The run-up to the assessment season can be one of the busiest and most stressful times of the year. It’s high stakes for both students and teachers, and so in preparing them for SATs, GCSEs, and A Levels, it’s important to provide opportunities that can help them achieve their best possible results. Here are some top tips to help you and your students succeed during this period:
1. Encourage spaced practice linked to retrieval practice. Students need to practice recalling information regularly, and space out their revision sessions. You can help with this both during lesson time and when learners are at home – particularly important if you allow your students out on study leave before their exams. This helps to consolidate knowledge in their long-term memory. You can help them achieve this by setting regular quizzes or encouraging them to create their own flashcards. You can also recommend revision resources that promote spaced and retrieval practice, using apps such as Quizlet or Anki.
2. Use technology. Technology can be an effective tool for students to support their revision. There are a variety of apps and websites that can help them learn and retain information, such as Duolingo for language learning and YouTube for subject-specific topics. Encourage students to explore these resources and use them in their revision process.
If you’ve spent time over the year creating shared resources using a tool such as OneNote Class Notebook or Google Classroom, make sure these are available to your learners. You can also easily use tools like ChatGPT to help create a wide variety of questions for your learners, such as multiple-choice, fill-the-blank exercises, and short answer questions. Encourage your learners to use the tool to create questions for them and then ask it to judge their answers and responses and give them feedback on how they’ve done.
3. Set achievable goals. It’s important to set achievable goals with your students, as this can help to motivate them and keep them on track. You can do this through regular check-ins and goal-setting sessions. Help your students to break down larger goals into smaller, more manageable steps, and set a realistic timeline for achieving each one. For the more adventurous, you could even share content to a subject-specific social media account with encouraging messages. Many teachers have seen success in this area on platforms such as TikTok and Instagram. If that isn’t your cup of tea, then you could always replicate the activity in other platforms such as Microsoft Teams or Google Classroom.
4. Provide targeted feedback. Targeted feedback is crucial for students to understand where they need to improve and how they can do so. Encourage them to act on this feedback in their revision process. If you’re looking for ways to personalise your comments quickly and efficiently, then consider using tools where you can record them as audio. This works particularly well with tools like OneNote or Mote.
5. Manage time effectively. During the assessment season, time management is key. Encourage your students to create a revision schedule, set aside specific blocks of time for revision and take breaks to avoid burnout. You can also help them manage their time by providing them with a clear outline of what they need to revise and when. Time management apps such as Trello, Asana and Todoist allow students to create to-do lists, set deadlines, and prioritise tasks. If you’re confident using one of these tools, you could recommend which to use and demonstrate how they could use them effectively.
You could also consider creating and sharing an online calendar to help your students (and parents) stay on top of important dates and deadlines, such as when exams are scheduled and when revision sessions are taking place. Making use of platforms such as Google Classroom or Microsoft Teams will also help to keep lines of communication open – particularly useful when students might be out on study leave in the run-up to their exams.
Don’t forget self-care
In short, the assessment season can be a busy and stressful time for both teachers and students. By promoting spaced practice, making good use of technology, setting achievable goals, providing targeted feedback, and helping students to manage their time effectively, you’ll be offering lots of great opportunities to support your students during this stressful period. Don’t forget to recommend and share the importance of factoring in self-care opportunities with your learners as well – taking breaks, exercising, eating and sleeping well and, of course, hydrating regularly will all help them to stay focused and motivated. Good luck!