1 Focus exclusively on previous exam questions, and prepare answers in bullet point or graphic format that fit into the time allocation allowed.

2 Review such prepared answers regularly over the coming three weeks. This can be done in less than a minute, provided the question has been well prepared and presented.

3 Ensure all subjects are getting a balanced amount of time coming up to the examinations. Students can often misread their need to concentrate on specific subjects, to the detriment of subjects they feel are not in need of much work.

4 Don't attempt to start reading new material over the coming three weeks. You have more than enough content in your head for 10 examinations without adding more. The task now is to organise it in your head and on your revision cards in a manner conducive to presentation in 40 minutes.

5 Remember that in any race the eventual winner is very rarely the one who starts off at great speed. The ability to pace yourself over the coming weeks is crucial to how you will be able to perform in those vital exams at the end of the second week.

6 Issues such as diet, exercise, relaxation time and sufficient sleep are as vital to the eventual performance as time spent studying.

7 In any competitive process it is often the unexpected little things that trip you up, so prepare well. This can often be where parents can help most. Simple things such as pens, erasers, calculator batteries, rulers, markers, all tend to run out or go missing at exactly the wrong moment.

8 Over the coming weeks, the temptation to phone a school friend or the frustration of constantly going to the phone to take friends' calls can be very disruptive. A simple solution can be to organise a common time out from study with friends to simply chat or go to a film or socialise.

9Travelling to and from examinations and feeding yourself between exams, when you have to sit more than one paper in any given day, can add to examination stress. Parents can alleviate this concern by ensuring that transport and lunches are not stress factors, by quietly taking responsibility for these factors.

10Because stress is such a factor for all concerned, simple mistakes can easily be made. The most serious mistake possible is not turning up for an exam, because the timetable was misread. Any examination superintendent will tell you that this happens regularly. Parents should ensure that they are aware when every exam is taking place, and, in the case of morning examinations, that the candidate is not left in an empty house, depending on an alarm clock, because both parents have left for work at an early hour. Many frantic principals have woken students from their slumber 15 minutes after an examination has already started. Now there is a recipe for stress.