Education

Exam Strategies

Thu, 16 Apr 2026 07:44:00 GMT

How to get the best from yourself during your English exam.

We all want to perform well on our exams. So, how do we do so?

Firstly, we need to have a good night's sleep the night before and eat a good breakfast.

Wear comfortable clothing and ensure we have our quotes for any relevant texts ready to go.

We need to manage our time effectively ensuring we know when to finish each section to complete our exam in full and on time.

Every response needs planning before you can begin writing. It does not necessarily have to be in depth BUT it MUST occur to order your thoughts before writing your actual response.

Remember to choose your questions carefully, often a rushed step, please take a few minutes to ensure you have understood your choices including your final selection.

Check for plurals, singulars, does it say and/ or indicating one thing or multiple, a choice or set expectation. These can alter your direction considerably so check closely.

Writing style: roll your shoulders and wrist, consider stretching your fingers to prepare for three hours writing. Take mini breaks as needed and do your best to be neat.

If you feel overwhelmed, stressed, or your hand gets sore, consider taking a bathroom break. This will give you time to clear your head, stretch your legs and once you return, you will feel better and ready to continue.

Having a drink of water or stretching are both good ways of recalibrating.

Happy Exam Writing :)

How to approach NAPLAN in 2026

Sun, 01 Feb 2026 18:21:10 GMT

NAPLAN- to prepare or not prepare

NAPLAN or the National Assessment Program- literacy and numeracy tests years 3, 5, 7 and 9 on an annual basis in the areas of mathematics and English skills. All Australian schools participate and the results are used to measure the current standard of each year and provide insight into each child's level of ability. As an English specialist tutor, I tend to focus more on the literacy side of the assessment, which comes in the form of three main tests. These are language conventions (50 questions testing spelling and grammar), the reading test (seven articles are read and approximately 50 questions are for the entirety of the texts) and finally the writing test, which is usually a narrative task.

Taking place around March, the general approach is not to 'prepare' as such or to study for the assessments like a normal exam but rather, to simply let the tests interpret the current effectiveness of the Australian curriculum on students across the board. While I generally take no specific stance regarding this for years 3, 5 and 7, I do believe that preparation for year 9 students is quite important. Why? Essentially, because if students results fall under a certain line (essentially a cut off score which used to be named band 8) there are repercussions in the form of OLNA (Online Literacy and Numeracy Assessment). For Western Australian students, you cannot pass WACE and receive your high school graduation or move onto studying ATAR until you have met the national standard for literacy and numeracy. Having failed to do so in year 9 NAPLAN, OLNA is the opportunity to meet this standard. Held twice a year in March and September, students are provided six opportunities to meet this standard using OLNA. I want to note, that students only need to sit the test for the areas of their NAPLAN where they failed to meet the standard. So, if they failed the writing section, they will sit writing. If they failed reading or maths, that is the part they sit for OLNA. It is not all that common for students to fail all three parts and have to resit them- although of course it can occur.

The ultimate problem I have seen with this approach is that quite young students aged 14 or 15 end up incredibly stressed over OLNA and are preparing for it while continuing on with their normal studies and assessments. They are acutely aware that it will all be pointless until they pass their OLNA test and cannot progress into ATAR subjects until they have. The pointed pressure and high stakes of this create a lot of undue stress on these young students. If one has already failed this area of NAPLAN, their confidence is somewhat eroded from the outset. Clearly, this is not really their strong suit and now they must perform it under much tougher conditions. However, perhaps the student was just having an off day when they sat their narrative or reading test. Or, most likely, they were unaware of the consequences of not meeting the national standard when they sat NAPLAN. This is where I do believe that preparation is important for year 9 students. If they walk into NAPLAN unaware and uninformed of the importance of performing a high standard (at least reasonable) then they are much less likely to take it seriously. All of their prior NAPLAN scores and tests have essentially been unimportant and have not yielded any real consequences regardless of how they performed. Thus, how are they to know this year is different unless they are expressly informed. While there is no need to pressure them into high performance (after all this is not GATE), all year 9 students must at least be told what the outcome could be if they do not meet the expected standard for literacy and numeracy as determined by NAPLAN.

If they choose to prepare by practising narrative writing, reviewing maths or their spelling or grammatical comprehension that is their choice. At the very least, they will probably try harder and take it more seriously if they have an awareness of the stakes at play when they sit their year 9 NAPLAN. As they will be dealing with the fallout- in some cases I have seen- for anywhere up to two years with it impacting their academic choices and trajectory quite severely at times, the students deserve to be in possession of the facts. They deserve the chance to review, sharpen and practise their skills before sitting assessments that will determine their educational opportunities and expectations possibly for the duration of high school, certainly for the next 6-12 months at a minimum.

Each year, I tutor many year 9 students in preparation for NAPLAN and while I hear certain background noises of 'you're not supposed to study for NAPLAN' my feeling is when you consider what is at stake for the students in year 9, it seems quite sensible to prepare. If a student wants to spend more time understanding the rules of grammar, spelling, text structures, composing skills and comprehension to ensure they align with the national expectation surrounding education, I will never turn them away. Any time our kids want to learn more or clarify the information they have been learning, we must encourage and support their development as academics. So, with NAPLAN just around the corner, if you are in years 3,5, or 7 you do not need to stress too much. If you want to review what you have been learning, there is no harm in that but certainly no real consequences surrounding your results. However, if you are now in year 9, I would ask for some support from a parent or friend group to do some practise tests. Of course, The Tutoring Experience is always here if anyone needs support.

Thanks so much everyone.

Please feel free to drop me a line or let me know if there is a certain topic you would like discussed.

Happy term one.

Jem

Director of Education - The Tutoring Experience

Setting Goals

Thu, 15 Jan 2026 09:14:20 GMT

Goal setting; how to do it and why it's important

Hi Students

As term 1 of 2026 approaches, we must all consider our motivations for the year. What is it that drives us? What do we use to push ourselves when we're hitting a wall with a particular assessment or task? You need goals, both short and long term and things you desire, which in turn become your motivation.

I learned about the importance of goal setting and personal motivation on my own educational journey (which continues to this day). I was never much of a student once high school began. For personal reasons I only completed snippets of years 8, 9 and 10 before leaving school to find work. However, upon realising my opportunities were limited without education- I headed back to school at 19 to complete year 12, which I did at Canning College. I followed that up with four years at Curtin Uni and it was all pretty hard at first. I was so behind and had to catch up, but I made it work. How? Goal setting. This is the only way to get through intense studies.

Regardless of your parents hopes for you or what you are expected to do, you must have your own reasons and dreams for continuing with school, for tackling ATAR, for choosing university as a pathway. What are they? Is it money and prestige or perhaps, security and professional fulfilment? Do you wish to travel the world and hope to do so with your degree? That's the long term. What about the short term? Is there a particular score you want to achieve in your ATAR or maybe you just want to meet your English competency. You may want to gain acceptance into a particular university. Whatever your short term goals and motivators may be, you do need to have them. You can use them to help you keep going when you're exhausted and in exam preparation mode. Our own personal ambitions are essential for keeping up momentum.

Set yourself realistic and achievable goals to be excited about and watch yourself fly!

Thanks so much everyone.

Please let me know if there are any particular topics you would like me to address in the next blog.

Cheers

Jem

A new year for success

Fri, 26 Dec 2025 16:10:15 GMT

You can always turn your grades around

Hello to all the students out there who are possibly feeling low about their score from a particular subject from last year. As an educator for over 15 years, if there is one thing I have learned, it's that your academic performance can ALWAYS be turned around. Just because you may have not scored so well in year 9, 10 or 11, it does not mean that you can't change that entirely in the coming year. Sometimes all we need is some extra time spent on the subject and some support. These particular things will help you gain the most important element of all- confidence. Over the years, I have studied the impact of confidence on performance whether that is in sports, dancing or academics. To succeed, one must believe they are capable of doing so. This is often where a tutor comes in handy. However, it does not necessarily have to be a tutor, sometimes a new study group or approach to studying can achieve the same goal. You simply have to want it badly enough and be willing to change your destiny by changing the way you think, study and essentially approach the subject you are struggling in. The main point being: you can always turn things around. I have seen literally thousands of students do it and I know you can too.

Happy 2026, may it be filled with all the success you deserve.

Thanks

Jem from The Tutoring Experience