It is that time of year. The clocks have gone forward, the days are getting longer and those exams that once seemed to be far in the distance are now hurtling towards us.
By now I expect you know which students are almost certainly going to be fine. The ones who have worked hard over the years, revised for mock exams and practice papers, and have that quiet confidence that comes from knowing your stuff.
But then there are those other students. Some who have worked hard but still struggle in every assessment. And those who haven’t worked hard enough and are now suddenly realising that it might be time to take this whole thing a bit more seriously. How do we support those students to prepare for the exams? Is there anything we can do in this last stretch that will have an impact?
Helping students who aren’t exam-ready
These are some strategies that I have found to be helpful:
1. Search and destroy
Make model answers to questions based on a compilation of the worst responses to the last mock exam or practice paper. Get students to identify what was wrong with those answers. Ask them then to look back at their own response to that question to see if they made any of the same mistakes. Students are very good at finding errors in the work of others and it encourages them to recognise the errors in their own work far more powerfully than just telling them about their mistakes.
2. Task-level analysis
Many teachers and leaders already do what is termed question-level analysis on mock exams, but do you then group this analysis by task type? We can sometimes assume that struggling students are falling behind due to longer, higher tariff extended writing questions, but sometimes it is a particular type of question.
More on exam revision:
In geography it might be something like describing trends on graphs or locations on maps. Sometimes the weakness is in key word definition. We don’t know unless we analyse at this scale. You can then focus class time on these elements. It is often more effective than trying to improve those longer responses.
3. Procedural Do It Nows
Do It Now tasks at the beginning of lessons often focus on retrieval of substantive knowledge, which is no bad thing. But include retrieval of procedural knowledge (the knowledge of how things are done) as well. In this case, the procedural knowledge would include how exam questions are answered.
For example, in geography we might ask, “What three things should you always include when describing a trend on a graph?” or “What three-paragraph structure can you use when the question asks about sustainability?”
4. Scaffolding revision activities
It is important for all students to know what to revise and how to revise it. Students who are struggling might need some additional scaffolding to help them with revision activities, just as they would for activities in class. For example, if you want them to create a revision mind map, you may need to give them the stems to complete or you may need to give them support to unpick a question.
It isn’t a great sign if they do need this at this point at the end of the course, but in the future this can be addressed by ensuring that students are taught how to revise effectively from further down in the school.
5. Watching talking mocks
Walking, talking mocks are great, but there is something to be said for spending time watching over the shoulders of struggling students who are doing exam practice questions. It can help us to understand, and then give feedback on, what they are struggling with and why.
Give the class an exam paper from one topic and bring a group of four or five students together at a table so you can focus your attention there. Watch them try each question and see what you can learn and where you can intervene with advice and guidance.
It would be lovely to have some sort of silver bullet, guaranteed to change the fortunes of each and every struggling student. We don’t. But hopefully these best bets will help to get those students over the line.
Mark Enser is an author and freelance writer
