23 April 2019
Advice on Starting Admission Exam Preparation During the Summer
The moment their fifth graders make it home from their last day of school, parents start thinking about the next school year and the admission exams in November. As a parent, you sometimes wonder what could help your child get a head start in the summer. More than likely, your first impulse is to go to a bookstore or a mall near you to buy admission exam preparation material and to have your child go through it in July and August. The thinking behind this being that the more exercises your child does, the more prepared he or she will be.
Exercise books and admission exam preparation kits sold in stores
Preparation kits and exercise books can be useful. However, they should be used at the right time to get the most out of them. We know that the admission exams for all three Gatineau private secondary schools as well as the exams for specialized study programs, such as the international program, are all multiple-choice question exams. We also know that primary school students are not familiar with this type of evaluation. Therefore, they first need help with strategies, techniques and tips on how to answer multiple-choice questions. Our advice to students who will attend an admission exam preparation program like the one offered by the CAE des Collines is to save those preparation exercise books for the fall and do them at the same time as their preparation program. This way, they will be better equipped to answer the questions, and their self-confidence will increase.
For the summer, activities that are more like games will be more fun for children and will still keep their mental skills sharp. Some of these activities can be done anytime, anywhere—even in the car to pass the time on a road trip!
Is it a good idea to start reviewing French and mathematics notions during the summer?
Reviewing French and mathematics notions has some benefits, but it’s the summer! Unless your child has fallen behind or had some specific difficulties during the school year, a summer review is unnecessary. Your child has already mastered the notions needed for admission exams. Starting a review program in the summer can be expensive if the plan is to hire a private tutor. The child may also see it as punishment since what he or she likely wants most is to enjoy a well-deserved vacation.
What kind of educational activities could be both useful and fun?
To help students keep what they have learned fresh in their mind and stay mentally stimulated during summer vacation, have them do exercises that work on the four following skills:
- memorization
- inference
- observation
- logic
Many noteworthy recreational activities and games exist and will be more useful over the summer to prepare your child for admission exams than simply filling out exercise books. Please feel free to contact us for more information on this topic 819 827-0006. We would be happy to suggest some ideas and tools, many of which are free or very affordable.