Fourteen years old and already this anxious about exams

Last Friday was Matariki, and half of Hawke's Bay was out celebrating despite the cold and the rain. Hardy souls, all of them.

I decided my time was better spent inside. I cleaned the oven, sorted the kitchen cupboards, roasted a tray of vegetables for a pot of soup for lunch, and sacrificed a stubby to bake a loaf of bread to go with it. Not exactly a festival, but it felt like exactly where I needed to be.

The last couple of weeks have brought something else my way too, and it has stayed with me.

I have had a steady stream of Year 11 students coming to see me. They are fourteen and fifteen years old, and NCEA is looming large for them. Many of them feel left behind, not up to speed, and nowhere near ready for the exams sitting at the end of their year.

That is a huge amount of anxiety, worry, sleepless nights and stress to be carrying at fourteen.

One of these teenagers said to me recently that they find school really hard and cannot wait for their day to be over. That sentence has really struck a chord with me. How awful it must be to walk into a building every day feeling like that.

Another teenager told me they just want to be at the same level as the rest of the class, instead of always feeling behind and trying to catch up.

My heart genuinely goes out to these kids. Those are not ideal learning conditions for anyone, let alone a young person trying to prepare for the biggest exams of their life so far.

Here is the part that keeps me doing this work. For the students who come and work with me in a one to one intensive programme, we can get them up to speed quite quickly, giving them tools so they can focus, and strategies that make learning easy and experiential, so they actually understand what they are reading and writing, and can retain what they have learned.

Little by little, that shift from overwhelmed to capable happens, and it is one of the best parts of what I do.

If any of this sounds like your young person, or even like you, I would love to have a conversation. My free learning test is a good first step to understand their unique way of learning.

👉 Take the free learning test here: https://www.dyslexiaunpuzzled.co.nz/free-learning-test

Or if you would rather just talk it through first, book a free conversation with me. Tell me what you are seeing at home and at school and we will go from there.

👉 Book your free conversation here: https://calendly.com/nikki-palamountain-h4cb/new-meeting

Every person has the ability to get there. Sometimes they just need someone to show them the way that actually works for them.