resources to help (kick up the bottom) an able-but-lazy yr 7 prepare for end of year tests, please?

[Beenspotted]

DD has end of year tests coming up next week. She is on the gifted and talented registers for maths and science, with targets of levels 7 and 6 respectively.

We are having nightly conflicts about doing a bit of revision. This usually results in her doing a few "test yourself" bits on BBC Bitesize, getting 100% and giving me a mardy, "Seeeeee! I don't need to!"

Could anyone recommend where to find some practice questions that would stretch her, please?

(With sincere apologies for the stealth boast, but it's actually driving me nuts!)

I may be being a bit naive, but why does she need to revise?

I just left my Y7 to revise by herself. She did okay in some exams and not as well in others, but she learnt a whole heap of stuff about revising and exam technique that will stand her in good stead in future years.
If I stood over her and supervised her revision, it wouldn't have been such a learning experience.

My dd1 was similar so was I. I left her to it. She got a 7a in Maths at end of year 7 and 6a (actually 100% on the test but they only tested up to level 6) in Science.

If she's bright, and she does sound as if she is, then what they will be testing in the exams probably won't be too taxing for her. When she gets further up the school then she'll find she needs to revise, and I do understand the frustration of knowing she needs to learn to revise, but really, if she's top of the class then she'll probably be top of the class whether she revises or not.

Having learnt the hard way I agree with fivehours. My daughter is on the gifted and talented register for English and Mathematics. Trying to get her to revise for her exams was like pulling teeth. The more I nagged her the less she did and consequently the house was in uproar most of the time. I made the very hard decision of not getting involved as I couldn't stand the stress that it was causing. She is sitting exams this week and pass or fail she is going to have to accept the consequences and if that means she doesn't do well so be it. Either way she has to learn that if you want good grades then you have to work for it. My belief is she is young enough to learn from her mistakes and hopefully grow out of this silly attitude before she sits her GCSES

Sounds like normal behaviour to me. Her peer group are unlikely to be doing any more or any less work than she is. Year 7 tests are not really important, as they're all settled into their sets already. After all the emphasis on SATS last year and a couple of years until she starts her GCSEs, take the pressure off for a while and let her enjoy being 12.

Maths: level 7 & level 8 questions online from Sumbooks. Or choose some questions from old KS3 SATs papers. The questions towards the end of the paper are usually the most challenging. Or give her the UKMT junior challenge to do. The 2014 one can be downloaded online now that the entries have closed.

Science: depending on which topics she has done, cherrypick some questions from old KS3 SATs papers, also available online.

Thanks for those suggestions, Three, and everyone else for their comments. Her school don't put them into sets until the end of year seven and I'd be most upset if she didn't get into the top one because she had a couple of stroppy, adolescent weeks. They get to do GCSE a year early and start a level or get to do amazing stuff like oceanography and astronomy if they do. Apparently it's a lot easier to move down than up...

Unless it is a highly selective school I can't imagine that she'll be anywhere but top set from your description, so I wouldn't worry too much. DD's 'revision' for maths & science consisted of a bit of paper stuck on the back of the loo door with a reminder as to which type of average was which . . .

It is very possible to get an A* in Physics at GCSE with pretty much no revision (at least out of class) - if you have the right kind of brain. If she knows the stuff she may not need to revise. If she does worse than she "ought" to then she might listen and revise next time, or when its more crucial.

If the only advantage of being in top set is to sit GCSE a year early, then that is really a two edged sword, as some pupils can then go off the boil - not taking their studies seriously in year 11. Even doing extra subjects that you see as "fun" can be seen as a pain. I met a group once who were doing Environmental science having already got their double award Science, but not having been chosen to do triple science. They were pretty demotivated.

If it affects what sets she ends up in then maybe this is not the occasion on which to leave her to it and let her face the consequences. However, you will need to do just that at some point. Despite my DM's best efforts, it wasn't until I actually managed to fail an end of year exam that I ever got that sitting drawing pretty timetables and then giving up and reading a book instead was not in fact sufficient revision.

"because she had a couple of stroppy, adolescent weeks. "

Is it just 2-3 weeks or is this more of a long term mode?
I couldn't set myself up for a long-term battle. Will she be keen to do all the homework & revision & meet the high expectations that come with being in the top sets next year, that you appreciate but she doesn't?

We had this with ds2 in y7 (and y8 and to some extent in y9 ...)

He's in top sets and finds maths, science, history and geography v easy

He point blank refused to do any revision at all for y7 and came out with scores in the high 80s and 90s so far as he was concerned his no-revision stand was vindicated

This year their sets for GCSE science depended on their exam results and he had to do well in maths in order to stay on the accelerated maths programme so he did a little bit of revision for those (and was fine)

It's frustrating but unless dc have their own work ethic it's hard to convince them they need to do any more

"Will she be keen to do all the homework & revision & meet the high expectations that come with being in the top sets next year, that you appreciate but she doesn't?"

If she's on the G&T registers for maths & science, I doubt being in top sets will be that stretching?

"It's frustrating but unless dc have their own work ethic it's hard to convince them they need to do any more"

If you don't need to revise to get 90%+, then do you not think it is work for the sake of it? I'm not sure I ever did more than a casual read through on the bus for most of my school career, it didn't stop me working hard later on at subjects I was interested in where I found the work challenging.