How Developing Effective Exam Skills Helped Nicholas Improve in Year 9 Maths

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Katja and her sons Sam (Year 10) and Nicholas (Year 9) worked with Art of Smart for 18 months for Maths, English and mentoring.

We recently chatted to Katja who shared her experiences in working with Art of Smart and the impact it’s had for both Sam and Nicholas.

Prior to getting started with Art of Smart, what help was Sam and Nicholas needing?

Nicholas was failing some of his maths tests and just seemed a little lost in some of the topics.

Sam has an auditory processing disorder and we were looking for someone to support him. We decided that Sam needed a mentor and a male figure in his life who would boost him along, talk to him and encourage him. Even if it wasn’t academic, we felt it was important for Sam to have this support.

From having older children we had learned from experience that solving these problems earlier was critical to ensure their foundations were solid by the time they reached the senior years of school.

How did you hear about Art of Smart?

I heard about Art of Smart through the local North Shore Times and I gave you a call!

Due to Sam having an auditory processing disorder we were looking for an organisation that would be able to cater for the needs of a mainstream student as well as those that needed different support.

This was critical for us when we were evaluating who we would work with, and what caught our eye initially was that Art of Smart could cater to individual students needs and had the experience in working with a range of students.

Why did you ultimately choose Art of Smart?

Initially it was due to the fact that Art of Smart’s team had experience in working with students with an auditory processing disorder.

Additionally, we were looking for a mentor and role model for Sam who was closer in age to Sam so that he felt comfortable in having conversations with them and Art of Smart specialise in providing mentoring!

What was the moment in working with Art of Smart that you knew you’d made the right decision? Why? What did we do?

Sam would initially not want to go to sessions and request we cancel the sessions each week with his Art of Smart coach Morgan. We’d insist he still go, and by the end of session he’d come out with a huge smile on his face. He was just positively beaming!

When we’d ask him how it went, he say, “It was good!”. So this was when we knew we’d made the right decision.

For Nicholas, his coach Milana built a beautiful relationship with him! He absolutely loved working with Milana and his marks responded immediately!

What have we done to help Sam and Nicholas with this?

Both our coaches Milana and Morgan tapped specifically into both boys needs. They quickly identified their weak topics and focused on these!

Additionally, there are often different ways to explain things in Maths and sometimes teachers understand get this. So it was great to provide Nicholas with a different way to explain things. It was perfect for Nicholas as it enabled him to ‘get’ Maths.

The result of this is that it gave Sam and Nicholas so much more confidence.

Additionally, Nicholas results in Maths went through the roof! He moved up one Maths class and his average in Maths is now 88-90%. He also got Band 9 in Maths for his NAPLAN!

What’s the best thing your tutor has done to support your child?

Nicholas is a very introverted child. He simply wouldn’t put his hand up in class ask questions. It would be the equivalent of expressing weaknesses and it simply wasn’t going to happen!

So the most important thing tutoring has enabled for someone as shy as Nicholas is that it’s provided him with a safe and comfortable environment to ask questions and this has given him the confidence and extra learning support he needed!

Yes, it’s been fantastic to see his results improve, however more importantly, it’s been even better to see him go into exams and not stress or be anxious.

We weren’t interested in the academic results. We wanted him to be inspired! It wasn’t about the result, but rather about maintaining a certain level of motivation and understanding!

Want to ace your English studies in Years 9 and 10? Discover our ultimate guide here!

Are you looking for a tutor who could change your child’s life?

We pride ourselves on our inspirational coaches and mentors – just like Milana and Morgan!

We offer tutoring and mentoring for Years K-12 in a large variety of subjects, with personalised lessons conducted one-on-one in your home or at our state of the art campus in Hornsby!

To find out more and get started with an inspirational tutor and mentor get in touch today! 

Give us a ring on 1300 267 888, email us at [email protected] or check us out on Facebook!