Revision and exams. Is this normal?

[thelittlebooktroll]

I was at school when dinosaurs roamed the streets, so I would like to ask parents of secondary school children if it's now normal that they do not have books and just revise based on their notes?

DS1 who is 14 has done badly in nearly all his exams. He is terrible at note taking in class as he can only learn when listening to the teacher and is not able to write and listen. When it comes to the exams, he has hardly any notes to revise from. Yhe school is not providing any reference material at all, only a list of topics they need to know, but this too broad for me to know how to help him.

Is this normal in schools now? Even at university I remember having reference material to go with the lectures I attended.

Surely people learn in different ways and people who aren't very good at note taking will be very disadvantaged?

I just want him to have a good old fashioned text book. Where did they all go? Were they burnt at the stake?

[titchy]

There'll be online resources he can use. He needs to ask school which ones, and make sure he has access to the VLE on the school website.

[stitch10yearson]

Depends on the school, but usually they don't have textbooks given to them by the school. Its up to the parents to get hold of books as reference material if they want them. Some websites have great learning things which are very helpful.

[Ragwort]

I tend to agree - although would add that my DS is incredibly lazy & is capable of taking note, but I haven't seen a text book for years - any research seems to be copy and paste on the internet. I get laughed at if I suggest we research a topic at the library.

I even asked for more homework to be given to my DS but was just referred to a website . I actually employ a tutor now so at least he gets some one to one teaching, and I appreciate I am lucky to be able to do that.

[TeenAndTween]

Yes it is normal.

Once in y10 & y11 you need to get the relevant study guides for the GCSE. DD's note taking is atrocious. No way could she have managed without the guides. You can get them second hand, but you need to make sure they are the 'right' ones.

You can also buy KS3 guides for science.

I also resorted to buying some text books too.

[MilkRunningOutAgain]

DS has quite a few text books, science, maths, German, history, and they are used. But for revision he uses his notes. Writing good notes is a useful skill, isn't it being taught at your DCs schools? My DS hands his book in regularly and his notes are marked. He is getting better at it as they are made to rewrite poor notes as extra homework. He is yr 7.

[lljkk]

This is why people buy revision guides in WH Smith.
DS also had mock exams to do at home.

[TheFirstOfHerName]

My older two children's exercise books are completely useless as revision aids. One has illegible handwriting (sometimes even to himself) and the notes they take in KS3 are often haphazard and badly structured.

Y7-Y9: they used BBC bitesize and I bought them some CGP revision guides.

Y10: I found out what exam board was being used for each subject, and bought some revision guides. For the CIE iGCSE sciences, I bought the textbooks. He has also found some helpful material online.

[Haggisfish]

Find out which exam board for exams and get relevant revision guides. Normal not to have text books.

[Leeds2]

My 17 year old had, and still has, text books in school. We have to pay for them if they aren't handed back at the end of the year!

For GCSEs and ASs, school recommended revision guides (think Letts, CGP (?)) which we had to buy ourselves. I donated DD's to the charity shop when she had done her last GCSE, and noticed they had a lot in stock!! It might be worth you looking now before they are all snaffled up!