27 Sep 2026
We spend a great deal of time preparing students for exams.
Teachers work hard to cover the curriculum. Once delivered, they look for gaps in individual learning and provide refreshers on difficult topics.
As exams get closer, they may include revision time in their lessons, offer practice papers, share reminders about what to take into the exam room, how long their papers will be and perhaps give an overview of JCQ regulations.
There is, however, another kind of preparation that I think we sometimes assume has happened.
Have we prepared students for what it is actually like to be in an exam room?
For those of us who have worked around exams for years, much of it feels obvious. You enter quietly. You sit where you are told. You do not talk. You do not turn around to see what your friend is doing. You cannot negotiate the rules.
You need to concentrate for a sustained period of time in a room that may feel very different from your usual classroom.
We know that.
The question is, do our students?
The exam room is not their classroom
This became particularly apparent to me working in prison education.
Teachers establish their own classroom cultures and ways of working with their learners. Those can work well in the classroom.
The exam room, however, is different.
Suddenly, the expectations change. Talking is not acceptable. Banter is not acceptable. The boundaries are firm and non-negotiable. I have even had a learner arrive with test-related material.
I remember thinking: What did they expect?
Looking back, perhaps that was not quite the right question.
What had we prepared the learners to expect?
Yes, they had been told the rules. Being told what will happen and being prepared for the experience, however, are not necessarily the same thing.
Prison education is a particular environment, but the principle is not confined to prisons.
A student who is perfectly comfortable in their normal classroom may find the formality, silence and restrictions of an exam room surprisingly difficult.
Sometimes behaviour is telling us something else
There is something else behind this though I think.
What we see as poor behaviour is not always simply a student refusing to take something seriously.
The joking. The banter. Distracting somebody else. Playing the fool.
Sometimes behaviour can mask fear.
For a young person who does not feel ready, behaving as they normally do with their peers may be a way of dealing with a situation that suddenly feels unfamiliar or threatening.
That does not mean exam-room boundaries should change. Quite the opposite. They need to be clear.
Perhaps students need opportunities to experience and understand those boundaries before the day on which they really matter.
What could we practise earlier?
This quieter part of the year gives us an opportunity to begin preparing students without the urgency that arrives later.
Could students practise working in silence for gradually longer periods?
Do they understand why exam-room rules are different from classroom expectations?
Have they thought about what distracts them when they are trying to concentrate?
Do they recognise what happens to them when they become worried or panicked?
Importantly, have they practised anything that helps?
The middle of a stressful moment is not the ideal time to discover what works.
A breathing exercise, for example, is not particularly helpful simply because somebody tells a panicking student, “Take a breath.”
It becomes useful when they have practised it beforehand. They know what it feels like. They do not feel foolish doing it. They have experienced the difference it can make when their breathing speeds up and their thoughts start racing.
Make the plan before you need the plan.
Preparing for more than the paper
Exam preparation will always involve knowledge. Students need to know their subject and have opportunities to demonstrate what they have learned.
Being ready for an exam also means being able to enter an unfamiliar environment, accept its boundaries, concentrate, manage distractions and know what to do if pressure starts getting in the way of clear thinking.
Perhaps the question for this term is not, are our students ready for their exams?
It is: What can we help students practise now, so they feel more prepared for the exam room when the time comes?
Geraldine Jozefiak writes and develops practical resources around thinking, exam pressure and helping young people prepare for the experience of exams, not simply the content.
Visit Geraldine's website: www.geraldinejozefiak.com
ARRIVE - www.geraldinejozefiak.com/arrive - a practical approach that can be introduced and practised before students may need it.