Has anybody got positive stories of gcse results after woeful mocks?

It’s not lack of revision- your son froze in his exams and didn’t write anything. Honestly- stop worrying about grades and address his mental health.

DS got 2s, 3s and I think a 1 in his mocks. He decided to bin 2 subjects that he didnt need and wasnt interested in, started to study for the first time ever and passed the 7 GCSEs that he wanted to pass. He got 4s and 5s but was glad he passed, Sounds like your DS is starting at a higher level and I am sure he can achieve the grades if he is sty=udying 3 hrs a day. My DS probably did about 6-8 hours a week.

Hi. My son last year was in a similar position. He was getting mainly 4s. In the easter holidays I sent him on a Justin Craig revision course for most of the bad subjects. Although they may be quite costly I can say its definitely worth it. He came out with 6 sevens 1 nine and 2 sixes

I got a D in my English Lit, C in Language at mocks (GCSE) then got an A in Lit and A in Language ( back when A was top!) Then did the same with Physics at A-level - D then an A. I believe to this day that we were marked way harder at mocks than was required for the real thing - encouraged us to work that bit harder, and it worked (well, for physics - I actually gave up on English and just stopped caring, and that actually worked... Too many years of being told how to think!! Not saying it will work for everyone though!)

Dd got a 2 and a 3 in English language and literature mocks.

I panicked and hired a tutor. Tutor looked at her mocks and said they were more of a Level 5 (and tutor was also an exam marker).

She had an hour a week between jan and May. She got 8s in both.

Is a tutor a possibility, might help with exam technique, what to revise, etc. But I think past papers are important.

my daughter went to king Edward boarding school and she did not pass her GCSE last year I blame school for failing to support her all she did was athletic for school.I have requested school to send me her mock results and her predictions grades but the school has refused to send them. what can I do as I desperately need them.

Hi, so I did my GCSEs 2 years ago and I'm now on my last year of A-levels. When I did my mocks my grades weren't what was expected at all! However teachers were able to use this to know what I should and shouldn't be revising, what I could improve on whether it be exam technique etc. Most students improve by atleast 1 grade from now to June. GCSEs are stressful but they're not the be all or end all. You can resit etc. My friend failed every single GCSE and she resat and is now on her first year of a levels. Try not to stress your kid out and be supportive as you can. Teachers tend to put revision classes on over Easter holidays etc and sometimes after school. Obviously your child is very capable by his predicted grades but be supportive as you can and he will do amazing in the summer! X

Me!
It's a good 15 years ago now, but I went from Cs and Ds to As and A* in everything. I did it through flash cards and memorising facts.

My daughter is very quiet in class, so half the teachers probably didn't think she existed. She was predicted mostly C's and a few Bs. No As or A*. Didn't get any Cs and only 1 B.

(Rest were A & A*)

I honestly think you need to stop worrying, OP. He got a 7 in
the subject he needs an 8 in, so perfectly on track. And perfectly on track, if I understand you, for enough 6s for 6th form. His mental health is fragile. Good enough GCSEs are perfectly fine.

Past Papers

They are an absolute game changer. I didn't realise this until I went back to study as an adult, but they are so helpful. Also, with textbooks, focus on the practice questions rather than wading through swathes of information.

It might be helpful to have a chat about using the past papers and practice questions to identify weaker areas so he can work on those - I have a tendency to subconsciously focus on areas I am relatively good at and skim over the areas I should be focusing on. Past papers made me be honest with myself about where I needed to focus my time.

Khan Academy have loads of great videos which are free to use, I found their maths and science ones really helpful.

As my name suggests I am a teacher of Maths, nor sure how that went for him in the mocks. But what I do know from years of experience is that it never comes together until the last few weeks maths wise as at this point he probably hasn't learned 30or 40%of the content. I tutor one to one with students and I work in schools. The best practise is lots of past papers which the school should be giving him. If he's edexcel then I recommend a revision guide called practise papers plus it's blue and white not to be confused with past papers plus. They are similiar. Available on amazon. This is a set of 2 sample mocks with answers and complete worked solutions for the math gcse and I buy them each year for my pupils. It's green for foundation if he's maths foundation but I didn't think he was from reading your post. Pearson that is the board who writes the edexcel gcse also sells revision cue cards on amazon and I recommend these as you can revise 1-2per day and then shuffle. Definately get these and make sure they match the board of his study aqa/edexcel etc, this will save him hours of making summary notes and contains all the key points. Think they are maybe 7 quid and you sell them on later. The real key is starting early on which you are doing and little and often. Also a website called Corbett maths has instructional videos on all aspects of the gcse and is suitable for all boards. They have worksheets and practise materials with answers. I recommend him doing the 5 a day programme from this website at a higher level to build up his core skills. I can't comment on other subjects but hope that steers maths in the right direction. Best wishes and good luck. X

Yes, I have a positive story for you. My son is very bright but was totally lacking motivation for GCSEs and his mocks did not go well. He attended a state funded grammar school and needed to achieve a minimum of 5 x A/Grade 7 in order to stay on for sixth form. His mock grades were nowhere near that and his worst grade was an E for IGCSE Chemistry. We all knew he could do much better.
The mocks served as a wake-up call for him. He realised that if he wanted to stay in sixth form with his friends then he needed to work and we got him a Chemistry tutor.
The result was that he got a A* in his Chemistry and did well enough in all his subjects to stay at school and his lowest grade was a 6. He then went on to get AAB in his A levels and has just gone to Warwick University.
So, yes, it is possible to turn things around, but you need to find a motivator.
Hope things go well next summer.

Coming back to his A levels again, is he actually just planning to do 2. It seems a mistake to only do 2 A levels if he is really good enough at Maths to do FM. He will need 3 A levels for most uni courses but with good results in maths and further maths plus one more he would have a lot of great options in STEM related degrees. What about physics that will use his maths skills, or computer science if it's offered he would probably enjoy that and I believe you can take it even if you didn't do the GCSE.

My DS got 2's and 3's.. still yet to hear other grades but I don't hold out much hope as his revision techniques were severely lacking. I'm obviously quite concerned, but I've come to the conclusion that helicoptering and micro-managing is going to cause him more stress. So I'm buying revision guides/cards/planner and shoving them in a cupboard until new year. Yes the exams are important but not the be all and end all. Even at what your DS has produced in his mocks would be a respectable end result and above average. So I think the most important thing here is that his mental health is taken care of and that he's resilient enough to handle the stress of the real thing, as he clearly has the ability. Our school freely admit that mocks are tougher than the real thing and are used as a wake up call. Most pupils in previous cohorts went up several levels in each subject. Preparation is key and I suppose the good news is we still have 5 months left to get them ready for the real thing! I'd maybe look into teaching him some CBT techniques for anxiety as well, as at this point may be more useful than focusing on study material.

The first thing to do to relieve the worry is to stop talking about grades. Focus on improvement and what they need to do to get better. The score creates stress, if you work solely on learning it will take some pressure off. Measure success by understanding of a new topic. I have regularly seen 2-3 grade improvement between Jan and May.

Hi
I'm a secondary school English teacher and would definitely recommend taking these mocks with a pinch of salt - the main purpose of them is to simulate the actual GCSE setting so students have a clearer idea of what it's going to be like for real and hopefully eliminate silly exam stress related mistakes (like answering on the wrong literature text - happens every year without mistake). I don't mean to suggest they eliminate exam stress but will help, as I say, with these sort of mistakes.
Secondly, the exams are condensed into a week (usually) so are much harder in terms of preparation - actual GCSEs are spread over a month or so.
Thirdly, although teachers obviously want students to ace the mocks, they are preparing them to be 'Exam ready' for June - not November/December when they're really only a term out of year 10!

There are loads of things to be done between now and June including finishing all the GCSE courses, studying exam technique in greater detail and in-class revision, all of which will contribute to better performances in the real thing - mocks are like a dress rehearsal done 6 or 7 months before the performance-useful but nothing more than that.

If I can be of any more help them please just ask!