GCSE help

[Londonmother50]

DD got her mock results back yesterday and they are worse than expected - lowest mark was a 4 and highest a 7.

She is doing 8 GCSEs.

We have 16 weeks to turn this around and I need your best advice. Have you helped your child get good grades and how did you do it. What would you recommend?

What grades are you hoping for, because on the face of it, those are decent grades.

Did she revise for the mocks? If not, learning content is the first step.
Next step, imo, is exam technique - and this can vary between subjects.
Can you ask for copies of the papers she is furthest from her desired grade, and see where the marks have been lost?

I was hoping that she would achieve 7s 8s 9s. I guess we just want to make the most of the time available and support her so she goes into the exams feeling prepared.

Thanks for the suggestion re asking for papers. learning content and exam techniques.

It’s been so long since I did an exam that it’s hard to know where to start.

You were hoping, but what were her targets?

I will say I didn't do brilliantly in my mocks, I needed the adrenaline of the real thing to put in my full effort.

What is the 7 for and what is the 4 for.

Will she pass English and maths, what does she want for a level, has she always been a high achiever.

U tube has amazing on line teachers, get a real tutor as well, if she's struggling, get her to focus on the essentials of English and maths what she wants to a level first

Do you have any recommendations for the YouTube English resources?

Are 7s,8s,9s realistic?
Did she revise?
They are all passes, be grateful!

Look at the papers, she where she lost marks. Was it knowledge (poor revision), or understanding, or not answering the question etc. Then she and you will know where to focus effort.

What does she need for next steps?

I think it’s worth asking yourself, you say the grades were worse than expected - is this worse that YOU expected or worse than her target grades? Because if she’s worked to what she’s capable of, these might be acceptable grades for her level.
Look through the papers and see where the gaps are, is she struggling to revise? Some children don’t know how to organise themselves and just read through page after page of information and it stops going in after a while. Maybe she needs some practical help with setting out revision cards etc.
I would say don’t pile the pressure on because you have 16 weeks to turn it around as you say - she might struggle under so much pressure to do well for you.

You need to prioritise.

What is she planning for next steps?

If she's applying for a levels then make sure she will pass maths and English and then focus on the a level subjects.

I

Many fail their mocks and somehow manage to achieve the grades in the final exams, it's as if the mocks scare some sense into them. Failing that YouTube and tiktok have good resources on how to do productive revision (not just rewriting and rereading old notes).

Our eldest's mocks weren't great but that was a good thing because he revised but not enough, he's getting gradually better.

Do school have after hours support lessons? I advise she goes to them especially the weaker subjects.

As others have asked, we all hope for A grades, but not all students are A grades in all subjects. What have been her target grades? Which subjects, if she wants to do A levels, is she looking at, concentrate on those.

Is she surprised or disappointed? Are the school concerned?

Aspirational is great but you need realism as well.

What are her target / predicted grades?

She needs to talk to her teachers to understand where she lost marks. So is it because she did not go into enough depth, is she missing out on basic understanding of calculations etc. or is it just that she dod not revise enough content. So did she do well on the bits she revised for. These results could be the reality check she needs. Just remember however much we want high grades focus on getting the grades she needs for the next step. So for A levels which subjects should she now focus on.