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The night before each test:

Make sure your child is in bed before 9pm. The National Sleep Foundation recommends 9-11 hours of sleep for school-age children. Having enough rest will be crucial to your child’s performance on the test.

Reduce stress as much as possible. This includes straying from reviewing material before bed, in addition to allowing your child ample time to unwind at the end of their day.

The morning before each test:

Have your child eat a balanced breakfast, rich in carbohydrates and protein. Starting the day right with proper nutrition will optimize your child’s performance on the test.

Get your child to school early. Rushing to school, being late or a combination of the two creates stress, which may inhibit your child’s ability to take the test.

During each test:

Absolutely the most important thing for your child to understand is that they need to read each question THREE TIMES. Most mistakes we observed on the practice tests stemmed from a misunderstanding of the directions, rather than an inability to answer the questions correctly. For the Reading and Writing portion of the test, we suggest reviewing the question until memorized, THEN reading the article through, checking for the answer as they go along.

For the Math portion, we suggest employing the same method, specifically that they read the question TWICE, SOLVE IT then RE-READ it again to make sure they answered it completely.

Some questions on the PARCC are MULTIPLE SELECTION, not MULTIPLE CHOICE. This means that your child must select MORE THAN ONE answer for certain questions. The correlation seems to be the higher the grade level, the more multiple selection questions are present.

It’s also important to note that on the Math portion of the exam, there is a folder on the side of the screen labeled EXHIBITS, which contains certain formulas and conversion tables necessary to complete the questions.

Final Notes:

Make sure to read and review with your child their school’s District Instructions, which can be found on their school’s website. Each district has their own set of rules and guidelines, as some may require the use of headphones during the test, for example.

Most importantly, remember that your child taking a test to assess what they’ve learned so far in school, rather than an exam based on new knowledge they must study. The best thing that could be done to help them prepare is optimizing their performance through stress reduction and mental preparedness.

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