two hours miscellaneous time in any one day. That is a lot of revision opportunities.
Parents can reassure students that there is still time to get organised and to study by emphasising how much students can learn in a short time.
Parents can help by providing a place to study and revision books and study aids, by keeping noise levels in the house down, by looking out for signs of stress and being lenient if the student is irritable as this is often a sign of anxiety.
This is also the time to relieve the young person of most household tasks and to actively reward their study efforts by trying to make life as pleasant as possible. This is also the time for parents to ask students what help they would like from them.
It is not the time to induce guilt. What has or has not been done is past. If the student has not studied then help is needed now to try to rescue the situation and encourage the student to use the remaining time as well as possible.
Clinical psychologist Marie Murray is the director of the Student Counselling Services in UCD. Her book, Surviving The Leaving Cert: Points for Parents, is published by Veritas