any teachers/parents views please re mocks in January

[ddsmellysocks]

DD not started revising for mocks in January. I am pushing her to start now. Friends have me worried as their own DC have not only started revising but also revised their revision timetable.

How worried should I be? Teachers at school have been doing some in class so DD thinks this is enough.

Depends how old she is in part. Are these mock GCSEs or AS or A2s? My DS has Yr 10 exams first week back after holidays. He is not particularly academic and usually has to be goaded into any study, but today he did go and buy some paper and cards to make revision notes on and has got all his notes etc together.

Depends on how seriously your school takes them as well and how able your DD is. My DD could easily have winged it based on class revision and minimal cramming, but DS will need to spend the days after Christmas doing some serious work. It seems his school takes these exams quite seriously as they use them to do a first pass at Target Grades and current working grades.

That said I think it is a bit rubbish that they have put the exams in the first week back- for kids who worry or who are very conscientious it does blight their holiday and given that next year he will have mock GCSEs in year 11 after Christmas and the following year Mock AS and then A2, it would have been nice to have had one Christmas holiday in his teens without any academic pressure!

Thanks schoolchauffeur - it's mock GCSEs (year 11) and school expects high grades. So far all been quite good but no amount of discussion seems to lead to an understanding that from now onwards it's time to get serious with revision. I am quietly pulling my hair out as I don't want to push and make DD suddenly nervous and think she has left it far too late but I think I am now going to have to get heavy and really nag.

Mocks are a wake up call for lots of Y11s who were too laid back and didn't revise seriously. Not a bad thing in some cases as it illustrates to them what they really need to do to get the grades.

I've left mine too it for year 11 mocks. DS had his a couple of weeks ago and it was useful for him to see where he was up to and how much he'll need to do to get the grades he wants.

It is amazing how difficult impossible it is to get teenagers to understand the principle that the more effort they put in, the better grades they will get. I have very recently had a similar conversation! Me: 'If you revise hard for your mock you'll get a better grade and then you can revise the bits you didn't do very well at, and get an even higher grade in the real thing.' Him 'It's only a mock.'

Is it worth mentioning that colleges often base their offers on mock results?

Use a revision site to create a timetable like

getrevising.co.uk/

Personally, I would leave him to it : if he doesn't work hard enough then it will be a wake up call which is usually the case for the vast majority, especially boys.

Colleges are well aware that mock results are generally low and it is the target grades, teachers predictions for the summer that has the most weight for offers

Leave her, if she fails spectacularly it will be the kick up the but she needs.

DS1 did not bother revising for mocks (yr11) got good enough results for his sixth form place, but low enough to scare him that he is not as smart as he thinks, for us to have a rant at him and for him to get cracking and do some work.

So not doing so well in mocks can be good for some.

DD also did not bother revising properly for mocks - her thoughts were that she then knew which topics needed most work!! DS is just a lazy devel.

thanks everyone. Maybe what I really should ask is for help to get me to stop worrying about how to interfere .

DD has mocks (year 10) she has boon revising since she broke up.