My Top 5 exam resources to help you {and your child}!

Where’s the wine at? My fellow Gr. 4 moms and dads….. let’s just take a moment, clink our glasses together….and just take it in! We are in the home stretch..one final term and exams to get through! 3 terms down and I’m alive, and so is Addison….we didn’t kill each other! Though if I could have died from either giving or receiving eye-rolls…..this may very well have been a very different post!

I remember starting this year full of hope and optimism. First time doing exams….we had a study timetable, time, determination and 11 exams in the first term. We had it! Right? And I mean, how difficult could Grade 4 possibly be? Addison attends school, 5 days a week. She does homework everyday….exam prep is basically just revision….easy peasy! Apparently not. In today’s post, I’m trying to help us all with my top exam resources!

Parents…you need to be prepared. To sit on your kids, to remind them to study…to study so YOU can answer their questions! I don’t think I knew we use sand to make glass. Go figure? It was literally back to the drawing board…the Gr. 4 drawing board for this mama!

It also didn’t help that every time my child opened a book close to 8pm during the exam period…she got sleepy! This is a child, that any other night…when she is NOT writing exams….can go to bed at 11pm and wake up at 5am! Exams make you sleepy…..so be prepared! Today I just thought I’d share some exam resources with you, that we used to get through our first exam experience in the 2nd term. I will be hitting all of these resources hard for this last term and hopefully we’ll end the year on a high note.

The Exam Resources

Google

Firstly, I googled for a template for a blank study timetable. I found this great template on Parent24.com I checked the days she was writing, along with the scope of each subject and proceeded to fill this in. So if we were doing Maths, I’d stipulate: Fractions and 2D shapes. I find it’s definitely the best to break down the subject vs just having: 1hr Maths.

To have a timetable setup, also teaches her about managing her time. Also, she knew when her breaks were…because I swear that was more her focus than the study slots. lol. When we do this again, I may rather let her do the first ‘draft’ for scheduling her time. If any of you let your kids draw up their own timetable, let me know if that works for you.

A tip on Parent24.com was to laminate this sheet and then just update it on a weekly basis with a whiteboard marker. 

E-Classroom

I discovered this website when Addison was in Grade 1, when we were made aware that ‘data handling’ was not her strong suit. Mama had no idea what Data handling even meant….so off I went to Google and discovered this website. What a resource E-classroom has been for me! What’s great is that the website starts from Grade R and goes all the way to Grade 12.

Initially E-Classroom was a free site which was great! Then in 2017 I went back and realised that you paid R35 as an annual fee. Return in 2018 and now you pay per grade you want to access, so it now costs me R35 per child. Still, it’s super affordable and I’ll gladly pay for this database of worksheets.

The site is broken down into grades, language and then the various subjects. The subjects are then broken down into terms with many worksheets, and from Gr. 4, there are mock examination papers as well. Going in and downloading all the worksheets has also helped me with understanding what SS means and what each subject actually is. Gone are the days of Biology, Physics and Chemistry…….

A tip, if you have more than one child, is that you could save the worksheets now to use for your child that will be starting school at a later stage. If you’re looking to avoid the annual licence. 

Smart-Kids

So when you’re studying and doing revision, there’s honestly not enough worksheets in the world. Practice. Practice. And more practice. That is key. A friend of mine mentioned she got some test revision books from Bargain books and they were the Smart-Kids range of books. I found them to be really helpful as they are based on the CAPS curriculum, which forms part of the National Curriculum in South Africa.

These books are for primary school kids and start at Grade R and goes up to Grade 7. There are revision workbooks, as well as test practice books. I’d let Addison take these to school to do practice tests for the next days subject. What I love, is that the maths book for example, is indexed according to the way they do the different aspects at school, so you can turn to page 7 and that’s fractions. There are also some worksheets available on the website.

A tip would be that they complete the answers in pencil, so you can erase and use to practice for the next term.

You Tube

Why do kids hate studying? Well…my kids at least? Studying means they have to put down their tablets and their beloved You Tube! What if studying and You Tube could co-exist? If you search on You Tube, there are actually so many educational videos to assist your child with maths, NS, SS, etc. I found the Edgemead Primary School channel and they really helped me with understanding the natural vs man made materials section of the work. I could then in turn help my child or better understand her argument as to what constituted raw or man made materials.

A tip would be to subscribe your kids to an educational channel and perhaps as a trade-off, tell them they have to watch one video a day in exchange for watching for x amount of time on a regular day. Let’s use the modern-day environment to our advantage and sneak in some daily studying. 

Past exam papers

Past exam papers are not handed out by all teachers, I’ve discovered. I was lucky enough that another school mom shared with us the papers her child’s teacher had emailed through to them. We didn’t receive any emailed papers, so I’d advise you to ask your child’s teacher if there are papers he/she can send to you. These were definitely a must have just to see how your child’s school actually sets up their papers. To help the child prepare for how their teacher will potentially ask the questions about the water cycle or fractions or natural materials!

For maths specific exam resources, check out this post I did with Smartick….and there’s an exclusive discount code for my readers!

Okay, so will we pass? That’s a post I can only do once the report comes…but I live in hope! Also, you notice how I say ‘we’? I swear I put in more work than my child! Do you have any exam resources to share with me…um…us? How do exams/assessment periods go in your home? 

Disclaimer: All photos taken from Pexels.