The Habits Your Child Should Build From Their First Entrance-Exam Practice

When a child starts entrance-exam preparation, it is natural to focus on what they need to learn.

I am just as interested in what they are getting used to doing.

Whatever a child does in their first practice questions tends to become their default. Good habits built early save a lot of marks later. Habits picked up by accident can be much harder to undo.

Understand the test before you practise for it

Good habits start with understanding the test a child is going to take.

Before we begin practising, I want them to know how it works: the question types, how the assessment is delivered, what they can and cannot do while sitting it, and how timing works.

Then the habits can begin from the very first practice, rather than being added later when the exams feel closer.

Check as you go

One of the clearest examples is checking answers.

Many entrance exams are now taken online, and in many adaptive tests a child cannot go back at the end to review what they have done. Any checking has to happen before each answer is submitted.

Even where a test does allow checking at the end, checking as you go is a strong habit. It supports accuracy in any exam.

It sounds like a small thing, but this is where careless marks are lost.

The mistake I see most often in lessons is choosing an answer that looks close to the right one. A child picks an option without noticing that another option is very similar, or closely related. In non-verbal reasoning, that might be two shapes that differ by one small detail. In maths, it might be two numbers that look almost the same. In English, it is often choosing an answer without going back to the text to check it first.

So the habit I teach from the first practice is simple: before you submit, check your answer and look carefully at the options closest to it. Not occasionally, and not only when the question feels difficult. Every answer.

Why this is hard to do alone

Children rarely notice their own habits.

A child who rushes does not feel as though they are rushing. A child who skips checking usually believes they have been careful.

This is one of the main reasons a tutor matters at the beginning. I can see the pattern, name it and help the child correct it while it is still easy to change.

It is also why I like families to start early. There is time to build a habit properly, rather than trying to fix it in the final weeks.

Other habits I look for early on

Checking is only one of several habits I want to see established:

• reading the whole question before answering;
• using the strategy that has been taught for that question type;
• putting accuracy before speed;
• looking at mistakes to find out why they happened, rather than simply moving on.

Individually, each is small. Together, they make a child’s practice much more reliable.

A question to ask at home

When your child finishes a practice question, it can help to ask “How did you check that?” rather than “What did you get?”

The aim is not to catch them out. It is to make checking something they expect to do.

Getting in touch

I work with ambitious families preparing for UK independent-school entrance assessments, usually through a structured one-to-one programme starting around Year 4 or Year 5. My weekend timetable is currently full, but I am building a waiting list, and I have limited weekday daytime availability for international families.

If you would like to talk about your child’s preparation, you are welcome to message me on WhatsApp or complete the Expression of Interest form.