Most of what we write is aimed directly at candidates. This one's for the people supporting them, because we get asked about this almost as often as we get asked about study strategy.
The short answer: consistent, low-pressure interest and practical help with logistics genuinely help. Frequent score check-ins, comparisons to other candidates, and treating one mock result as a verdict tend to add pressure instead, even when they're well-meant.
What genuinely helps
Consistent, low-pressure interest, asking how prep is going without immediately following up with "so what's your score right now," goes a long way. Practical support, helping manage logistics like registration deadlines or document gathering, takes real weight off a candidate's plate without adding to the emotional pressure of the exam itself.
What unintentionally adds pressure
Frequent score check-ins, even well-meaning ones, can start to feel like a running scoreboard rather than genuine support. Comparisons to siblings, family friends, or other candidates, even offhand ones, tend to land much harder than intended. And treating a single mock exam result as a serious verdict, rather than one data point in a long process, tends to amplify the stress rather than help manage it - see what a bad mock score actually means for why one result rarely tells the whole story.
The financial and logistics conversation
This is genuinely useful to have early and honestly, covering roughly what studying and living in Italy will cost, what the application timeline actually looks like, and what happens under different outcomes, including a possible retake. Having this conversation calmly in advance is far less stressful than having it reactively under pressure later.
The single most useful thing
Trusting that your candidate is taking this seriously, and letting the day-to-day study decisions be theirs, tends to matter more than any specific piece of advice. This is already a high-stakes, high-pressure process from the inside, and burnout is a real risk candidates are managing on their own. The most helpful role from the outside is usually steady, unconditional support, not additional oversight.
Want an outside, objective perspective on how your candidate's preparation is actually going? That kind of honest, third-party read is something 1:1 mentorship can offer that a parent, understandably, often can't.
Apply for the mentorshipThis process is hard enough from the inside. The best thing a parent can usually offer is steady support, not another source of pressure.
