To let DDs go away the weekend before mock exams...

[TabbyTigger]

Canvassing for opinions here - DDs want to visit their best friend for her birthday the weekend before DD1’s year 10 mock exam week, which determine whether she has to drop down to double science or drop an option if she isn’t at her target level (she’s doing one extra to most at her school and her targets are all 8s/9s, if she gets anything below a 7 we think school will try to encourage her to drop something as they were reluctant to let her do extra in the first place). I’m sure she wouldn’t get much done the weekend before anyway but it’ll make her tired and might cause stress.

More of a wwyd. So, wwyd?

I'm an ex-teacher. I have DDs in Y8 and Y9. Personally I'd probably let her go, as long as she's home in bed at a reasonable time on the night before school. I used to teach Y6 classes and I always told them and their parents to spend the last weekend before SATs chilling out and doing something fun, not cramming or doing last minute revision. As long as she has done plenty of revision prior to that weekend, a weekend off having fun should make her nice and fresh for the exam week. However, if she hasn't been working and revising well up to that point, I'd probably think she hadn't earned the treat.

My every instinct would be to say NO!!
But if you think she understands how important the exam is and still would like to go,I'd say yes.
These years like this truly fly by...

If her grades drop and school insist she drops a subject or two, what will you do?

Nancy - I won’t mind. She just really wants to keep up all her options and I don’t want her to be disappointed.

TheMadGardener I quite like the idea of seeing how she’s doing generally. I’m inclined to think cramming the last weekend will be of little use anyway, it’s just the concern that she’ll be worn out from the journey/double sleepover with a close friend she only sees once every month or two. Realistically I don’t know how much sleep they’d get, even if they try! It’s just a pain that we’ll have to buy the train tickets in advance to save on them - I have to assess how she’s doing 2/3 months in advance and obviously things can change massively when they’re that age

Tell her she can go so long as she keeps up the work and is back in time for a good night's sleep on the Sunday night. Tell her that if work drops off between now and then you will reserve the right to cancel and she will have to pay you back for wasted travel costs. That should keep her nicely focussed on her work.

My Uni tutor recommended that before Finals, assuming we'd worked hard and done revision, the best thing to do was go 9n holiday for a week, no text books, no thinking about work and exams, get thorouhly refreshed and then into exams on return.

So yes, let them go.

Tricky one. Triple Science and the usual number of GCSEs aren't advantages to be sniffed at, really.

Can't you make a deal with her? She can go if she does the revision beforehand (in your line of sight)?

I would let her go giving her conditions e.g. bed at reasonable time. That way she will learn to manage her revision and studying better for the long term.