Dealing with your teen’s matric exam fatigue
Matric exams: Is your child battling to stay focussed? Here’s how you can help them cope better with studying and pass the year.
With final year exams underway, stress and anxiety may be taking a toll on your teen. We chat with Wonga Ntshinga, Senior Head of Programme: Faculty of ICT at The Independent Institute of Education, SA’s largest private higher education institution, on ways you can help your child deal with fatigue and ensure they do their very best in their matric exams.
Remind your teen of the end goal
Help your child visualise their plans for next year, and match that dream with the performance they need to get there. That means not just the performance on, for instance, the two papers they have already completed, but also the five that are still to come. Many of the subjects that are still to be written are ones that were chosen to score “easier points” to improve overall scores, and that strategy should not be abandoned now that the jackpot is within sight.
Help them stick to a roster and avoid cramming
Encourage your child to keep putting in a solid, consistent effort on their remaining work in line with how they planned their approach at the start of the exams. Don’t let your child be tempted to take unnecessary time off during the afternoons or on weekends, with the intention of cramming later.
Keep putting one foot in front of the other
Help your child break up their remaining workload into smaller, easier to complete sections rather than attempting to sit down for hours at a time to study entire textbooks at once. Now really is the time to eat the proverbial elephant one bite at a time. Be easy on your child, but be consistent in helping them stay focussed.
Avoid negative thoughts
As a parent, don’t let negative emotional energy over what’s happened so far in the exams impact what you can still do to encourage your child. If your child says things have gone well, sustained effort can mean that things go even better than both of you hoped for. If things have not gone well, renewed and continued effort can mean the difference between your child having a range of study options or limited prospects. Whichever it is, it is important to understand that there will be options for your child, and that every bit you do now has the potential to increase the chances of your child passing the year.
Ensure your teen gets exercise and a change of scenery
Remember that your child still needs a break every now and again. Take them for a walk, give them a special treat during your scheduled downtime, or do something new. Remind them that there’s a whole new and exciting world waiting for them on the other side of the last sentence of the last paper they write, so allow them to look forward to it, while also ensuring you give them the absolute best launchpad you possibly can.
