Year 8 summer exams in 2 weeks

We have a timetable. Definitely not just maths. The first week is non-core subjects, the second week is the really heavy stuff - 2 exams each for History, Geography, Science, Maths and English.

Well I asked him and he said "just Maths!"

Off to scour the school website to see if I can spot anything more!

We got an emailed timetable from school.

Dd has Music, French listening/reading, French speaking, French writing, English Reading, English Writing, 2 maths exams, Science, RS, History, Geography & ICT

So 9 subjects, 13 papers altogether.

Jungfrau I think all schools do the exams but they place varying emphasis on them. I am not sure I would have known about the exams if I hadn't spotted it in the school calendar online.

Unfortunately DS is at a state comprehensive who don't seem to be monitoring him or pushing him at all. He is in top set for everything that is set but is towards the bottom of that set so is neither he super bright nor a struggler hence being there forgotten middle. As he doesn't seem bothered or keen to put in extra work, nor sees the point of it, it's a very hard job to get the best for him.

Yes I thought that, though guess they are shorter. But even so - 14 subjects in a week is hard going isn't it?

Good practise for the future I guess.

Hulababy: ds had 14 exams in one week, which is a lot more close together than they would get in yr 11!

Ds had his yr8 exams in the penultimate week of last half term, so got his results back in the last week.

He also chose to selectively revise: choosing Geog, history, RS, sciences and languages as the main subjects that you need to revise for. Maths he's strong in (and you can't really revise for), English was unseen comprehension and unseen creative writing (just needed a bit of exam technique reminding). Music, art, drama you also don't really revise for.

For those subjects he did revise he did about 4-5 hours per subject (but school, like a pp's, didn't let up on hwk, or he might have done more).

His results varied from 60-80% which put him in the middle of his (top) set. The exams are usually very hard with some of the papers being old GCSE ones. I think the concept and practice of revising a whole year's worth of learning can only be a good thing and don't understand while all schools don't do proper end of year exam-condition exams.

We have encouraged DD to revise, using a revision timetable, to get her into good habits. And because she has chosen to do so too. She is in a fairly academic school but it doesn't all come quick and easy for her tbh; she needs to a bit, little and often, some subjects more than others.

She uses her school books but we also have the CGP Key Stage 3 study books and some of the workbooks in core subjects.

DD started her Y7 end of year exams today. She had her first 4 today: Music, English. History and Drama. She is currently revising again as she has Maths paper 1, RS, French and Art tomorrow. She has 15 exams in total - urgh!

DD started revising 2 weeks before the holidays and then last week. This week she has revision to do each night, and also 1 or 2 revision slots during the school day.

She's been doing 2-3 subjects a night on average inc weekends, but did have a couple of days off completely last week.

I make by ds work because he is very much the top of his year (high school in grammar school area- long story!) and just being top doesn't mean he is working to anything like capacity.
(Oh, and I know he's top of his year because his teachers tell me he's the only one getting the levels he's getting, and we talk regularly about making sure he doesn't coast)

Silas unless they've forgotten everything on the syllabus then they don't need tor revise everything. It might differ from school to school but at DD's school they are taught to revise the things they don't know/aren't as confident with. So that's maybe only 20-30% or the syllabus per subject.

So from what I can surmise about reasons for revising hard for internal exams year 7 to 9
Covering / catching up due lack of organisation, poor teaching or poor understanding during the year - I assume that has just been noticed.

Fear of dropping a set / doing less than everybody else - similar ethos to tutoring for selective exams (not wanting to miss out on possibly better teaching) or a competitive child.

Good work habits installed (easier with a compliant or naturally hard working child).

Finally - time needed by an individual child for consolidation of concepts learnt over year - quantity may vary from school to school.

Jungfrau I think it varies, it's definitely not just private schools though. My DD is in our local comp and they do end of year exams in Yr7 and Yr8.

Errrrrr .... Yr 8 exams?!!!! I had no idea! Do all schools do them or just private?

Will be asking DS1 when he's home from school shortly!

Thanks TLOT. I have just ordered from Amazon.

Reading/highlighting has been shown to be one of the least effective revision methods.

Try:
Answering practice questions, especially for Maths.
Explaining concepts to someone else.
Making mindmaps (the artistic/visual children enjoy this).
Making flashcards, especially for vocabulary.

CGP do a little book called Prof. Gunning's Erudite Course of Fact Retrieval for £2.95. Explains a few techniques and is quite entertaining if you enjoy the CGP sense of humour.

Hi all. My DS starts his Y8 internal exams next week and I am still waiting for a timetable so I know which exams are when, which is really frustrating as I wanted to help him plan. He has been doing an hour a day over half term.

My big concern is that his school has not taught him any revision techniques, so he doesnt know how to revise. When I had exams I just kept reading the textbooks etc and then writing down everything I remembered, highlighting bits etc, but this doesnt work for him. He has done some online study but I am worried that online doesnt always equate to being able to remember things and write them down really quickly. All his home work is submitted online which doesnt help with his written work.

Are there any books available that teaches revision technique?

Well taking less than 5 hours per subject to go through his notes, make revision cards/spider diagrams/look at past papers/use some online revision quizzes doesn't seem excessive to me so I guess we will just have to disagree on that Hakluyt.

He could have just read his notes once, but not enough detail would have stuck - hence the writing of notes.

And there were still 10+ hours of non revision so he's hardly burnt out. There has been plenty of time to read and mess about in the garden. He hasn't seen much of friends, but then they were revising too!

Ds1 yr9 is at a super selective. His exams are next week and he did no some revision

Ds2 yr7 did about an hour over the last week for one subject he knew he is having an exam in. He is borderline top set for that subject and is hoping to move up next year.

Each child has done what they thinkhope is enough. I trust their instincts and think that if they dont do as well as they would like it is a learning curve.

I should point out that DS's school mark quite leniently; he got 75% for a practice source question and essay last term which was obviously written by an 11/12 year old. There's no 'dumbing down' though even in year 7 - you can see how the school achieves such good results by building up the necessary skills early on and most dc go off to RG universities.
If the op's son was moved down a set last year because he didn't revise then he clearly needs to do more - if he did revise then perhaps he is better suited to the lower set. Every parent I know underplays how much revision their dc has done - not the ones who score 30% though obviously!

"don't really understand that question. Are you suggesting that if you pay attention in lessons, there's no need to revised ever? "

No. I'm saying that a year 8 who pays attention in lessons and has been well taught should not need to revise for 4 hours a day over half term for internal exams.

Silas- doesn't he pay attention in lessons, then?

I don't really understand that question. Are you suggesting that if you pay attention in lessons, there's no need to revised ever?

OP, it really isn't my parenting. I'm not at all brilliant and wonderful, just lucky. Both DDs have inherited my brain, I remember things very easily and in great detail. The new-style terminal fact-and-essay based exams are really going to suit my DDs, just as they suited me in the day - but that is not to say that they are something I agree with as a good test of what someone has really achieved. The kind of fact retention I am capable of has been useful in quiz shows (though it didn't help me win the Weakest Link), but that's about it.

I do think DD's school supports her very well, she is in a set with very able children who are all ambitious and want to learn - makes it easier for her, her teachers and for me. Again, just that bit of luck.

My sister was very, very different at school and my parents really struggled. However, she now runs a livery and teaching yards and earns £multiple of what I do, so go figure.

Well I dont remember facts that I first learnt last November without a recap so I don't see why he should. He knows the general themes and concepts but wont have remembered dates/equations/latin names for biology etc. Some subjects use old GCSE questions for exams even in year 8, so he is expected to know quite a lot of detail. He will have had to work harder at his languages than his maths, but I'm not sure him learning to work hard is a bad thing.

But maybe he just isn't as smart as your children Hakluyt ?