Year 10 mocks are not going well, how to help my DS for GCSEs?

[WishfulThinkingToday]

My DS is struggling with GCSE mock exam revision, he doesn't seem motivated or even have a clue about what to do (he keeps saying his books are at school!). We have been pushing him to revise, but I am not sure he will get good mock exams in year 10.

I am very tempted to buy a load of revision guides and spend an hour every day in the summer holidays with this before year 11. I also want to try and see what works for him (spider graphs / flash cards / writing lines / past papers) but not sure how to test this.

..are there any teachers/parents that can give me a clue how to help him? I am still suffering from Covid homeschooling PTSD (he hid under the table most of the time).

1. Find out what exam boards he is doing for every subject.
2. Look at past papers to see the style of question.
3. Go through the mocks to see what he finds difficult.
4. Find questions on those areas and practice them. Or you might need to make sure he knows the topic first.
5. Go through the paper with the mark scheme and point out where to pick up easy marks.
6. Look up YouTube videos on particular topics.

All this requires a fair amount of engagement from him though!

Thanks for these ideas - this all looks good.

Fingers crossed he starts being more engaged. I am not used to having to hand-hold during revision, my older children just got on with it, so this is all new.

Save my exams is a cracking website. Lots of past papers on there with mark schemes.

Save my exams! It’s a great website.

I have one who got on with it and one who struggled at GCSE. @MissMaryBennet 's post has good advice.

For my own child, I focused on the 5 most likely to get C or above and tutored or got a tutor in those. I'm a teacher so I was well placed to do this. There's no point trying to pass them all if they're not going to and just need to get the next stage.

They got more than that at C and above in the end and went on to A levels, where they've completely blossomed. The spread of subjects is just very hard at GCSE . My kid has perfectionist tendencies and just got totally swamped and discouraged.

My DC underachieved at GCSE and one of the mistakes was not using summer hols to address some of the lower mock grades and just assuming they would improve. Five of his GCSEs didn’t move up from end of year 10 grades. Others moved up 1-2.

A lot of subjects they swiftly move on to new content in September snd there is no time in year 11 to go over the vast science or history curriculum (as an example). My advice is pick off the GCSE year 10 mocks lower than expected, get and analyze papers and fill gaps over summer.

Any consolation I think DC learnt and is pretty focused now with A levels. Good luck!

Looking into ‘Save my exams’ - looks good so far, might try for 7 days.

I am hoping he does well in his GCSEs but I don’t see him going on to A levels - he does not enjoy education and is a more practical person, so maybe he will end up doing an apprenticeship. Even then I heard it can be quite competitive due to lack of spaces. I would love for him to change his mind about studying and carry on in his education, it seems like a scary concept leaving education at 16!

There are some great options at colleges and sixth forms. It definitely is worth looking at those options as soon as you can, firstly because it can be a great motivator, secondly because year 11 is full on and there won't be time and thirdly, if their school is anything like mine, the moment they get back to year 11 they get asked constantly what they're going to do next year and it can really throw those that don't know and demotivate them further.

It also allows you to judge how many GCSEs they need to get in, which takes the stress off a bit. Some great courses at our local college only need 3, most 5.