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How Can Parents Help Children Prepare For The Tests
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Sometimes we, as parents, think that it is solely our child’s responsibility to do well in the test, to get admission in a good college and get a good job. We believe that by providing them with a good home environment, access to a good school and books, and by lecturing them on the importance of the tests, we have done our duty and it is up to them to now prepare and succeed.
But the fact is that except for the 2-4 hours (depending upon the test) where we can’t have a direct impact on the test results, we definitely contribute to success or failure of our children. They learn from us on a daily basis certain concepts that help them prepare for the academic tests such as SAT, ACT, GMAT or GRE as well as the real-job situations. |
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They learn from us:
- How to handle success
- How to deal with a failure
- What to do when things go as we had expected
- How to handle stress and anxiety
- How to focus on short-term versus long-term objectives of our lives
- Etc.
Directly or indirectly, these are the behaviors that also impact their test taking strategies and preparation plans. There are numerous things that we can do; I have listed a few to share with you.
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| Prepare |
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Just as your child is preparing and familiarizing her with the test format, test requirements, you as a parent should do the same. Familiarize yourself with the everything related to the test so that you can double down with your child in getting and filtering through the information, have a fruitful discussion on where to focus, and what are the areas where she may need help. Be as prepared (except for actually solving the questions, though o harm in trying some of that too!) as you would want your child to be with test related information. |
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| Listen to the neighborhood |
| Talk to the teacher, principal, your friends, your child’s parents – get out in the neighborhood and get information. You will be surprised by the amount of information you can find by just talking and asking! You may find about a good tutor, a god preparatory book, a good testing strategy, new format, or something else of importance. Remember that all this information may not be useful, but then you can use your knowledge and experience to filter out what is not important and focus on your requirements. |
| Listen to them |
| Listening to children is one of the most important, and sadly one of the most neglected aspect of parenting. Listen to your children as they gather all the information and start preparing for these tests. Sometimes, children are also very overwhelmed with all the information being thrown at them and all the pressure building up for them to perform well in the test. When they come home, all they want is to discuss the options with someone who can lend them an ear and listen to their fears and anxieties. Listen to them genuinely and guide them with love towards success. Always, encourage them to succeed, but keep an eye on the big picture too and help them focus on their goals. |
| Get Help |
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If you see your child struggling with a topic, get immediate help. Some children can’t ask for help or they don’t ask for help for the fear of appearing weak. Talk to your child and get tutoring and coaching in the subject before it is too late to catch up. Studies have shown that many successful students take external help from English or Math tutors during test preparation. Find out the right method of this help whether it is getting group tutoring at a center or personal, one-on-one help from an Online Tutoring firm
(such as  ), and get guidance from an expert. |
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| Be Patient |
| As a parent, it is so easy to have huge expectations from your children. This is specifically true if you were a strong student and have similar expectations from your own children. Each human is different and is born with different capabilities. Of course, push your child to work harder, keep a focus on goals, but be patient with their progress if you see them genuinely putting an effort. Getting impatient will only cause anxiety and frustration in your children – resulting in negative sentiments against each other. Patiently guiding them towards the path of academic success (even if slower than your expectations) will in the end be better for everyone. |
| Build Confidence – Praise and Celebrate the Effort |
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As a parent with a lot of expectations from our children, sometimes we forget to praise the efforts and focus too much on the end result. We rarely forget to not remind our children of their failures, but we discount small successes very often. Make the whole journey a joint effort and a journey to remember. Praise their efforts along the way and help build confidence in them. If your child does well in a mock ACT test or in a sample SAT test, praise the result. If they show improvement in the GMAT test completion speed, admire their effort. |
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| Create a plan – define success, define the process, keep it positive |
Work with your children to create a detailed plan for the preparation and success in the test. Define all the steps needed such as identifying strengths and weaknesses, finding gaps, finding a right tutor (traditional or online tutor). And finally, define the success. For instance, create a score goal for the SAT or GRE test – maximum as well as acceptable. Work with your child to achieve the maximum, but also understand his/her limitations and be happy and celebrate if she can meet the acceptable. Make sure to keep a positive attitude (not necessarily relaxed) attitude through out the process.
Just as we like to brag about our children’s achievements in front of our friends, we should also own our responsibility to help them achieve their goals. And this goes way beyond just providing them with books and tutors, be positively involved in the process. And see the difference.
Make the whole process a journey which you can all talk about long after the results are out and your child has moved into a job. |
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About Author : Anu Bhave is the founder and President at - an online tutoring and homework help firm that provides very high-quality personalized, convenient, yet highly affordable supplementary education services to K-12 and college students. |
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