Snorbert wants to know:

So what hints can you offer to us students working towards exams?

Phil Hodson said:

My advice is No.1 eat breakfast. No.2 Treat exams like a job. If you get things out of perspective you make it so much harder for yourself. So think about doing just so many hours a day. No.3 is eat a well balanced diet, drink enough water, go for enough walks/take exercise. When studying take breaks every 30 - 40 minutes. If you haven't done enough work in the last three years don't try to make it up in the next three weeks. Just focus on some areas of the course that you have time to learn.

Lucy Short wants to know:

I am studying for my A Level exams at the moment and just can't seem to control my temper with everyone - sometimes I think I am going mad.

Phil said:

(Grin) Put a notice around your neck saying "I am feeling ratty for the next 14 days". The idea here is that you cannot help feeling on edge. In fact you are allowed to feel on edge. Just warn your family and friends that you will be a lot more nicer to know on the last day of your exam.

Adrian O wants to know:

I'm finding it really hard to get motivated to do revision. When I do try I find myself getting constantly distracted. Any tips?

Phil said:

You need to take more breaks than you are and you probably need to catch up on your sleep. So take the rest of today off and really enjoy it. When you start work tomorrow, fix a time but concentrate only for ten minutes at a time with five minutes off. In that ten minutes, don't let anything else come in the way of the work. Don't look away from the page. Don't have any music on. Don't even scratch an itch. - That's what the five minute break is for. On day two increase the ten minutes to fifteen - and see how you go. Good Luck mate!

Dave wants to know

Are there better or worse times of day to revise?

Phil said:

It depends - some people are morning people - I am not! But, you need to be sensible enough to find a working period within the day. So ask yourself when would you most like to do the work? Personally, I can't work if I am too tired, too hungry, too hot or cold or haven't exercised in the previous 24 hours. So it's not just when - it's what physical state you are in, in general the first part of the day is freshest for most people.

Chrissy said:

How long before the exam should you stop revising for?

Phil said:

The answer here depends on how much rest you need from revising before you are in the best state to perform in the exam. Normally a day or so is required. Most last minute revision is pretty ineffective. It is also likely to make you extra anxious. And if you are too anxious to read the exam paper properly, or think, you may fail anyway.

Pru wants to know:

I think I probably know the answer to this one but is it better to stay up all night for a last minute cramming session or get some sleep?

Phil said:

Well what do you think Pru? I guess you don't learn much when you are drowsy or half asleep, half awake. What keeps you up is again anxiety. So treat revision like a job. Every job has to stop at some point in the day. Life is not all exams.

chas88 has a sensitive issue she'd like Phillip to help her with:

How can I tell my friend that she isn't helping me to revise, while I know that I am helping her? I want to look after myself but I don't want her to fail either.

Phil said:

Chas I suggest you tell your friend you want to plan the remaining revision days more carefully. Build into the plan (the answer to your problem) so the time table says e.g.; 10.30 - 11.30 do friend's revision; 11.45 - 12.45 do Chas's revision to make it half an hour if you wish. It's the lack of structure that she is exploiting. So make a clear plan. If she still behaves badly, challenge her directly. Good Luck!

LittleG is one of a number of you to ask for help with relaxation techniques on the big day, she asks:

I always panic as I sit down to do the paper and my mind goes blank. Can u help me get over this please?

Phil said:

LittleG, you ask a very important question. When you go into the exam room, the first thing to do (once you have sat down) is to breathe properly. To do this you need to put one hand on your chest and one on your tummy. The only hand to move should be the one on your tummy. Then close your eyes and for half a minute regulate your breathing as follows. Breathe in for a slow count of three, breath out for a slow count of three and pause for a second before you breathe in again. If you do that your system will calm down.

MaryE wants to know:

I have nightmares all the time because I can't remember anything. I know my parents will kill me if I don't pass them because my brother did so well in his. I don't know what to do. Please help!

Phil said:

Your parents will in fact be disappointed if you fail but they will not commit murder. Use this information to help yourself. Tell them that it is making it harder for you to work when they share their anxiety and pressure with you. Ask them instead to give you encouragement. If they really want to help get them to test you and share some of the revision tasks. By taking control of this situation in this way you will immediately start to feel calmer. You can do this and I think you will be okay.

Thank you for all the questions from you hard-working students, we will move onto some parent questions shortly but before we do, we've had a few questions on the subject of Phillip's research into drinking water and concentration, Philip can you explain some more about the research?

Phil said:

We took two groups of school kids. The first group carried on drinking cola and caffeine. But the second group was given pure filtered water only. Within a few days concentration levels in the second group improved nearly ten times. This is a massive difference; the children were calmer, more alert, and better able to concentrate. One teacher said they can do written work for an hour - they have never done that in the history of the school... we looked at the fact that school meals are very important. We know that cola and caffeine doesn't really help long term concentration. But what we found here was that to study well you need good hydration - enough water in your body. The key point is not to get thirsty - because that is a sign of distress. We are 98% water and we need to keep our fluid levels up.

Jeremy Winston wants to know:

Surely it can't be as simple as drink lots of water and you'll pass your exams, can it?

Phil said:

Drinking filtered water alone won't make you a genius or win you an A Grade. Obviously many other things have to be in place - well balanced diet, revision, sleep, etc. But the Brita research does show that one of the most important simple boosts you can give to concentration levels is to drink filtered water instead of cola, tea and coffee. I too am amazed by the results of the survey - but those are the results!

Mel k wants to know:

How does water actually affect our concentration levels?

Phil said:

The question is really how does dehydration prevent us from concentration. The answer is that if you are even a little bit thirsty this breaks into your thinking pattern. The drive to find water when thirsty is a survival instinct. So when you are jogged in to thinking or even half thinking about where your next drink is coming from you aren’t reading the books. I think also that being "well watered" makes you feel comfortable.

Anna Mills adds:

If water really does help, what is the best way to take this water on board during exams? I'm concerned that if I drink too much I'll want to go to the loo in the exam. Is little and often better?

Phil said:

Anna thank you for raising the obvious. If you drink three pints before the exam, clearly you will have to be excused shortly afterwards. Sipping water is the best procedure.

Emma Jay wants to know:

If all of this is true, what on earth are schools doing stocking drinks machines offering fizzy drinks to kids?

Phil said:

You want the truthful answer? Schools do it for the cash. This is a terrible fact about the way education is organised in Britain. I think it's a scandal. Yes, kids like fizzy drinks but they like them more because they are over available. Nobody touched them a hundred years ago and we all survived.

Now onto parents' questions and judging by your emails, many of you are as worried as your children, such as Mark Shelley, he asks: "I have a 16 yr old about do her GCSE's at the end of May and she is so stressed out - I know that teens are meant to be awkward but this is getting silly - how can I calm her down?"

Phil said:

You can't blow out a forest fire - you can't force a teenager to be calm, you can only encourage more useful behaviour. Pay attention to food, drink and sleep - the context of working, then talk to your child and ask how you could be part of the solution - could you help them revise? Are there special stress points? IS there something they don't understand? Are they worried that you will "kill them" if they don't succeed? Best advise is this - how would you feel if you were them and what would you need your parent to do?

Mandy wants to know:

My son is studying for his GCSE's - he is staying up most of the night and I am really concerned about this - do you have any advice?

Phil said:

Try to talk to him as to why he thinks it helps not to sleep at night. If he is just sleeping by the day instead he's actually gaining no advantage. If he is just worried sick then try to suggest that staying up all night isn't the answer. The exam isn't going to decide everything that happens to his future. It can always be retaken. To give him the best chance he needs to be functioning normally - not wired within an inch of his life. It would be helpful to look in at midnight and try and persuade him that sleep would do more to get him through the exam at this point.

TigerBear wants to know:

Do kids these days get taught how to revise? How young should you start teaching them the techniques and what are the best ways of actually getting this information to "stick"?"

Phil said:

Good teachers have always taught revision, but we don't all get good teachers. Good methods of study should actually happen before you start revising. This is about making and reading notes, checking things you don't understand, trying to see the big picture of how all the information fits together. This can be explained even just a few weeks before the exams, it's also useful to realise that if you wrote one page a day, after a year you would have a book containing 365 pages - so little and often is good motto.

Peter wants to know:

Do you think that the pressure to perform in exams is now so great that in some extremes the stress can lead even to kids suicides?

Phil said:

It is well known that in Japan student suicide is a huge problem. This problem is not unknown in Britain. The best way of preventing the thoughts that can lead in this direction is to emphasise that exams are part of life only. There is evidence to show that people who don't do very well in exams still do very well in life. The most important gift you can actually possess is to be socially likable - not a genius with a high IQ. Look out for warning signs of depression - very negative thoughts - sleep disorder - very dry mouth - very dry eyes - general sense that the world is over and try to talk about what's going wrong. However, if the offer of £50 would cheer up your child, they don't have clinical depression!

From one extreme to another and Jennie asks said:

My daughter has just started her exams and she says she is not worried about them and is being very calm, does this mean she is relaxed or doesn't care? She won't really open up to me so I can't be sure if she's coping or avoiding the issue.

Phil said:

It's not the worst sign but it could mean that your daughter is in denial and simply pretending that there isn't a problem. There is a type of depression which is "masked" - everything seems fine but it isn't. Without getting overalarmed I think you should gently probe a bit further. If she has done revision, there should be some evidence. You can even offer to test her a bit. If it's clear that she hasn't got a clue about the subjects obviously you should confront.

Gordon wants to know:

Kids nowadays can't think in the long term - how do I help my two appreciate that if the concentrate on their exams now it will lead to better opportunities in later life? They don't seem to think further ahead than the weekend.

Phil said:

It's well known that a parent's place is in the wrong! Seriously, you are although with humour criticising your child. How could you instead encourage them to think in the longer term? Can you think of a practical demonstration? For example, may be there is a story from your own life that makes the point. Talk to them as a friend - if they cannot get a job for example wonder aloud what on earth they are going to do rather than put the boot in. I know it's difficult but if you treat them like grown ups, not incompetent juveniles, they might behave like grown ups.

Carmel wants to know:

Exams seem to be used nowadays for benchmarking this generation's intelligence against the last causing more stress for our young ones when they actually work very hard to achieve success - do you think offering children more of a coursework option is the way forward?

Phil said:

Personally, I am in two minds. Coursework favours girls over boys but is a good assessment of overall skill. However, exams are much more like real life where we are often faced with very pressurising "delivery" moments. I know doing exams helped me deal with many work situations in the spirit of confidence - in one sense nothing else could be so horrible again. Last point; there is life after exams whatever the result.

Back to the students for our last couple of questions and Nat wants to know:

I am about to have a 3 hour History Exam, you have spoken about water a lot Phillip - do you recommend that I take water in with me rather than anything else? And are we allowed to take drinks into an exam?

Phil said:

It would be beneficial to have water handy. This would help keep your concentration levels up as our Brita study has shown. (see website www.brita.co.uk) However, if the exam people don't want you to take water in with you try to argue your case. They Should!

Rog wants to know:

If I remember nothing else tomorrow morning, what are the three tips I should take into the exam room with me?

Phil said:

1: Breathe for thirty seconds slowly and regularly. 2: Read the questions twice. 3: Engage brain before writing answers - think!