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

I think you want to strike the right balance between taking the pressure of and focusing on his mental health v using this time productively to fix the issues he ran into with the mocks.

A good timetable will be key and it sounds like he needs to focus on his revision materials. He could work on preparing these now and could also be looking into pre-prepared books and online resources.

Cosima. I think that is Primrose Kitten!

www.amazon.co.uk/REVISE-GCSE-Revision-Planner-Companions/dp/1447967828/ref=mp_s_a_1_2?keywords=how+to+revise+for+gcse&sprefix=how+to+revise&tag=mumsnetforu03-21&qid=1575622791&sr=8-2

You might find this book helpful.

I am a tutor. At this stage I would recommend revision study and work books ( CGP do some good ones). The study books have already done the work of condensing the syllabus into notes and he can focus on learning and practising questions. If you get a tutor I'd suggest you ask them to focus on study and revision skills that he can use in all subjects.
A way of managing anxiety is to draw up a reasonable study/revision timetable. Leave plenty of time for relaxation, hobbies etc.
Then get him to follow the plan, reassuring him he is doing the best he can, that he should just focus on working hard in the study times and then the results will be whatever they will be and that that is fine.
If you can reassure him ( and keep reassuring him) that it will still be ok even if he doesn't improve on his mocks ( though obviously he may need a plan B for his next steps but that's fine too), paradoxically that's your best chance of helping him do as well as he can.

Also, there is a woman on YouTube who has made videos explaining the whole curriculum for Biology, Physics and Chemistry, topic by topic in a really accessible way, specific to different exam boards. DS said he found it super helpful. I’ll ask him for the details later.

And whatever you do, don’t be apologetic to the school. Some of this is their fault. And consider other places to do A levels. Sometimes a change is a good thing.

OP The school should not be predicting 8s and 9s. Very odd! This doesn’t help anyone. It only puts pressure on pupils or, for those who could achieve those grades reasonably easily, it makes them complacent.

Also, I would say (having gone through this last summer) the mocks are nothing like the real thing - mainly because they’re all crammed into two weekls with two exams per day being the norm. The real GCSEs are much more spread out and less intense, so they have time to re-focus in between subjects. DS was much calmer in the GCSEs than the mocks.

For instance, Physics was the very last mock DS did and he was exhausted and had a headache. He got the equivalent of a 5, based on that.

He was in a total flap about maths because he’s in a very academic independent and he was in the second to bottom of ten maths sets! All his friends are mathematicians basically and he always felt as if he was the odd one out. He was worried that if he didn’t get a 7, they wouldn’t let him do A-level Economics.

We had a few meltdowns, but we never talked about 8s and 9s because, to be honest, it was a new grading system so nobody really knew what to expect anyway. In the end, he got ten grade 9s and he couldn’t believe it. He said, “I got the same as all the really clever people.”

The school later revealed that they mark the mock papers down. They don’t predict anyone 8s or 9s (even though about 85% of the school’s grades are in this region) because they know this will encourage students to cruise for the last six months.

It’s very stressful, I know because you want to help them. As a pp said, six months is a long time. Maybe a tutor for a specific subjects he’s panicking about could take some pressure off you? Otherwise, just try and get him into the habit of maybe doing 9-12 study over Xmas and then go out / have something fun and relaxing planned for the afternoon. Keep reminding him that this is all just a moment in time and it will pass. Once he gets to uni he won’t even remember these grades! I always reminded DS that anyone can do a GCSE at any time - you just send in the form and you can do a retake if need be.

My DS did terrible in his maths gcse - he failed. He still got into uni though.

He was dreadful at revision. I've heard someone since say that revising is a skill that needs to be taught, in itself. I'd not thought if it like that, even in my own life.

I'm sure there will be a wealth of information on the internet now, YouTube even, on good studying techniques.

Also - he has got loads of time. He doesn't need to panic yet. If you can find a way to get him to let go of any expectations that will help I think. School should also be laying off the pressure as PP have said.

Small chunks is key. DS focused on one small thing at a time, indices / respiration / electrical circuits etc. The revision guides are nicely split by topic like this. Learned it by whatever means suited him. He liked telling me stuff, we would have conversations about topics. He liked being quizzed and liked quizzing me (good opportunity to big him up by doing worse than him - his confidence was very low). He definitely was not able to sit in his room alone for hours and do useful revision.

Then tried some actual GCSE questions and went through / discussed the answers and where points were lost. Tried some more. Eventually he started to do better on questions about that topic. Big hoo hah and praise for getting 80% or whatever on a real GCSE question, doubts began to fade. Repeat. This was our experience. It involved lots of time and effort from both of us and was not all plain sailing but it got him from feeling shit about his prospects to feeling good and doing well. It was bizarrely a bit of a bonding experience also. After his last exam he said he missed revising with me - I'm afraid I couldn't say the same
It's tough with work and other DC. I am hoping that with the Y10 experience under his belt he will be a bit more independent and robust in Y11 but time will tell and I'll just have to do it all again if that's what he needs

Sorry OP, but it does make me cross. How can a school predict an 8/9 for a child who is so anxious he writes nothing in an exam? Had they been doing mini exams all last year? What work was the 8/9 based on? How on earth can he get an 8/9 when he does no revision? How do the teachers not realise that he's not done anything to assure them that he is an 8/9 student?

When you have your meeting don’t be steamrollered into worrying about the predictions. They only matter for the school, not him. Ask what they are doing about protecting his mental health. And ask about the 8 requirement. Why do they want an 8?

C in mock a in exam!

If you spend a few hours over christmas coming up with a plan then it really is up to him to do the work after that

There is only so much you can do.

Predicting 9s makes me cross!

He is not going to get a 9 in a subject he got a 3 in in the mock! You are aiming for a 6.

My DDs were convinced mocks were under marked to avoid complacency and make everyone buck up.

Could he drop to double?

I think you need to step in, download the subject specification and break down each subject into revision chunks. Use revision guides to do this. If he feels prepared he won't get so anxious. Why has he been doing no revision?

My DS is in Y11 but took some science papers in Y10 (Wales, modular GCSEs).
He got C/D in all of them in the mocks having not revised properly ("I read it through") but got A* A A in the real thing.
Key things for us were revision guides - definitely don't bother with text books and his own notes were so poor that he didn't bother with those either.
Past papers help a lot, ours were available on the board website. This teaches you how to get the marks, which was crucial. DS knew and understood stuff but was doing badly especially in Biology because he wasn't using specific terminology in his answers.
He had a revision plan starting in January - it was quite specific, not just "Biology" but an individual topic, would spend time revising and learning the topic, then would do some questions from past papers, then we would go through them together, then he would do more past papers. He needed a lot of help and encouragement.
Some things just needed loads of practice questions eg chemical calculations in chemistry. We ran out of past papers but I found some more questions online.
Be prepared to give up loads of your time if he will tolerate help from you. He will need lots of encouragement!

OK- if he wrote nothing then this isn’t about revision, honestly. It’s about his mental health. Is there a school counsellor he can talk to?
Incidentally, why does he need a 8 for maths?

Science is the easiest to revise IMO. So many apps and books out there.

Me! Estimated grades ranged from
a 4 to a 6. Then DS found Seneca online revision (by himself!) and thought it might help him. I paid for the subscription.

GCSE results were still a 4 for Rnglisg, but 7s, 8s and even a NINE for science!

Seneca is an online revision app that works really well for a teenage audience. Bite-size info, multiple choice tests and funny memes. He used it for hours every week, happily.

My dd gets anxious but only when she doesn't know it. He needs to do loads of past papers and get the revision guides.

A bit late now, but in sciences, if they really learn it as they go along then they don't have to do so much revision. Is he doing triple or double science?