How to Prepare your Child for Exams

Children usually take exams very seriously. When the exams are coming up, even very naughty children also tend to study their books leaving all fun and non-serious activities. Hard-working children forget even to eat and drink these days. No doubt, the preparation for the exams is important, but children's cheerfulness and joy are important too. Therefore, parents should take special care of their children's physical and mental development during the days of their exams.

As far as the preparation for the exams is concerned, parents, in this matter, should not consider themselves to be free from the responsibility by leaving everything up to children’s teachers, but rather they should also help their children with the preparation for their exams.

Few such points are being presented below by acting upon which parents can help their children with the preparation for their exams:

1                                    Give them peace of mind and encourage them

Our education system and social attitude have made children very sensitive about their exams and they also suffer from mental stress.

In this situation, it is extremely difficult for children to prepare for their exams, therefore, parents should make them feel relaxed and encourage them and talk to them about the problems they are facing while preparing for their exams and solve them. In this way, children will begin to realize the interest and cooperation of their parents and this realization will give them peace of mind as well as persuade them to work hard further.

2                                    Make schedule

Together with children set out the timetable which they can also easily follow and prepare for their exams and they do not disturb your routine either. Moreover, prefer morning time as much as possible. 

3                                    The work that has been left due to being absent

Sometimes due to being absent from school, some work of children remain incomplete. Children cannot complete it due to some compulsion or negligence. Parents should try to make their child do his work by himself or make him complete the work by getting the notebook from his classmate so that he may not face any problem in the preparation for his exams.

4                                    Division of subjects

Give equal importance to all subjects. Do not let them be negligent at all in preparing for any subject after considering it easy. Advise him in this way. O son! It is possible that the question paper of the subject you are considering to be easy may be against your expectations and may trouble you in the examination hall.  Of course, give extra time for the preparation of those subjects which are thought to be difficult and revise them over and over again so that you do not forget them later on.

5                                    Division of book

Make three sections of a textbook.

1                                     The topics which have been given importance by the teachers of your child.

2                                     The topics which are expected to be given in the exam/question paper.

If your child prepares for these two parts, his chances of success in the exam will increase.

3                                     The topics which have slim chances to be given in the exam/question paper.

Children should also be made to prepare for this section besides the two above-mentioned sections. Sometimes due to its revision a child secures a position.

6 Manner of memorization

Prevent your children from cramming. Make it compulsory for them to study lessons attentively by understanding them and memorise them attentively. Moreover, make them write important paragraphs very briefly and in the form of points. It is much better to memorise the lesson after writing once rather than looking it over many times, because one has to be mentally present while writing and the lesson that has been written remains relatively safer in the mind.

An important point

Do not let your children be heedless of the Hereafter exam due to being busy with the worldly exams. Persuade them to keep offering Salah even in these days. Keep persuading them to continue to make Du’a to Allah Almighty for the success in every exam of the world as well as of the Hereafter.

In order to seek further guidance, study the book ‘How to prepare for the exam?’ published by Maktaba-tul-Madinah.

One day, the king of a jungle went on a state visit along with his minister. On the way, telling the king about the conditions of the jungle the minister said, ‘Your Majesty! Everybody is pleased with your government. All the animals live in peace, but there is a cat that keeps quarrelling with everyone. Due to this, everyone calls her a quarrelsome cat.’

‘We cannot allow anyone in our jungle to provoke violence. We will definitely teach her a lesson,’ the lion replied.

The minister said, ‘Sir! She is very bad-tempered and ill-mannered. I fear that she may insult you.’

‘Don’t need to worry. There is a trap for every kind of prey.’ said the lion. The lion and the minister kept moving in the jungle until noon, then the king ordered to stay by tall trees. The lion was resting under the shade of the trees when a bone fell on his head from above him. When the lion looked up angrily, he found a cat sitting on a thick branch. It was chewing on meat enjoyably and throwing bones down. The lion gestured for the minister to come and asked about the cat.

As the minister looked at the cat, he recognised it and said, ‘Sir! This is the same quarrelsome cat I told you about in the morning.’

The lion ordered the minister to present the cat before him.

Addressing the cat the minister said, ‘Aunt! Please come down. The king wants to talk to you about something important.’

What the minister feared happened soon. The cat shouted in reply, ‘Why did you call me aunt? I’m not that much old. Take your words back!’

The lion realized that the minister was right. The cat really seemed quarrelsome. He gestured for the minister to keep quiet and said himself lovingly, ‘Lady! My minister is ignorant. I apologize to you on his behalf. Please come down. I need your advice about a governmental matter.’

The cat said proudly, ‘Alright! I forgive you. Tell [me]! What advice do you need?’

Lion: ‘You are a competent cat. You are famous for your intellect and wisdom in the entire jungle. I, therefore, want you to be my new minister.’

On hearing this, the minister pricked up his ears and started looking at the lion in surprise, but the lion comforted him with an eye-gesture. On the other hand, the cat exulted over the offer of ministry, climbed down the tree happily, came close to the king, and said excitedly, ‘Your Majesty! I accept the offer.’

The lion hit the cat with his paw so hard that it flew and bumped into a tree. The cat got up and tried to run away but failed. The lion ordered to arrest her at once. The case went to court and the cat was punished for her action.

Dear children! It has become obvious that quarrelling and behaving badly towards others are bad habits. The person who commits such acts is punished for his acts sooner or later.

Question: By which thing did Allah Almighty wipe out the nation of Sayyiduna Hud عَـلَيْـهِ الـسَّـلَام?

Answer: By a severe thunder windstorm. (Part. 29, Surah Al-Haqqah, Ayah 6)

Question: To which nation did Allah Almighty send Sayyiduna Hud عَـلَيْـهِ الـسَّـلَام?

Answer: To the nation of ‘Aad. (Part. 8, Surah Al-A’raf, Ayah 65)

Question: Which blessed companion had the greatest knowledge of the Holy Quran?

Answer: Ameer-ul-Mu`mineen, Sayyiduna Abu Bakr Siddiq رَضِىَ اللّٰهُ عَـنْهُ. (Tareekh-ul-Khulafa, pp. 31, 32)

Question: Which and how many rivers are there in Paradise that have been mentioned in the Holy Quran?

Answer: There are four rivers.

1      River of clean water

2       River of milk

3       River of Sharab-e-Tahoor [Pure Wine]

4      River of honey (Part. 26, Surah Muhammad, Verse 15)

Question: What was the colour of the cow slaughtered by Bani Israel?

Answer: Yellow colour. (Part. 1, Surah Al-Baqarah, Ayah 69)