Many parents may be wondering what they can do to assist their son or daughter in preparing for the exams. Here are some tips:

Provide as positive and supportive an environment as possible at home. This should involve ensuring a quiet, warm, well-aired room, with a comfortable - but not too comfortable - chair, reading lamp and a desk which does not require the student to be bending forward constantly.

Constant rereading of material is a wasted exercise. Students should now be summarising their answers on index cards in graphic format, which can be revised in a few moments from time to time in the coming months. We forget 90 per cent of what we read within 24 hours of reading it, so writing abbreviated notes and committing points to a visual format greatly increases retention.

Long periods of study are not helpful, unless short breaks and a nourishing drink or snack is taken. Forty minutes per subject with a variety of subjects studied at each three to four-hour session makes for a well-balanced preparation for any exam.

Exercise, a healthy diet, time for relaxation with friends and involvement in a favourite sporting activity are all positive elements in a five-month plan for exam success.

People under growing stress hate being lectured to. When one is experiencing stress the most important support one can have is someone to listen without dispensing advice every 30 seconds.

Parents need to understand that their children are secretly terrified of letting them down, whatever they may outwardly indicate. Learn to allow your children the space to tell you what they are really feeling. In doing so, you will be giving them huge support.

The most important thing to remember about taking exams is that candidates have 10 times more information in their heads than they can ever use. Between now and June, it is not so much a case of piling on more information as of formatting the information they currently have in a manner they can present in 30 or 40 minutes per question.

Remember, this exam is simply a step on the road to the development of a set of skills in your son or daughter to enable them to build a successful career for themselves. Success or failure is not an end in itself, simply a learning experience on the path of life. Nothing that happens in the Junior or Leaving Cert is set in stone. Whatever happens, your child can build on it to achieve their life goals.