Using NLP thinking in exam preparation
The Bateson Logical Levels in action

Secondary adult
Gigliola Pagano, Pordenone, Italy

Towards the end of every school year I ask myself the same question: what can I do to help my students prepare their state examination? I usually come up with some ideas, like giving them some revision time in class, helping them to organise their notes and their topics etc. I also pair them up so that they can tutor each other and help each other revise what they have studied. I use all sorts of strategies to get them to repeat and revise in different ways what they have studied during the school year. At a certain stage we even have some mock exams with eight students (as examiners) sitting quite formally behind the desk. One student then has an opportunity to physically rehearse what it means sitting in front of a board of 8 examiners and having to talk to them. It usually turns out something quite scaring even in the mock situation. What I have often noticed is that students tend to forget a great deal of things they normally know in a less official context.

That's why a few years ago I felt I wanted to help my students not only in their English curriculum but also in efficiently accessing their resources so that they could face the examination at their best. I then borrowed from Neuro Linguistic Programming an idea that originated from Gregory Bateson, the idea of the Logical Levels. Bateson noticed that we organise our reality in different levels. We experience a moment of excellence and we feel at our best when all these different levels work in unison towards the same goal.
These are the Logical Levels as they have been developed by Robert Dilts:

I have used the level alignment many times for myself and my friends, and it has always helped me enormously to overcome an impasse or to face a difficult situation. So I decided I also wanted to use it with my students.
I told them we could go through a process called the Logical Level Alignment, that was a way of gathering all of their resources and putting them to work.
They wanted to try it: they were giving me their permission to go on.
At first I questioned what their goal was, concerning the examination. After some discussion they all agreed on the fact that they wanted to feel at ease during the examination so that they could perform at their best.
I felt it was important to give voice to what they wanted to reach so that each one of them knew in what direction they were going.
I then explored a bit what it meant for them to feel at ease and to perform at their best. At this stage I asked them to go inside themselves (as they probably had different individual perceptions of that) and physically feel at ease, picture themselves at ease and listen to their voice speaking while at ease.
In this way they all had a vivid idea of what their goal meant for them.
Once they had their goal and the physiology connected with the goal I then guided them through the Logical Level Alignment. This was quite a challenge for me since this strategy is usually carried out in a one-to-one base and instead I had 26 students sitting in front of me. I decided I would do it as a class activity, giving as much time as possible for individual insight and making sure that everyone had enough time to process the instructions I gave them. I asked them to close their eyes, relax and just follow my instructions. This is the step-by-step procedure I used.

ENVIRONMENT - I started from the 1st level, the one concerned with physical body and external conditions. It relates to the where and when. The instructions I gave were:

"Imagine the place where you are going to sit your exams, see the people, the examiners, that are in this place, hear their voices as they speak and feel how it feels to be there. Notice the details, the desks, the faces, the light, hear the sounds and notice how you feel inside you."

I carefully watched the students' expressions as they were processing my words and when I felt they were all there, mentally, in the exam room I told them to move on to the next level.

BEHAVIOUR - The 2nd level deals with what the body does, with the actions.

"What are you doing in this place? Notice your actions. Are you talking, moving, sitting, what are you doing with your hands and with your body? "

Again I waited until their facial expressions and body language told me they had done it. Some of them were nodding, some others bending forward. It was time for the next level.

CAPABILITIES AND STRATEGIES - It relates to how you do things, the capabilities you have, what you are good at.

"What are you good at that will help you in this exam? Maybe you are good at revising, at organising your notes, at repeating back to your classmates. Or maybe you are good at listening to the examiner's questions."

In posing these questions and making these suggestions I carefully included the skills we had developed during our exam preparation so that all of them had some confidence in some of these skills. I was a bit concerned about a boy with very low self esteem who could have found difficult to feel good at any of the academic skills I was mentioning. As I watched him his face was actually quite tense and his eyes firmly closed. I therefore tried to include other types of skills as well.

"Think of how good you are when you are at home or among friends and you feel relaxed, this is a very valuable skill that you have: you can feel relaxed."

When I saw the muscles of this boy's face relax I thought I could go on.

BELIEFS AND VALUES - The 4th level, a very delicate and important one, is connected with what motivates you, what's important to you. It relates to the why of your life.

"What do you believe about this exam that is important and relevant to your life? What will it do to your life and to yourself that you will be able to face this exam being at ease and at your best?"

I gave them all the time to process this rather deep question. When I saw some light smiles and deep breathing I felt they were in touch with their inner motivations and I told them to move on to the next step.

IDENTITY -This concerns your identity, who you are in this moment. It is sometimes difficult to answer in words, and therefore I asked my students to think of a metaphor, an image, the first that came into their minds.

"I am like a... It can be anything, an animal, a plant, a picture, accept the first image that comes to your mind. What is it? Notice the details, the colours, the movements. Are there any sounds, smells? Can you feel anything? Fully experience your image with your eyes, ears, skin, nose, with your whole body: you ARE your image.
Now take this feeling with you and come back to your beliefs about the exam. How does this image and metaphor influence and change your beliefs about the exam?
And move on and take with you your metaphor and your beliefs and come back to your capabilities, what you can do? and notice, what is different now?
And with your metaphor and beliefs and capabilities now come back to your behaviour and what are you doing now ?
And bring with you your metaphor and your beliefs and your capabilities with your actions and the things you are doing and bring them to the context of the exam. How is it and how are you feeling now? Notice everything that is relevant to you and when you are ready come back to this room and open your eyes."

The sparkle in their eyes told me that it had been worth the effort. Their feedback was very interesting, they talked in a low tone, quite slowly, many of them just nodding. They had all noticed that the ultimate feeling, in the exam room was much more relaxed than when they had started their journey through the levels. They felt more energy and they felt empowered. One girl asked: "Is it going to work even in the exam?" I smiled at her: "What do you think?" She smiled back at me.

Since that first time I have used the logical level alignment several times with my students. The feedback has been very positive: they feel more resourceful and powerful in facing the examination and therefore their level of anxiety has been remarkably reduced. Not only, I also believe that doing the alignment with my students does more than that: it conveys hidden positive messages, that I deeply like. It tells them that I care for them and I want them to succeed in their examination because I believe in their talents. It tells them I am on their side. It builds their self-esteem making them aware of their strengths. It makes them feel their own power to access the resources they have discovered inside themselves. To conclude, it takes just about an hour to carry them through the different logical levels and its effects can last a lifetime...

Gigliola Pagano

For a further reference to the Logical Levels and a general introduction to NLP see:
Introducing NLP by O'Connor and Seymour, published by Aquarian

Please check the The Secondary Teaching course at Pilgrims website.