You can help your child prepare for school tests in ways that can help him or her perform better and be prepared for many of life’s experiences. These tips include much more than quizzing your child on the test subject.

Place yourself in your child’s shoes, or at least in their position. Remember when you had a big test and how you felt? If you cannot remember back that far, like many of us, think about the last time you took a driver’s test, face a bookkeeping or tax audit, or had to appear in court. The anxiety can often be overwhelming and even disturb your sleep the night before.

Here is how you can help:

1) Help your child have a relaxing evening the day before the test.
2) Make sure they get a good night’s sleep two days before the test as well as the night before. Making sure the pupil is rested two nights before test day will help in case this child does not sleep well the night before.
The time of day the testing takes place is important in relation to food intake.
3) A light breakfast that includes protein is considered wise.
4) If an afternoon test ensure your child will have a lunch with a small amount of protein and not too heavy on carbohydrates and sugars.
College cramming has been shown to help test score for students who have been studying regularly.
5) Most people cannot learn a new subject the day before a test so helping your child study some each day and keep up with homework is step one.
6) Creating a review sheet of the main points of the test material and going over that the evening before and if possible once in the morning the day of the test can be beneficial.
Practice with your child in different ways.
7) Read subject material with your child.
8) Take any practice test included in text books.
9) Create practice tests with multiple choice, true or false, problem solving, and essay questions as appropriate. You can model these from the textbooks or previous tests from the same class.
10) Spend one on one time practicing and involve other family members when possible.

by David McLeod

Owner School-Supply-List.com and Elementary School Teacher