Year 8 summer exams in 2 weeks

Not only is there a wide variation of the amount of revision needed between each child but also the expectations of different schools. I have for example seen a Year 7 history exam comprising nothing more than filling in a page with one word answers. DS1 has to revise four history topics to be able to answer short questions on one topic, a source question requiring evidence and analysis on another and a full page essay on the third. The fourth topic may be redundant but although he's been given a helpful revision booklet and guidance in class he doesn't know which topic will come under which section. I don't think 30 minutes revision will cover it somehow! He won't need to do much for maths though.

I do think the amount of revision needed varies between children - DD1 has a very good memory so doesn't need to do huge amounts, but not everyone processes and retains information in the same way. Last year she did a lot less revision and scored over 90% in everything, 95%+ in many of her subjects. She's lucky her brain is wired that way. And yes, she does work very hard in lessons, which helps. The other thing the school does is test at the end of every half term, so testing and revising has already become a habit. (non-selective state school)

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

DD1 has her end of year exams in 2 weeks (also Yr8) and she has been doing half an hour a day, rotating topics, with Saturdays off. The school is deliberately not setting any other homework, and they have revision time during the school day too, so she is doing quite a lot. I don't know how typical she is though, she's ambitious and conscientious, as are her friends.

I feel at her age it is up to her to work out how much she needs to do to get good results, she's definitely working harder than in Yr7 though. She's also selectively addressing her weaker subjects and spending more time on them - her maths for instance are very very strong, and IME you can't really revise for maths - you either know your stuff and how to tackle the questions put before you, or you don't. DD is spending a lot of time on History and Geography, because they're heavily fact-based, and on the sciences.

Ours had exams the week before the holidays - keeps the attendance figures higher, and stops them spending the holiday cramming or feeling guilty for not cramming, or forgetting everything... the tests are about how much you have LEARNED, not for how well you can revise old content, so I think the school has it right...

re the dropping sets and " the best teachers teach the best sets" completely not true at DD2s school . She got enough to be top set and was annoyed as they then split the top set and she just ended in the top half (not at stealth boast!) and "I wanted to be in the 2nd set as Miss X is just so very very dull" (the other teacher is dynamic and engaged).

All the way through for DS the best teachers have been lower sets. It's acknowledged that they need the push- the upper sets are more " guided"

I'm not sure how your children cover their syllabus if they only do 30 minutes a day.

He has 12 subjects to cover. He did do 4 hours a day Mon-Fri over half term, but less at weekends so probably 3 hours for 9 days. So that is 54 half hour revision blocks. With twelve subjects that is 4.5 hours per subject - and that got him through the syllabus. He does a combination of notes on cards and spider diagrams mostly, with some online revision and testing and past papers in things like maths.

He is at a selective independent and I expect he will score above 80% in everything and be in the top 25%. He is reasonably bright but not smart enough to not at least revise everything at least once.

I imagine this will go up to a maximum of 6 hours by A level, but assume he will start revising earlier and be more efficient at it by then.

It still gave him at least 10 hours a day not revising and we did have some trips out too. I know from last year (when he did a bit less) that he was about middle of the range for volume of revision done.

Definitely agree that Yr 8 is the year that time forgot.

DD has exams this week and I've told her that I don't mind how much work she does or doesn't do, but she has to live with the consequences. If all her friends do much better and she feels a failure, then that will be a hard lesson to learn, but better done now in Yr 8 than later on.

Not helped by her older brother who hardly opens a book and seems to cruise through all his exams, merrily telling her not to bother - Yr 8 exams aren't important. Frantic throat-slitting gestures from me behind his sister's back

My only concern as mentioned up thread, is that she may go down a set if she does badly through sheer laziness. But maybe that's the kick up the arse she needs.

My dd1 is 14 and just finishing S2 (y8 = but older as she started school later than in England/wales/ni).

She's had some testing but no formal exams, though since the timetable change to exam subjects 2 weeks ago there have been a fair few Nat4/5 past papers which was more to do with figuring out where everyone was at.

Rather than giving a week of formal exams while S4-6 are on exam leave, her school does "enrichment" activities (trips/events in school etc including involving current pupils in the induction events for the P7 group starting S1 after the summer). I much prefer this. As with the new Curriculum for Excellence in Scotland there's more varied assessments (very lucky to be a Gove-free zone!), it's great to see her being extended in other ways!

Frankly if a year 7 or 8 fails really badly in internal exams, assuming they've actually been to school and paid attention in lessons, there's something wrong with the teaching- either in the actual subject or in exam technique.

My year 8 did 30 minutes of maths every day over half term because I think he is coasting and needs to push himself a bit. I did have to pay him, though.......

My Ds (selective indie) has Y7 exams coming up. They were supposed to start revising before 1/2 term, but didn't let up on the homework so that didn't really happen. The school recommended 2-3 hrs a day over half term with 2 rest days. Ds was at scout camp for 5 days .... Exams next week. Oh well!

We had similar experience- left ds to his own devices for s1 Christmas exams. He failed miserably. We were lucky however, some of the best teachers take the lowest sets, and ds is expected to move up several sets. Some children get away with doing little revision, ds is not one of them. And not many get away with this right through school. The practices ds is getting into now will stand him in good stead right through to uni.

4 hours a day is ridiculous for year 8 internal exams. Utterly ridiculous.

My dd did about 5/6 hours a day and she is doing A levels!

Luckily for DS his exams haven't been too close to the holidays yet so any revision has taken up term time evenings and weekends.

My feeling at year 8 is that it's firstly not all that important and secondly a great opportunity to give him charge of his learning.

If he gets it massively wrong the fall is small and not insurmountable.

Sit down with him. Tell him what other boys do/don't do is immaterial. What grades does he think he should be achieving when he's doing his best? (if he's a solid average then you can't really expect to get 100% maybe?) .

See what he thinks he needs to do. Talk about covering all subjects and not just the easy ones. If anything start with the hardest in the " eat a live frog first thing and it's the worst that'll happen all day" mindset. Look at what he thinks is a good amount to spend and make sure he knows what will be tested.

Check he's got things straight in his head about what he has to do.

Ask him what help he would like and that if he needs more to say so. Otherwise leave him to get on with it with a light handed overview.

Trust him- that's hard. He may not need much revision. That's OK. THe results will tell him if he's done enough. Poor results- don't scream about them, sit down and revisit what happened and make notes of how things will be better next time!

My experience is that the kids know what they need to do, They have already got a guide to what needs much time and they get on with it.

Just to add that I would rather they spent the extra time reading interesting stuff that was n't part of revision if they were going to work that hard.

All these hardworking year 8s etc will I am sure go on to achieve great things but are they going to need to be working even harder for GCSEs and A levels? I am not alone in my experience of DC at very academic schools who have done fairly minimal revision for school exams during the holidays until year 10/year 11 and still done very well (I don't think the exams were particularly easy). This is nothing to do with brilliance of the child, just the norm. Is n't revising too much in the younger years overkill?

DS1 (Yr7 moderately selective indie) has been given a revision timetable of sorts. The school are suggesting between 2-4 hours of revision per subject; adds up to well over 20 hours in total. Exams are 45-75 mins long with 3 science exams and speaking and listening for languages as well as written papers. With past experience of prep school exams the amount of revision varies considerably between the children as do the results; 30% - 100%. Of course, if the exams are very easy then the spread of marks will be less noticeable. DC we know taking GCSEs and A levels this year have been revising since Christmas!

Also have a y8 ds starting school exams today. For the 3 weeks or so before half term they were told that they could do revision in tutor period on non-assembly days. DS always made sure he had a reading book with him so he didn't have to revise. He made a rough plan at the start of half term, and revised about 1 1/2 subjects on Wednesday/Thursday. I realised yesterday that that was all he had done, and had a bit of a moan, so yesterday he revised one of today's subjects (other is English that he claims he can't do any work for!). The rest he'll be doing each evening this week, plus they have a couple of private study periods (everyone is off-timetable for exams). So an hour or two per subject. He's done pretty well during the year and at end-of-topic tests, and has a good memory, so I expect he'll do ok if not brilliantly. I'm really not sure there's enough content to cover for him to have been doing as much as Silas's ds!

I think this is a really difficult stage with regards to how much dc are expected to do themselves, and communicate to their parents. We have had no communication from school about the exams- the dc are expected to be able to take the information on board themselves and pass it on- ds is at a selective independent. School is quite heavy in the subject of individual responsibility. Ds had a bad experience with his Christmas exams in s1, he did really badly which was a blessing in disguise. He's since pulled his socks up and is really quite conscientious. I do think by this stage they should be becoming a bit more self reliant, although I don't agree with the previous poster- I do think you can make them revise! It sows seem though that watching dc go through exams is way more stressful than doing them your self!

My yr8 has exams this week. We only found out because it was on the school calendar on the website. We weren't told by newsletter or anything formal at all. I think it is really shit communication as many parents do not just browse the school website (I do as I am anal and like to have everything in my diary!).

I have made him do an hour a day over half term but I have apparently been ruining his life at the same time.... apparently no-one else is revising at all.

We have only covered two subjects but they are the ones he needed confidence boosting in.

I am a mixture of shocked at the amount of work some on this thread have done and envious that the schools and kids seem organised and in control. DS is currently in top set for everything (state comprehensive) but struggling in a couple. He has really struggled with organisation and the school don't keep on top of them (it doesn't help that he has a largely absent form tutor so that end is crap).

We'll see how he gets on.

For Y8 exams, DS1 did about seven or eight hours of revision in total. In some subjects (Science, Maths, MFL) there's two years of work to cover, so similar amount of content to GCSEs.

DS2 has his Y7 exams this week. He has done a few hours of revision over half-term, maybe five or six hours in total.

Better to learn revision techniques now (what works for them, what doesn't) than leave it until Y11.