Success = U + U     024

The year 2000 was of course a very special one for Sydney, the year of the Sydney summer Olympics. It was also the year that Cathy Freeman won a gold medal in the women’s 400m track event. I can still remember hearing an interview with Cathy on her thoughts about the 400m. I thought it strange that Cathy explained that she was planning to relax during the running of the race.

Now, at the time of writing, it is 2016 and just before the Olympic Games at Rio. World champion swimmer, Emily Seebohn, is in the news for precisely the same reason. According to an article by Nicole Jeffery (Australian, 30 Jul 2016, p. 39) she wants to be “calm and relaxed”, just as she was at the world titles. This is about improving her ‘mental game’, and Emily, like “many of the leading Australian swimmers” makes use of the services of the swimming team psychologist, Georgia Ridler. Incidentally, Emily is also planning to remove herself from social media for the Rio Olympics in order to avoid distraction. Surely there’s enough evidence out there now for students to realise the risks of social media. Parents should look up this article by Nicole Jeffery.

Relaxing while performing is then really about thinking. It’s about two people, you and you. Relaxing means that the performer can think about what he or she is doing, and compare this to what should be happening. Sounds obvious and easy but it is certainly not. Indeed my old swimming coach, Mina Wylie, an Australian Olympic swimming champion, told me: “It’s very hard to swim fast and think at the same time” which of course is the mistake that many swimmers make.

Well you might suppose that your son or daughter is not preparing for the Olympic Games, but the truth is they are. In Year 12 he or she will sit for the Higher School Certificate, and that’s 65,000 other students who want your child’s place, actually the ATAR which your child would like to have, or needs to have. There’s not many gold medals handed out.

Relaxing while doing exams can be extremely beneficial. One way that this can happen—and this is just one way—is the management of time during complex papers such as Paper 1 of the HSC English exam. In this paper there are five short answers, of increasing complexity, followed by some creative writing, followed by a difficult essay, all in two hours. Students typically can be anxious, and this can lead to spending too much time on the short answers, followed by too much time on the creative writing, which almost always achieves nothing, with the consequence that the 40 minute essay has to be done in perhaps 33 minutes. I’m sorry but the marks are coming off!

Students then need to be taught about importance of relaxing and managing time, and given timed practice sessions so that this vital skill can be developed. It is not much good simply telling students they need to be careful with time and think what they are doing. They need to be shown, given opportunities, and then provided with detailed feedback.

All content copyright—Mark Thackray—Australian Educational Services