Maria-Jose Gago, head of Spanish and director of the A-Level Easter revision courses at Magdalen College School, Oxford, explains why more and more students are looking for help.

A-Level exams loom in two months and students are envisaging weeks of the Easter holiday ‘eyes down’ - the focus on revision.

The question now is whether students have been taught how to get the best out of those weeks — from study skills and exam techniques to time management and ‘effective’ revision.

It is a question that the increasing number of A-Level Easter revision courses on offer have put their hands up to answer.

Courses now are structured not just for the weaker candidates, but the strongest too — they are a stimulus package, a morale boost, an insurance policy, a motivation drive.

More and more parents and pupils are realising the value of these courses.

A new perspective, clearer focus or even a fresh face can be just the momentum a student needs to raise the grade or polish a performance — crucial in these times of increasing competition for top university places.

Many students will, by now, have conditional offers at universities across the country.

Most of those fortunate enough to be considering one of the Russell Group will probably be looking for three straight As.

These candidates won’t need to cover the whole subject or even certain modules — what they are looking for is that extra ‘fuel injection’ to help them make the top grades and to refine and hone much of what they already know.

The courses should be systematic and deliver a structured, targeted approach.

The key to this is in the detailed questionnaire each student is asked to complete.

Armed with this information, experienced tutors can identify ‘the gaps’ and individualise the programmes to cover specific areas of concern and need — that is the real strength of a ‘personalised’ tuition programme.

The teaching groups need to be small and focused so that the tutor can not only identify and eliminate the weaknesses but also accentuate the strengths.

Even more crucially, Easter revision courses can help to put the final piece in the A-Level jigsaw — ‘exam technique’.

They can ensure that every candidate has the know-how to understand the question and the answers it is looking for, the know-how to plan and pace, and the ability to identify marking systems and apportion effort levels.

Easter revision courses cannot pull a rabbit out of the hat for the candidate who has left two years of work until the last minute. However, their successes are proven.

Students signing up to one, two or even three weeks can expect an intense, focused and driven, but ultimately rewarding, experience.

For hundreds of thousands of teenagers across the country this summer, A-Levels are the grand finalé of seven years of secondary education — a little helping hand at Easter can give students the confidence to ensure their final performance is everything it should be.

■Magdalen College School, Oxford is offering two weeks of revision courses this Easter on a residential or day basis: April 6-10 and April 12-16.

Information is available on the school’s website: www.mcsoxford.org