First Education

Many students adopt ineffective study techniques that lead to poor retention, inefficient use of time, and increased exam stress. A common approach involves passive review; rereading notes, highlighting textbooks, or listening to recordings repeatedly. These methods create a false sense of familiarity with the content, but do little to reinforce long-term memory or deepen understanding.

Research in cognitive psychology suggests that more effective learning occurs through active engagement with the material. Active recall, the process of retrieving information from memory without looking at the source, significantly strengthens memory consolidation. This can be achieved through self-testing, completing practice questions, or verbally explaining concepts.

Spaced repetition is another evidence-based strategy, involving the review of information at increasing intervals. Unlike cramming, which leads to short-term memory gains, spaced repetition promotes durable retention by reinforcing material just before it is likely to be forgotten.

Time management also plays a critical role. Many students engage in prolonged, unstructured study sessions that lead to mental fatigue and reduced concentration. Short, focused sessions, such as those based on the Pomodoro technique, which alternates 25-minute study intervals with brief breaks, help maintain cognitive performance over time.

Overall, effective study is not purely a function of time spent but of the techniques employed. Understanding and applying principles from learning science allows for more efficient preparation and improved academic outcomes. Rather than defaulting to intuition or routine, students benefit from adopting methods grounded in empirical evidence.

Michael Fry

One of the most beautiful things tutoring gives students is something that can’t always be measured on a test, confidence. It’s the calm feeling that comes from knowing you are prepared, not because you memorised everything but because you truly understand it.

Many students walk into classrooms feeling anxious, unsure of what they know or how they’ll perform, tutoring changes that. When students spend time practicing, asking questions and strengthening their understanding, something shifts. They stop second guessing themselves and start trusting their ability to handle whatever comes their way.

Preparation isn’t about perfection, it’s about familiarity. When a student has seen a type of problem before, written similar paragraphs or revised a concept in multiple ways, it no longer feels intimidating. That familiarity builds a quiet confidence that stays with them during exams, presentations and classroom discussions.

This confidence also affects how students approach challenges. Instead of panicking when something feels difficult, they think, “I’ve handled hard things before, I can try this”. That mindset reduces stress and increases resilience. Students become more willing to attempt questions, make educated guesses and push through moments of uncertainty.

What makes tutoring so powerful is that it provides consistent support. Each session builds on the last, reinforcing skills and understanding until students feel steady on their feet. Over time, preparation turns into belief, belief in their own effort, their learning and their potential.

Tutoring isn’t just about raising grades. It’s about helping students walk into their academic world feeling capable and confident. That confidence, the kind that comes from truly being prepared is something they carry far beyond the classroom.

Isabella Naumovski

Building strong foundational skills in primary students is less about drilling content and more about creating the right conditions for deep, confident learning. At this age, children thrive when skills are introduced through clear structure, repetition with variation, and meaningful connection to real-life contexts. The goal is not speed or perfection, but the ability to understand, apply, and transfer knowledge across situations.

A powerful starting point is diagnostic observation. Before teaching, take time to notice how a child approaches tasks: Do they guess quickly? Do they rely on memorisation? Do they avoid challenges? These insights help tutors and parents identify gaps in math problems, phonetics, or language comprehension. Once you know the “why” behind a struggle, you can tailor instruction with precision.

Next comes explicit teaching, delivered in small steps. Primary students benefit from clear modelling, guided practice, and supported independence. This gradual style builds confidence while preventing cognitive overload. Pair this with the use of movement, visuals, manipulatives, and verbal reasoning to assist in making abstract concepts concrete.

Foundational skills also grow through consistent routines. Short, predictable activities such as daily mental math sheets, phonics warm-ups, or quick recall games help students consolidate learning without pressure. Repetition becomes engaging when it’s varied, playful, and connected to progress they can see.

Finally, nurture the habits that underpin lifelong learning: curiosity, persistence, and a willingness to make mistakes. Celebrate effort, model flexible thinking, and create a space where questions are valued. When students feel safe and capable, they take intellectual risks which is where foundational skills truly take root.

Strong foundations aren’t built in a rush; they’re built through thoughtful, responsive teaching that honours how children learn best.

Sophia McLean

NAPLAN tests shouldn’t surprise Year 7 students, but they do. The pattern is consistent: students enter high school, adjust to a new environment, and suddenly face a national assessment that claims to measure literacy and numeracy. The pressure increases because parents and schools treat the result as a diagnostic verdict. The more useful approach is to deconstruct what NAPLAN actually demands and align preparation with everyday learning rather than a sprint of cramming.
For Year 7 literacy, the reading test does not assess recall. It measures a student’s ability to extract meaning from unfamiliar texts. The practical implication is that students who never read outside short classroom extracts are disadvantaged. Sustained reading develops stamina, and stamina matters because the NAPLAN paper pushes students through multiple text typee, articles, narratives, opinion pieces, with increasing complexity. The preparation strategy should focus on exposure: weekly reading that forces a student to articulate the main point, locate evidence, and identify tone. Those three skills map directly to the test questions.

Writing is more mechanical. NAPLAN rotates persuasive and narrative genres, and students often freeze because they can’t plan rapidly. Time-boxed writing drills—five minutes to outline, twenty-five to write—mirror test conditions. The constraint trains prioritisation. Marking against the NAPLAN rubric (audience, ideas, cohesion, sentence structure, vocabulary, punctuation) shows the student how assessors think. That transparency matters more than generic advice like “use descriptive language.”

Numeracy requires a different form of preparation. Many Year 7 students have learned content, but they make procedural errors under time pressure. NAPLAN rewards fluency. Short daily practice targeting common failure points—fractions, percentages, ratio, interpreting data—builds automaticity. Students should also learn to triage: identify low-effort marks first, skip time-sink problems, and return later. That is a test skill, not a mathematical insight, but it changes outcomes.

The broader point: preparing for NAPLAN should integrate into regular learning, not disrupt it. The test is predictable once broken into components—reading stamina, rubric-aware writing, and numeracy fluency. Treating it this way reduces anxiety and shifts attention from “performing” to demonstrating skills already in progress.

Anthea Preketes

Mistakes are often stigmatised as something to avoid in learning. Many students worry about getting the “wrong” answer, fearing judgement or disappointment. In a tutoring environment, however, mistakes are not setbacks; they are powerful learning opportunities. At First Education, one-on-one sessions create a safe space where students can take risks without pressure. When a student makes a mistake, it gives tutors valuable insight into how that student is thinking. Rather than simply correcting the answer, tutors can explore the reasoning behind it, identify misconceptions and guide students towards deeper understanding. This helps learning become more meaningful and is a process that I have grown familiar with whilst studying to be a primary school teacher.

Mistakes also play a key role in building confidence. When students realise that making an error does not lead to failure or criticism, they become more willing to try. This shift in mindset encourages persistence, curiosity and resilience, which are all essential skills for long-term academic success. Over time, students learn that mistakes are a natural part of learning, not something to fear. In Maths and English, mistakes are particularly valuable. A maths error might highlight a gap in understanding a concept, while a writing mistake can open discussion about sentence structure, spelling patterns or vocabulary choices. I strongly believe that each mistake becomes a teaching moment tailored to the individual learner’s needs.

Tutors should be modelling positive attitudes towards mistakes. By normalising them and responding calmly and constructively, tutors show students that learning is a process. This approach helps students develop a growth mindset, adopting the belief that their abilities can improve with consistent effort and practice.

Ultimately, progress does not come from getting everything right the first time. It comes from reflecting, adjusting one’s understanding and trying again. In a supportive tutoring environment, mistakes are framed as stepping stones. When students learn to embrace mistakes, they gain not only academic skills, but confidence in their ability to learn, problem solve and grow.

Kaelyn Tan

In a world where students are constantly compared through grades, rankings and timelines, it’s easy for learning to feel like a race. One of the most powerful messages tutoring can offer is this, progress doesn’t have to be fast to be meaningful. Every student learns at their own pace and that pace is valid.

Tutoring creates a rare space where students are allowed to slow down. Concepts can be revisited, questions can be asked without fear and understanding can take priority over speed. For many students, this is where confidence begins to grow. When the pressure to “keep up” is removed, learning becomes less about anxiety and more about clarity.

I often remind students that mastery isn’t measured by how quickly they understand something but by how deeply they understand it. A student who takes longer to grasp a concept but truly understands it is just a successful if not more so than someone who rushes ahead without a strong foundation.

Embracing individual pace also teaches patient and self compassion. Students learn to recognise their own progress rather than comparing themselves to others. Over time, this mindset helps reduce frustration, build resilience and encourage persistence even when learning feels challenging.

What makes tutoring so impactful is its ability to meet students exactly where they are. By honouring individual pace, tutors help students build sustainable skills, confidence and independence. Learning becomes a journey rather than a competition and students discover that their path, no matter how winding, its worth taking.

Isabella Naumovski

My favourite tutoring memory of 2025 starts with one of my Year 10 maths students, Oscar. Specifically, a topic we conquered that used to completely shut him down; index laws. In his half yearly exam he completely stuffed them up, and knew it. Every time they came up, you could feel the hesitation. He would second guess himself, rush, and almost expect to be wrong before he even started. It was easily his weakest area, and more than that, it was something he had quietly decided he was just not good at.

So, we slowed everything down and changed the way we worked on it. We took the pressure off getting the answer right and focused just on the process. We isolated index laws and stayed there, rather than jumping between different topics. He talked me through every step out loud, and I corrected his misunderstandings in real time. I made him explain his reasoning back to me so that he could start trusting his own thinking. We also completed very intentional homework and targeted questions; everything had a purpose. With that level of focused work, it would have actually been really difficult for index laws to not become his strongest suit.

Week by week we could see the changes; fewer silly mistakes, more willingness to have a go and less fear when exponents appeared on the page. The improvements were quiet but consistent, and his confidence grew naturally alongside his skills.

By the time his yearly exam came around, index laws were no longer a problem. In fact, they were his best area!! He did better in them than in anything else and by the end, watching him move through those questions calmly and confidently was one of those moments that really stuck with me. Not because of the mark, but because of the belief shift I watched happen inside him, in real time.

He started trusting himself, he spoke with more certainty and began backing his answers more instead of apologising for them. That confidence didn’t just stay in his maths, either. It showed up in how he carried himself into our lessons and in how he spoke to me.

Honestly, it’s the best part about tutoring. Yes, we help our students do better in their exams but ultimately, we’re really helping them change how they see themselves. When our students turn their weakest points into their strongest, the academic growth is legit, but the personal growth is even more powerful.

Thomas Koutavas

As a tutor, one of the most valuable roles we play is helping students transition confidently into the next academic year. Preparation isn’t just about reviewing content; it’s about building skills, habits, and mindset that set students up for long-term success.

I usually start by reflecting on the past year. Identifying strengths to carry forward and gaps that need attention, – focusing on the wins and things that is needed to improve on.

Next, I reinforce foundational skills. The beginning of a new school year often assumes prior knowledge, so revisiting core concepts is essential. This might mean strengthening number sense in math, reviewing grammar basics in writing, or practicing key problem-solving strategies. Solid foundations reduce anxiety and allow students to engage more confidently with new material.

Equally important is teaching students how to learn. Study skills such as note-taking, time management, and test preparation often determine academic success more than content knowledge alone. Introduce age-appropriate strategies and practice them during sessions so students can apply them independently.

Goal-setting is another powerful tool. Working with students to set realistic, specific goals for the upcoming year, academic, organizational, or personal. This helps them feel ownership over their learning and gives direction to tutoring sessions.

Finally, focus on mindset. Encourage a growth mindset by normalizing mistakes and emphasizing progress over perfection. Confidence and resilience will carry students far beyond any single subject.

By combining academic review, skill-building, and emotional preparation, tutors can help students start the next year feeling capable, motivated, and ready to succeed.

Airi

Today I had the opportunity to observe Daniella tutor her year 7 student in maths.

They were working through integers and specifically focusing on order of operations, multiplication, division and worded problem solving. Daniella is an excellent tutor at building rapport within her sessions as she consistently maintains a positive attitude and is always checking in on her students to see how they are progressing. Her ability to direct the lesson is an indicator of her great leadership and sense of direction when teaching. Another thing that Daniella is great at is making good use of the white board. Coupled with this, she has very neat handwriting, a trait which is invaluable when tutoring others and makes it much easier for students to focus and follow along.

Daniella is an actively engaged tutor who explains specific concepts extremely well. I commend her for acknowledging her own mistakes, something that can be difficult for tutors but nonetheless a trait that is highly mature and human. As tutors we must know when to acknowledge our own mistakes and feel comfortable making errors in front of our students. Ultimately, we are all human beings and can expect to make errors from time to time, but it is our responsibility to refrain from acting with ego, impulse, and pride.

Another important note was how well Daniella’s student was engaged considering it was the last lesson of the term. Students may often lack the desire or motivation to work due to upcoming holidays, but Daniella’s presence ensured the work was done in a timely manner. Her student’s engagement was apparent as they completed work ahead of schedule.

Overall this was a great lesson to observe. Daniella maintains the perfect balance of professionalism along with friendliness. This polarity is highly appealing to students and is something that all tutors should strive to achieve within their own lessons. Well done Daniella.

James Petrakis

The HSC journey represents one of the most demanding periods for an adolescent, with increased workloads, reduced sleep, and high-performance expectations, all contributing to elevated anxiety levels. In the lead up to exams, students typically study 2-3 hours per day rising to 5-6 hours during trials and final examination periods. (The Typical Study Hours of a HSC Student, 2019). These extended study demands often lead to families prioritising academic preparation over exercise. However, research shows reduced movement during high-pressure periods is consistently associated with heightened stress, poorer emotional regulation, and disrupted sleep (Vandekerckhove & Wang 2017).  (See Figure 1)
This is particularly relevant in Australia, where young people aged 16-24 experience the highest rate of psychological distress, with anxiety disorders being the most prevalent mental health condition of this age group, affecting almost one in three adults (AIHW, 2023). A survey of year 12 students found that 42% report significant stress and anxiety during the HSC, highlighting the importance of strategies that help adolescents mange this stressful period. (North et al., 2015)
Understanding this issue is important for parents because anxiety during late adolescence has implications beyond immediate exam performance. Elevated stress during this developmental period is associated with long term risks, including persistent mood and anxiety disorders, reduced academic engagement and more difficult transitions into university or employment. (Stromájer et al., 2023) Yet, regular exercise helps reduce these effects, by regulating cortisol, improving sleep quality, and supporting cognitive function such as attention and working memory (American Psychological Association, 2020). Recognising the value of exercise provides parents with practical insights to support their child’s wellbeing and reduce anxiety throughout the HSC year.

James Petrakis