Recalcitrant, somewhat under-performing DS! Also very teenager!
He's considered 'bright enough' in that at his high-performing comp, he's in the Triple Science set (only fast track available and only permitted to do it if considered capable of at least a B, far more get A and A*); 2nd set in Maths where the top set include DC with Maths 'A' levels already... etc
So the school consider him 'able enough' just so you don't think I'm being completely unreasonable and MNetty 'My DC is a genius, why can't they see it??'.... 
But DS's end of Y10 report sang quiet a worrying song. It appears DS really isn't doing very well; some exam results were frankly shocking for him; and he failed the end-of-Y10 GCSE they all take (Business), which only a fifth fail! BUT I know he did revise for this exam!
He is now being mentored (my suggestion, though the school are 'on board' with this); We bought MyGCSEScience and he did a topic a day, within reason, through the summer holidays but DH and I work and we cannot, nor should we have to check everything DS is doing, but I did discover, for instance, that what he was doing was:
- read the exam style question
- watch the associated video
- answer the question
- marking himself
I suggested that this was a silly way to 'learn' as obviously he was only scanning the video for the exam answer, not learning the topic. And yes, I delivered the lecture about 'Only fooling yourself'!
The website suggests you print off the 'powerpoint' images from the video which has space alongside to write on, watch the video and then make any additional notes for yourself. You file this as your revision file.
SO he tried:
- watching 2 or 3 videos whilst making notes, then
- answering the first video's associated question etc
But he says this didn't work for him, that he hadn't retained the knowledge from video 1.
I am a great believer, incidentally, of testing your knowledge by answering (then checking!) individual questions about it to reveal what you thought you knew but transpired not to! Which is why we pay for MyGCSE.
DS has been told about mind-maps etc but I don't think he gets it. He doesn't use words as triggers; for example, mine might have:
Topic: Weathering; divided into: Chemical, Physical, etc etc. end of.
DS's would have:
Weathering; divided into Chemical, chemical weathering is where x, y and z happens, the effect being a, b, c. Physical is where this process happens, as seen in d, e, f.
To me, he's just rewriting the textbook, not forming keyword prompts which I thought was the purpose of mind-maps!
Now, DS, in a rare act of chattiness (he is 15!) told me this morning that tomorrow the school have hired in revision experts to chat to Y11. I said 'Fantastic! Please take on board what they say!' I imagine they'll talk about mind-maps, how to form a revision file, whether to form such a file... but I will bet money on the fact DS will come out apparently none the wiser.
I know not all methods work for all DC- but what worked for yours? In particular your non-bookish, clever enough, non-swotty boys? I need suggestions to prompt DS to consider some possible revision strategies as he needs to nail it, pretty soon!
TIA