To ask year ten daughter to revise during half term.

[examstresshelp]

And if it's reasonable, how much per day/altogether?

I don't want to be too pushy, but their school is low key where other local schools help with timetables and advice and I think she should be doing at least some during the holiday so she doesn't panic afterwards.

I certainly did in year ten.

I think I best email the school to see if they are doing mocks/end of year tests, so they don't come as a shock if they're announced

@NeverForgetYourDreams

I have a year 10 DS doing mocks two weeks after half term. He's doing every other day and we've drawn up a revision timetable. 3 hours a day in the morning. Then afternoons free. We've picked 9 subjects to concentrate on as the other 2 he's useless at (his words not mine). Not heavy revision just reading notes and doing some maths examples. Treating these mocks as a baseline to work from.

Good thinking. It'll also reduce his stress in yr11

Year 10 assessments may be really important this year, especially if we have another wave or she has to SI over GCSEs and they need to look at previous academic performance.

I think the weekends off and then a couple of hours a day is fine though.

A couple of extra points

• a number of the posters here who haven't had teens go through GCSEs in the past 6 years or so may not realise that controlled assessments / coursework have completely gone for most subjects, and thus the number and importance of the final exams has gone up
• by trying properly to revise now, the DD can see what sort of timetable and strategies work, rather than leaving it all to mocks in y11

I think 2 hours post day, split into 30min slots per subject wouldn't be at all unreasonable, if the DD can cope.

@underneaththeash

Year 10 assessments may be really important this year, especially if we have another wave or she has to SI over GCSEs and they need to look at previous academic performance.

I think the weekends off and then a couple of hours a day is fine though.

Very good points, and exactly what we're discussing at the school I teach in.

Yes, this was completely normal for me as a child and it instilled a good ethic that I carried on to uni and beyond. For me I found that preparing properly for exams decreased anxiety.

It's also worth pointing out that for some people, cramming is what gives the best results. I'm like that, my DDs are both like that. We can't change the way our brains handle information, we have to work out which strategy works best for each one of us. One would hope by Yr10 as a parent, you'd know what works for your DC, but it isn't always that simple. I'm lucky that both of mine have always been hard workers.

Two 45min chunks per day as suggested upthread sounds sensible. I'd also throw in a book to read over the week too, if they know which of the set texts they will be assessed on in Eng Lit. Even just skim reading it again would help.

Absolutely fine. It would be unwise to let them get to three weeks before their exams and start panic revising until three in the morning.

Ours were always expected to do some sort of learning throughout holiday periods. Reduced boredom, was time to address and areas of uncertainty and taught them good work ethic.

I’d not do all day everyday, but a couple of hours of interesting learning is no bad thing. That might be a visit to The Imperial War museum for history, a riverside walk looking at structure, flood plains, erosion, usage and revising geography or a theatre trip/film night to see The Tempest for English. We always planned holiday activities with an eye to learning and supporting achievement.

Those visits to places like Beth Shalom, the National Holocaust Centre and Clipper trips down the Thames offered far more than high marks at GCSE.

I think the confusion over year 10 and 10 years is coming from people like me who are not in England.

I have no clue how old children in Year 10 are - well I can make a rough guess knowing that they start at 4 or 5 but I have no idea whether this is an exam year, or how many years they are off doing their GCSE exams or whatever. It would be REALLY helpful to those of us not in England/Wales to say "My DD is 15, in year 10 and will be doing GCSEs this time next year".

But anyway, huge amounts of revision and piling the pressure on is not healthy. My daughter who is 15 and currently going through assessments in place of the Scottish national 5 exams which are not happening this year in their usual format is being strongly encouraged to take this weekend off school work entirely. Piling on pressure is unhealthy, teenagers need time to hang out with their friends, eat pizza, play video games and do loads of things not school related.

Two to three hours a day in 30 minute blocks with 5 min breaks for stretching/getting a glass of water/re-focusing. Important to make sure she’s seeing friends as well and has weekends off atm.

@KaleSlayer

Honestly reading this thread makes me so grateful for my mum.

So that’s like saying my son shouldn’t be grateful as in some way I’m a bad mum. Thanks. 🤣🤣🤣

My kids don’t agree, they think I’m the best mum ever. 🥰🤣

@KaleSlayer wasn't saying your a bad mum at all. Everyone has different parenting styles and you clearly do what works for you and your children and that's fine. I'm sorry if my reply implied that, I should have worded it better. For me I know I would have been miserable and it probably would have been counterproductive if my mum had been nagging me about homework and revision. And I am of the opinion that we as a society are putting far too much pressure on kids and teenagers and it's having a bad effect on them mentally, without actually ensuring their education is actually worth much. I'd reform education a lot if it was down to me but it clearly isn't!

Interestingly, Robert Winston has apparently saying that kids are getting far too much homework. They were talking about it on this morning a minute ago and Alison agreed completely- I'm with them 😂

I would say pick 3 days where schoolwork, revision, etc. isn't even a consideration; and then 2-3 hours on the other days. Try to suggest ways of revising that is not just going over notes and reading.

StrawberryLipstickStateOfMind

No worries, I don’t take offence easily.

My kids have loads of free time and are doing well at school/college. They’re happy kids who spend hours each day gaming and see their friends often. I don’t have to nag them to do homework or revision, sometimes they need a reminder but that’s it. They know education is important and they want to do well. That means a couple of times each year, when they have assessments/exams, they spend some time revising. I wouldn’t call that miserable.

As for homework, my youngest at secondary school sometimes gets 3 hours a week maximum, but often much less.
My son who is at college doing A levels gets about 5 hours a week, but he only has to be in college for 15 hours. So 20 hours college each week, that’s less hours than a child has to be in school.

@examstresshelp

I may or may not have been normal, but for gcse I did 6-8 hours a day Christmas and Easter and in year 10, a full half term holiday.

Me too. Post Xmas exams y11, y13 and 4yrs of degree meant working 9-4 5 or 6 days a week over Xmas (Xmas day off, but thank you letters written ready to start again on boxing day). Easter and may half term the same from y10-y13. But then, there wasn't anything else to do. I didn't know this was weird. Although I did know that being expected to read over my high school text books during the summer holidays so I knew what we'd be covering in September was an unreasonable expectation.

@KaleSlayer it's a bit different when it comes to A-levels I think, given they've made choices to really limit their subjects down to their interests by that point, and also have the option to go down the route of apprenticeships etc. But I'm quite surprised at your DS having less at college for A-levels- only 5 hours seems a tiny amount to me, thinking back to when I did 6th form (I'm 33). I did English, English Lit and History though so probably heaped a lot of reading/writing on myself.

I remember the school planners we were given- I wish I still had one- inside was printed a recommendation of how much homework we should be doing per night in each school year- I can't remember exactly what it was but I know as it got to year 9, 10 and 11 it increased to several hours a night, which I think is ridiculous (and luckily for me my mum agreed). I don't know the actual amount schools would recommend these days but I do tend to think it should be kept to an absolute minimum.

@examstresshelp I revised a lot too. For assessments that counted to grades I was expected to put in a full school day every week day in the run up to exams. Plus a bit at weekends if I wanted. Close to the final exams we had study leave from May half term rather than having to go in. My parents were very organised and helped me draw up a study timetable. I got good grades. Same with A levels. I don't know if I'd have got them anyway. I think it depends on the child. If it for example causes lots of conflict then maybe enforced study is a bad thing. If they love it and want to do loads great. Likelihood is most people will fall somewhere in the middle and a sensible compromise can be decided.

But I'm quite surprised at your DS having less at college for A-levels- only 5 hours seems a tiny amount to me, thinking back to when I did 6th form (I'm 33). I did English, English Lit and History though so probably heaped a lot of reading/writing on myself.

They’re all essay based subjects so maybe very different, my son is taking 2 Sciences and Maths. Most homework is Maths, 3 hours a week, not much for the Sciences. I have suggested he should do more studying in the absence of actual homework but in all assessments he’s done well so I can’t really say much.

I can't remember exactly what it was but I know as it got to year 9, 10 and 11 it increased to several hours a night, which I think is ridiculous

Several hours each night is ridiculous, I agree. And totally unnecessary. My daughter doesn’t get much at all really, I certainly wouldn’t be in favour of her doing that much, from what she says, lots of kids don’t even do the small amounts that the school do set. She only seems to get homework for a few subjects.

Does she actually need to revise?

I mean my peers all did no actual revision for gcse, just did the work, and all got As.

If she needs to do this much extra work for gcse then is going to struggle at a level

@KaleSlayer

But I'm quite surprised at your DS having less at college for A-levels- only 5 hours seems a tiny amount to me, thinking back to when I did 6th form (I'm 33). I did English, English Lit and History though so probably heaped a lot of reading/writing on myself.

They’re all essay based subjects so maybe very different, my son is taking 2 Sciences and Maths. Most homework is Maths, 3 hours a week, not much for the Sciences. I have suggested he should do more studying in the absence of actual homework but in all assessments he’s done well so I can’t really say much.

I can't remember exactly what it was but I know as it got to year 9, 10 and 11 it increased to several hours a night, which I think is ridiculous

Several hours each night is ridiculous, I agree. And totally unnecessary. My daughter doesn’t get much at all really, I certainly wouldn’t be in favour of her doing that much, from what she says, lots of kids don’t even do the small amounts that the school do set. She only seems to get homework for a few subjects.

That's probably what put me off and why I'm so anti-homework! It's funny because from what you're saying they seem to get a lot less these days, but in other ways secondaries seem to be much stricter. I wouldn't want to be a teenager now for lots of reasons!

Dishwashersaurous

3 hours a day revision isn’t really that much. 15 hours for 10 subjects is hardly having to ‘do this much extra work.’
Also, GCSE content has increased in recent years, there is so much more content than when I did mine on the old A*- G system.
My son revised for his GCSEs, he’s not struggling with A levels.

I would be expecting about 3 hours a day.

Teenagers are usually most productive between 11-2. So I would encourage leisurely morning;
School work 11-2; fun/chilled afternoon

@Dishwashersaurous

Does she actually need to revise?

I mean my peers all did no actual revision for gcse, just did the work, and all got As.

Do you seriously believe this?

I have many kids giving it the whole I’m not revising and guess what they email me in private asking loads of questions and send me exam questions to mark!

Yes, I do believe that we didn't do revision for gcse. It just wasn't a thing. We did lessons, homework and then sat the exams afterwards. We didn't do revision.

Yes, I do believe that we didn't do revision for gcse. It just wasn't a thing. We did lessons, homework and then sat the exams afterwards. We didn't do revision.

But you don’t know that your friends didn’t, unless you were with them all the time. I had friends that didn’t admit to some other kids that they revised.
And like I said earlier, GCSEs have much more content now. To get the top grades, revision is necessary for most. And if you revise, you will improve your grade, regardless of ability.