Exams

we are coming into exam time at the moment (in the UK atleast) for people in school or college etc. i thought it a good time to write a blog about dyspraxia/ dyspraxics and exams but also for other as i know exam time can be difficult for a lot of people not just those with learning difficulties

but im going to start by saying that in my experience exams have never seemed to be an accurate or efficient way of testing knowledge or skill to me atleast they have always seemed more like a memory test especially with subjects that dont have definitive answers like english etc.however i can see that subjects like maths (and to an extent) science the correct answer is always going to be the correct answer so is perhaps a slighlty more accurate way although it is still a test of memory (how tu do certain aspects of it)

but in terms of preparing for exams revision is important even if it is just quick testing of yourself but dont just sit revising (reading) for hours take regular breaks when you need to otherwise i found you can just start getting bored and stop taking stuff in  and by testing yourself you can find what you are not so good or confident at and focus a bit more time to those things although you should contine to work on the other things aswell. revising is just like anything else in that most importantly you need to find what works for you whether that is taking tests, reading up on things or leaving notes around the house.

getting the correct supports in place is something that is also incredibly important especially for those with learning difficulties if neccesary this could be variety from having extra time to using a laptop or a scribe/reader. for my exams i had a scribe from GCSE's through to university and it helps if you can be in a different room which i wasn't for GCSE and sixth form. i have mentioned some of this in a previous blog here http://bit.ly/2qiOAfx

Memory

memory and dyspraxia is something that many people dont seem to understand. how someone could forget something they've only just been told and poor short term memory is a common trait among many but not all dyspraxics.
as just mentioned short term memory is said to be poor amongst dyspraxic people but they tend to have quite good mid to long term memory and that kind of describes me a little bit i often tend to forget things sometimes even though i repeatedly tell myself to do them for example fairly recently i needed to re-send an email and everytime i went on to my laptop i could never remmebr to do it even if i was on my email and it eventually took about 3 or 4 days to do it yet i can remember some things in quite a lot of detail from 10+ years ago whether they were quite memorable events or sometimes even just some other random things.
when it comes to very short term memory i do think that if its a single instruction without much interuption then its all ok but if theres more than one thing to do and more than one instruction then im likely to forget some part of it which is something that is quite common among dyspraxics which is why when you see things about learning disabiloity and teaching teachers are advised to simplify their instruction and go through any steps that may be needed one at a time which is something we could potentially do in everyday life as well.
some tips to help with remmbering to do things could be to have notes as reminders around the house or a list of things to do and tick them off as they are done or even setting a range of alarms/reminders on phones etc.