My child has fallen behind: can they catch up?
For whatever reason, a teen may fall behind when it comes to revision. As a parent, you might be left wondering whether you should step in and help- and how you might be able to support.
Firstly, it’s probably a good idea to get involved! With exams just around the corner, your teen will need all the support they can get (even if your teen says they can’t think of anything worse!) You could start by thinking in terms of ‘need.’ What is your child going to ‘need’ in order to catch up at this late stage?
They might need to meet with teachers. They might need to create a new revision timetable. They might need to actually knuckle down now- if they haven’t been!
Sometimes students miss things from illness or personal circumstance, which can be upsetting if it’s been unavoidable. But whatever the reason for falling behind, there’s still time to do a little catching up- even if it does present as challenging.
Revision courses are a great solution! Providers, such as ours, offer teenagers the chance to work within a small group of peers, in expert-led sessions, where your teen can be guided through: information, exam techniques and walk-through questions.
Our final courses, before the May exams, are One Day ‘Grade Booster Revision Courses.’ These take place the weekend prior to National 5, Higher and Advanced Higher Exams. Each 6-hour course is designed to help your teenager increase their understanding. They will also be given the time to complete exam style questions under the guidance of an experienced school teacher.
Likewise, encouraging your teen to utilise any school revision sessions will be a good idea (if they aren’t already doing this,) as many teachers hold specific ‘catch up’ sessions at lunch time or after school- often if they know some of their students have been absent.
As a parent supporting from home, it can be a good idea to see where students have missed lessons- and which subjects. You can often do this without too much hassle, either by making a phone call to the attendance officer at school or college (who will be able to access a record,) or by manually looking at your child’s lesson timetable against your calendar. Once you have established which subjects your student may be the most behind in, they can delve into those revision guides and books and get underway with working, using these resources to try and fill in some missing gaps.
Alternatively, an easier tip might be to get purchase a revision guide (if you haven’t already done so,) for each subject, and get your child to tick off the ‘contents’ pages according to anything they feel unsure about or may be unfamiliar with. This is a quick way of directing your child to areas they will need to cover, and revision guides are usually helpful as a starting point for covering the basic or main concepts.
Ultimately, now is the time to encourage your teen. It’s not too late to find ways for your teen to squeeze out some potential extra marks!