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!)

YABU. If he’s a bright boy he probably finds the GCSE curriculum quite easy and 5 hours is more than enough

Ds1 was home ed through GCSEs and did about as much (maybe less than some) are talking about on p1/2 as pure revision in total.. never mind on top of a school day!
Surely it depends how much is done in class (eg some schools set coursework as homework, others it is all done in class time), how your ds learns (I could read a maths concept, do maybe ten practice q's and know it, dyscalculic ds2 needs a ton of repetition) and other factors.
I’d see how his mocks go, and if he doesn’t do as well as expected he still has time to up his game.

My DS studied around 1-2 hours on week nights, 2-3 at weekends. He achieved all A & B grades. He plays sport & has a part time job, he works hard at everything he does. There has to be balance.

This is enough as long as it is targeted. Teachers have training on cognitive load and we are told that after about 20mins, the brain can't retain anything more.
Just revising and reading stuff doesn't help, his teachers should be giving guidance on what he needs to be doing.
He also needs good sleep and rest breaks.

Good revision tip, ask him to paraphrase what he has revised, he should be able to explain it in a way you understand. The next day ask him to tell you what revised yesterday. This helps with recall and brings information from long term memory back into short term so links are formed. He also needs scaffolding so must remember what he learned before so he can build on this. Think of building a wall, if you forget the foundations, the wall is weak.

Quality certainly trumps quantity. I have one child in 2nd year uni and the other doing MA this year, so trust me, I am talking as a parent and teacher.

why would you begin studying for an exam that's over 6 months away

But it isn’t 4-5 hours a week, he will also be revising and learning all day at school in lessons too. So, yeah he probably will be too burnt out to do more than that 🤷🏻‍♀️

My DS is year 11 too and does no revision at all. He’s a bright lad and has done really well in his mocks but just won’t revise
to improve for his actual exams. He knows what job he wants to do and can apply in a few weeks. This job doesn’t actually require much in way of GCSE’s so he has said he will do the basics and that’s it. His decision at the end of the day and I’m not going to force him. If he makes a balls up then that’s his own fault and he’ll have to re-sit if needs be. Exam results aren’t the be all and end all when it comes to getting a job

My DS is in year 11, school have put on 'intervention' classes for some subjects which is 1 hour per day. He also has homework.

I have bought him revision aids for all subjects and have stressed the importance of studying but ultimately he is almost 16 and needs to take some responsibility. So whilst I can hope he will be sensible and study I am not pushing him.

Yes exams are important but so is my childs mental health and learning to take responsibility in all areas of his life.

Having said that we as a family have studied in our adult years, i.e. degree at open University so our dc know the importance of CPD and know their are other options after year 11.

Lack of structure? Too much social media, including exposure to violence? Unfulfilled? No vision for their own future? Too much peer pressure? Peers being more dominant in lives than parents? Quality of home life? Unclear gender norms and evolving sexuality within an uncertain society? Poverty? Poor sense of community?

Thats what WHO think but much easier to blame schools.

Closer to the time, the school will issue revision timetables and you'll get a clearer picture of expectations. Your DS will also discover from his mock results whether he's working hard enough. Those poor kids who are working three hours a night and several hours at weekends are hardly having any time to themselves. It really isn't that good an idea because life should be about more than school work.

What does your DS hope to do next year OP? In 3 years time? In 10 years time? Arguably, he might be more motivated to study for his GCSEs if you let him get a NMW job stocking supermarket shelves for 10 hours a week?
Learning to knuckle down & study hard as sprints but with a view that you might be doing this throughout your twenties (and even thirties) for career development is not a bad skill. Developing the motivation to do it is something that is as personal as how many hours need to be devoted to achieving 'good' GCSE grades, and indeed what the exam sitter or their parents might consider 'good'.

It may be a better kick up the bum to understand the monotony of minimum wage labour and why better grades offer a route out of that, than to experience 8 months of Mum nagging...

That is more than either of mine did - I don't think DS1 did anything outside lessons until the Easter holidays before the exams. As long as he is getting roughly the right grades, mental health is more important than a couple more 8/9s.

If a 16 year old gets home at a normal time (no long commute) then I'd ideally expect them to do 2 to 3 hours of homework (including revision) in the evening. And 4 or 5 hours on weekend days, in the months leading up to GCSEs. Perhaps a bit less in the Autumn term. With some full days off during holiday times.

I think livid is a bit strong.

Also I think so many adults don’t realise how much harder kids have it these days. Exams are tougher and teens have the horror that the impact of social media has on them, coupled with the constant message that if they don’t ace their exams they’ll end up living in a puddle while their high flying mates who got all 9’s will get on the property ladder the moment they leave school. Give the poor lad a break! I think schools dish out way too much homework, and I think kids should at least have the understanding from adults that OF COURSE they just wanna play video games after a long day at school

What does your DS hope to do next year OP? In 3 years time? In 10 years time? Arguably, he might be more motivated to study for his GCSEs if you let him get a NMW job stocking supermarket shelves for 10 hours a week?

FFS why would anyone even expect a decent answer on that from a child?!

And also if he got a shelf stacking job he’d probably think it was great because he’s earning money doing east work and having a really good laugh with new friends.

Pwoplw need to realise their standards and fears for their kids aren’t necessarily the same as what kids have for themselves.

At this stage they should be doing minimum of 15 hours per week. After Xmas 25 hours per week. That’s 3 hrs a night after school and 5 hours each sat/sun. Bare in mind that they actually only do about 4 /5 hours of brain leaning a day at school by the time you take breaks, form time, assembly etc out.
25 hours a week is only 2 hours per subject and that is basically only one maths paper and not even a full English paper!

What are you expecting the revision to consist of OP?

I’m all for working hard towards exams. But I can’t imagine how any student would fill hours a night of revision time between now and GCSEs.

Revision involves what, making summarised notes of what you’ve learned at school, highlighting bits, testing yourself? A few practice papers? That takes a while yes, but not enough to be starting in November. Or are you expecting him to be doing extra actual schoolwork eg reading into things over and above what he’s been taught at school, extra essays etc?

3 hours a night?!

Mine aren’t GCSE age yet but my god that, couple with school, is more than a day’s work. Kids getting home at 4 for example, by the time they start, sit down, take into account toilet breaks, snack, dinner etc, won’t be finishing until bedtime. What about their activities or family time?

And we wonder why young people burn out

Jesus, I wouldn't allow my children to do that much revision. Absolutely ridiculous, they'll burn out and I dread to think of the state of their mental health. They need a life too.

I doubt I did 5 hours a week and got good results and have a good job now.

Like others have said would have killed to have some of my 11s do that much.

I am firm believer in smaller regular beats heavy heavy heavy. All the research points to teens having a limit to how long they can focus for without a break and I do believe it. Equally the journey to school isn't long but 5 hours of learning of a range of topics, plus h/w, plus any emotional or social things at school, wake up time, and the time it takes to switch off from that mode is a lot. I know it doesn't seem it but it is a lot juggling all the formulas, facts, info etc topic to topic. I forgot hpw draining it is till I did some learning walks following students lesson to lesson. I am a massive subscriber to work is important but so is feeling happy and well adjusted. The coming months over GCSE are so intense for kids, they are literally told every 2 mins how long till a GCSE, these shape your future etc and for a lot of them the break after a full on day of this stress is needed.

You know your son best, but honestly if he is putting in the work and getting the grades atm it seems like he has done the leg work to be in a position to not have to revise every hour. I tend to find the kids who revise every hour they can either burn out before exams hit or are having to do that because they haven't worked before this point. There may well be the odd day or week he has to up it for new content or an exam but overall he sounds like he is doing his share.

Do you know what will make him not do so well? Pushing him beyond what he feels able to do. A school day is tiring, he’s right. A good solid hour a day from this far away from the exams is much better than cramming at the last minute. And cramming for a year will just make him ill.

With exams you need a balance between revising and rest - being properly rested is key I think

Wow thank god I didn't have some of the parents on here 😂 3 hours a night of extra revision?! I did not revise for GCSEs, yes my parents were very relaxed, I was very lucky that I took in a lot of information from the lessons (esp the ones with engaging teachers) the only ones I did prepare for were the English Literature exams as I really enjoyed the books 😂 I was lucky that I did well in exams (A for eng, maths, sci) but there's always retakes. Also if your son would prefer to do an apprenticeship, the only really important ones are maths/english. It's very important for his mental health that he has time to relax, exercise, eat well and rest. Social skills are also very important to grow at this age too.

Ex exam officer here.

Has he had mocks yet? Quite often those lazy around mocks get shocked by bad results and up their game themselves in panic.

But ultimately there’s nothing you can do. Forced revision won’t help him. Only he can want to do it.

Bloody hec! I'm soooo glad I'm not a student of today! And there isn't a hope of my DS's ever doing that much. I don't want them to either! Life is for living. You are only young once! You should enjoy your youth!

So triggered right now.

Passing his exams with those grades would be great if he has tried his best. But we know he is capable of much higher if he does some work.

His happiness is surely the most important thing, not his grades or your hopes for him? Lay off. Or you will end up with a son who spends half a decade and counting in therapy from your ‘expectations’ of how much more he should be capable of.

I appreciate you have sacrificed for him, as my parents did for me and I will ALWAYS be grateful for what they did for me. My education has stood me in good stead, even if my results were not ‘all I was capable of if I just applied myself’.

PS: great job that hugely fulfils me now and career still going up…and happier in myself than I have been in years.