To think my Grammar School DD 2 with an IQ of 119 should be aiming for at least Grade 7's in all her GCSE subjects.

Even if it is pressure, so what? A bit of pressure is needed. GCSE aren't the make or break in life but they are an important stepping stone.

GCSE influences what A-Levels you take. 5/6s aren't going to translate to As and A*s at A-Level. A-levels influence university.

It's perfectly normal for parents to expect an academic child who goes to a grammar school to get at least 7s. There's a reason they aren't at the local comprehensive.

OP, IQ does not determine success in life. You would have been better off explaining how hard your DD has to work to maintain her average class ranking. If that's already the best she can do, she won't do 2 hours of homework a night (I don't blame her!) and she's not really engaged with school, she's not going to achieve the highest grades. Which isn't the end of the world, and is a fact you should tell her. Tell her you expect her to do her best, but whatever happens, you love her, life goes on and she'll be alright, no matter the outcome.

Have you asked her why she thinks she can only achieve a grade 5? You may very well be right and, under the right circumstances, she could achieve a higher score. But maybe she has more awareness of what is effecting her. Is the school the right one for her? Does she see classmates giving the appearing of breezing through topics which takes her weeks of hard work and hours or revision for her to just barely grasp? Does she deal well in a high pressure, exam driven environment? If not, you're really just setting her up for failure.

IQ and grammar school is irrelevant tbh - they all do the same GCSE's.

Most of it comes down to motivation, and solid revision.

FWIW my [painfully lazy] son was very bright, esp in Maths, until around year 8, and then he decided he would coast through the rest of his education with zero effort. He went from predicted 8's and 9's to 3's (English) - 5's in Y10 mocks. The turning point was a) him realising he needed to actually choose a path after secondary school and b) the path he chose requiring minimum 5's in English and 7's in Maths and Science. He started Y11 doing zero revision or preparation, even though I made a solid weekly revision schedule for him, and found ALL of the resources he needed to help him. Winter Y11 mocks came around with zero improvement (he didn't engage with my revision help) and he spent the remainder of the academic year holed up in his room with me (I know, I know) sat supervising almost constantly. He ended up with 8's across the board - crazily got the same in in English as he got in Maths, which he was supposed to be one of the best at in his school, purely because of the amount of revision he did for it.

Tldr: they can be super intelligent and the school could be the best in the country, but if they don't revise solidly at home, it's all irrelevant.

IQ and academic ability are not related

I assume your DD realises she’s not the top of the tree in her year group and so believes she’s only capable of grave 5s.

From my experiences of grammars, I imagine the super-competitiveness of it all is making her feel terrible about herself and her abilities. In an ordinary high school, she’d probably be in a top set and being told she can push hard to achieve anything.

IQ tests are not really useful for predicting outcomes at GCSE either - ask the school what they use to predict.

The main thing you should do is focus on your DD’s happiness and resilience. She is obviously bright and capable but not the top tier of grammar which is making her feel so low about herself.

Telling any child what they 'should' get is pressure. They get what they get, and as long as they try their best on the day, that is what matters.

People have no right putting their expectations on a childs shoulders.

It's not a lot of pressure. Asking for all 8s and 9s would be. Getting majority 7s should be fine and achievable for someone who attends a grammar school.

Firstly try to stop comparing your daughters. Secondly, convert these numbers to the letters we sat our GCSE’s at. A 7 is an ‘A’. I know I went to a very good grammar school, however I didn’t come out with straight A’s. If you got straight A’s, that is great. However, asking that of your daughter is a lot of pressure. 4-6 is B-C, I don’t think that’s a bad aim as a bottom end

Exactly.

IQ is NOT a measure of what you can achieve at school.

I have an IQ of 138 and got 2B's, 7C's & a D.. simply because i do not cope well in Exams... my coursework carried me and the two B's were my favourite subjects. (i'm also AuDHD which was missed at school and not diagnosed til an adult)

What you need to be focusing on is instilling some confidence in your DD to have faith in her own strengths and abilities.

IQ will not determine grades. To get good grades, you also need to be able to digest, grasp, retain and then remember information. Not just problem solve. Good grades also requires application and effort. And some confidence.
Avoid comparing with other children and siblings. She will not do well if she feels her sister has already got that accolade of being ‘the achiever’. She will be seeking albeit subconsciously a different thing to excel at. Which could be being bad. It gets attention just as much.
Your daughter is unique. To herself. She is not her sister. They will be entirely different. Develop her character. Which is more than school grades. Develop her confidence which sounds as if it is in need of some boosting.
And encourage too, your older daughter to respect the younger. Lest older thinks she is the bees knees and younger sibling less in so many ways. That thinking will go on into adulthood.

for me IQ testing is just pattern finding which I’m extremely good at.

it doesn’t mean anything much I’m sure of it

Ha. Exactly the same!

How strange to mention a child's I.Q. (Was it MENSA tested?)

100 is average, so 119 is not genius level. Mine is 145 but it doesn't make me particularly well-educated, just logical.

It sounds to me like you are putting way too much pressure on her at year 9.

For the record my DS is in a Grammar too, he's in year 11 and his mock grades were between a 3 and a 7. He did zero, and I mean zero revision.

He knows he needs to step it up a bit, but we have taken all pressure off. He does not want to stay in 6th form as the subjects are so traditionally academic & he is not! he's very outdoorsy. He knows what course he wants to do in a college (T Level) & also knows he only needs 4 GCSEs at grade 4 or above so there is very little pressure on him.

Maybe see what she wants to do in the future and see what she needs to get there. Not everyone at a Grammar has to go to university.

Edit, wrong thread.

WHat on Earth

a) that’s a mediocre IQ to brag about
b) she’s a child leave her be. She shouldn’t even need to know her IQ
c) my son was IQ tested at school, was genius apparently (!) and left school with no qualifications
d) teens are generally unmotivated when they are an average teen. They just are. It’s ok. They are kids.

Exactly this. Poor girl. Boost her confidence in anyway necessary and take the pressure off. You're making her life a misery for something that in the greater scheme of things is not the be all and end all.
An IQ of 119/120 is great but not amazing. She won't necessarily find all the learning easy, may struggle anyway with the academic pressure and being in the shadow of her sister.
Think about her welfare before her results.

An IQ of 119 isn't that super stellar is it?
Everyone in my family's is over 140 and not one of us got all 9's or A's at GCSE/O level.
Several went on to get PhD's.
Leave the poor girl alone.
Give her space to grow.

Getting your children's IQ assessed and using it to tell them what they should achieve in their GCSE's sounds like a lot of pressure is being put on them.
How was is assessed? There is a lot of criticism around IQ tests and it only assesses one type of intelligence. IQ isn't going to be a solid indication of how someone will do in their GCSE's, especially those subjects outside of STEM.

You need to calm down and certainly not push her to do a set time of homework a night. Just tell her to get the work school set done, study for each test, take each day by day. Education is a marathon not a sprint and the start of GCSEs is a time to put in place good habits and not overwork her.

Our selective grammar school focuses on attitude not results. If you have a good attitude, work hard do your best the results will follow. It's not helpful to be thinking I have to get all 7s or all 9s. Just work hard do your best.

I agree with others that IQ score is not really relevant.

What is the school predicting for her GCSEs? Their expectations I presume are general rather than specific?

She could well be managing your expectations and fearing not doing as well as others in her class or her sibling.

I would sit with her and have a chat about what she wants to do going forward. A leves? Degree? Specific career? Depending on that it might be worth showing her that working hard at her GCSEs will be of benefit.

Whatever at least one PP says, if she gets all 5s she is unlikely to do well at A level, sorry; colleges and sixth forms will often be happy with a grade 6 in an A level subject (often 7 for some such as science, maths and MFL) but not 5.

But OTOH grade 5s at GCSE can lead to a college course which may be what she would rather do. Is her school quite high pressure? Is she feeling that and reacting against it? Or is she genuinely out of her depth?

I think the first thing to do is ease off the HW pressure and talk to her about her hopes and plans. If she wants to study medicine she will need higher grades. But there are lots of other avenues which don't need all 7s 8s and 9s.

ETA: I meant to say, if she passed to go to the grammar school, she is clearly able. That probably means she has the basic ability to gain high GCSE grades – but she has to have the confidence and also the will to do it. Your job here is to encourage that if you can.

It’s not really relevant but why didn’t she do SATS? My DD is y9 and her cohort all did their SATS @redange

My youngest is year 10 and worrying she won’t pass - she’s predicted 7s! I’ve decided to ignore grades and focus on encouraging her to learn the work and try her best then just see what happens.

Half way through year 9 is very early to be thinking about predicted grades. IQ won’t really come into things either.
In terms of choosing GCSE options - of which there aren’t that many because most subjects are compulsory, and the remaining few will have some restrictions, eg at least one of history/geography etc- she should just choose subjects she enjoys (assuming she doesn’t perform terribly in those subjects).

You need to chill out. If she’s performed well academically so far, that’s likely to continue as long as she puts the work in. If she’s been average, she’ll probably continue to be average. If you fear she has some friends leading her down the wrong path then have a talk to her about that.