By Kim O'Leary
For many Co Kildare students this week the results for the mock exams for the Junior and Leaving Certificate are out this week, and for some students it can be a stressful experience and those who may not have necessarily done as well as they expected are being reminded that there is always time to turn things around by June.
A leading teacher and exam expert has urged students not to stress about bad mock results ahead of June’s State Exams and instead urged them to focus on how they can turn things around. With three months to go until the exams begin on June 6, there’s still plenty of time to prep and work towards your desired results.
That’s according to second-level teacher, and founder of Studyclix.ie, Luke Saunders, who says: “Rather than letting the results get you down you should try to learn from the paper. Don’t look at your overall marks, instead just focus question by question and see where you went wrong and how you can improve.”
Whether students are happy or disappointed with their progress to date, the mocks provide a good opportunity to do a trial run of the state exams. Luke says learning everything you can from the mocks will fully prepare you for the real thing.
“The difference between a H1 (A) and H2 (B) student, in my experience, is attention to detail. I advise my students to think back over the mocks and use it as positive learning experience to see where you lost marks and to improve upon those areas before the exams,” says Luke.
He says there is always room for improvement and pinpointing your weaknesses will help you set goals for achieving the results you want this June. Luke, who teaches Leaving Cert biology and geography full time, runs Studyclix.ie, a website that simplifies the learning process for students.
Studyclix is Ireland’s largest study website, used by more than 152,500 secondary school students with more than 90 percent of secondary school teachers registered.
Studyclix breaks each subject into topics and gives learners everything they need to learn to test themselves on that specific topic.
Official past Leaving Cert and Junior Cert exam papers, as well as past mock exams are available on studyclix.ie.
Luke says: “Students can use the Easter holiday, which is coming up shortly, to try out different questions in past mock and leaving cert papers on Studyclix to assess themselves and learn from their mistakes.”
Luke also advises students to ask their teacher for a copy of the marking scheme used for the mocks. He says this will help students who go back through their mock papers and look at the wording of questions to see where they lost marks.
“If it’s something like English where you can’t exactly pinpoint where you lost marks, ask your teacher,” advises Luke, “they should be able to tell you where you need to improve.”
Many students can become stressed and anxious with the countdown to the exams, an essential part of exam preparation is taking care of yourself.
“In the lead up to the Leaving Cert, students fill out the CAO form and so they have this points goal in mind to get their dream course, but often when students get their mock results back they realise they are short points and that piles on pressure.”
To alleviate that stress Luke recommends: “Looking at the mocks subject by subject and question and question, so that you can give yourself some bite sized tasks to help you work towards your points goal. Write these tasks down and make a plan to structure study, so that you feel like you’re improving and getting closer to your goal."
For more information and advice visit studyclix.ie.
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