Help ! Really bad science gcse mock results

the school seem to be making up their own grade boundaries. For last years Combined Science paper see link 20% would be grade 43 if he obtained that mark across all 3 subjects'
Link for AQA here [https://filestore.aqa.org.uk/over/stat_pdf/AQA-GCSE-GDE-BDY-JUN-2019.PDF]

Thanks @TreeClimbingCat I have sent your MARK thing to my DCs who are doing GCSEs and A-Levels.

This will vary by board and by cohort (and of course your school might have used its own mock papers which are easier or harder than real exam papers) but based on past results, roughly speaking you need to look at 25% or more for a 4-4, 35% or more for a 5-5 and 45% or more for a 6-6.
That's across the total of all 6 papers (2 for each science).

The two crucial points IMO are the boundary for a 4-4, below which a student will get a "U" (which is actually what OP's DS got in mocks) and the boundary for a 6-6 (which is where it makes some sense sitting higher rather than foundation).

OP, as others have said, you need to asap work out "why" your DS is scoring as he is and consider how much this can realistically change in the next 3 months.

I had this with my DS. I basically did his whole revision plan, bought revision books and planned chapter by chapter, and printed out loads abd loads of past papers which I marked and went through with him.

It's he past papers that cracked it I think although the knowledge needs to be there from the revision books.

I also had to actually physically sit with him for the entire thing too which was exhausting and hideous for both of us but he has ASC and ADHD so you may not need to do this part of you know he will crack on with structure and direction.

He ended up getting 100% in a few of his final papers!

The school are inventing all the individual subject grades if he is doing combined.
Agree with all the revision suggestions but honestly he needs to do foundation, with all his other subjects as well to work on he is really unlikely to improve from 3 2 to more than 5 5 ( max on foundation)
Seriously you need to tell the school he will be doing foundation, and repeat what is mentioned up thread, a 5 5 is much better for him and their results than a u.
No one will ever know whether he sat FT orHT after the event.
Go on the aqa website and look at the difference in the two tiers of papers.

If he got a 1 in Physics surely he sat the foundation paper?

I'm guessing the school would have "invented" a 1 if they don't generally offer foundation.
on the basis that you only need about 25% for a 4 on the higher paper, he must have scarcely got any marks at all. That's why so many posters are suggesting moving to foundation might be better!

If he got a 1 in Physics surely he sat the foundation paper?

To all the above advice I would add that he needs to revise by answering questions from memory then checking his answers against those given. Lots of revision papers out there. As a science teacher I can tell you that revising simply by reading the texts is a very poor method

He ideally needs a 5 at science particularly biology to do psychology a level
OP for Combined Science when pupils receive their actual results they are not given separate grades/marks for Biology, Chemistry and Physics. So the particularly Biology isn't relevant.

TreeClimbingCat I'm a science teacher and I have found that very useful. Thank you!

I'd be asking questions about what happened between the 7 in a test and the much lower marks in the mocks. Was the test just much easier? If he knew the material for a test "not revising" is not the whole answer, as he should have retained some of the information.

My DS is getting 4s on highers but very solid 5s on foundation. The depth of knowledge and ability to apply it required is much less for foundation than higher.
The advice from school is that he is probably capable of 6+, but unless the science is really needed he might be better just "banking" the 5s for foundation (to be fair, DS has considerations outside of science which will feed into this decision) rather than risking no grade at all. At first I was horrified by the idea that he might get a lower grade than he is capable of, but actually have come round to thinking this approach makes a lot of sense. Will anyone really care in the future that he got a 5 and not a 6?

I can't help feeling that OP's "we don't do foundation" stance is primarily for the good of the school, not the good of the student.

Results don't state the tier, just the grade, so 4, 5. If he's going to get a U that will look a lot worse than 4-4 (which could be higher anyway).

OP don't take this badly but my Ds2, who is strong in science, said he looked at a foundation paper and it was genuinely much easier. It might be really helpful for your ds to do foundation. Please have a look at some papers with him.

@teenplustwenties. Perhaps it is in pet because they wouldn't want to report taking foundation in their results, as not being aligned with a selective intake?

At my DS1's school they do the sciences separately so they can just do two and I think one boy who was struggling generally may have dropped to one, so he was only doing 9 in total

But I agree that a double or quits approach may not be very helpful in this case

Vino ok if he needs the science is there other subjects he could drop or not focus on? I think kids have to do far to many different subjects for gcse and should be allowed to drop ones in Year 11 that they realise aren't really relevant to the next stage of their lives.

Another one to second mygcse science, DC used it for revising his mocks. Its 25 quid for double science, it gave him a starting point and it’s well organised, his notes are a complete mess.

Does he need science for the next stage of his education/life? Unless he is thinking of going into a science based job does it matter?

There is a difference between "7 in tests" which might be more checkpoints that you've understood the topic, and what you will get in an exam (where you have to remember everything at once, cope with a longer paper and do potentially more challenging questions). He only got 4 in mocks even in his "better" subjects. I agree with PPs upthread that you need to understand "why" he didn't do so well (in all the sciences). Guidelines are that you shouldn't be entered for the higher paper unless you're likely to get higher than a 5-5. Do school think he is likely to get higher than a 5-5 taking his performance as a whole (including work in school)?

Yes Michael but what does 'don't do foundation' really mean?

I can see that if they have selective entry then they don't expect to have pupils who need to be entered to Foundation papers. But if faced with a student who is getting say 3s and 4s in tests / mocks, why not enter them for a paper with more straightforward questions?

And if that is the case, "revision" consisting of staring at his class notes or textbook will not achieve much

Most independents don't do foundation Pp - I didn't even know there was foundation for anything other than maths until recently, from MN

Some great advice upthread. I love the MARCK thing

He need to co-operate with you to establish where the problem lies. Does he not understand the content? Does he not understand how to answer he questions properly? Or had he just not memorised they material he needed?

A way to identify which factor apply would be for him to do a pay paper for each, open book, and for you to mark it carefully against the mark scheme. These are very detailed so you don't really need detailed knowledge to do this. Then go through them together. Also go through his mocks, but won't be as easy to really drill down without a mark scheme - conversation on the lines of "why did you only get 2 of the 5 marks" quite quickly deteriorate!

I am a fan of the cgp booms with matching exam style questions for revision - after every topic they should do the couple of pages that map and mark them. No way to hide then!

With marks like that I suspect he hasn't really got the hang of the content or at least not with the accuracy of answer language that is needed.

If you don't think he is going to get higher than 5-5 then Ofqual(?) guidance is to do Foundation.

Though if he's been getting 7s in tests he should be capable of Higher I guess.

@Vinobianco the ‘villain of the piece’, at this point in time prior to the exams proper, is the physics.
What attainment grades for homework and end of topic tests does he usually achieve?