International School Parent Magazine - Spring 2022

By the time they are teenagers, physiologically our children’s
brains are about 95% of their full adult size. However, as
they hit adolescence and experience hormonal changes
their brains go through another significant phase of development.
This brain growth doesn’t happen all at once. Over time different
parts of the brain develop and at different rates. The point here is
not to bore you with brain science, rather to make you understand
that teenagers are going through a lot. Even though we want our
children to act and behave as young adults, the reality is, sometimes
the brain just says, no.
At some point society decided that high school was the perfect
time to test children’s knowledge with future defining exams.
Yes, most of you reading this article went through this phase and
survived. However, very few of you would look back on these
exams fondly.
How do we make these exams less awful? By being prepared.
How do we prepare? We revise.
Sometimes convincing your child to revise is a mission of epic
proportions. However, it doesn’t need to be a battle. Let’s explore
how you as a parent can motivate and support your child’s revision.
How much revision is needed?
There is no hard and fast rule as to how much revision is right or
even enough. It largely depends on the child and their personal
learning style. At tertiary level the magic number is often touted as
three - five hours per day, five days per week. But what about our
children? Surely five hours per day is unrealistic for our pre-teen
and teens?
A Spanish study of 7,451 teenagers found that students who
studied for 90 – 110 minutes per day achieved the highest test
scores. However, the gains made after 60 minutes of study were
minimal. This means that although effective, studying for longer
than an hour in a single session is less efficient for teenagers
(Fernández-Alonso, R., et al., 2015).
What does this tell us? That study needs to be broken up into
manageable pieces to work. Revision is a case of quality over
quantity.
“We can only focus up to a certain amount of time. There’s no point students
being at their desks for hours if they spend half of that time procrastinating.” –
The Inner Drive, Mindset Coaching for Education and Sport
How to motivate kids
There are millions of reasons why your child might lack
the motivation to revise. This doesn’t make your child lazy,
unintelligent, or aloof. There are many valid reasons as to why
revision isn’t happening. It could be as simple as that they don’t
know how. Perhaps they are overwhelmed by the perceived size of
this task? Or maybe they think it is too early to start? The first step
in motivating your child is to understand where they are at.
Here are a few techniques that you can use to combat common
barriers to revision:
Issue: They don’t know how to revise
If your child doesn’t know how to revise, they will not be motivated
to do it. Talk to their teacher and ask them for their tips, or to
recommend helpful resources. The internet is also a great source;
from study plans to information on different revision styles.
Issue: Your child is overwhelmed
When you think about it, revising for multiple exams is mammoth
task. It is easy to see that this might be overwhelming to your child
and by extension, to your nerves. The most effective way to fight
overwhelm is to break revision up into small pieces. A good way to
do this is by creating a revision timetable. Make sure study hours
include breaks and that your child rewards themselves regularly
– this could be a simple as a hot chocolate or going for a walk
outside.
Issue: Your child thinks they have time
A teenager’s perceive time is vastly different to our own. As adults,
three months goes by in the blink of an eye, whereas for a teen it
feels like forever. That is until their exams are days away. There is
no fail-safe way of handling this. One thing you could point out is
that the sooner they start the smaller the revision load will be closer
to the exam. While their friends are panicking, your child can
be calm knowing that they have revised all the materials and can
instead focus on light study and practice exams.
How about proven revision techniques?
Not all revision techniques are created equal. Nor will they work
for each person equally. Here’s an example of two tried and tested,
simple but effective revision techniques that you can explore with
your child.
Retrieval practice
Retrieval practice is one of the most effective revision strategies of
all time. It includes things like taking past exams for practice, flash
card learning, multiple choice tests or answering questions aloud.
Spacing
Spacing is based on the principle of doing a little bit of revision
regularly. For this technique to work well, it has to be started well in
advance of any upcoming exams.
Getting our children to revise can be tough, but there are many
things that we can do as parents to support them. Whether it
be helping them to manage their nerves, to create their study
timetable, by minimising distractions or providing them with snacks
to fuel study sessions, it is our job to be understanding and help our
children navigate the build up to their exams.
BBC., (unknown). Five ways to help your kids kick-start revision.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/articles/zmy692p
Birmingham City University., (unknown). How much revision
should I do a day? https://www.bcu.ac.uk/exams-and-revision/
time-management-tips/how-much-revision-should-i-do-a-day
Inner Drive., (unknown). How Much Should Students Revise?
https://blog.innerdrive.co.uk/how-much-should-students-revise
Inner Drive., (unknown). The Best Ways to Revise https://www.
innerdrive.co.uk/what-are-the-best-ways-to-revise/
Raisingchildren.net.au., (unknown). Brain development in preteens
and teenagers. https://raisingchildren.net.au/pre-teens/
development/understanding-your-pre-teen/brain-developmentteens
INTERNATIONAL SCHOOL PARENT SPRING 2022 | 47