To be livid that year 11 DS thinks 4-5 hours/week homework/revision is enough for GCSEs?

[Hotdaisies22]

DS in year 11. Bright boy but has always been poor at doing homework at home despite being well set up for it at home (quiet desk space etc). Does his homework at homework club after school -Mon - Thurs max 5 hrs week (thats only time homework club room is available at his school). We're having conversations that he now needs to up his game these next few months before GCSEs and start studying /revising at home extra time. Getting massive push back and causing a lot of friction. He thinks what he does is enough and no intention of doing more "at the end of a tiring school day" (he only has a 20 min journey to school). What are other year 11s doing? (I'm trying to have conversation with his school on this but so far they've been rubbish - no reply!)

Those discussing Oxbridge are fooling themselves. First they do expect a set standard and interview all candidates. Many exceptional state schools now stream DC in sixth form knowing their aspirations are Oxbridge. They are bright and apply under the 'state' umbrella having spent formative years in private school and then moved across. I heard there is a local school in cambridge who have high number going to the university. Hills Road Sixth Form College i believe and they had 69 offers from Oxbridge and it is a 'state' school. They all play the system and pretend they are taking more kids from the state system

My DS did half an hour on weekdays, two hours a day on weekends and got all As and B’s, one A*!

@GloomyDarkness @LetYouGo
I don’t disagree with either of you!

I’ve explained to my DC the importance of exams on their future goals/the choices education gives them etc. till I’m blue in the face! My DH and I do support them but ultimately it’s their life and they have to put the effort in.

They find out far more about themselves by challenging themselves, overcoming barriers and trying new things. Four hours dossing on a sofa or playing CoD doesn’t really offer the same opportunities, does it?

Depends how you look at it. There’s such a thing as fun too. And wasting time. I couldn’t bear a rigid schedule of parental controlled activities. How do you factor their social life and just hanging out with friends in it?

Oxford and Cambridge are wise to this. You have to put in UCAS not just your sixth form, but also your college where you took GCSEs. You can’t qualify as a state school widening access candidate if you were in private school for GCSEs.

This doesn't surprise me.

The state school that I went to had a disproportionate number of Oxbridge entrants per year even back in the 90s. Truth be told it was a school that people paid a premium to attend via housing prices and private tuition topped it up.

My nephew goes there now and is on the Oxbridge track. The children who go there are the kids of accountants, consultants and lawyers.

These things don't happen by chance.

Couldn't agree more @PollyEsther and I've told my DS this several times. Doesn't affect my life, it's his.

😂😂

Worth remembering that the working time directive, which applies to all working adults unless they opt out, says you can’t be made to work more than 48 hours a week, that you must have 11 hours rest in any 24 hour period and you must have a 24 hour break in a 7 day period. If that’s what’s deemed the most a grown adult should work, for example in an office, then forcing a child to spend longer studying with fewer breaks seems abusive to me

@Hotdaisies22 you are going to make your ds hate you by over-reacting like this. Yabu. Trust him to do as much work as he feels he needs to. Encourage him to do more, but never, never get angry. It's really damaging for your relationship and won't have the impact you want.

Wow. My y11 child would have a nervous breakdown if I made them do that.

@PalmTrees7 your efforts will be for nothing if your child has a nervous breakdown and is unable to sit any exams. That’s way too much time. Adults have days off work. Kids need that too.

Depends on your ds... some young people are more academically minded than others/ better at retaining info from reading or writing it down so what might be enough for your ds might not for another child or vice versa. Does he have a goal that he wants in mind?

It depends on how easy he is finding it all, and how easily he memorises information. For some students, this is more than enough and some can get straight 9s by doing this or less, combined with a push at the end. Other students need to really go for it for the entire year (and maybe still won't get great grades). It really depends on the child. The exams feel like ages away to pupils right now. However, if he has mocks coming up, they should feel fairly imminent, so I would have thought it would be useful for him to he revising for those right now.

Apologies to everyone that has picked up on my statement, as that was poorly phrased, absolutely, so many things that are much worse than revision/not studying.

@Wehadabetamax It's good to hear your DS is ok now

It is he doing all his homework? If he is - what’s the problem. I have a similarly aged DS. He does more but up that is because written work takes him longer. Doesn’t seem that bad to me.

Depends on.what you want to.do.in life. If the price of success is being a workaholic you can keep it. I have no.time for workaholic millionaires.

That's waaay more than I ever did at that age! I'm a Dr now :)

That's interesting @AnonyMouseToday
What year did you sit your GCSEs and what grades did you get?

Is it laziness and he just doesn’t want to work and isn’t getting work done
is he struggling
is he struggling with anything else
what have his tutors said
is he socialising is he happy in himself
do you have actual conversation with him.asking how he’s doing.can you help him catch up or do some more in certain sibjects
does he want to get good grades.he have future plan?
one thing I would suggest is prompt and revise cards and posters
stuck everywhere and anywhere.

how is your relationship generally

Meh. If he’s really bright, that’s probably enough… I remember doing similar (or less) for Standard Grades (Scotland), and getting very good results. My siblings were similar.
i don’t think we’re all geniuses.
Can you check in with the school, to see he’s managing?

Which set texts is he reading for English Literature (core subject)? Out of these novels, plays and poems which have you read? Talk to him about them. Get him to educate you.

The 1990s! Mainly Bs with a couple of As and a D for geography! Life all worked out ok in the end ...

There are two or more sides to this, isn't there.

Actual stuying for GCSEs may well not be necessary once all homework is done if your child is that way inclined. Anyone who attends pays attention to all lessons, completes all homework and attends all after-school revision sessions has enough grounding to do well in their GCSEs, provided they have a decent medium- and long-term auditory and visual memory. I certainly didn't revise much and all my GCSEs were A*-B without trying.

Homework at that age has been 1h per subject per week at any school I have worked at over the last decade or so. That is an enormous amount in itself.

Having said that, it's A-levels afterwards I'd be concerned about. We often find that students who cruise through their GCSEs without any effort struggle at A-level if they haven't developed a decent work ethic by then. GCSEs are incredibly easy and the step-up to A-level is steep - no one comes out of those well unless they consistently do more than lesson work and homework.

For now, GCSEs are your focus, so I'd wait for mock exam results and take it from there. It will give you a good overview of how good performance at that level of work is and you can then have a discussion as to whether this is sufficient.

*aren't

Note to self, stop changing sentences halfway through without proof-reading.

I am a doctor, have done a lot of exams including specialist exams and am good at exams😀.

I found that at medical school level and specialist exam level the people who did well were efficient at study, generally organised, exercised and weren’t burnt out, so could step it up when they had to. The people who slaves away for hours every night for months on end often weren’t as good at exams.

There’s no guarantee of success with quantity and shorter, but more mentally challenging study, is much more useful.

Some children can spend hours rewriting study notes, highlighting things, re writing the highlighted passages, filling books with study notes. A lot of it is a waste of time.

It’s much more effective to focus on what will be examined, maybe make up exam questions to be answered with clear content, lots of past questions and no endless writing of lists but actual learning of lists. Then practising using that information in the same way it’ll be asked in the exam.

Effective study is harder but doesn’t necessarily take as long.