How did you make your DC revise?

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Exams are just around the corner now. DS will be home, alone during study leave as DH and I both work although I can come home at lunchtime. How did you ensure your kids were revising for their exams, not gaming or watching the TV etc.

It's not easy, but I helped mine make a revision timetable and we built in time for gaming/tv etc. I also spent time with them in the evenings, testing them etc. Neither of us enjoyed it, but we got through it somehow!

I don't think you can. Agree with helping them figure out a realistic timetable for the day. Plenty lunch and snack options. But basically by the time they're on study leave they are who they are. You can lead a horse to water and all that.

Find out your DCs learning style first, then find study options that match this.

*Some kids learn best by doing (eg online quizzes, study games),
*Some kids learn best by watching (youtube videos for example).
*Some kids learn best by reading / writing (study guides / flashcards).
*Some kids learn best by observing others (so tutoring / supported study)

DD is a reader/writer style with a bit of observation. She asks her teachers for copies of their slides / notes although not all agreed. She also asked her Chemistry teacher for lunchtime tutoring as this is her weakest subject. She goes every Tuesday for 121 which is kind of that teacher and I'm proud of DDs initiative. DD also uses Quizlet which is an online flashcard website. She would go to Easter revision if the school were doing it this year 😡She takes so many notes we joke she can create and sell her own how to pass guide.

She has tutors which really helped her to learn some study techniques. They also give her notes / slides and give her feedback on her homework / assignments so that she knows how to do better. She went from Ds in prelim to As last year and is on track to get As this year except probably Chemistry but as I said she's shown initiative and is working on this.

You could encourage your DC to go to Easter revision, watch youtube videos, do bitesize, try Scholar, and see if tutors are an option (although a bit late).

You can't make them at this stage, even if you locked them in isolation with nothing but a revision guide they could still just stare into space. They need to have reasons to want to - hopefully those reasons are the self motivation to perform to their best, or target grades they want for an end goal (uni, apprenticeship, career or even just to keep doors/options open)

Where is he with his revision already and how does he revise?

Ask him where he's planning to live and get food when he can't get a job because people who have a work ethic and achieved qualifications have got all the jobs! Too harsh?! Joking really but...,

Joking apart, that was very much my dad's attitude back in the day. He made it clear he was happy to support us through school , uni, apprenticeship, getting on career ladder, but dependent upon us getting our fingers out and working hard. No one owes you a living and there's no guarantee the welfare state will remain! The lady who wrote the 'Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother' says that the reason some immigrant races do so well academically is because historically it was work or you don't eat!

You can't make them but you could:

make sure they have a realistic revision timetable - short bursts with different subjects better than trying to do the same subject all morning

Talk through/quiz them on what they have revised that day- best way to remember is to explain it to someone else

Look at future options and what they will need

Sort out resources- which revision methods do they think work best for them?

Promise some reward type activities at the weekends?

forgot to add - financial incentives work a treat. X amount for an A, Y amount for a B etc. (if she studied hard but still failed, we'd still treat her but she doesn't know that lol). DD looooooooooves money, buying makeup, clothes etc so its a great incentive. you can decide how much an incentive will work best.

Be warned, the financial incentive might work a little TOO well. My DD argued for a remark in her prelim (and got it - the head of dept acted as the new marker and agreed to give her 5 extra marks). It was like that Clueless scene where Cher talks about grades being a starting point of a negotiation lol. I didn't know whether to be proud or mortified....

I wont be. For me, a major part of it is learning to self discipline.

I think by this stage it’s completely up to them. Ds3 decided last year that his best studying was done in Costa with various friends. I have to admit I was sceptical but he had a job to self fund the coffee and he got very good results for his highers so I’m leaving him to his own devices this year again.

I didn’t. They motivated themselves. It involved a lot of evening naps followed by burning the midnight oil and lying in till noon which wasn’t ideal but they put the hours in and it worked. My current student is showing less signs of revision and is resistant to any gentle probing of whether they’re doing any revision - very touchy.

So we’ve left it at buying blank flash cards, pens and cups of tea and snacks when required. We’ve also said that they know what they want to get in terms of grades and that will require some serious revision - now it’s up to them. They say ‘I know’ - that’s all we can do. Nagging further will not do any of us any good. And we’ve never done the financial incentive route either.

I honestly don't think you can. They will or they won't. FWIW I think DS1 did improve once I backed off and made it his responsibility to do the work or not. It certainly made family life more harmonious.

Short bursts and switching subject wouldn’t have worked for me.

I think if getting started is a problem, some people work better focusing on one subject at a time, intensively.

Thanks everyone for responding. I’ll take a good read through after work tonight.

i got him a turor for the subject he was least confident in and specified know how\what to "revise"was need adressed.He .did a 8wks stint at 2hrs a week. seemed to = a better level understanding how to apply "revise\study"all round.