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Original poster

DD's mocks results are a disaster - what can I do now?

238 replies

Earningsthread · 18/12/2013 23:44

Art target grade A* - mock grade - A/B
Biology target grade A* - mock grade - C
Chemistry target grade A* - mock grade - C
English Language target grade A* - mock grade - A
English Literature target grade A* - mock grade - A
French target grade A* - mock grade - D
History target grade A - mock grade - A
ICT target grade A - mock grade - A
Mathematics target grade A* - mock grade - A
Music target grade A* - mock grade - B
Physics target grade A* - mock grade - D

This girl is talented. So talented that her English teachers in every year have told me that she is the most gifted student they have ever seen. But just look at those mock results. They are APPALLING. She is underachieving in every subject bar 2. What should I do? What can I do? There are only six months between now and the exams. The school thought she was an Oxbridge banker. I know my rebellious DD and knew she would not work. But there is not working and not working. THose mock GCSE results are appalling.

What if anything, can I do to help at this late stage?

OP posts:
wordfactory · 19/12/2013 21:37

I think a farrier might be specialist enough to offer a good living actually.

But some of the other mainstream trades are just too overcrowded IMVHO. And set to get much much worse. The world and his wife are trying to make a living there.

NigellasDealer · 19/12/2013 21:32

yeh me too quite honestly i have met 'brighter' people flogging lighters down Brixton market than in any university Smile

wordfactory · 19/12/2013 21:31

Well of course noddy. There's been a horrible recession and these young people have had the shit end of the stick.

But at the other end there are thousands of unemployed school/college leavers all desperate for an apprenticship/ a chance. Their situation is much worse.

Unfortunately the demise of public sector jobs means a huge gap in the middle (and consequent effect on anyone offering services to the middle).

There are jobs at both ends now. I know which end I'd rather my DC be in.

NigellasDealer · 19/12/2013 21:27

well my son's friend is doing fine with his apprenticeship and day release, earning £100 a week at the age of 16 and learning a trade. i would be delighted if son could find a place like this next year, and we know that these opportunities do exist. and daughter has already applied for an access to farriery course. btw they are all 'bright' Smile.

noddyholder · 19/12/2013 21:25

I know 4 graduates at the moment all with 1sts working in bar jobs etc for at least the last 18 months Worrying.

wordfactory · 19/12/2013 21:23

Sadly there are just too many young people attempting to become elcetricians and plumbers etc now that there is no manual labouring jobs.

Plus of course we have lots of tradesmen from the EU. Highly skilled and reasonably priced.

So many have gone out of business.

I would still say that abright young person stands a far better chance getting a decent education.

NigellasDealer · 19/12/2013 21:17

A good set of academics are becoming imperative if one is to have a life of meaningful independence
to be honest i would be delighted if my boy and girl trained up for a good trade, electrician for him, farrier for her. so they will need GCSEs of course, but at least they will not bankrupt me or go into massive debt.
And those few jobs offer terrible pay
open up your mind, a good apprenticeship will prepare them for a far more lucrative career than some random degree course.

wordfactory · 19/12/2013 21:17

I think it takes drive and determination to get a degree from a good university, actually.

And looking at the economy as it is now there are fewer and fewer opportunities for people to make the sort of money to provide meaningful choice that don't require good academics.

Them's the facts. Sadly.

monet3 · 19/12/2013 21:02

A good set of academics are becoming imperative if one is to have a life of meaningful independence.

I have to disagree, drive, determination and hard work get you further in life that Oxbridge degrees.

wordfactory · 19/12/2013 20:49

absolutely curlew!

It's a shame, but the UK at the moment offers few jobs for those without good academics. And those few jobs offer terrible pay. And frankly, I'd be shocked if tax credits last the next parliament.

A good set of academics are becoming imperative if one is to have a life of meaningful independence.

What can any of us do?

curlew · 19/12/2013 20:28

Everyone is going on about " a*s aren't everything " and all that sort of thing. Of course they aren't. But if you have the very specific goal of going to Oxford or Cambridge, then they are. And it would be a real bugger if, for whatever reason, this girl shuts that door for herself. She doesn't have to go through that door but it should be a choice - not a decision forced upon her because she didn't do the minimal extra work a bright student has to do to push up her grades.

GoByTrain · 19/12/2013 20:20

Yep!

mrscog · 19/12/2013 20:20

I think you're panicing over nothing - I got straight D's in mocks then a mix of As and Bs for the real thing with no revision. It's up to her ultimately but I reckon the school are trying to push her a bit. Plus, it's good not to peak too soon!

wordfactory · 19/12/2013 20:18

Goby did you apply post A level?

That's certainly one way round a poor hand of GCSEs. Certainly a bunch of A*s already bagged at A level would sway things.

GoByTrain · 19/12/2013 20:15

Reseat=re-sat (autocorrect)

GoByTrain · 19/12/2013 20:14

Fwiw, I went to Cambridge & had v similar grades - a mixed bag of As & Cs (no Bs) + 1D (reseat).However, I got good, ok excellent, a'levels & was passionate about my subject (so must've come across v well in interview).
I revised not one bit for my gcses & any nagging made no difference.
But that's me. As posters above have said, pl support your daughter (my mother didn't).

Golddigger · 19/12/2013 19:55

Senua.
Talk to her about the exams, her motivations, her dreams, try to find out what's going on in her head

This mainly.

How is she feeling? Clever? Upbeat? Downhearted?

LoofahVanDross · 19/12/2013 19:48

does your dd want to go to oxbridge? or op is it you who wants her to go? if the former then she will from now on know what is required between now and the summer. mocks are deliberately marked hard for the very reason to keep the student focussed. nothing you can do really apart from support and encourage her onwards. and remember it is that love and supp
ort thatwill spur her onwards.

HannahLaRouge · 19/12/2013 19:31

She still has several months until her actual exams - there's plenty of time for her to work. Plus her final results will involve coursework,not just exam results - maybe she isn't as strong on exams but has the potential to get her predicted grades when coursework is taken into account? And of course she won't have revised as much knowing that they are only mock exams. For what it's worth,I got nothing above a c in any of my mocks. I walked away seven months later with 4a*s and 6as in my gcses. I really wouldn't worry

WoodBurnerBabe · 19/12/2013 19:29

I was in the situation 18 years ago that 'everyone' said I was an Oxbridge certainty. Loads of pressure from school, tutoring for the interview, help with personal statement etc. it did work, Cambridge made me a 3 A's offer to study engineering. Sadly, I hated the interview, hated the ethos of the place and was certain I would hate the course.

My maths teacher managed to teach me the rest of the course without speaking to me after I turned the offer down in favour of Bristol. As it happens, I got 5 A's in my a levels, so would have be able to go.

I have never, ever regretted it :-)

RiversideMum · 19/12/2013 19:23

Motivation comes from within. Either your child is motivated to do well or she isn't. DH and I are in a difficult position, as neither of us did particularly well at school - I was bored rigid and he clowned about. However, we have tried to impress on our DC that doing well provides choices. You can do all sorts like limiting the network time their devices have, controlling the amount of socialising, offering cash for results etc. However, none of this will force your child to revise if they aren't interested.

goinggetstough · 19/12/2013 19:07

Although I totally agree with "Cory" and others about the individual needing to want to go to Oxford or Cambridge and that it is not always the right place for every suitably qualified student..... IMO this is not so much about the above but about a young person realising their potential. I can see why the OP is frustrated as the school appear to have inferred that her DD is capable of much more. I have 2 DCs who have now finished at school and for one I would have been over the moon with those mock results but for the other I would have been disappointed and so would they.
So IMO the OP wants our advice and ideas to help her motivate her DD so that she can realise her potential and then she has the options to do what she wants.
With regards to the science results past papers are online and so are the marking guides which can be very useful when revising. In addition to these my DCs found the examiners reports also very useful as they showed how pupils had misinterpreted the questions and what the examiners actually wanted to see in the answers.

cory · 19/12/2013 18:47

I was wondering the same as FrauMoose.

Before we decide what must be a disaster for a student with Oxbridge in mind, it might be worth asking if this particular student does have Oxbridge in mind.

The OP hasn't said what her dd wants.

The fact that the school have decided that she would be capable of it doesn't mean it would be the right place for her or that she has to want to go there or indeed anything at all.

When I was in Sixth Form I was told I should aim for medical school or law school simply on the basis of my grades, which were high. I kept pointing out that I had absolutely no desire to be a doctor or a lawyer and that I thought I would be miserable spending my life doing something I wasn't interested in, but the careers advisor couldn't get her head round the idea that somebody who was capable of choosing the most prestigious path might not actually wish to do so.

Oxbridge can give a wonderful education, but they do offer rather a specific learning environment and it isn't what everybody wants.

One of the brightest students I have taught in recent years did come from Oxbridge: she had started there because she undeniably had the right qualifications, but very quickly found that it was not the right place of learning for her, that she was not happy there and that she was not learning in the way she wanted. So she jumped ship and was much happier.

Kez100 · 19/12/2013 18:16

One thing - she was on a hiding to nothing. With predicted grades like those it was impossible to over achieve and difficult to achieve when you think she still has sixth months of study to do and a serious amount of revision.

I'd be asking about Science - were they given papers covering questions not yet covered? Maybe think about getting some revision resources to start over Christmas.

I'd try and get under the French result - what vocabulary is still to be learned? Again, can Christmas be of any use to work on this.

Otherwise, with more study, revision and the 'real thing' which tends to focus students for real, then I'd be delighted with the results.

FrauMoose · 19/12/2013 15:43

Well we know all about what the teachers want. And what the parent wants.

Has anybody asked the student what she wants?