Jeb*, aged 14, came to visit me wanting to do better in tests and exams at school.  He was a smart kid and learnt concepts well – but he just didn’t do well in timed test situations.

As child psychologists, we work with both kids and teens to help them achieve their best at school.  We can’t help them learn the content itself, but we can help with increasing motivation, managing distraction, improving attention and concentration and with what psychologists call “test taking technique”.  The good news for many young people is that making small changes to how you study, and what you do before and in a test situation can make a huge difference to results.

I worked with Jeb on figuring out some better strategies he could use in tests.  We practiced them in session.  He walked away saying he felt much more confident.  I had all my fingers crossed!  And happy day, this week I got an email from him to tell me he’d got full marks in his latest science test.  Hooray! Couldn’t help but do a private little fist pump the air in my office J

Here are 14 ideas you can talk through and practice with your child/teen before they sit tests or exams.  Please note – not all of these ideas will apply to your young person: what works willdepend on the material, the child and the type of test being sat.  Also, there are too many here to work on all at once. You’ll have to pick the most important, discuss them and help them practice them on more than one occasion.

But they do work!

I was talking to Hallie* yesterday in the clinic about her 11 and 14 year olds and she said:  “once upon a time, I had two happy, cheery and positive children.  Now, they don’t stop complaining, being miserable and unhappy about something in their day…it’s depressing me! Where are my happy kids gone?"

Hallie's kids is pretty normal.  

Here’s what to know about miserable preteens and teens:

A universal refrain sweeps the country at 3.30pm each night.  It goes like this:

Parent: So, how was your day?
Child/teen: fine.
Parent: What happened?
Child: Nothing happened.  I told you.  It was fine.

It's not always easy to get young people to tell us about what happened at school.  There are two primary reasons for this.

Reason 1. They DON'T WANT to talk about it.  

Talking about what HAS already happened at school is kind of boring.  Been there, done that.  It's tiring.  They have more interesting things to think about.  For teens, they might not want to talk to parents about their day in an attempt to be independent.  They might not want to share details which might mean they experience problems later (if I tell you about a hard maths lesson, will you make me do maths homework?  if I tell you about a friend saying something hurtful, will you try to stop me seeing them later?)

Reason 2. They FIND IT HARD to talk about it.

This past week we've discovered that one of my kids has been living with a significant hearing impairment for some time.  I, being the attentive, in tune and observant mother that I am - had no flipping idea.  I only took him to the appointment because his Dad was concerned, and the kids and I happened to have a morning free.

Of course once the results were in, (and naturally this was in front of the hearing professional), my child told me that his teacher has regularly been frustrated with him for not paying attention (first I've heard of it); that apparently all the headphones in our house "are broken" (I'd already bought him four pairs); and that the teacher he hears the best at school is coincidentally the one who has an amplification system in her room (okay, maybe he mentioned that.  Once.)

The audiologist asked if I'd noticed he didnt hear people speaking in a whisper or low volume..."no", I said. During my late night rumination over the last few days, it has occurred to me that perhaps I never noticed this issue because I tend to use ..ahem....fairly healthy levels of volume when I talk with my children!!

Yes, in case you are wondering, I do feel terrible.  Terrible.

In our offices we have a copy of a book called "Everybody has a Bottom".  It's a book for kids to help them understand that parts of our bodies are private and not for showing or touching other people.

I was transporting it between offices recently and my kids read it aloud with great gusto and laughter.  But it was a perfect opportunity for me to have another conversation with them about what is okay and not okay with regards to bodies and touching, and helping make sure they stay safe.

Maybe you've already talked with your kids about this.  I had too.  But one - or two - conversations are not enough.  Think about how often we have to remind our kids to speak kindly to each other!  Children need reminders at least once a year about this issue.