DD's mocks results are a disaster - what can I do now?

[Earningsthread]

Art target grade A* - mock grade - A/B
Biology target grade A* - mock grade - C
Chemistry target grade A* - mock grade - C
English Language target grade A* - mock grade - A
English Literature target grade A* - mock grade - A
French target grade A* - mock grade - D
History target grade A - mock grade - A
ICT target grade A - mock grade - A
Mathematics target grade A* - mock grade - A
Music target grade A* - mock grade - B
Physics target grade A* - mock grade - D

This girl is talented. So talented that her English teachers in every year have told me that she is the most gifted student they have ever seen. But just look at those mock results. They are APPALLING. She is underachieving in every subject bar 2. What should I do? What can I do? There are only six months between now and the exams. The school thought she was an Oxbridge banker. I know my rebellious DD and knew she would not work. But there is not working and not working. THose mock GCSE results are appalling.

What if anything, can I do to help at this late stage?

The reason for suggesting a science 'tutor' is science isn't simply a load of facts. You can revise to the cows come home, but if you don't understand the basic concepts and can't chain those facts together into a coherent story you won't get good marks.

The tutor can be a parent, family friend, student, it doesn't matter, what matters is that she is able to talk through the science with someone who 'gets it themselves'.

Even friends your own age can help. I was tutor for my peer group, DD1 is for hers.

Also make sure the school has gone through how to answer the styles of questions, DD1 says the wording is horribly specific. Describe means Describe, etc. Her teacher has drummed it into them make sure hers has too.

Make sure she knows you're proud of her for working hard and improving, not only for getting A*s. I agree with the previous posters - if she's been labelled and praised for years for being 'clever' then she may be shocked now that that's not enough and she can't just sail through with little work and get great results anyway. At the same time she may not really know practically how to fix that problem if her study skills, self-motivation and so on have never really needed to be good before.

If she's going to succeed through A levels, let alone any university course, she mustn't count on getting brilliant results with little work - even if that used to happen, it probably won't ever happen again now she's past primary and the first years of secondary.

Instead she needs to learn to feel pleased with herself every time she works hard at something, even if it doesn't lead to "ooh aren't you clever" glory, and every time she improves at something even if it doesn't take her past a clear winning line such as a brilliantly high grade. That's the attitude you need for the long-haul of studying.

Get her to be as pleased with the jump from C-standard to B-standard work as she will be eventually with the jump from A-standard to A-standard. Feeling that anything less than A at any stage is a disaster if she's afraid she won't make it - she needs to feel that all improvement is good, not only the last step to her final goal.

Those results are fine - I will be delighted if my children achieved them . Your attitude on the other hand is appalling !

Hopeful- you did see that the OP's daughter is aiming at Oxbridge, didn't you? Under those circumstances, the results are concerning, and the reasons for them need addressing. If one of the reasons is that the Oxbridge dream is the mother's or the schools's, then so be it, but if it is actually the dd's, then she needs to do something and quickly.

Where is it set in stone that a B eliminates one from the first Oxford sift?

What if you have 15 A*s and one B? Bit harsh.

No one has said that but they are going to want excellent all rounders who do can do well in science GCSEs. Realistically you are not going to get to Oxbridge with Cs in science and French.

Nobody has said that one B would eliminate you from the first Oxford sift. But the grades listed most definitely would.

I understand why you are upset, my year 10 child was supposed to be getting As, now his grades have been revised to Bs.

Not the end of the world but you want them to do as well as they can, I will be looking into getting a science tutor for him after Christmas, just no real idea what to look for

I am sure she will be fine if she knuckles down for the actual exams, maybe some past paper practice would be good

Bearing in mind she won't have finished the courses yet and won't have had 5-6 months of exam practice, these results are excellent. She should go up by at least a grade per subject with the GCSEs. Leave the poor girl alone.

5-6 months is tonnes of time to improve. I thought mock exams were supposed to be a wake up call to the more horizontally inclined? If she's clever, she really doesn't need you to help her improve, does she? And so what about potential? It's HER potential, not yours. Rebellious people are only happy if they achieve their potential THEIR way, not by towing the line throughout their lives. The more you push, the more you take her achievements away from her and put the credit onto your nagging.

Welcome to the realities of adolescence.

lainie 15A*s and one B would not be a problem..but that's not where this young woman is at.

A mix of grades, with more As and Bs than A*s, just isn't going to be enough. Especially if the applicant has attended a decent school, especially if the applicant is looking at one of the super competitive courses.

Young people with their eyes on Oxbridge and a number of other highly competitive universities need to made aware of this so they can eithert a. reconfigure their expectations or b. pull their finger out.

Slightly of subject but something I have been wondering for a while. Is a C at GCSE comparable with a C at old O Levels or is an old C equivalent to a new B now there is is A*?

Well we know all about what the teachers want. And what the parent wants.

Has anybody asked the student what she wants?

One thing - she was on a hiding to nothing. With predicted grades like those it was impossible to over achieve and difficult to achieve when you think she still has sixth months of study to do and a serious amount of revision.

I'd be asking about Science - were they given papers covering questions not yet covered? Maybe think about getting some revision resources to start over Christmas.

I'd try and get under the French result - what vocabulary is still to be learned? Again, can Christmas be of any use to work on this.

Otherwise, with more study, revision and the 'real thing' which tends to focus students for real, then I'd be delighted with the results.

I was wondering the same as FrauMoose.

Before we decide what must be a disaster for a student with Oxbridge in mind, it might be worth asking if this particular student does have Oxbridge in mind.

The OP hasn't said what her dd wants.

The fact that the school have decided that she would be capable of it doesn't mean it would be the right place for her or that she has to want to go there or indeed anything at all.

When I was in Sixth Form I was told I should aim for medical school or law school simply on the basis of my grades, which were high. I kept pointing out that I had absolutely no desire to be a doctor or a lawyer and that I thought I would be miserable spending my life doing something I wasn't interested in, but the careers advisor couldn't get her head round the idea that somebody who was capable of choosing the most prestigious path might not actually wish to do so.

Oxbridge can give a wonderful education, but they do offer rather a specific learning environment and it isn't what everybody wants.

One of the brightest students I have taught in recent years did come from Oxbridge: she had started there because she undeniably had the right qualifications, but very quickly found that it was not the right place of learning for her, that she was not happy there and that she was not learning in the way she wanted. So she jumped ship and was much happier.

Although I totally agree with "Cory" and others about the individual needing to want to go to Oxford or Cambridge and that it is not always the right place for every suitably qualified student..... IMO this is not so much about the above but about a young person realising their potential. I can see why the OP is frustrated as the school appear to have inferred that her DD is capable of much more. I have 2 DCs who have now finished at school and for one I would have been over the moon with those mock results but for the other I would have been disappointed and so would they.
So IMO the OP wants our advice and ideas to help her motivate her DD so that she can realise her potential and then she has the options to do what she wants.
With regards to the science results past papers are online and so are the marking guides which can be very useful when revising. In addition to these my DCs found the examiners reports also very useful as they showed how pupils had misinterpreted the questions and what the examiners actually wanted to see in the answers.

Motivation comes from within. Either your child is motivated to do well or she isn't. DH and I are in a difficult position, as neither of us did particularly well at school - I was bored rigid and he clowned about. However, we have tried to impress on our DC that doing well provides choices. You can do all sorts like limiting the network time their devices have, controlling the amount of socialising, offering cash for results etc. However, none of this will force your child to revise if they aren't interested.

I was in the situation 18 years ago that 'everyone' said I was an Oxbridge certainty. Loads of pressure from school, tutoring for the interview, help with personal statement etc. it did work, Cambridge made me a 3 A's offer to study engineering. Sadly, I hated the interview, hated the ethos of the place and was certain I would hate the course.

My maths teacher managed to teach me the rest of the course without speaking to me after I turned the offer down in favour of Bristol. As it happens, I got 5 A's in my a levels, so would have be able to go.

I have never, ever regretted it :-)

She still has several months until her actual exams - there's plenty of time for her to work. Plus her final results will involve coursework,not just exam results - maybe she isn't as strong on exams but has the potential to get her predicted grades when coursework is taken into account? And of course she won't have revised as much knowing that they are only mock exams. For what it's worth,I got nothing above a c in any of my mocks. I walked away seven months later with 4a*s and 6as in my gcses. I really wouldn't worry

does your dd want to go to oxbridge? or op is it you who wants her to go? if the former then she will from now on know what is required between now and the summer. mocks are deliberately marked hard for the very reason to keep the student focussed. nothing you can do really apart from support and encourage her onwards. and remember it is that love and supp
ort thatwill spur her onwards.

Senua.
Talk to her about the exams, her motivations, her dreams, try to find out what's going on in her head

This mainly.

How is she feeling? Clever? Upbeat? Downhearted?

Fwiw, I went to Cambridge & had v similar grades - a mixed bag of As & Cs (no Bs) + 1D (reseat).However, I got good, ok excellent, a'levels & was passionate about my subject (so must've come across v well in interview).
I revised not one bit for my gcses & any nagging made no difference.
But that's me. As posters above have said, pl support your daughter (my mother didn't).

Reseat=re-sat (autocorrect)

Goby did you apply post A level?

That's certainly one way round a poor hand of GCSEs. Certainly a bunch of A*s already bagged at A level would sway things.