DS GCSE notes are almost useless

What does your son want to do after GCSEs, OP?

mocha70
Not only that but a 9 isn't an A*. It's not a 7 is an A, 8 is A and 9 is A**.

The same % of students will get 7-9 as old A/A. It's more like a 7 is a low to mid A, the 8 is a high A to low/mid A and the 9 is the top of the A*. It's going from 2 grades to 3. Same for 4-6 being the old C/B. The divisions have changed to make a distinction between the very top few %.
I must admit I don't like comparisons to the old grades because they don't really map across brilliantly and they don't account for changes in specifications.
Plus I can see MN in the summer where people are increasingly driving themselves potty over DC being predicted a 9 when a 9 is norm referenced and changes each year and no school can actually predict a 9 without being daft.

And I sat again, as a teacher, this advice is not correct. Best bet is to download the specification, get a cgp revision guide and workbooks and sign up to mygcse science which has really good advice and work aimed at higher grades. Text books are quite difficult to pick out the actual crucial facts needed.

Revision Guides give summaries, not all of the detail.

Particularly in essay based subjects, they can be a useful resource, but those alone are unlikely to get you the top grades. They are intended to be used in conjunction with other resources - so your exercise book which should have more detail, or your past papers you've done for end of unit or year tests or mocks.

Effective revision for most involves some form of note making - it can take all kinds of forms according to the learner, but returning to information and producing some kind of revision documents is really helpful. Top grade students often produce what are sometimes called 'super notes' - they might be asked to do it, or do it off their own backs and have no idea that it's 'super note making' - quite simply returning to text books and reading the whole chapter and summarising key themes and evidences. You could do this from a revision guide, but it doesn't have the detail that a text book will have.

Schools which don't provide text books I think seriously disadvantage their top students. I know it's all about money and they can't afford them, but for those who could get the top grades, the level of detail in a text book is really useful. I've often known good students or their parents ask teachers or students in schools that do use text books, which are good and go out and buy them....it can make a big difference and is absolutely not the same as using a website.

A revision guide is probably enough to get you a pass if you use it well, but for the higher levels, I'd say more is needed.

I'd query with his teachers why his books are in such a state and what they suggest he uses for revision and what school will be providing.

Bertie that's very interesting, I strongly suspect DD has undiagnosed ADD. I think perhaps she finds revising from a textbook easier than organising her own notes.

AlexanderHamilton

The following is taken from the Ofqual website:
"How do the new grades relate to the old ones?
We have designed the grading so that there are comparable points at key grades. The bottom of a grade 7 is comparable to the bottom of the old grade A, the bottom of a new grade 4 is comparable to the bottom of the old grade C, and the bottom of the new grade 1 is comparable to the bottom of the old grade G. We have been clear to employers, universities and others that if they previously set entry requirements of at least a grade C, then the equivalent now would be to require at least grade 4."

They also use a table to illustrate this in their blog but it hasn't come through when I have tried to paste it. The government have used the terms good pass (5) and standard pass (4) but it doesn't mean that a standard pass ie. 4 is lower than the bottom of a C in the old GCSE.

Odd. I never took notes in secondary and had no idea what you were supposed to do for "revision" - the revision guides were enough for me and I got good grades. Not top but good. I didn't learn how to revise until university. I think if you're exam minded you can coast through like this. I did have undiagnosed ADHD, though, and that was probably behind the chaotic state of my schoolwork.

My DD lost her science GCSE books a couple of months before her exams (claims teacher lost them) and revised totally from revision guides. She got a B which I reckon was a fair reflection of her ability.

She also had no teacher for the last of terms in textiles and hardly any notes (teacher was ill) and bagged an A using the revision guide, though her coursework was very good.

Yes her school was pretty crap.

On the OfQual table although 4 is classed as a pass (with 5 a good pass) it is between the level of an old C/D grade (low C high D)

Crosspost.

Sorry yes, don't know why I put that! But aren't 5/6s B/Cs (which would be great at DD's school but maybe not that impressive at a grammar school)?

alexanderhamilton - 4 is a C not a D!

9 = A**
8 = A*
7 = A
6 = B
5 - B/C
4 = C/D
3 = D/E
2 = E/F
1 = G

ish

A reasonably able child should be able to get high grades with revision guides and practice questions imo it's totally doable if he's atteneded all the lessons and paid attention.

There are so many learning and revision resources available outside of schools nowadays that your own notes aren't necessisarily a main source of information

You have the grading the wrong way around waspnest. 9 is highest grade, 1 is lowest!

Well yes Traalaa I'm a bit puzzled as well. We're not in a grammar school area but do have two grammar schools not too far away (one for boys, one for girls, huge competition to get in etc). They pride themselves on their A/A*s (1/2s) so I imagine they'd be piling the pressure on if a child was predicted 5/6s - I don't really understand the 'very happy chap' bit (maybe the OP was being sarcastic?)

OP, no real advice (my dd isn't at that stage yet) but have you talked to the school about this and got their view?

Just as an aside, how on earth has he got to year 11 in a Grammar school, with the teachers not realising his note taking/ books are so poor?!

Pmd you

It really depends on the subject I think
DS has just done his GCSEs. He did double science based on the CGP books rather than his notes.
History and Geography used his notes as they are much more board/syllabus/school specific so harder to get generic revision materials. I mean there are many options for modules etc, and with geography field work will depend on what the school actually did.
Maths was loads of past papers.
Still not sure how he passed French - you obviously don't need to be able to speak it.

I would certainly recommend getting his books and files in order - it gives a starting point.

My DS was not much good at online revision sites - too easily distracted!

I too like CGP books. I was told BBC bitesize is not for getting the higher grades.

Also just reading is not an effective way of learning. He has to do something with the information in order to learn: mindmaps, notes, example questions. There is always time to put in work to improve his grades. I agree with starting now and not just cramming for exams at the end.

YouTube has lots of teachers/tutors doing excellent videos for GCSE.

Depending which exam board, put it in the search. Ds1 is also year 11, he has used FreeScienceLessons as recommended by school, Mr Bruff and Mr Salles for AQA English Lit, Primrose Kitten also for science, you can download her entire revision guide for free. She is fantastic.

My son's school recommended CGP revision guides which have been fantastic. They were bought in bulk by the school and we bought them from them.

Best advice, each day he comes home, type up notes from that lesson. As I keep saying to Ds1, they are asking you to eat an elephant, it is too big to eat in one sitting, but taking a bite every day is doable.