To give a cash reward to the twin who gets the best GCSE results?

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DS and DD are both in year 11 so have their GCSEs coming up shortly. Both are bright and of very similar if not identical academic ability and are predicted very similar grades.

Both are relatively hard working (although with a tendency to coast) but DH and I would really like them to knuckle down and push themselves to get the best grades possible.

We therefore came up with the idea of an effort-based reward scheme allowing them to earn treats for completing revision- e.g. 75 hours= a meal out, 150 hours= a night away etc.

However, both twins have suggested that instead, the twin who gets the best results should receive the whole cash reward. They are both competitive with each other and have said this would give them greater incentive to work harder.

My concern is that the twin who doesn't do as well will be doubly disappointed on results day as they will also get no reward. Should I go with the twins' suggestion?

What about if instead you give the winner a card telling them they're your favourite child?😏

I completely disagree with rewarding hours of study - study smart, not hard. This sort of presentism is really outdated now.
in fact, my expectation would be that they study hard, full stop. How are you going to get them through uni if you they cannot study without incentive?

I haven’t read the whole thread so I might be out of step with everyone else, but why on earth do they need any kind of reward for doing what they are supposed to do anyway. Surely the reward is the exam result itself, as that will allow them to move onto whatever they want to do next in life?

I can see the twins wanting to compete against each other and that’s totally healthy but instead offer x amount per A or B etc whatever they grade in these days. That way they can still compete against one another for whoever gets the better grades but equally both receiving some form of reward. Then perhaps book something for the whole family as a reward for hard work at the end.

We did something like this for our DS but with a more modest budget.
He got a bonus for increases on predicted grades too, which might be worth doing. He spent a long time on his English revision because he wanted to up the grade.

Well, the reward structure is working well so far. Both DC have mocks coming up soon and have timetabled 5 hours of revision a day for this weekend and 3 hours after school.

Finally they are knuckling down and working hard to achieve the best results they are capable of.

Awful idea.

You've gone from the sublime to the ridiculous.
That's a lot of revision for this stage of the year. I hope they don't have homework on top of that as well?

And you do realise creating a revision timetable is not the same as actually doing the revision?

I'm afraid the sceptic in me finds it hard to believe that a teenager that was previously planning to do nothing or very little has, on the basis of being paid for work, suddenly decided that actually they will revise for multiple hours every day. Either they were always intending to do this, or you are being quite spectacularly played.

The problem with trying to solve motivational problems with monetary incentives is that there's often loads of effort applied in the very short term - in the long term these incentives don't work, the money loses it's appeal - it's not even a massively great motivator at work - if someone is lacking in motivation a few thousand rarely produces that extra effort - and I would say this is especially true for kids who have easy access to monetary funds anyway - they just aren't hungry enough.

Why has it taken financial bribery to make them study do you think? When many other kids don’t need this incentive.

Yawn - give up OP, no one's buying the bullshit 🥴

I remember begging my daughter to not put too much importance on GCSES. She was coming home from school stressed to hell because school led her to believe a decent career life depended on these exams. What a load of bollocks.

I broached the subject of cash reward for exams last year. DS said he really wanted an Apple Watch and said if he passes them all then could he have one. I said of course. He didn’t pass them all but not through lack of revision - he failed one - he said as he came out of school, no watch then but I did really try and perhaps I can put on birthday list

we gave him the watch later that day that we had secretly bought weeks before to recognize his effort. He actually cried when he opened it

don’t be too harsh on them if they don’t get 7-9 grades ….. it may seem like a good idea to a 15/16 year old but the reality may be devastating come august. At that age they won’t be processing their own suggestion properly.

Exactly. 5 hours a day on the weekend. Jesus. I hope this is bullshit, it’s certainly batshit

Instead of posting gleeful posts of your children over working, I suggest you do some work yourself and look into the impacts of poor study techniques

www.sec-ed.co.uk/best-practice/getting-exam-revision-right/

And from this article www.sec-ed.co.uk/best-practice/when-revision-can-be-bad-for-you/

"It found that revision taking longer than two and a half hours or more to complete diminished the positive effects of studying and led to increased stress and declining health among students."

I was a straight A, A+ student. I did not do excessive revision to get those grades.

If both the kids want the all-or-nothing prize then go for it. It'll be a valuable life lesson for both of them. Obviously more for the loser.

My mum gave me £5 per GCSE back in the 90s and it felt great.

Exactly this. These kids are being set up for a lifestyle of "look how many hours I work! Isn't it great! Oh no, why am I feeling burnt out?".

Glorification of over-working is so damaging, and the effects of it don't often come out until adulthood, and the person doesn't know how to rest, and doesn't know the value of an actual work/life balance.