As a first step, it is important that you sit down with your trainees and talk openly about the upcoming exams. This is the best way to find out whether there is any exam anxiety and what questions or doubts the trainees have.
We differentiate between the practical/oral and the written final exams.
You can offer the following assistance in preparing for the written final exam:
- Get exam preparation books with old written exams. This will allow your trainees to see directly how an exam is usually structured and can work through it to gain a little more confidence.
- Can you provide support in various exam subjects? Then sit down with your trainees in a study group and discuss open questions and subject areas that have not yet been understood.
- Make a former trainee available for tutoring so that they can work through practice exams with the trainees and help with any questions.
- Give the trainees enough time to study - in the end, both sides win if the exams are passed well!
What you can do to prepare for the practical exam:
- Again, it is important to sit down with the apprentices. Talk about their concerns and possible fears and try to address them individually.
- Check the current status of the report booklets in good time.
- Play through such a practical or oral examination with your trainees. Can an examination task from a trainee be used for testing purposes?
- Repeat the above exercises as often as necessary until the trainees feel confident and go into the exam with a good feeling.
- The trainees may also be able to talk to a colleague who has completed their training and listen to their experience of the individual examination situations.
- Have an open discussion with your trainees about a worst-case scenario. Either the result is a poor grade or the exam is not passed. But even then, there are dates for revision. A failed exam is not the end of the world.
- To make the trainees' motivation greater than their fear, show them the possibilities after they have passed their training. What can I earn as a trainee? What further training opportunities are there?
The most important thing is that your trainees don't feel left alone and know that you can count on your company here too.