5 Practical Ways Busy Parents Can Still Help Their Teens With Studying and Exams
And you don't even need to know Algebra.
As a parent myself, I know how crazy the juggle is. If only we didn’t need sleep eh?!
On top of working, you’re looking after your family, sorting out dinner, checking emails, and approximately 8 other tasks all at the same time.
But of course you want to do everything you can for your teen. So how can you help them, like really help them, with their school work and exams in a meaningful way and on top of everything else? Particularly when you haven’t answered maths questions for over 25 years…
Well, the good news is, smart and effective study — I swear — is not actually complicated, and there are simple and practical things you can do to help your teen make studying all a little less daunting and painful.
What are your teen’s specific study pain points?
Sometimes teens are unmotivated and / or frustrated about studying because there’s an obstacle in the way, but they don’t actually know what it is.
It could be a particular topic they’re struggling with.
It could be that they don’t know where to start with studying (in which case, I point you towards the Study System page over at cramlab.org).
Maybe they need a little bit of tutoring to get on top of a subject?
It could be that they’re not sure where it’s all leading to and therefore what’s the point — what’s their post high school plan? They don’t necessarily need a plan, even just thinking about what they might do could be enough to shine a light at the end of the study tunnel.
We can’t expect teenagers to have all the answers about where they’re going wrong and what’s holding them back.
They still need support and guidance. Heck — don’t we all still need help and support to work through problems?!
It could be just one conversation that digs a little deeper into what your teen is finding challenging that makes all the difference.
Be that reassuring voice of wisdom
Of course I think that school is important, but I think it’s counterproductive when teens get so worried and stressed about exams and grades that they fall into a very early existential crisis.
You can reassure your teen that while yes, exams are important:
they don’t need to get perfect grades to do well. Seriously, I never got perfect grades. No one does. We’re aiming for consistency and progress.
cliché alert but it’s true — things have a way of working themselves out — high school is a very short period of life, and a few less-than-ideal grades along the way, in the grand scheme of things, is not going to affect your teen’s life.
All your teen can do is put their best foot forward. They can’t control the exact grades they end up getting. Perspective can be a very helpful and leveling thing.
Point them in the direction of useful resources
This is a really great one if your teen is keeping you at arm’s length re schoolwork and exams, and considers anything more than “how are you going?” to constitute nagging.
But by simply referring them to useful resources, not only are you doing something really helpful, you can hardly be accused of nagging in that instance.
To get you started, here are a few of my favourite external study tools and resources:
Khan Academy: I used to use this many moons ago when I was tutoring Maths, and it’s only gone from strength to strength over the last 10+ years. Absolutely fantastic resource, particularly for Maths and Science, but other subjects too. It is US-centered, but only in that it has sections on SAT prep. Anyone in the world can find the lessons useful.
GCSE Bitesize: UK-focused but doesn’t matter — great resources for any high school student.
Quizlet: A really cool ed tech platform that can do lots of cool stuff like help your teen create flash cards, enhance study notes and make practice questions. They have a crazy number of users and it’s clearly a very popular platform for Gen Z’s.
StudyTimeNZ: NZ-focused but really good study advice from more of a student perspective — very teen friendly but still substantial advice.
Support them to pursue what they’re interested in post high school
The thing that separates almost every teen who is motivated about school and those who, well, aren’t… is having at least some idea of what they’re going to do after school.
It doesn’t need to be a 20 year plan, or even a 5 year plan, but just… something.
Because it doesn’t matter whether it’s going to uni, college, working or taking up a trade, these are all fantastic options, and realistically all require at least some level of high school achievement.
I once tutored a plumber who was at least 10 years older than me because he was struggling with his theory exams. I’m afraid Maths escapes no one!
Help them get organised for productive study
Making study timetables, Subject Maps, knowing when assignments are due and exams start. These are the types of organisational tasks that a lot of teens struggle with and where you can provide invaluable support.
For most of us, organisation is a learnt skill, and it’s not realistic for us to expect teenagers to run their study plan like a military operation.
I hope these practical pointers will help you help your teen. Of course there’s nothing ‘easy’ about motivating an unmotivated teen, but I hope it’s reassuring that the things you can do to help are not themselves complex.
And that’s partly because effective study does not need to be complex.
Effective study is 90% about having systems in place, a study routine, and just turning up.