Tell me what is wrong with this GCSE revision timetable....

I would hazard a guess that most successful adults worked out their own revision timetables (or not!) at this stage.

Let you kid get on with it themselves. Your job is to enable them to be able to revise (quiet, space, resources, be on hand, support).

Not exactly a mom here, I just passed my GCSEs in 2019 and I got 2 grade 9s = A* , 3 grade 8s =A a grade 7 = A (which is currently being re marked fo see if i can get an 8) and a 6 = B and a 1 = F, i got the grade 1 in history as i was persuaded to take it but i did not like it and was not allowed to change subject, 6 was in english and the 7 was in geography and the 8s were in maths, biology, computer science, my grade 9s were in physics and maths.

I did not revise until about 3 weeks before the exams and I am not one of those students who was really good at stuff cause most of my predicted grades were 4s and 5s, some even being 3s. The point being is that revision at GCSE has almost no value, it will take the pressure off a bit but there honestly isn't much pressure anyway, I did 3 - 5 hours of revision per subject to get my grades (besides history) and i did perfectly fine, i know people who have done no revision and passed all of their GCSEs, just dont worry about it and dont force ur child to stick to a revision schedule as that is kinda cringe and they will not like it. It is better to just give them a guiding hand rather than doing everything for them cause if they want to go on to do A levels ( which I am currently doing) they will need to master their time themselves and learn how to plan, giving them that independence at GCSE let's them get used go it so it's less of a shock having to manage your free time all the time at A level. Unless you want them to get straight grade 9s which for reference a grade 9 is minimum top 3% and usually around top 2- 2.5% once the distro curve for Mark's and grades is worked out just leave them be cause GCSEs are super easy and schools always play up the importance of them but in reality they will be worthless after 2 years cause grades are decided on proportions in the year so if everyone that year is really dumb grade boundaries will be lower (this has almost never been the case as they always rise year on year) so just chillax and let ur kid do all the work.

Why not let them take responsibility for their own learning/revision?

We didn't get much back from the testing and school SENCO - very little on how to help with problems that sent our child to them. They did come back and say that there were memory issues - not enough to trigger extra time or additional help - but that revision would be an area of weakness.

I also want to avoid them panicking and doing nothing as it all seems overwhelming or going to peices in exams - as one of my siblings used to do.

Finding that balance between letting them take charge and making sure some things are actually done is hard.

DS1 is in year 10 at an academically selective independent.

We had a parents GCSE support session at the beginning of year 10. We were told they should be doing 90 minutes of revision every weekday evening in year 10 (plus any homework set - generally two per evening). That means going through what they've been doing in class, distilling it into revision notes to accompany their full class notes and making sure that they understand and have taken it in properly. That way, when they come to Year 11, they have a good set of notes from which to revise properly.

Your poor child!
What is wrong with it is they wont follow it because you made it. If they want to revise they should make their own timetable.
I never really understood revising, I either knew it and understood or I didn't. Memorising stuff doesn't help me so that would have been a waste of time.
I am a mature student now and I cannot work 5 hours in a row especially not on a weekend or every weekend.

I would say in general boys will need more help than girls. My DS needs help prioritising, he asks for help. I don't help him revise other than the language oral-he likes to practise and same with vocab. The rest is down to him, he will be getting help through the school but I am most definitely helping him with his revision plan.
My other DS needs no help whatsover-so it is down to each individual child. Do what is right and what they ask for help for.

I think it's great you're being so supportive - not many parents would be as proactive! The idea in theory is good but will need tweaking in practice. Some subjects, for example the sciences, will need more revision than others due to the time needed to revise both content and then the application of it. You could be very helpful and print off past papers and mark schemes for your child to complete and then mark in the next session? This could be done in the Easter holidays as they should have covered the vast majority of content by then. Good luck with it - wish all parents were this invested!

Some kids can't organise themselves!

Some kids won’t organise themselves!

I’m a secondary school teacher and mother of three who’ve been through it. It’s a terrible idea. For a start you’re not the one doing the exams. Children need to organise themselves. Have conversations and encourage by all means but this is crazy!

Personally I think you should focus on learning yourself about effective evidence based study techniques, and build the plan around that having taught your kid how to effectively study. Check out Ali Abdal on YouTube - you want to research about spaced repetition and active recall. They are proven to be (by far) the most effective and efficient methods, giving you the most bang for your buck per hour of revision. Writing and rewriting notes and highlighting is basically pointless (has been shown to be so through many different studies), so don't let your child fall into the trap of doing this. If you can teach effective techniques then this is a skill that will benefit them hugely for the rest of their life.

Each child is different, of course, but mine wouldn't revise according to a schedule I drew up. He didn't do much revision at all at home, but did attend school revision sessions. The motivation has got to come from themselves. And if it causes stress at home then it's probably counter-productive anyway.

It’s easier in terms of revision if they give more weight to the things they don’t know and devise a timetable around that. Dd did this all by herself last year. But she was one of those kids self driven kids who could do it herself and she got v good results in the summer. She would ask me to test her on stuff a bit, but the support I provided was emotional rather than being involved in a practical way. Tbh this was a hard slog for me because she’s a blinking drama queen and it was no less of a test of my parenting skills.

Ds however (he has asd) needed practical help in organising a plan and found it hard to judge what subjects needed more time and I couldn’t see inside his brain to help him work it out . We therefore devised a more blanket approach at first ( much like in your first post) and it was based more on time attached to subjects and giving equal time to each. He needed direction at all times , did not really understand the concept of ‘revision’ and couldn’t have been more laid back about the exams . As time went on, we could see where he was likely to bomb and adjusted timetable. He did ok.. more of a range of grades.
So yes! - totally depends on the child and both experiences felt pretty hard going as a parent at the time.
Good luck!

As another poster points out we are all different. I “wing” it on holidays and book everything myself, others like a fully scheduled holiday. It’s the same with kids. Some need help and others don’t. Good luck if you have the 9 graded child but I don’t and mine need help leading to organise.

My son sat his 2 years ago. I think what you have done is fine. Our school (and all of my mum friends) said do a revision timetable so I wasn’t going to be that parent that didn’t. My son started after Feb half term holidays. He used study guides as the index. School didn’t provide any revision sessions so if I hadn’t helped him he wouldn’t have bothered. My parents didn’t / couldn’t help me but I can help my kids to have a good start in life. I think they need all the help they can get.

Schools can be slightly insane about these things - it would really concern me that making a child do 12 hours' revision at weekends and 2.5 hours a night from Year 10 onwards would either put them off completely or drive them into a breakdown. It's a basic principle anyway that revision is ineffective unless you have breaks at least every two hours.

I remember at one stage in my education we were told around a month after a course started that if we weren't already doing four hours' extra work a day we were doomed to ignominious failure. Fortunately, despite the fact that up to that point I was doing maybe half an hour extra and I never achieved the four hours at any point, I passed quite easily.

I actually didn't have a revision time table at all. I just picked what I wanted to revise, when I wanted to.

I study with Open Uni and they don't recommend studying for more than an hour without a ten minute break.

Personally my parents never set me a timetable. I was trusted to revise what was needed and if I failed it was my own fault. I passed everything.

If I was handed a study plan like that, that laid out all my down time for the coming months, I’d become incredibly demotivated.

Anecdotally, as the youngest of four, my parents had been through it all before and just left me to it. Their reasoning being that forced study wouldn’t make me study. I did very well. My best friend, who was in all the same top sets as me and an only child, was given a ridiculous regime. She missed out on loads of activities with her pals, became incredibly unhappy and resentful of her parents and did very poorly.

Why not let them take responsibility for their own learning/revision? I'm sure the school we be offering some kind of revision programme.

I'd be mindful of pushing revision, perhaps ask them to design their own TT, covering 20 mins, then a break. More than 20 and the brain is saturated.

I understand completely that you are trying to help, but you may find that the help is really resented. Perhaps encourage with good snacks and rewards if they choose to revise. X

I sat my GCSEs 2 years ago, and only started revising around Easter time. I still managed to achieve mostly 8s (A*). However, it is totally dependent on the individual. Personally, I found subjects such as English easy and didn't need to revise them (aside from learning quotes etc.) And focused on things I struggled with like maths. Also worth noting - grades received in the mock exams tend to be very different to the final grades achieved in the real exams. They use stricter grade boundaries on the mocks, so it is harder to get good grades. For context, I got mainly 4s, 5s and 6s in my mocks (C's and Bs) but only a few months later my grades were very different with honestly not much revision put in. Obviously I would recommend to revise, but perhaps talk to your child about how much time they want to put in and be more focused on specific things your child struggles with, to avoid burning out etc.
Best of luck!

Sost DD does qualify for extra time, has done since y7. Unfortunately that doesn't help with stamina for revision, and extra time is a double edged sword when you realise she will have a nearly 3hr marathon for English Lit. Just hoping she doesn't have another exam on the same day when the time comes!

No one needs 8&9s to do A levels. That has to be an in-school requirement keeping their A level results high! The only thing that seems to need an 8 is FM.

Sounds over-managing.
5 hours at the weekend?
My Ds1 is due to sit his GCSE's this summer too.