Parents/Teachers of Y11 students - do you think they're ready?

[TeacherAnonymous123]

Tuesday was the first day I felt genuinely concerned for my Year 11 classes about their ability to do well in their exams. When asked how long they'd been 'properly' revising, most of them had only started at Easter, and then it wasn't my subject but 'more important ones' (I teach Religious Studies, but they'd been revising Maths/English/Science), even though my subject is their first exam.

They don't seem to understand the importance of what's coming up.

One student, when I asked them to write in more detail so I could check understanding said 'it's not your exam, you don't need to know'.

Why don't they understand that I want them to do well and I'm trying to help???

Sorry about the thread getting derailed - I think part of my students apathy about revision is because of the subject, as they say they've been revising Maths/English etc.

Glad to see it's not just me who's concerned about revision though!

I think there will be a difference between a Mumsnet parent who think their DC is ready, and the teachers who are viewing a whole class.
Most parents here are interested and value education and will want their kids to do well. There will be other parents who are less able to support their kids for whatever reason and these will do less well.
That said, I am interested and value education but getting my DC to actually do any revision has been a fairly uphill climb!

You'd like to think that they're busy revising maths but I set my Y11 a set of 3 past papers for them to do over the Easter holiday and maybe half of them did all 3. They only had to do one a week!

Wow - 70%? That's bonkers, @downsizedilemma ! We have a few fails, but not that many. It's a grammar school. Virtually all of them are capable of at least a 5, but some just don't put innthe effort.

By the way how did you react when your pupil spoke to you like that? I think as a teacher one would expect a bit of note passing/rolled eyes if they thought you weren’t looking etc but that was sheer insolence. I wouldn’t mark any of her work until I’d had a written apology.

I really, really hope you mean targets, not predictions. Predictions without the input of teachers’ professional judgment (based on recent internal assessment) are utterly meaningless.

No. (Very) roughly a quarter of kids get a 7+ in each individual subject.

Interesting to see how shocked some people are by the student's cheeky comment about the exam. I'm afraid that in many schools these days, the behaviour is so poor that a comment like that would barely register by comparison.

Yes but do you think they’re capable of more if they put the effort in?

Put it this way: if you think back to your own school days were the majority of students with no SEND capable of achieving A and A* grades in all subjects? I’m academically able and have an Oxbridge degree but I got a B in my maths GCSE, and not for a lack of hard work.

Yeah, I was thinking that. Written apology? I'm not sure I'd even bother replying to it.

Some kids without SEN work their socks off for their below 7 grade, and I'm delighted for them when they get their well-deserved 5 or whatever.

I totally agree, exams are not for everyone and in 10 years time no one will care what gcse's were passed. The pressure on kids is unbelievable. My own son left school with no passes not 1 , he has ADD and the head master told him he was not going to get anywhere so waste of time taking exams, he did though and failed everyone. Now 15 years he owns his own business , employs a host of staff and happily told the head master He saw him that despite his assumption that he was a failure he had a fantastic life family and business. Exams are not the b all and end all if everything .

I think DD is ready (DD does not agree).

They did a ton of revision for Y10 mocks, the October mocks and have been revising consistently since, and ramped it up since Feb with revision every day and every day on the weekend.

My worry is more that they will burnout before exams are over.

Yes that student in your OP was definitely rude/cheeky. It's a shame more don't like RE as I found my lessons quite interesting, but mine stopped in year 9 because only students in top set were allowed to take it.When I left school a few years ago the importance of passing english/maths/science were drilled into us as the most important subjects to focus on, in particular Maths & English because if you don't pass those then you have to resit them either at sixth form or college until you got a C or a 4/5 I think it is now? I also remember people only focusing on gcse subjects that mattered to them e.g. maths/english/science/ and whatever grades they needed to do the A Level /btec courses they wanted to get onto. Subjects like PE /languages/ ICT /RE were bottom of the priority list of revision unless people wanted to do those subjects later. Unfortunately they did have the reputation as doss/easy subjects in the secondary school I went to. Even though that was around 10 years ago, whether attitudes have changed regarding those subjects I'm not sure.

I’m afraid I did O levels 😂 and only a certain percentage got A ( top 5%? ).

O Levels were purely norm-referenced. The top 10% achieved an A. It isn't possible to make a like-for-like comparison with GCSE, which is a universal qualification, as the less academically able would have taken CSEs. GCSEs and A Levels use a normal distribution bell curve but the grade boundaries are adjusted.

With GCSEs, as with O Levels, it is not the case that all pupils are capable of A or higher in all subjects. It is a strange question to ask.

Mine has not done anywhere near as much revision as I would like, but the flip side of that is that he is relaxed and not really stressed by the whole thing.

He also has a subject that we have agreed he doesn't need to focus on, despite the fact I know the subject teacher really wants him to do more. He is currently expected to get a 4 in that subject where he could get a 6/7 with more work. The problem as a parent is you need to pick your battles. If I nag too much I am likely to have him just dig his heels in and switch off from the whole thing. Some give and take is needed and unfortunately subjects like maths and English are crucial whatever future plans are so I've concentrated on encouraging him to focus on these.

I simply walked away. I was upset, as I've been doing extra support sessions and marking for them! It's a common place occurrence, unfortunately.

They don't seem to understand the importance of what's coming up.

In Wales so DD2 Year 10 is facing GCSE exams* *and this has been a massive issue.

Focus has been on science - due to struggling in one , huge content in another and wanting to carry on with third at A-level. RS was compulsory - school has to do lessons so said fine they can sit another GCSE - starts Y9. Last week I think there been some realisation she need to knuckle down - and school has started some revision session this week though apparently were taken aback at really high attendance.

Last year though DS was sitting exams - he did some Y10 as well - RS was one paper - he worked year 10 but Y11 there were so many he focused on subjects he needed - nothing was below a C and he had many A* (Wales kept letters) mostly in subject or related subject he need to do A-levels he wanted. Having a B rather than an A in RS isn't going to impact on him at all - and I think he was sensible to prioritize limited time and energy as he did.

One student, when I asked them to write in more detail so I could check understanding said 'it's not your exam, you don't need to know'.

That's such a stupid comment - but if that teen wants to shoot themselves in the foot they have to bare the consequences.

I would say my daughter is ready, through her own hard work though no thanks to school. She's fed up now, fed up with having to still hsve lessons, especially lessons like pe and pd. We are pulling her out of school next week with support of the school as they no longer allow study leave but for hard workers who are motivated they have allowed it but "don't tell anyone." All madness.

I don’t think it is. I sometimes feel in the UK that we have quite low expectations of what pupils can achieve

My DD didn't revise until late March, but she'd been busy sorting herself out a scholarship (we didn't feel it was on our radar, but she fought for it and did research, contacted schools, went to appointments, did auditions and exams), she was concentrating on course work and taking a higher grade in music (which she originally wanted to do). From the end of March, she was regularly up late revising, and did it pretty much in the order exams were coming up, although she did touch base with all subjects to some extent before.

She did better in four subjects than forecast. Fast forward she got her A levels (change ambitions along the way though), has been to university, has just passed her six month probation with flying colours and had a potential new client comment information supplied from her was excellent.

I appreciate teacher's concern, especially if you have a class you feel are behind the norm for the time of year, but it can come right in the end.

Tbf it's late April, not late March. Exams have already started.

It is if you understand the statistical concept of a norm-referenced bell curve!