Exams

All OU courses have some sort of assessment at the end, but not every course has an exam. Instead, some students have an end-of-course assessment or ECA. This is like an extended assignment and can also be quite stressful.

Students who do have an exam need time to revise and plenty of encouragement when it all seems overwhelming.

You can help by understanding that students

• need to allocate more study time for the two or three weeks before the exam, so this extra time may need to be agreed between you
• feel anxious and nervous on the day of the exam, and perhaps in the weeks before
• may or may not wish to talk about the exam afterwards
• appreciate support when their results arrive.

When it comes to exams, students can be under a lot of pressure

Give them the space and time to revise. They’ll need to spend extra time on revision, so help out wherever you can. Remind them that there are some very useful tips on the Skills for OU Study website which will help with exams and revision.  There are also suggestions for coping with exam stress.

What insights can students and their families offer about dealing with exams?

Student views

I had to concentrate on revising for the exam so that meant no contribution to washing-up, shopping or cleaning for two weeks. It was chaotic but we all survived.

We went out for a family celebration once the results arrived.

Family views

He couldn't think about anything except revision for two weeks before the exam. It was hard to focus on family things.