IN BOTH GERMANY AND ENGLAND, EXAMINATION CERTIFICATES ARE WHAT TELL A UNIVERSITY SELECTION BOARD OR A PROSPECTIVE EMPLOYER THAT YOU KNOW WHAT YOU ARE TALKING ABOUT.
So-called “swotting” is too frequently the action most often used to try and prepare for an examination. But teachers and examiners know that this is really just another name for “too little too late”.
Instead of burning the mid-night oil in the last few days before the exam date, and so arriving dead tired in the exam room or centre, preparation should be started at least four to six months before the exam and should be done in two ways.
i) There are specific “basics” which, if omitted because of missed school lessons, can make all the difference to exam results. Early investigation to discover each pupil’s weaknesses and tailored tuition to then fill the gaps should be undertaken, followed by
ii) revision, from four to six weeks before the exam date, of what has already been learned.
This combination allows the student first to know the language, and then revision allows him to know that he knows, and thus gives him confidence. In fact, confidence is the factor which does most to help a student get a good exam grade, and experience shows that it is these little basic concepts which have earlier been missed, which cause lack of confidence and stand in the way of good results.
Because the missing links vary from student to student, they have to be discovered on an individual basis and then put into a tutoring programme for that particular student.
Coupling this with starting revising all he or she knows – 4 to 6 weeks before the exam – is what gets the “A”s and the “B”s, and avoids the “D”s and the “E”s – whether you are doing “AS” Levels, “A2” Levels, GCSE’s, or Baccalaureate.-
To ask Elisabeth for advice:
Phone: (01342) 811099.