Rebecca Kesler Tutors

Top Tips for the Day Before Test Day Below are some suggestions for what to do the night before sitting an exam.  Please note this list is not exhaustive and what works best for one person may not work best for another.  These are just suggestions.  If you have any suggestions or advise feel free to add them to the comments below.  Don't go stay out late the night before - you will probably be tired and unable to concentrate during the exam.  There will be plenty of time to party over the summer. Eat a healthy meal, avoid stimulants (e.g. caffeine) and drink plenty of water Make sure that you have all the equipment you need for the exam.  If you need a black pen make sure you have two in case one breaks.  Check your calculator is scientific, meets specs and is working.  Make sure the equipment is standard exam issue.  By doing this the day or week before you should have time to go to the shops/order on-line if necessary. Lay o...

Do exams define you and the rest of your life? When applying for jobs or University most candidates will have to fill out job applications with detailed descriptions of your examination results.  Many employers and interviewers will look at your results and for most our job path is defined by whether we passed an exam or failed it.  Indeed certain Universities (e.g. Oxford or Cambridge) won't even consider a student with below AAB A-level results.  Consequently my question is are we defined by examinations and how do our results affect our lives? Indeed passing exams is important.  For example, you wouldn't want a doctor operating on you if they hadn't passed their surgery exams and gone through medical school.  However many famous entrepreneurs and famous people will openly admit to having failed some if not all of their exams. Jon Snow, Channel 4's news presenter, took two A-levels the first time round and failed one whilst only getting a C in Engli...

What do you do if you miss an exam? And the reasoning for missing you exam is... Sometimes due to unforeseen circumstances an exam has to be missed.  For example, maybe you got seriously sick or heaven forbid you were involved in an accident on the day of the exam, a close family member dies, there is a domestic crisis.  These circumstances are counting as extenuating circumstances.  The first port of call is to contact your teacher/school and they will be able to help you through.  If you are seriously sick you may be asked to prove this with a doctor's note or medical records.  Death notes may also be required.  You may then be able to sit the exam at a later date or sometimes marks are decided from coursework and other exams in the subject including classwork. It should be noted that sometimes the exam centre or where your sitting the exam messes up.  For example, you may be given the wrong paper, their may be a disturbance in the exam...

Exam Paper Technique for 11+, GCSE etc. So you are going to sit a paper.  How do you maximise the marks in the shortest time possible?   Step 1: Make sure your name is on the paper and you follow the instructions when sitting your paper. Step 2: In the first 2 minutes of an exam flick through the paper and check how many pages there are and where all the questions are.  Check the back page and see if there is a question there. Step 3: You want to maximise your marks in the shortest time possible.  Answer all the 1 and 2 mark questions first that you find easy.  Skip over other questions to begin with. Step 4: Go through the paper again.  Answer all the questions worth more than 2 marks that you find easy.  Skip over other questions. Step 5: Now you should be left with just the trickier questions.  Answer as many as you can.  Remember often you will get marks for trying a question so it is better to try your best and show s...

Do parents put undue stress on their children to perform well in exams? With students sitting or about to sit their GCSEs a rising level of tension and stress is probably looming over the household in anticipation of the coming day.  For some students there is no such thing as stress where for others it is comparable to the time of the apocalypse.  However, is it only the students who are stressed out about the exams?  I mean most parents want their child to do well in the exams and probably feel a level of tension themselves.  Yet do parents actually contribute to student exam anxiety because they want their child to perform well?  What is good exam parenting and what steps can be taken to reduce exam stress?  Below I will discuss this further.  If you have any comments please feel free to leave them below. For further information on my tutoring service visit www.rebecca.kesler.co.uk Parents and exam stress In March 2017 the BBC p...

In the news there have been reports that some Jews have been having problems getting exams rearranged for religious reasons.  As you are probably aware the Jewish festival Shavuot is coming up.  This festival is a time when Jews celebrate the giving of the Torah (the Jewish bible).  Jews eat milky foods and decorate places with flowers to celebrate. The exam period clashes with Shavuot and there has been some discussions with the universities as to whether Jewish students should be allowed to take the exams at a different time to their classmates.  According to Jewish News Online at least 56 cases have been reported where students have been affected by the clash. Interestingly Muslim students have also been affected by exam clashes.  For Muslims it is Eid - the breaking of the fast at the end of Ramadan.  Nora Shelley reported that students at UCT will have the option to take their exams the day after to allow time for prayer. In Jamaica ...