We asked Judith Aitken, 7+ exam specialist tutor and founder of Wicked Smart, to give us an insight into how you can support your child in the days running up to their 7+ exams…
Judith says:
In the final run up to the exam, there really is no need to panic. Calm, confident children are often the most successful candidates, but should you wish to fine tune your child’s abilities before the big day, some of these ideas may be just the ticket!
- Lie back and listen
A lovely, relaxing way to gain some inspiration for creative writing ideas, audio books provide a stress-free way to learn some new vocabulary to add more detail and description to a story.
- Lights, camera, action
A family movie night can lend itself to discussions about character descriptions. What does the character look like and sound like? How would you describe their personality?
- Keep calculating!
Use everyday activities to brush up on quick number recall. Try multiplying the numbers on car registration plates while on the school run or calculate the total cost and change from the food shop.
- Exercise your body and your mind
Any form of physical activity will help to improve your child’s levels of concentration, but why not kill two birds with one stone and try combining number sequences with jumping up the stairs or drawing hopscotch squares with tricky spelling words inside.
- Discover a new hobby
There’s nothing like a national lockdown to give children extra time to twiddle their thumbs. This may be the ideal time for them to try learning a musical instrument or take up drawing. Having an extracurricular interest will also give your child something to chat to their examiner about during the interview phase.
- Try some gentle revision
Completing a sample exam paper can help to alleviate your child’s worries about what will be expected of them on the ‘big day’. Wicked Smart papers are carefully levelled to ensure that your child retains their enjoyment of learning while being challenged at the same time.
All of the Wicked Smart marking schemes are written in child friendly language, giving your child a real sense of autonomy during a time that can at times feel out of their control.
Why not use Wicked Smart papers to celebrate your child’s strengths and then use our handy ‘I can’ statements to allow your child to set their own targets.
Wicked Smart are offering Watling Tutors clients the option to download with a 20% discount. Just use code Watling20 at the checkout.
We wish all students the absolute best of luck on their very important day!
Judith Aitken is a fully qualified primary teacher with experience teaching in the state, public and international sectors. Now working as a professional tutor, Judith specialises in preparing children for school entrance exams to the top prep schools in the UK. Judith is the Founder of Wicked Smart, a website offering instantly downloadable English and Maths papers specifically for the 7+ common entrance exam.
