GCSE books

[LMTTC2022]

Hi Lovely Mums,

DS has just started his GCSE journey (starts from Year 9 in his school). I am looking for recommendations on some good books that cover the topics in depth. We are currently using the CGP student books, which are good as starting points but I feel lack the depth needed. Same is the case with Edexcel ones.

Also looking for some workbooks that have exam style questions so that he can start practicing his answers.

We are Edexcel for all 3 sciences (separate).

Thanks!

The CGP books are great for revision (make sure you have the correct boards for everything!).

For more depth though you are probably looking for actual text books - does the school supply any? Or do they use online versions?

You could ask the teachers what they recommend.

I agree the CGP books for GCSE (yy check you have the right board) are great, but start of year 9 will be too soon for them to be useful IMHO as the content will not have been covered. So I am a bit surprised that you find that they do not go deep enough? Unless you have the KS3 ones (which are useful for revision and consolidation, esp of a linear subject like MFL).

Otherwise the Eng lit set texts – well worth reading them all in depth. If studying history, there are separate study guides for the various topics so look out for those.

A text book is useful but not essential tbh; MFL text books make a good reference point but be aware that the spec for MFL has changed so you may need to look for the latest editions. Ask school for advice on this.

Workbooks – again, CGP workbooks are good. MFL is my subject and I find those OK, not very extensive though (listening in particular is thin on the ground). When you get closer to the exams, past papers are always the shout.

For other subjects my DC found workbooks more useful, especially for maths and PE.

Thank you both. I am mainly looking for 3 sciences. DS’s school starts KS4 from year 9. They have covered the basics (complete KS3) in years 7-8 and now building up towards GCSE.

Having in-depth reading material will help him better articulate his responses and also answer reasoning and application based questions. This is my understanding though and would like to have other views.

In my experience it is a bit early for in depth answers etc. They need to be taught the content first. And then they will be taught how to answer the different types of question, with reference to mark schemes etc. But all that will come later.