Academic Coaching: study skills, motivation & confidence to transform your teen's GCSE + A Level grades
27/12/2024
My Top FOUR resources to pass GCSE from an Academic Coach:
1. CGP Revision & Practice Study Guides - £10 each on Amazon.
2. Past Exam Papers – Google your exam board + subject to find them e.g. AQA English Language (FREE)
3. Seneca – A great revision tool for all GCSE subjects. (FREE)
4. YouTube – Channels like Mr Bruff (English), Corbett Maths and Free Science Lessons are all great! (FREE)
25/12/2024
I hope you all have a lovely Christmas and a wonderful Festive Season!
20/12/2024
Here's my three-step process to learn absolutely anything:
1. Understand - spend time understanding the topic
2. Test - answer questions to check your understanding
3. Mark - see how you got on by marking your work
Repeat and watch your understanding and marks go up!
13/12/2024
This is something I hear from parents a lot! So I made a couple of short videos to help.
This video shows:
❌ 3 popular techniques to STOP
✅ 2 evidence-based techniques to START
Watch Video Here: https://www.youtube.com/shorts/98RuEV1h2EY
29/11/2024
These were comments I received from parents after one of my webinars.
If your son/daughter is struggling in more than two subjects, then it's likely there is something more fundamental that they need to fix over and above what would be covered by a subject-specific tutor.
If you'd like to explore a fresh approach to support your teen then come along to my webinar.
We'll be discussing how to improve:
The Outer Game
⚡Exam technique
⚡Evidence-based revision strategies
⚡Time management
The Inner Game
⚡Self-belief
⚡Confidence
⚡Motivation
Get a 2/3 grade increase in ALL subjects!
We'll share practical, actionable tips that you can implement at home to start improving results and self-esteem.
We'll also share video testimonials from past students who we've worked with to achieve these exact results - so we can hear directly from them how they've done it.
I'd love to see you there.
Self-belief is a big part of the work we do with GCSE & A Level students on our Ace Your Exams coaching program, because often when we see students who aren't achieving what they're capable of, it's because deep down they don't believe they are able to achieve more.
Although this isn't often talked about, there's lots of research that shows what we believe about ourselves impacts our academic performance. As a result, we encourage our students to take advantage of that fact, back themselves and set ambitious goals they’ll be proud to achieve.
Visit mindsetlab.co.uk and check out our group programmes!
08/11/2024
Struggling to stay motivated long term?
"Here’s one way that I find helpful: Measure the GAIN, not the GAP"
Your teen is a superstar in their own right.
Let’s celebrate their unique journey. 🌟
P.S. For more on this, check out The Gap and the Gain by Dan Sullivan & Dr. Benjamin Hardy.
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Hi, I’m Rachel, a Cambridge University-qualified academic coach. I support GCSE & A-Level students to build evidence-based study skills, motivation, and confidence to improve their results by 1-3 grades across all subjects without stress, nagging, or tutoring.
This might sound a bit cheesy.
But it’s true.
When we work on something, it’s not the work that changes but our ability to do it.
This is as true for GCSE & A-Level students, studying for their exams, as it is for anything else we’re working on in life.
*Adapted Joan Rivers quote.
21/10/2024
Parents often say to me that they’re not sure their teen is particularly academic, or perhaps that they themselves weren’t academic.
Personally, I don’t believe that some people are ‘academic’ while others are not.
It’s my belief that some people are just better skilled at passing exams than others.
The good news is, everyone can learn the skills needed to pass exams.
Download my exact system for free by clicking my profile link.
16/10/2024
For your teen to improve their GCSE or A-Level grades they need to believe that skills can be built.
Because to improve exam grades, we need to get better at passing exams.
To get better at passing exams, we need to get better at answering exam-style questions.
If we practice more questions, then by the very nature of it, we are going to get more stuff wrong. That’s how we learn.
But if we don’t hold the belief that skills can be built, it’s a problem for two main reasons:
1. Motivation – if I don’t believe I can improve my performance then what’s the point in trying?
2. Failure – if I see failure as bad, or something to avoid, it’s going to stop me practicing questions and getting better.
Stanford Professor Carol Dweck coined the term ‘growth mindset’ to describe this way of thinking.
To support your teen to improve their GCSE or A-Level grades, it’s essential that they develop more of a growth mindset.
If you’d like to learn more about how to support your teen do this, I’d love you to join me on my free live workshop on Wednesday 16 October where I will share my exact system for how I help GCSE & A-Level students to improve their results by 1-3 grades across all subjects without stress, nagging or tutoring.
Comment the word WORKSHOP below and I’ll send you the link to sign up (it’s free).
15/10/2024
Yup, I know this is going to sound ironic but…
“I struggle with motivation” is a quote I hear from teens probably more than any other.
So how is a quote that says ‘I will beats IQ’ relevant if most teens are telling you there isn’t much ‘will’ knocking about?
It’s relevant because it’s true.
The first step to getting better exam results starts with the motivation to try.
We need to re-engage your son or daughter in their education.
Your teen needs to be able to answer these questions (genuinely and for themselves!). Why should I bother? Why should I pay attention in class? Why should I try when exams are months, if not years away?
I do this by asking students what their goals are by subject and by grade - not their parent’s or teacher’s goal but what do they want to achieve? Where do they want to go after GCSEs or A-levels? We try and project them into the future – just a little bit.
And after 5 years of helping teens improve their grades, I can honestly say that there is not one student I have ever worked with, who doesn’t want to improve their results.
Everyone wants to get better.
They might not feel motivated in that moment, they might not feel confident that they can do it and they might not have a plan for how to do it, but all of these things can be learned.
If you’d like to learn more about how to support your teen do this, I’d love you to join me on my free live workshop on Wednesday 16 October where I will share my exact system for how I help GCSE & A-Level students to improve their results by 1-3 grades across all subjects without stress, nagging or tutoring.
Comment the word WORKSHOP below and I’ll send you the link to sign up (it’s free).