My year 11 DD has just got out of bed ......

[BigSandyBalls2015]

..... I suggested revision might be a good idea this afternoon seeing as her GCSEs start on 16th may.

She's heading back upstairs with a shrug, her phone and a plate of food saying I need to chill as "she'll wing it".

So frustrating. I wrote on here last week that I wasn't going to stress out, she knows what's required etc but I'm finding it harder to do that with the exams so close.

And breathe 🍷🍷

I'd try to relax about this and not make a meal of it. I would however, make sure the internet is off after 9:30pm so that she isn't working through the night. Sleep ahead of exams is very important.

If her results are less than she needs she will realise her mistake soon enough when her mates are sailing through 6th form and she's having to retake exams just to do the subjects she wants to take for A levels.

My eldest DD was hardworking and studied well - her first AS level exam was two days after we moved house following my divorce. My youngest DD didn't appear to do any revision (and probably didn't do secretly either), but missed her grades for her preferred uni course and had a very anxious few days before she got a second chance. She did fine after the shock of nearly missing out, went on to get her Masters and now earns more than me and DH collectively. Other DD carried on beavering away and is now also doing v well with her career. Everyone is different.

They all usually get there in the end in their own way, once they know what they want (or don't want). Mine have both said though that I was very clear that whilst I'd always be a safety net, I wasn't bank-rolling their lifestyles once they passed 22. That said - I moved to another part of the country when youngest DD finished Uni to live with my now DH. So they didn't get a lot of choice about being independent

I taught A level students for a long time and I think many don't know how to revise before they started sixth form. Would your daughter be open to you creating a revision timetable with her with topics in each section matched with past paper questions, so she could feel she was getting a grip on things?

My son has created an amazing multicolored revision timetable which took longer than any revision I have seen him crack on with.

Also (God, I'm going to sound so unsympathetic but it's how I roll, parenting wise...) why didn't you haul her arse out of bed before 2pm???

Truffle

What does that mean? Linear now?

No coursework and all exams end of year 11 data

It's encouraging she did ok with her mocks I guess, and they should have done a lot of revising in school over the last few months.
Personally I wouldn't support the stance of not doing any revising at home, and I'd turn the internet off if I thought she wasn't putting in daily revision efforts. Neither would I be supporting outside social activities unless revision was done.
Ultimately though, I guess you can't force anyone to revise, and it's her future prospects that she is affecting.
She needs to be aware that A' levels are a lot harder, and it's not possible for most kids to wing them.

Does she go to school revision stuff? One of the reasons kids don't revise at home can be that they think it's all the school's responsibility. Hopefully , the school reinforces that they need to work at home, too, but some schools are in such a panic, they don't always transmit the independence message...

Doris you are so right...I'm actually jealous of my dc...he's doing all 3 sciences this yearGCSEs...prediction A*in all 3... 30 yrs ago..I was allowed to chose one of the sciences....ONE...as well as that I did fucking childcare..and bastard sewing..so I'm well jel...but still pleased he's doing well thou 😛

isaulte I remember the wonderful revision timetables, it seemed that spending hours devising a plan and colour coding everything was a wonderful distraction from actually doing any revision.

I've successfully winged all my exams so me telling anyone to revise is a little hypocritical, but when my baby sister was doing A-levels she came to live with me for a while and I eventually got her to revise by every time i saw her sat doing nothing I gave her a chore to do with 'oooh, you not revising? excellent the floor needs mopping' etc. She did start referring to me as an ugly stepsister and introduced herself to some of my friends as cinderella but it worked.

I spent a good part of my working life trying to persuade people who didn't want to, that revision and a certain amount of work was necessary in order to pass a set of exams that may be the first stage towards an eventual career.

"No worries" they said. "I'll get a job in Tesco."

I wish I had a pound for every one who came back to school later saying they wished they'd worked. You can't make them though. I learned that.

I think by the time of GCSEs you know if your DC is capable of winging it. DS1 year completed most of the subject mater by January and spend the rest doing exam practice, bullet point note taking etc. She might be getting enough revision at school to get through hopefully.

As a veteran parent of a teenager who really kicked back at revising I feel your pain.

She struggled through her GCSE's and also her A levels. However, she got enough UCAS points and is now at university and is absolutely loving her work. I think now she is studying something she is genuinely interested in, she is throwing herself into it with gusto. Also she has just been diagnosed as dyslexic which made me feel guilty that she struggled for all those years and absolutely no one even noticed!

I would go down the route of 'this is just a very small part of your life. But it's an important part. The grades you get determine the path you take next. If you get good grades you can go onto 6th form and do A levels. Then you can choose to go onto university or get a really good apprenticeship doing something you love. In 10 years time you will either have a brilliant job and be earning well with the opportunity to buy a nice car / go on holiday / insert something they really want or you will be in a dead end job and looking back and wishing you'd really studied better for your exams'.

I found the best way to get DD through was to get her to look at what she wanted in the future rather than making threatening noises. She loves travel. Her motivation is a job which will let her travel well in the future on good holidays.

I'm 35, I winged it with my GCSEs with dire results!! My parents were so disappointed. My reason....I had no idea how to revise.

Another one going through the same! I can't look at dd without having my head chewed off.
She's predicted all A and A* but says that is stressing her out more!

My DD tells me they are doing lots of revision at school, past papers in lessons etc. They also had a 4 day Easter revision class which she went to. Hopefully your DD is revising in lessons too. I do think teenagers need showing/telling/explaining how to revise. I know everyone has different techniques, but they don't seem to explain any at school.
This is my last DC to do GCSEs, thank goodness for that!

Things have improved, she's done quite a bit this week.

How's your DD Possum?

Good luck to them all next week!!

I am soo looking forward to marking this year!!

Glad things have improved Sandy.

Unless posters have had DCs doing GCSEs in the past few years they may not realise:

• no modular exams any more. So if you are e.g. doing triple science you have 9 science exams in May/June of y11
• new English this year - no coursework at all, so no having 60% of your marks already sorted
• new maths this year - harder with more wordy questions that loads of kids have been massively struggling with

Bright children can maybe 'wing it' and turn A* / A into Bs / Cs.
Less bright are running the risk of B/C turning into Ds.