Disappointing GCSE science mock results-how to improve in 13 weeks?

Past papers, past papers! They'll start seeing the pattern of the type of questions that regularly come up.
One of my DC went up 2/3 grades in a coupe of the sciences and 4 grades in another subject from Jan/Feb mocks. Hadn't done much in terms of past papers for the mocks (despite having been encouraged to do so).
Create a focused time table too...good luck!!

Glad to help, I just wish my own students took my advice! 😂

I would say to switch between paper 1 and paper 2, maybe do 2 from paper 1 then 1 from paper 2 to start with. It's probably been longer since he was taught the paper 1 content, and the exam will come first!

I would suggest to revise a section or topic, then answer exam questions JUST on that topic. If he looks at physicsandmathstutor.com it will break it all down like this for him. Then move on to whole past papers once he has done a good chunk of revision. It can be difficult for youngsters to see what they need to revise again from a whole paper. This focussed approach is easier to plan in on revision timetables etc. for each hour I would suggest 20 min revising the content using revision guide/ flash cards etc then 40 minutes completing questions, then 20 minutes marking them. The marking is the most important bit!!! This process can be sped up sometimes by not writing everything down when doing the questions, just thinking of the answer then seeing if they are right and only writing down the bits they got wrong or that they should have added in. They need to be quite disciplined and honest with themselves if they are doing this though!

This is obviously not the only way of doing it, and other may have different / better advice. But it sounds like you are both really on it, he's very lucky to have you supporting him!

My ds moved his gcse grades up a couple of notches from mock results.

We explained the difference between receptive knowledge (being able to understand it as you take it in) and productive (can recall the facts without prompting). He honestly thought that as he understood it whilst he was reading it or watching it that would be enough.

I tested him a lot in the sciences and he ended up with 7s from 4s in mocks.

OK, firstly leave triple alone and get him entered for double award. It is much less content to revise. It doesn’t matter if he is in a triple set, school can enter him in double award and any employer would rather see 7/8 than 5/6/6 or something similar.

CGP revision books are best. There are different ones, so have a good look and make sure you get ones for the right board.

Ultimately you can’t beat effective ‘active’ revision.

Get sets of topic-related question. Physicsandmathstutor.com is a great site for Physics and Maths. Try some, mark with mark scheme and then revise the bits you do worst in…..and repeat.

With, focus, he can go up 2 grades at least.

I seem to remember when working in a college that broadly speaking when students sat an exam they kind of went up a grade each time they did a test or mock exam but I was in Admin/Exams/Senco
But I'm a firm believer in doing past exams but would say do answer every question. Don't worry about how long it takes to answer one question - just do it to the best of his ability. As he practises and understands the type of question and how to answer it he will improve on the timings. By answering all the questions he is extending his knowledge and not merely choosing those he knows the answers to because he swotted for them. After doing a selection of test papers - just go back and start repeating them again. All this reinforces his knowledge and confidence. I'm sure he'll be fine.
Do make sure that he has the extra time he is entitled to for his Dyslexia - if he gets tired in exams - it is possible to build in breaks, and maybe a prompt if he tends to forget the time and go off on a tangent with a question. These allowances can make a huge difference to the eventual outcome.

Never going to take triple science because he wanted to do several languages and music GCSE.

Plus, had he decided to do science in sixth form, doing Combined not Triple wouldn’t have prevented this.

The act of writing rather than reading or reciting helps with memory recall so encourage him to make notes, flash cards, mind maps etc. My dyslexic/dysgraphia DS found that a slog though. His favourite revision technique is to talk through and explain a subject he has been revising - at dinner, in the car, even on phonecalls at university… 😂 Any chance he could get, again and again! TBH I think I remember more about his degree subject than mine so it does work 😂

With sciences, the WORDING of answers is SO important. Certain buzz words and phrases are needed to hit the marks.So study the mark scheme very very carefully when he does past paper

Agree with the above on flash cards and mind maps. dyslexia affects working/long term memory and may be an issue.

’mine was never going to’ - he did, didn’t he? Am I misunderstanding?

The Oxford revise revision guides are the best in my view (science teacher). A good mix of content, retrieval and exam practice! 13 weeks is enough to make a huge difference. Good luck to him!

A long long time ago now but I almost got a U (ungraded) in my maths mock after only gaining something like 5/100 on the higher paper.

I hated maths. I was capable but lacked confidence and would panic (my DD12 is the same unfortunately)

I was lucky that my father (although not qualified, and a terrible impatient teacher) has 3 mathematical degrees and he sat and literally drilled me through past papers for weeks and weeks right up until my exams

It worked and I got a B as a final result. It is possible to seriously improve BUT it involves serious effort and willingness to put the time in.

Plus of course exams aren't the full story - what's his coursework like?

We used the revision cards, like the revision guides, but ready made flash cards. Brilliant. BUT he has to actually do them.

Are school going to focus on revision from now on? If so, they will guide them through. Mine did combined not triple, he got 7/7 in mocks and 7/8 in actual GCSEs. In his school, only people judged capable of 7s were allowed to choose triple science. Mine was never going to as he’s a linguist and musician.

Revision guides and past papers were really useful as were school revision sessions. The sessions were often delivered by a different teacher from the ones he’d had in particular subjects. This was especially useful in some cases, giving fresh perspective to material/content

generally speaking, learning the content needs to come before spending too much time on the past papers. But he does need to do past papers once the content has been learned.
my-gcsescience is pretty decent - videos + MCQs. Goes deeper than cognito.
mrexham (youtube and website) is good for biology
flashcards / quizlet may also be good for someone who struggles with retention.

ideally, a few sessions with a tutor and a review of his past papers to see where he's dropping marks would allow weaker areas to be identified and targeted.

The benefit of making flashcards is you get 2 goes at retaining the info - the first when you make the card, and the second when you review the card in the week of the exam (ideally the night before). My DD is not a natural scientist (now doing arts & humanities A levels) but before each science exam last summer I went through her flashcards with her and it did seem to help (i.e. at least some of the info was still in her brain 12 hours later - small goals!)

Videos are not helpful as will give him the impression he knows the topic but he hasn't actually tested himself.

Past papers and then specifically revising topics he didn't know are best, revision workbooks are next best. He needs to be doing questions. Reading his notes or watching videos won't help much.

My dyslexic dd finds flashcards and mind maps the most useful things for her to try and get information in to her head. She will prepare a mindmap for a topic and then when she is revising she will make mind maps from the mind maps - they get smaller and smaller as more information is retained. Flashcards are useful as well to get information into longterm memory.

DS17 got underwhelming mock results but went on to doing well in the real thing.

Conversely, his friend did really well in the mocks but dropped a few grades in the real thing....

As long as he gets what he needs for the next step, that's generally all that matters in GCSEs.

Some schools give disappointing mock results with the belief that the children will try harder. Obviously some will just be disheartened. Instead of guessing have a chat with his teachers and ask where there is room for improvement