Any tips from those who’s kids got great GCSE grades?

DD1's teachers have given a very consistent message of getting into the habit of revising and consolidating knowledge throughout the GCSE course. From the beginning, make notes/flash cards or whatever it is that help you commit factual stuff to memory. Learn quotes. There's an awful lot of memory work, and it's much easier to do it on a little and often basis.

Ensuring that they revise properly for end of topic tests during yr 10 and 11 rather than thinking they know it because they have just done it. DS didn't do this in yr 10 but did in yr 11 and wishes he had done this earlier. Also doing flash cards for topics as he went along - again started in yr 11 but wished he had in yr 10.

If he's not done his options yet - having subjects you're genuinely interested in is a big help. DD would say she did 'hardly any' work for physics - that's because she spends loads of her 'spare' time reading books/articles about it, doing citizen science projects, etc.

If you find you're not so keen on a subject later on or find it harder than expected - exam technique can get you an awful long way. In dd's case that was French - she analysed sentence constructions that picked up marks, and just memorised lots of variations / vocabulary to use that would fit in lots of different contexts.

But as TheThird says, quite a bit of it is down to luck - in particular having a retentive memory and not getting stressed out by exams. I think it does help to make sure that dc know that really, the important thing is what you learn - the exams are just a measure of that, and if it does go wrong it's really not the end of the world, there are lots of options still.

Thats Mr Bruff not me brief!

Definitely work steadily all through Y11.

Have a good system for ensuring dc knows what to work on- d's did a red, amber, green on each topic for each subject. There is a lot of temptstionvto go over stuff that's comfortable!

Variety- use BBC, Me Brief, You Tube.

Help them organise a work space and a place to keep books and files.

I think Third has summed it up pretty well.

DS2 got good GCSE results: mostly 9s, the rest 8s.
I think his success was due to a combination of three factors:

1. Aptitude: he has a good memory, learns quickly and retains information.

1. Favourable circumstances: he had very good teaching and a supportive family environment.

1. Hard work: from the end of Y10 onwards he did a bit of extra study and revision every day, increasing the amount as the exams got closer.