Last week my daughter wrote her two final English Language papers (IGCSE). Now the way it works here in England is because she is home educated, she is not linked to a school (which is where most kids would write their exams) so we have to pay for her to write her exams at an exam center. Exam centers in England tend to offer a range of exams so you often end up writing your exam on the same day as other kids writing different exams and exams from different exam boards. (I have said this before and I will say it again when your kid arrives at the exam center PLEASE double check that they have them down for the correct exam and the correct exam board – I know this sounds basic but we have already had multiple issues with our kiddo being given wrong papers).

Our exam center asks us to sign in 45 minutes before the exam and then your kid sits in a waiting room until they are called into the actual exam room. Parents are allowed to wait with them and for multiple reasons I always do. While we wait I have heard/seen a few things that I wanted to mention for future families who will also be going down the exam center route.

When your kid signs in they need to show a photographic ID (we used her passport) but once they have signed in you, the parent, can keep the ID with you. When my daughter walks into the exam room all she has with her are her pencil case (which needs to be transparent) and some water (in a clear bottle), I keep everything else with me. If your kid has a bag with them or extra bits they will need to leave this outside the exam room, this includes phones and watches. I have not heard of any bags been stolen but there are people coming and going so in my mind this is a risk.

Please, please think about how you will travel to the exam center. They ask that you sign in 45 minutes before the start time (9:30) but I saw kids (almost in tears) arriving at 9:25, once all the other kids were already inside the room sitting at the desks. Now I know there are days when things go wrong and public transport can get messed up. But an idea is plan it with time to spare. We take 2 trains to get to the center so I always think about train delays. Because of this concern we always take earlier trains and actually plan on getting to the area at 8:05 and then my daughter and I go and sit at a coffee shop, I have a drink and she eats something extra. I know that is early but we do it because firstly it means the trains are not as busy and secondly once she is in the area, she relaxes a bit and it gives her time to have something extra to eat.

When we were waiting for her English paper there were a number of kids writing a Maths paper at the same time and there was confusion over whether they would be given a formula sheet, or if they had to take their own formula sheet in with them. Please help your kiddo out and contact your exam center before hand to clarify these points, I saw one kid get really stressed out about this. (In all the cases I know of the formula sheet is given to them in the exam). Some English papers have Anthologies and there are strict rules about taking the Anthologies into the exam room (there can not be anything written on the Anthologies) please double check that your copy will be allowed in before your kid arrives at the exam.

And please make sure you have discussed the paper with your kids beforehand. Make sure you have discussed what the rules are about writing on the back of the pages, or outside the borders. It really is not a good idea to try and ask the person signing everyone in. You kid needs to know all of this before you arrive at the center. If you are unsure email your exam center when you book your exams.

Okay so one of the reasons I stay with my daughter is to try and make sure she stays calm and that is why we always take a book with and we sit together and try and block out whatever else is going on. But I have witnessed other parents who sit down and started interrogating other students about what questions they are expecting and how they were going to tackle the paper. Now the student they were interrogating stayed fairly calm and answered the questions but the kids next to her went from being calm to stressed out and panicked. Honestly it is now less than 45 minutes before they start writing, just let the kids sit there in peace, please do not start questioning them or getting them worked up. There is nothing worse than walking in panicked and worried that you have missed something out.

A few other things which may sound silly but I am going to say them anyway because I have seen examples – please make sure your kiddo is comfortably dressed and dressed for the weather (I always tell me kid she can take her tracksuit top off but if she does not have it with her and she is cold there is nothing she can do). Short skirts can mean sitting on a cold chair for 2 hours whereas joggers means you are not sitting directly on the cold chair. The same goes for hair and makeup and jewellery, no-one cares what you look like so keep the hair and extras to what is comfortable (now may not be the time for false nails or false eyelashes or lots of bangles).

Our exam center is strict about NO watches (even the good old fashion watches) but they do have a clock at the front of the room, however you may be seated at the back, so think about if you will be able to see the clock and if you are short sighted you may need to take your glasses with just for the purpose of being able to check the time.

Yes the kids can take some water in with them (they are very strict about the water bottle being clear plastic and having no writing on it) but there is NO food allowed in.

Yes the kids can go to the toilet during the exam but the toilet break is part of the allocated time (I heard this being asked and I was amazed so I am stating it here). If you go to the toilet during the exam your time is not paused, your end time stays the same no matter how long you spend in the toilet.

I am sure there are other things that I have forgotten but these are the ones points that I can think of for now.