GCSE preparations...how necessary is this...?

Hi, I can give my opinion on science as I am a science teacher. The CGP guides are good for getting things into perspective and knowing what to cover. They are not comprehensive though.
The best thing I advise my students which is really important is to look up past papers. You can find about 3 years back on AQA website if thats your board. Then try them and then look up markscheme. Its amazing how many marks they lose by failing to answer properly. The mark scheme details what to look for in an answer. Do a few of these and you are in a good place. Good luck.

Revision guides are very good. Some children do revise well with lots of music. FB is probably a step too far though!
What?s really motivating is if you can give her goals and revise things with her ? like getting her to recite stuff which has to be learnt to you while she sets the table (maths/science formulae, vocab, dates). Repetition, repetition, repetition. Get her to do answer plans and go through them together - even if you don?t say anything knowledge-wise you can ask leading questions, comment on structure and I bet you she?ll remember a bit more than she did before.

Have days off from formal study but do keep up with the stuff that has to be learnt, especially vocab. It will only take half an hour a day but it?ll keep it ticking over. Have a ?French? day at home where she has to teach you as much French as possible to get through the day (or other appropriate modern language).

Following the school timetable roughly is a good idea unless she?s very weak in certain subjects, in which case I would halve the time she spends on a strong subject and reallocate it to the weaker ones Games lessons stay IN ? physical activity is vital to get the blood going round the brain. Every ?break? time get her to run an errand or play something active with her siblings.

I followed this pretty much for my A2s (I can?t remember about my GCSEs but I was away on a music camp for most of the Easter holiday) and I got 3As.

Learning can be fun (and I?m not just saying that cos I teach). Even if your DD just aims for that she'll end up doing more than nothing. No structure is the enemy of effective revision IMO.

Thanks MmeB - as ever ,the calm voice of reason .

When I did my school exams in the early 80s, I basically followed the school timetable, so this could easily have been 5 - 6 hours of studying a day. I had revision books then too.

We recommend to our students to split the day into three sessions - morning, afternoon and evening - and study for two of these per day. This will work out to about 6 hours if they do that.

I did well in old-style O levels and A levels and no way did I do eight hours a day, five hours a week--and I was considered a swot!

You'd be so jaded you would be in no fit state to take the exams.

Um ,wasn't the poster who suggested advising 8 hours a day ,also advertising his revision guide and his website ?
Maybe I'm cynical but makes me think people will feel inadequateas parents advising kids on revision and in need of expert advice .
Tho I feel that without any posts suggesting 8 hours a day !

8 hours a day revision for GCSE??? I doubt even that is reasonable for A2s. Revision guides - hmmm, huge money spinner.... however seem to work, but what happens if families can't afford them all (they do add up if you buy them for all GCSE subjects)

DD had aload of revision books (VERY cheap as school bought in bulk, and it was a HUGE school). She liked them and found them user friendly.

DS then used them lower down his school as they are good for explaining/learning points needed for Homework where he may not have "got" it all in class straight away. e are now buying him the newer versions for himself.

3blondeboys Also lots of cake and choc and food in general!!Take away laptop/phone etc. 45 min bursts are best imo.

It's worth going online to the revision boards and taking copies of old papers and the exam marks - but beware, it is a lot of paper so choose carefully.
Or even better, get DD to check what past papers are available at school and then you will hopefully only need an extra few.

Sorry OP I meant DD.

Just wanted to add that a lot of this is probably due to the pressure schools are under to get the kids up to 5 A* - Cs each.
Also, agree with Mme Blueberry about organising study leave. I seem to remember that my son's school organised optional study lessons with the teacher (esp for maths) during study leave - definitely take the school up on these if they're offered.
With the level of coursework the push right now is to get that done especially if your Ds is doing art otherwise the tendency is to keep going at it and it does eat into revision time...

My DS1 did GCSEs last year. He did very well (context, not ..youknow...!)
He had CGP revision guides which he used a lot.
There's NO WAY he did 8 hours a day, 5 days a week in the Easter holiday.
We tried to get him to do 2 hours first thing and then get out and have a life!!
It does depend on how easy they find academic work though.

Does no -one remember going to their rooms for hours and really feeling they were putting the time in but actualy doing nothing??

My advice to my son was to be really efficient when he was revising and make it count.

Get the school to send the info or get another parent to give you a roundup of what was said!

HTH

"8 hours' revision a day, 5 days a week." during the Easter holiday

The advantage of revision guides is that they keep the student focused on exactly what they should be revising, and the correct language. My Aspie loves physical geography, but can stray off the point to lecture and elaborate. fascinating to discuss with him, not much use if the aim was to learn specifically about one area.

I think that anything you can do for your child will be helpful.

Revision guides are good - they aren't particularly expensive.

I haven't heard of parents' evenings for revision but I can see how they would be useful. Some kids find revision really hard going and, if they are on study leave, it can be difficult to organise their time. If you know what to do to support them in their revision, then that can only be a good thing.

There are two sides to every story.

I am with envy at those of you who are complaining about their school applying too much support pressure.

my girls all used revidison books and found them very usefu. We didn't have parents revision information evbenings but there was a ciopy of how to revise sent to the parents.

have you had mocks yet and how has your child done in them? I have great trouble getting my children to revise but they do well without it. They are tested and tested at school and there is some evidence that repeat tests help to remember what they have learnt.

Mine were prepared to use the bbc bitesize website, although I think that's more games than revision. The CGP guides are more child friendly than most cgp

Tinuviel - well Academies are state schools .
And lots of them insist on revision classes with threats of Saturday detentions ,and promises of bikes and cameras if kids get 100% attendance at them.
Makes me so cross - kids have other things in their lives outside school ,but apparently that's only ok if a school organised activity.
( I'll step away from the keyboard now! )