How can I motivate my daughter to study for her GCSEs?

Q. I would like advice on motivating my 16 year old to study for GCSEs. She seems very disillusioned and totally disinterested in the impending exams. HELP please!

A. First, make sure you gain another perspective on this issue from your daughter’s school so that you can gauge exactly what your daughter is doing. All too often, our daughters only show us a limited part of their personality (usually the most pronounced part, admittedly) – you need to know how she is actually working while at school. Share your fears and concerns with your daughter’s school and find out how they perceive her attitude and focus. How are her lessons going? What about her last-minute mock exam marks? How do her teachers think she is going to perform in her final exams?

Armed with this information, you will have a better idea of whether you should intervene or not with your daughter, but in any case, there are a number of strategies that you can use to help focus your daughter: show her that you are supporting her all the way in these last few days and weeks. Turn this into practical help if at all possible by making sure that she doesn’t have to do any household chores, and make sure that she knows very clearly why you are doing this. If you are repeatedly saying, in a very positive way, that you are really glad to be able to support her during this important time, then she will not fail to get the message that these are important exams, and that they are worth doing well in. The school can help encourage and motivate your daughter too and for more practical tips do read our Heads’ Tips on revision and exam time.