When should y11 start revising for GCSE?

[SilverPosey]

I work in a local coffee and cake shop. Yesterday a woman and her husband came and got two coffees to have in, and a brownie to take away. As i handed over the brownie the woman explained it was a treat for their daughter who was at home revising for the GCSE. My daughter is y11 too and she hasn't started revising yet, I was surprised this girl was already revising when the exams are still more than a month away. If you have y11 kids are they revising already or do you think its okay to leave till closer to the exams?

Mine is revising. Reluctantly, little and often, lots of rewards (bribes!)

They should have been revising as they went along.

But, yes, definitely the Easter holiday is a prime time for revision and also finishing off portfolios for subjects that require one.

It does seem a little early this year, because Easter is early but, with many schools now not having study leave, it's the only block of time they get to revise before exams actually start.

DS has been reviewing/revising since the summer. Ramped up a bit at Christmas pre mocks and again at HT. Full on from now until the end of exams. We had parents evening this week, and school recommends 2-3h after school and 5-6h weekends and holidays. It's probably not necessary if you have a natural 8-9 child. Sadly, I don't

Our school from Feb half term they have revision every school holiday and Saturdays. They continue throughout exams. It is very late to have not started.

DD has been revising since sept.
Has been doing intervention sessions at school when offered (incl Feb half term and this Easter break)
She's planning 4 hrs a day over Easter, with this long weekend off as we're away.

OP, I think I'd be worried if I were you. I'd be shocked if her teachers haven't been nagging them to revise for months.

And has she a revision strategy? Timetable, resources, knowledge in what areas of each subject she needs to focus on the most?

IME, DD took weeks planning (coloured pens, tables, comparison with mates, looking up tips etc). All a load of procrastination to avoid the actual revision 😀

Don't let her waste any more time. Encourage her. Help her. Supervise her. Tell her it's never too late. Tell her not to spend 10hrs a day revising. Tell her you're proud of the effort she's putting in.

My Y11 had two days off (Christmas Day and New Year’s Day) at Christmas revising for January mocks, used half term for coursework and is revising about 4 hours a day these holidays. This is a DC who did well in mocks and has worked consistently throughout, so it’s just revision not actual learning of new material, which would take longer.

I would expect any Y11 to be revising at this stage.

My son has been revising since Christmas and doing more now exams are getting closer. A couple of hours each night but still going out with friends etc.They've already done mocks, did your daughter revise for them?

This too. We have had an information evening, which seems standard now. Also, we have had two mocks. For each mock a revision booklet was sent home saying the topics to revise for each subject, how to revise, specific ppqs etc.

We have now sent home booklets on revision, subjects and techniques in preparation for the final exams. All revision we are doing now assumes that the previous revision was done, so those topics have been covered and wont be covered again. There is no time to do that.

id also be very surprised if there werent revision sessions on over Easter, online, in person, or both.

op check her school bag or her work area at home for a booklet. Or her hoogle classrooms or equivalent.

I work education adjacent and I was in a meeting years ago where it was said that y11 kids shouldn’t be going on holiday over Easter, as it’s prime revision time. It always stuck in my head, and now I’ve got friends with kids doing their GCSEs and they’ve all been revising since about Christmas, it affects all their plans etc. Mine are all a bit younger, but I think I’d be supporting them to get into it from about October at a more gentle pace, and then getting more intense closer to the time.

All the kids I know doing GCSEs are revising and have been for their mocks so pretty much since September in fits and starts.

My daughter is in Year 10 and it is expected of them even now, although the school has advised taking this (Y10) Easter holiday off, on the grounds that this is going to be their last break until after the GCSE, so they should enjoy it while they can, but I know they will be expected to work over the summer, and I absolutely support that. I'm VERY surprised your daughter hasn't started yet and that her school hasn't been pushing this.

So what has your DD been doing all year?

My younger sister has been revising since the end of year 10. We made her a revision timetable which she adapted in the Christmas holidays so she was focusing on the subjects that she was falling behind on.

She’s just had her second mock week this year and has got all 6-8s. She’s hoping for higher so will continue to revise as much as possible. Easter Holidays are crucial as that’s the last break before exams start. Hasn’t your DD had to revise for any mock exams?

Day 1 of year 10.
Revision should be semi continuous to get the information into the long term memory and not temporarily dumping information into the short term memory for exams.
Revision is an important skill to learn even if it's not necessary for the person for their GCSEs. I saw lots of very able students flounder during university as they never learnt the skills having got through school on natural ability or short term memory. You need the layers of knowledge for good understanding and this comes from regularly going over the same information in multiple ways.

February half term

“Exams are still more than a month away” - yikes! A month or six weeks is hardly a long time to go over all the topics in 9 or 10 subjects. My Y11 is working hard - did an hour each of 3 subjects yesterday and plans similar for each day of the holidays.

I'd agree with many of the above. We've all but finished the actual syllabus now and in one of my classes (A level) we're only doing revision and simulations in class. The GCSE classes (2) we're still doing a bit more input, but after Easter that will also be down to almost nothing and it'll be exam training.
Ours are encouraged to do little and often, certainly from Christmas onwards.
I also tell them that if the idea of writing a whole essay is daunting, then just do a 15 minute plan, or just the intro, or just one paragraph. Anything is better than nothing to get you into the swing of it.

Teacher here. They should have started revising already. Look at her exam timetable and her list of topics to revise - she needs to start asap.

2 of my dc post Gove and no revision needed beyond what they did at school. Some children have better memories than others and better grasp of exam technique than others. Having said that I'd think Easter woukd be a good time for most y11s to start

Mine doing 4-6 hours a day over Easter hols, broken down into a morning session, and an afternoon one. She revised over Feb half term too, her target/predicted grades are mostly 8/9 and she wants to achieve them.

Yep, DD is doing 2 -3 hours a day over the holidays. It's two years of content for 10ish subjects, you'd struggle to fit that all in in a month!

DS started 10 weeks before his first exam last year.

He now says he should have started earlier as he had more ground to cover than he realised.

Former teacher.

Remember in March 2020, when GCSEs were cancelled and students got teacher assessed grades? The ones who did really well were the ones who'd already been revising, had done so for the y10 mocks and the y11 mocks. Those who kidded themselves that they could start revising at Easter in y11 really screwed themselves over - and this is true of any exam cohort.

If you don't start revising very early you put yourself at a massive disadvantage. An hour a day from Christmas would have given three whole weeks worth of cramming - impossible to claw that back between now and May op.

Mine did his GCSEs last year and school made them fill out a revision timetable starting Xmas holidays- I think it was 20 - 30 mins x 3 subjects per day although they were doing more nearer the exams.

It really helped DS to organise himself as he had a plan to work to - he's usually v disorganised and forgetful.

My daughter was doing revision in small amounts since September, ramped up after Xmas and over Easter holidays was doing about 4 hours a day.

I cannot believe school have not fed baxk to them this info about starting early.

My three all started revision from the February half term. It was the advice they were given from their schools.
11gcses is a lot of revision to get through.