The Sri Lankan International School of Jeddah (SLISJ) held an awareness program for senior students and parents on successful exam preparation for the IGCSE and A-Level examinations.

Lakshman Sockalingam, a lecturer with the English Language Institute at King Abdul Aziz University (KAU) and assistant governor of Education and Training at Jeddah’s “Division C” Toastmasters club, highlighted exam preparation tips, the importance of practice and willing practice, stress management and other techniques for fact retention, such as note-taking and abbreviation. He also warned against last-minute cramming.

“I chose to speak about exam stress management because of the distractions of various gadgets such as mobile phones, television, the Internet and other devices, through which our students suddenly find themselves short of time and start to panic,” said Sockalingam.

“I suggested plenty of ways through which students can monitor their own progress, such as completing past papers on a timed basis and creating a rigid timetable,” he added. “We have even decided to meet after a few weeks and analyze our growth, which will be done in a couple of hours.”

Sockalingam expressed pride that SLISJ has taken the right step to bring about such awareness among their students. “I have become more convinced than ever that such awareness programs are vital thanks to my exposure with multifarious students in more than five countries with different syllabus.”




Ahmed Hussein, a biology teacher at SLISJ, discussed school education and the role of parents in creating a conducive environment for study.

Hussein said that discipline was the school’s main priority and that one of the key reasons behind holding the seminar is to make students aware of the significance and purpose of education.

“We organize such programs as one of our teaching techniques, which are used in most educational institutions,” said Harsha Walpita, head of Academic Affairs at SLISJ. “The main objective is to familiarize students more extensively with subject matters and also to allow them to interact with the practical problems they face in the teaching and learning processes.”

Mohamed Ilyas, chairman of the Board of Management (BOM) at SLISJ, explained that the main objective of the seminar was to guide students to breeze through exams and to guide parents on how can they help their children.

“Both parents and students welcomed this program and expressed their happiness that such a program was held,” said Ilyas. “There was a more than 80-percent attendance rate. We, the BOM, have understood their need for such a program, so we plan to hold more such events in the near future.”