- Ask your child about the exact dates of the exams so that he or she is informed and can keep an eye on the schedule.
- Offer your child direct help, as this is the only way he or she will know that you can take the time to do so and that you will not see it as a nuisance.
- Schedule set study times together so that both parties can bring enough time and prepare accordingly.
- Try to take away your child’s anxiety and block out negative thoughts. Especially before important exams, such as the Abitur, many students are afraid of failing. Often, it helps to cheer your child on, support him or her, calm him or her down, encourage him or her, and emphasize his or her strengths.
- Never put pressure on your child, as they know best which topics and subjects they should learn more about.
- Instead, motivate your child with statements such as these: Learning will soon be over, you can be proud, quite a few others have managed to pass the exams, and after the work is done, you should reward yourself.
- If necessary, review the learning breaks, because breaks are very important to be able to learn concentrated again and again. It can also be helpful to bring something to drink or eat into the room.
- Ensure that your child is quiet and work actively to ensure that siblings, for example, do not disturb him or her during learning time. The same applies to yourself, e.g. do not necessarily vacuum the apartment during this time.
In the beginning, it makes sense for your child to teach himself/herself the learning material, but it makes just as much sense to check the material after a certain period of time and have it quizzed. Therefore our tip: Simulate a kind of oral exam with your child. You don’t have to know the subject matter yourself; your child will have well-prepared learning materials that you can work with. In this way, the learning material is also transmitted via different senses, in this case from writing a learning note, to reading the learning note, to speaking and listening. Your child can then repeat the learning material in his or her own words, which is a very effective learning method. Ask questions at the end, if possible, that go beyond what has been said, to see if the rest of the material has been learned.
And if you are really studying for an oral exam, give constructive feedback at the end. The following criteria should be considered: Did your child speak slowly, clearly and loudly, were filler words avoided, how did the body language look (upright posture, eye contact) to what has your child already done well and what things can he still work on. A recording with a cell phone can also be helpful here, because then your child can see directly what he or she did right and wrong.