[69] Why bright students fail – and what parents can do to prevent it

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If you have a bright and very academically able child, you might be thinking that school and exams are going to be plain-sailing. After all, they’ve got a natural talent for this stuff, so what could possibly go wrong? Well, in the time that I’ve worked as an academic coach it’s actually been some of […]

[68] What you say matters

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How aware are you of the effect of what you say and think? Have you noticed that what you say and how you say it can have a big impact on others? In last week’s blog, I talked about mental health and exams, and I talked briefly about things that I wish parents wouldn’t say […]

[67] Exams and mental health: how to succeed and stay happy

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Are you worried about your child’s mental health? Do you think that studying for exams is damaging their mental health? In this article I’m going to share with you: Why exams can be damaging to mental health – if you let them Why we need to reframe how we think about exams Simple strategies you […]

[66] Why you’re really nagging your child about revision

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Do you find yourself constantly nagging your children about revision? Do you hate yourself for it? Can you see the damage that the nagging is doing to your relationship with your child, but you just can’t seem to find a way through it? In this article, I’m going to explain why you’re nagging and how […]

A message for students about joining The Extraordinaries Club

So, your mum or dad wants you to sign-up to The Extraordinaries Club. Your instant reaction is “Nooooo! Don’t make me do yet another thing to do with school!” You’re feeling overwhelmed, over-stretched and stressed. School keeps on piling on homework, there might be coursework to do, and they keep telling you that you really should […]

[65] The truth about motivation

One of the most frequent complaints I hear from parents is that their children aren’t motivated to study for their exams. Funnily enough, I also hear the same thing from students, with increasingly desperate emails landing in my inbox the closer and closer we get to exam season. The thing is, when people complain about […]

[64] Should you let your child fail their mocks?

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  Failure is a scary thing. I’m pretty sure that you’re listening to this podcast because it’s your deepest desire as a parent to help your child to succeed. But, I’ve seen parents contemplating what to many is the unthinkable in recent weeks: letting their children fail. Today, I’m going to talk about: Our heightened […]

[62] Why revision is like music practice or sports training

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One thing I hear repeatedly from students is that the revision techniques they have tried ‘don’t work’. When I dig a bit deeper, they’ll say something like, “I made a couple of flashcards but they didn’t help.” I then ask, “How many times did you look at them?” And they’ll say, “Oh, a couple of […]

How to get the most out of your mocks

If you or your child has mock exams coming up you’re probably wondering, to some extent, ‘What’s the point?’ In this post I’m going to share with you how you can get the most out of your mocks so that they become an important part of your preparation for the ‘real-thing’ next summer.     […]

“How is The Extraordinaries Club different to your book?”

If you’re considering joining The Extraordinaries Club, my online membership programme for families to help them through the exam years of GCSEs and A Levels, you might be wondering how it’s different to my book, The Ten Step Guide to Acing Every Exam You Ever Take. In this blog post I’ll explain the differences and help […]