Y11 2025/26… come and join

He absolutely will pass! Have you considered Easter revision courses maybe to give him focused and tailored support?

We had our parents evening yesterday. DS doing well 7-9s in all subjects except English. He has a grade 4 in English language and grade 3 in english Literature. His english teacher is so vague. I don't think we got any helpful suggestions for improvement. He said general things like reread whole texts and write with clarity. Nothing specific. We were sort of expecting that. Previously I have had a meeting with him where he has said only one sentence "he will pass." That's is it. Feeling a bit disppointed but DS says he will keep working hard at home. He is very motivated. And i told him not to lose focus on things he is doing well because of English. That is the most important thing.

That's a really encouraging attitude @ECT22

DD had to choose her subjects in November for her current school but she's really unsure and has about 6 on the table at the moment - Maths, German, Biology, Art, Economics and English. Then she's applied for psychology at a couple of 6th forms and history at one that has an interesting course. I'm assuming that revising and results will clear things up a bit, and hopefully there'll be some flexibility if she does decide to change.

Honestly, as an A Level teacher, I think it’s great when students do a variety of contrasting subjects. It’s a shame when kids lock themselves into (usually) STEM-only subjects when they have, say, a passion for English Literature or love of Spanish too. When actually, a maths PHD at a Spanish university, or a career in science journalism, could be in their future! After the sausage machine of GCSEs, what is the purpose of education if not for broadening horizons, loving learning, and opening doors to a whole variety of different possible futures?

Oh bless your dd. That sounds hard. You could speak to her Head of Year and ask them (or a trusted teacher) to have a gentle chat with her about looking after her well-being, and about making a realistic revision timetable so she doesn’t burn out. Maybe just some ‘permission’ from a teacher that she can take her foot off the gas a little, and will still be just fine, might help her to give herself some breathing space.

@TeenToTwenties, that's really good advice regarding the revision planning, thank you.

@UncomfortableSilence and @TeentoTwenties I know it's too much. She does exercise because she dances 4 times a week, but it means she has no down time, which worries me. She doesnt know what she wants to do after A levels, the one thing shes passionate about is her dancing/singing and i think deep down she wants to go to dance college but seems keen to "do the right thing", "study for a proper career". I keep telling her theres plenty of time for a proper career...
Do your DC know what they want to do?

@CaddycatThat all sounds like a lot for your DD. Has she any idea what she wants to do post 18 to maybe guide her a little? 10 hours a day at the weekend is too much, it won’t be effective. I do feel for them it’s an enormous pressure.

@Caddycat That is too much, she'll burn out.

Can you chat through revision aims and timetable with her? Make sure she has exercise and down time scheduled, plus some complete days off at half term.

For DD1 we thought in phases.
. Up to end of Spring term - sort major issues from mocks
. Easter holidays to start of exams- focus on learning for papers before half term but some for after half term too if needed
. Once exams started - upcoming exams, going over stuff already learned
. Summer half term - second tranche of papers

Each revision session of 30-60mins should have a clear aim eg not 'chemistry' but 'properties of covalent and ionic bonds'.

@36and3 Computer Science was a non negotiable, she loves it, has always loved computing and has done coding etc since she was young. Her theory is to keep this open as an option she should do Maths as most Unis would require these together. Then it was a choice between English, History and French. She chose English in the end, she adores reading and is a fabulous writer. It’s her favourite subject. So Maths, English and Computer Science. She doesn’t really know what she wants to do career wise so we felt this kept lots of options open but I must say the comment about ‘separate subjects’ is playing on my mind. Happy to hear anyone’s thoughts.

@Stowickthevast DD is doing Art but her exams days are the week after the Easter holidays. DD is going into Art a few lunches and after school there’s just so much to get through isn’t there.

A level choices were the other cause of stress over the week end. DD must have cried about 3 or 4 times about the stress of exams and A levels. She is pretty set on French and Maths, then is considering Psychology and Drama. She will likely drop Drama or Psychology as she is set on doing an EPQ, but she isn't convinced by Psychology either. She overly worries about doing "proper" A levels and worries drama isn't one.

As for revision, she is totally overwhelmed. She spends a lot of time revising - Pretty much every spare time she has, about 3x4 hours in the week and 10am to 8pm on week ends - but I'm not sure how efficient it is. She's bright and was predicted high marks, but her november mocks didn't reflect that in subjects like chemistry and biology. She seems to have so many resources from each teacher, but it's almost too much. She sometimes makes notes, sometimes flashcards, there doesn't seem to be a method... I'm worried.

Interesting about separate subjects @UncomfortableSilence

We had parents evening last night and Dd was talking to her biology teacher about possibly choosing it - so far she's selected German, Maths, Economics and English but is very unsure. She smashed biology so her teacher was very encouraging and says she did Bio, French and English and has a PhD in biology, so nothing to stop you being successful.

Otherwise her mocks were pretty good but not all 9s like some on here! She messed up one Maths paper but I think that's a good learning curve. Was very chuffed to go up a grade in both English and Physics.

Anyone else's child doing art? They have their final on March 9 so it's a big push now to get everything finished by then.

@TebheagShe can in theory change them and I’m sure they’ll be a degree of flexibility even after results day but this is for her school sixth form so I assume they’re already working on staffing and timetabling.

@UncomfortableSilencewhat subjects has she gone for that make them “seperate”?! There’s always a link somewhere! My dd has gone for English lit and history, and biology and psychology so I suppose can be seen as two “pairs of subjects”. Ultimately she’ll probably drop history.

I am sure this app was created with a good purpose behind it and lots of pros however the unintended cons sound awful.

English seems to be the only subject here where they have finished content and are revising/able to go over content in class.
I am starting to wonder how close to the wire it is going to go for other subjects as this year their below average (results) comp has decided to do another round of mocks (although in class rather than exam hall) which they need to fit in too.

I am also starting to resent people who say GCSEs are easy than they used to be.
when I sat mine years ago some were modular and some had coursework. There were less exams and not many subjects were it was all based on (terminal) exams. (I know IGCSEs which can only be taken in private schools have coursework) there were less grades then (A-G, not even A*s) compared to the English 9-1). I think the people that say these things should be made to a) see how much work our DC are doing and b)sit a full set of GCSE exams and then give their views 😂.

@FlyingPandas so glad DD does not have that app sounds awful. She also mentioned some are counting how many papers they have done too.
Fingers crossed your DS and @UncomfortableSilence DD keep up their grades for the real thing. It is hsrd when they get great results in mocks!! Would have loved DDs to be real thing mostly 9s with a few 8s.
@36and3 can your DD not change subjects if they are locked in ?
DD got told today she has phone interview for college 6th form still waiting to hear about school 6th form.

@FlyingPandas DD also got a full set of 9s bar one 8 and has consistently got this but she also will be very disappointed if this isn’t the end outcome, I’m trying to manage this as best I can but it’s making me worry.

DD was also really positive about her choices. I had a chat with a member of SLT at school today and they were asking about DD as they know our school is her preferred option. They said her choices are all very ‘separate subjects’ has made me a bit

Dd still has homework but this is revision still. Most subject content has finished now.

Alevel options deadline has now passed so subjects are locked in. She’s really excited by her choices which is lovely to see and has given her real drive and focus to the finishing line now.

Yes I totally agree @Littletreefrog - but it’s definitely a thing unfortunately!

@FlyingPandas that app sounds horrific! I can't actually see the pros. Keeping your own log to make sure you are on track and not favouring one subject too much over the others is fair enough. Sharing it with your peers is a recipe for disaster.

From talking to friends with Y11 DDs I think this is quite common @Tebheag— I know of DDs whose friendship groups are logging every hour of revision on an app, so they can each see how much the others have done and their cumulative totals.

On the one hand it might seem like great encouragement but unfortunately it can also foster slightly obsessive behaviour with some DC feeling like they’re “failing” if they’re not logging as many hours as their friends. As with all these things, pros and cons!

DS hasn’t yet ramped back up with revision as he only finished mocks a couple of weeks ago. Our challenge is going to be getting him focused again as his mock results were amazing (all clear 9s except one subject which was borderline 9) so the temptation to lie on laurels will be very much there. I appreciate this sounds like a dream position to be in. But I also know from friends with older DC that mocks are no guarantee of success in the real things and I also know that DS will be distraught with anything less than a clean sweep of 9s come results day.

BBC website lists all the exam dates - you just need to know which exam board and paper (eg Higher/Foundation)
https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/articles/zw27tcw

Kids come in many different ‘fonts’ when it comes to study habits. Some go hell for leather early on and risk burnout. Others do very little at the point in the year and have a sweaty panic near the end. Some manage a happy medium! Most of them get there in the end, in my teaching experience. Important to remember that homework IS revision at this point.

That’s madness. My DS will probably manage 2.5 hours today but it is one of the two days he finishes school at 3.30. And he always gets more done at the beginning of the week by Thursday it will be an hour if that. He sometimes does a little bit (French vocab, English lit quotes, or maths questions in the mornings but that depends how much he’s slept). He also does no more than 3 hours in a Saturday or Sunday and again that varies e.g this weekend he’s competing so it will be a lot less, and the work is a mixture of set homework, finishing lesson work and revision

I actually made DD stop revising last night when I caught her writing at 10pm.

She mentioned some friends are doing 3 plus hours a night during more at weekends.
Did point out she has plenty of time after Feb mocks if needed and we can look at reducing her after school clubs in run up to gcse exams. Still no timetable from the school but looked up the dates for her.