Ernst: ‘Let your child make the planning themselves’.

Ernst: ‘Let your child make the planning themselves’.

As a physics teacher, mentor and parent, Ernst experiences a lot every year from the final exams. A period that causes stress for some students and parents. But that is not needed if you are well prepared. And Ernst makes sure of that. He guides the students and gets them ready for the big moment.

At Most Two Surprising Results Per Year

Ernst has been teaching since 2004, so the final exams are no longer a stressful time for him. ‘Looking back over the past years, I notice that students almost always perform according to their value. Suppose I have a class of thirty students, then there are one, at most two students who surprise me with their results. Because they are close to the limits with their grades and did better or worse than I expected.’ 

Repeating and Preparing

From March, no new material is taught anymore and it is only repeating and preparing for the exams. ‘How do you take such an exam? How do you enter the exam room? More skills are involved than just the subject content. That is something some students might not realize immediately. They also often do not see the urgency to start preparing early. That’s why I always spend a lot of time on that in the lessons we still have.’

Concentration and focus

‘One of the things I practice with students is the duration of an exam. Exams are often longer than what students are used to with normal tests. The physics exam, for example, is three hours. Then you have to manage to focus on one thing for those three hours. And concentration is something you can train, but you have to do it. In the last month of lessons, I spend at least half a lesson training their concentration skills. I also advise students to practice with practice exams during the May holiday.’ 

Being in shape  

‘It is also important that students know how to relax during the exam. That is why I give stress training. They have to show what they know in the exam, but they also have to be in shape. If students want more clarity about that, I compare it to my own hobby: tennis. I have been playing tennis for thirty years, but sometimes it goes very well and other times very badly. It depends on whether you are in shape or not, and that also applies to a test. You can study hard for a week and have everything under control. But if you are exhausted because you worked until midnight every night, your test will not go well. I give them tips they can use in their preparation and during the exam. For example, if they already know they are quite tense during the test, I give them breathing exercises or a muscle relaxation exercise to relieve the tension.’ 

Making agreements and planning yourself

However you look at it: Ernst deals with teenagers. ‘When a student does not feel the urgency to work on the exams themselves, parents often get involved. But unfortunately, that has the opposite effect. On the other hand, letting go completely is not good either, because as a parent you can be a push behind the door. That is why my tip: let your child make agreements or a plan themselves. Let them make a plan for the May holiday about when they want to study and when they want to relax. Then they are more likely to stick to it and accept their parents’ involvement.’