Revising with dyslexia isn’t the easiest task: it relies heavily on reading and remembering reams of information, and both are areas of the educational process that somebody with dyslexia might find challenging. 

This is where exam stress can begin to set in – long before the exam itself.  

When revision becomes a site of anxiety for learners, it stops being as effective as we’d like it to be, and this can have a huge impact on exam success. With the right techniques and tools, like text-to-speech reading aids and specialised revision strategies it can become more manageable – but how do we make sure that dyslexic learners’ mental wellbeing is being bolstered, as well as their exam success?  

Our Top Tips for a Dyslexia Revision Strategy that Prioritises Mental Wellbeing  

Teach learners to break down the material: More manageable chunks can help make a topic less overwhelming. Breaking things down into session aims or short sections is also a great way to create everyday milestones that learners can celebrate, as well as giving them a way to track how much progress they might have made in a session. Revision can feel endless sometimes, and re-structuring it within a framework that feels manageable and reasonably paced can help beat the anxiety before it sets in.  

Avoid isolation: When they’re facing high-pressure environments like end-of-stage exams, older and more stressed learners especially might feel as if they have to cut off social contact with their friends until testing is over. Although it might be time to cut down on social media, it’s important learners know that isolation can be unhealthy and seeing their friends outside of school a reasonable amount can improve their mental wellbeing.   

Organise and advocate for accommodations: Make sure learners who need exam support have had the necessary access arrangements made – chat with your school’s exam officers and SENCos about the options available. It’s also worth remembering that in the case of the C-Pen Exam Reader 2, if it’s embedded as a Normal Way of Working, it can support in exams even after the applications for formal accommodations and Form 8’s have passed. Revision might feel easier if the exam feels less scary and they know they’ll be supported.  

Structure or Spontaneity? Some learners work best if they can create a revision pattern that almost mimics their school day – mini-lessons at pre-organised times, and timed attention to each subject on their timetable. But some learners work in the opposite way, too, and it’s important to remember that going with inspiration where time isn’t pressing is an important part of making revision less of an arduous task. If a learner wakes up and wants to focus on history when they were scheduled to do maths, make sure they know that it’s fine. It’s far easier to revise material successfully if they actually want to be there. 

Can technology step in? Assistive technology such as text-to-speech scanners and SPaG checkers can help make the revision process more accessible, and help learners focus more on retaining information than on the intricacies of reading and writing. Dedicate some time to exploring what’s easily available before older learners break up for study leave – it might have a huge impact on how they feel and approach the work to be done.  

Take a break: Revising with dyslexia can be mentally draining. It's essential to take regular breaks to avoid burning out or feeling swamped. Taking a short revision hiatus can help recharge the brain and make it easier to concentrate on returning, and it can help beat stress and ease anxiety, especially if learners manage to get outdoors for a while. 

Many learners with dyslexia find a lot of success in study methods with built-in breaks like the Pomodoro Technique – you can direct them to some great apps that work the same way here, if they haven’t got a timer handy too.  

Revision on Location: Encourage learners to think about where they revise best. Do they feel like they take in information best when they’re discussing with friends, or sat outside in the garden, or somewhere public like a coffee shop or whilst travelling? Minds work differently, and sometimes revising in the ‘expected way’ doesn’t work for learners with dyslexia, especially if they’ve begun to associate that kind of setup with study or reading anxiety. 

Preparing for exams with dyslexia can be a challenging task, but it's so far from impossible – and it’s important learners know this as they set out on a programme of self-led revision. Using the right techniques and tools is important, but so is building rest and spontaneity into the programme. Prioritising social and emotional wellbeing is important during high stress moments in the educational career, and neurodivergent learners tend to feel exam stress more than most, so it’s as vital a part of exam prep as having the right study materials and assistive tech. 

At Scanning Pens, we want to foster a future where each and every reader can walk into an exam hall with their head held high and know that they’re supported every step of the way. That’s why we’re so proud of our tech solutions being approved for use in UK exams by JCQ: it means that they’re there when learners need them, when it counts the most. 

Assistive tech provides an invaluable reading safety net under test conditions, but in most cases, it has to be pre-arranged – so could implementing Exam Reader 2 now be the answer to keeping on top of stress and anxiety over summer? 

To find out more, explore what’s new with C-Pen Exam Reader 2 at Scanning Pens.