Year 8 summer exams in 2 weeks

[mrsjavierbardem]

Ds is at an all boys secondary and I have no idea how much revision he should be doing, is it obvious to everyone else do you think? Ds keeps saying his mates aren't studying but a lot of them may not need to. I just feel so out of touch with the school and find most of ds's teachers fairly chilly with Ds and me. I know it's a very hard job but communicating with us can surely only help.
There's a new HT who just started and hasn't so much as emailed parents, oh maybe once. I don't have any close friends who have kids at this school to ask, also form tutor was pretty useless when I asked her.

My dd1 is 14 and just finishing S2 (y8 = but older as she started school later than in England/wales/ni).

She's had some testing but no formal exams, though since the timetable change to exam subjects 2 weeks ago there have been a fair few Nat4/5 past papers which was more to do with figuring out where everyone was at.

Rather than giving a week of formal exams while S4-6 are on exam leave, her school does "enrichment" activities (trips/events in school etc including involving current pupils in the induction events for the P7 group starting S1 after the summer). I much prefer this. As with the new Curriculum for Excellence in Scotland there's more varied assessments (very lucky to be a Gove-free zone!), it's great to see her being extended in other ways!

Definitely agree that Yr 8 is the year that time forgot.

DD has exams this week and I've told her that I don't mind how much work she does or doesn't do, but she has to live with the consequences. If all her friends do much better and she feels a failure, then that will be a hard lesson to learn, but better done now in Yr 8 than later on.

Not helped by her older brother who hardly opens a book and seems to cruise through all his exams, merrily telling her not to bother - Yr 8 exams aren't important. Frantic throat-slitting gestures from me behind his sister's back

My only concern as mentioned up thread, is that she may go down a set if she does badly through sheer laziness. But maybe that's the kick up the arse she needs.

I'm not sure how your children cover their syllabus if they only do 30 minutes a day.

He has 12 subjects to cover. He did do 4 hours a day Mon-Fri over half term, but less at weekends so probably 3 hours for 9 days. So that is 54 half hour revision blocks. With twelve subjects that is 4.5 hours per subject - and that got him through the syllabus. He does a combination of notes on cards and spider diagrams mostly, with some online revision and testing and past papers in things like maths.

He is at a selective independent and I expect he will score above 80% in everything and be in the top 25%. He is reasonably bright but not smart enough to not at least revise everything at least once.

I imagine this will go up to a maximum of 6 hours by A level, but assume he will start revising earlier and be more efficient at it by then.

It still gave him at least 10 hours a day not revising and we did have some trips out too. I know from last year (when he did a bit less) that he was about middle of the range for volume of revision done.

re the dropping sets and " the best teachers teach the best sets" completely not true at DD2s school . She got enough to be top set and was annoyed as they then split the top set and she just ended in the top half (not at stealth boast!) and "I wanted to be in the 2nd set as Miss X is just so very very dull" (the other teacher is dynamic and engaged).

All the way through for DS the best teachers have been lower sets. It's acknowledged that they need the push- the upper sets are more " guided"

Ours had exams the week before the holidays - keeps the attendance figures higher, and stops them spending the holiday cramming or feeling guilty for not cramming, or forgetting everything... the tests are about how much you have LEARNED, not for how well you can revise old content, so I think the school has it right...

DD1 has her end of year exams in 2 weeks (also Yr8) and she has been doing half an hour a day, rotating topics, with Saturdays off. The school is deliberately not setting any other homework, and they have revision time during the school day too, so she is doing quite a lot. I don't know how typical she is though, she's ambitious and conscientious, as are her friends.

I feel at her age it is up to her to work out how much she needs to do to get good results, she's definitely working harder than in Yr7 though. She's also selectively addressing her weaker subjects and spending more time on them - her maths for instance are very very strong, and IME you can't really revise for maths - you either know your stuff and how to tackle the questions put before you, or you don't. DD is spending a lot of time on History and Geography, because they're heavily fact-based, and on the sciences.

Silas- doesn't he pay attention in lessons, then?

I do think the amount of revision needed varies between children - DD1 has a very good memory so doesn't need to do huge amounts, but not everyone processes and retains information in the same way. Last year she did a lot less revision and scored over 90% in everything, 95%+ in many of her subjects. She's lucky her brain is wired that way. And yes, she does work very hard in lessons, which helps. The other thing the school does is test at the end of every half term, so testing and revising has already become a habit. (non-selective state school)

Oh pointy.....
Sigh

(sound of muffled parental sobbing and the quiet anguish of general sense of remorse at poor parenting skills....)

Not only is there a wide variation of the amount of revision needed between each child but also the expectations of different schools. I have for example seen a Year 7 history exam comprising nothing more than filling in a page with one word answers. DS1 has to revise four history topics to be able to answer short questions on one topic, a source question requiring evidence and analysis on another and a full page essay on the third. The fourth topic may be redundant but although he's been given a helpful revision booklet and guidance in class he doesn't know which topic will come under which section. I don't think 30 minutes revision will cover it somehow! He won't need to do much for maths though.

Well I dont remember facts that I first learnt last November without a recap so I don't see why he should. He knows the general themes and concepts but wont have remembered dates/equations/latin names for biology etc. Some subjects use old GCSE questions for exams even in year 8, so he is expected to know quite a lot of detail. He will have had to work harder at his languages than his maths, but I'm not sure him learning to work hard is a bad thing.

But maybe he just isn't as smart as your children Hakluyt ?

OP, it really isn't my parenting. I'm not at all brilliant and wonderful, just lucky. Both DDs have inherited my brain, I remember things very easily and in great detail. The new-style terminal fact-and-essay based exams are really going to suit my DDs, just as they suited me in the day - but that is not to say that they are something I agree with as a good test of what someone has really achieved. The kind of fact retention I am capable of has been useful in quiz shows (though it didn't help me win the Weakest Link), but that's about it.

I do think DD's school supports her very well, she is in a set with very able children who are all ambitious and want to learn - makes it easier for her, her teachers and for me. Again, just that bit of luck.

My sister was very, very different at school and my parents really struggled. However, she now runs a livery and teaching yards and earns £multiple of what I do, so go figure.

Silas- doesn't he pay attention in lessons, then?

I don't really understand that question. Are you suggesting that if you pay attention in lessons, there's no need to revised ever?

"don't really understand that question. Are you suggesting that if you pay attention in lessons, there's no need to revised ever? "

No. I'm saying that a year 8 who pays attention in lessons and has been well taught should not need to revise for 4 hours a day over half term for internal exams.

I should point out that DS's school mark quite leniently; he got 75% for a practice source question and essay last term which was obviously written by an 11/12 year old. There's no 'dumbing down' though even in year 7 - you can see how the school achieves such good results by building up the necessary skills early on and most dc go off to RG universities.
If the op's son was moved down a set last year because he didn't revise then he clearly needs to do more - if he did revise then perhaps he is better suited to the lower set. Every parent I know underplays how much revision their dc has done - not the ones who score 30% though obviously!

Ds1 yr9 is at a super selective. His exams are next week and he did no some revision

Ds2 yr7 did about an hour over the last week for one subject he knew he is having an exam in. He is borderline top set for that subject and is hoping to move up next year.

Each child has done what they thinkhope is enough. I trust their instincts and think that if they dont do as well as they would like it is a learning curve.

Well taking less than 5 hours per subject to go through his notes, make revision cards/spider diagrams/look at past papers/use some online revision quizzes doesn't seem excessive to me so I guess we will just have to disagree on that Hakluyt.

He could have just read his notes once, but not enough detail would have stuck - hence the writing of notes.

And there were still 10+ hours of non revision so he's hardly burnt out. There has been plenty of time to read and mess about in the garden. He hasn't seen much of friends, but then they were revising too!

Hi all. My DS starts his Y8 internal exams next week and I am still waiting for a timetable so I know which exams are when, which is really frustrating as I wanted to help him plan. He has been doing an hour a day over half term.

My big concern is that his school has not taught him any revision techniques, so he doesnt know how to revise. When I had exams I just kept reading the textbooks etc and then writing down everything I remembered, highlighting bits etc, but this doesnt work for him. He has done some online study but I am worried that online doesnt always equate to being able to remember things and write them down really quickly. All his home work is submitted online which doesnt help with his written work.

Are there any books available that teaches revision technique?

CGP do a little book called Prof. Gunning's Erudite Course of Fact Retrieval for £2.95. Explains a few techniques and is quite entertaining if you enjoy the CGP sense of humour.

Reading/highlighting has been shown to be one of the least effective revision methods.

Try:
Answering practice questions, especially for Maths.
Explaining concepts to someone else.
Making mindmaps (the artistic/visual children enjoy this).
Making flashcards, especially for vocabulary.

Thanks TLOT. I have just ordered from Amazon.

Errrrrr .... Yr 8 exams?!!!! I had no idea! Do all schools do them or just private?

Will be asking DS1 when he's home from school shortly!

Jungfrau I think it varies, it's definitely not just private schools though. My DD is in our local comp and they do end of year exams in Yr7 and Yr8.

So from what I can surmise about reasons for revising hard for internal exams year 7 to 9
Covering / catching up due lack of organisation, poor teaching or poor understanding during the year - I assume that has just been noticed.

Fear of dropping a set / doing less than everybody else - similar ethos to tutoring for selective exams (not wanting to miss out on possibly better teaching) or a competitive child.

Good work habits installed (easier with a compliant or naturally hard working child).

Finally - time needed by an individual child for consolidation of concepts learnt over year - quantity may vary from school to school.

Silas unless they've forgotten everything on the syllabus then they don't need tor revise everything. It might differ from school to school but at DD's school they are taught to revise the things they don't know/aren't as confident with. So that's maybe only 20-30% or the syllabus per subject.