Anyone else have children sitting GCSE's this summer?

[Milliways]

Juat thought it might be nice to have a small parental support group!

Coping with Teenagers going through Revision / Mocks / STress etc

DD had her mocks before Christmas, can't believe this is the last term that she will HAVE to go to school!!!

Anypone else out there?

My dd is sitting her GCSEs this year.

No but I am taking one in May and already feeling the pressure

Ds just done his mocks too!
He is so laid back though! No stress in our house apart from me knowing he will probably fail all as he doesnt really care!
Shame as he is a really clever boy!

Dd sitting her GCSEs this year too. Mocks seemed to go off ok so just hoping the real things go smoothly!

DS2 is sitting his GCSEs this summer. HIs elder brother found exams easy DS2 doesn't. We know we are in for a stressful time, and it will continue for AS and A2s unfortunately. We are booking him in for Easter revision classes to get him organised.

Are there any useful revision web sites?

My ds2 is in his GCSE year. Not looking forward to the next few months I have to admit. He is quite organised and self motivated but gets stressed when his routines don't go to plan. And he insists on revising by just reading through which I don't think is a good method.

He's a far cry from ds1 who was so laid back he was almost horizontal & [frustrated mother emoticon]

Have yours started college applications yet?

BBC Bitesize is the best known. You might also find that it would be helpful to buy a CGT (or Letts) revision guide.

Yes, DS2 will be sitting GCSEs this year also. Doing mocks for 2 1/2 weeks (First one as I type - eek!) He "seems" to have done quite a bit of revision, but a bit like Saggarclaus Ds, he reads through the revision guides. He does make copious notes, but they are then are strewn all over the house, so I don't know the value of that method really. He is very disorganised generally, despit constant nagging (all the teachers say so) so I would be really grateful for any expert tips (he has all the revision guides btw). He did one GCSE last year so thinks they will all be like that one (Maths - didn't need much revision apparently

Thanks Lily just been on BBC bitesize - looks great.

Here's a site for maths maths angel

Ooh, lots of replies! Great to know we can talk to each other.

Saggarclause - when you say college applications, does your school not do a 6th form? I am so glad that DD's school as an excellant 6th form that lots of other schools pupils transfer to. We are told any pupil can stay on if they need to retake anything or if they have a B in the GSCE thatthey want to take to AS & A level.

DD's prob;em is that she doesn't know what she def. wants to do at Uni / Career so EVERY teacher wants her to continue with their subject (12+ A levels) which is not possible. SOme even suggest that they keep ALL 5 AS levels as A levels! Why? WHo needs that sort of stress.

First day back to school today - are yours all back now?

No - no 6th form at ds's school. He's set on Media and Engish and the application is already in lol!

My ds1 has already done A levels (and failed miserably) and I agree that 4 subjects is more than enough for anyone.

My DS is also applying for 6th Form College this term. Most local state schools here don't have a Sixth Form but there are two large Sixth Form Colleges in local town. He knows what he wants to do (Maths, Economics, Business Studies, PE) but may not get into one of the Sixth Forms (highly competitive). Naturally, that is the one he set his heart on at the age of 8!

Yes 85 of them

anyone wanting help with biology, please ask.

My advice would be to get them to start their revision early . Little and often is better than one mad panic at the end.

Studies have shown that the optimum revision periods are ;-

On the day the work is taught
A week after that, revise it again
A month after that, revise it again.

Get them to realise that revision is an active process. revision is not simply reading over stuff, it is doing things with the stuff!

Mind maps are very helpful....ask me for more help if I can be helpful.

Biology is definitely DS2's weakest science, so I may be asking for your advice, please, Martianbishop. DS1 had same problem but tackled it by learning it all by heart in the week before the exam - however, I don't think DS2 has such a memory or exam technique). We have the CGT revision guide for Double Science and his school has a list of suggested websites. He shall be going on a GCSE revision course at Easter and will, of course, be doing lots of revision with the school.

My DD has a while to go yet so apologies for the intrustion.

I used BBC Bitesize - they also show programmes although I found these less useful than the website. (This was 6 yrs ish ago now though).

I found mind map things good for revision & also getting a piece of A3 paper & just writing key points all over it & sticking them up around the room. Also flash card type things too.

Good luck to them all.

Mind maps are great fun and great for revision.

Get your kids to list all the key words in a particular topic. These will often be in bod in their text book. Write them on small slips of paper.

Put the topic title in the middle of an a4 sheet. Now put the key words around, and put those words which have things in common near to each other.

Then see how many connections you can remember between the key words.

So , for a topic like Photosynthesis a key word might be Cholorphyll. THis could be linked to another key word, cell (chlorophyll is found in cells) it could also be linked to another key word chloroplast, (chlorophyll is found in chloroplasts) is is also linked to the key word light (light needs to fall on the chorophyll to let photosynthesis work) The more connections you can make between the key words, the better you understand them.

If there are words unconnected to the rest, or only connected to the topic title, you don't understand them very well.

You can do them is different colours, add little drawings, they are a great revision aid, since they are active and also highlight what you don;'t yet really understand. They are also ideal for kids who don't like to write a lot, since you only have to jot doewn a few words and phrases.

Does that make sense???

that is on Bold not in bod!

Thanks MB. I've always wondered what a mind map is - I have a rather more linear approach to learning, but I can see that this is probably far more effective (I wish I'd tried this at university). I shall definitely encourage DS to do this - I think that the school also recommends this approach, though I don't know if they "teach" it or merely give out a sheet outlining what to do.

my dd sits her gcses in the summer..sadly she didnt do very well in her mocks

By pulling the stuff on slips, you can shift stuff around a pit before you stick it down....this can be helpful.

It really is an excellent guide to how well you can integrate a subject. the more connections the better.

It works in all subjects.

How is the studying going? Mocks finished next Monday here. They "seem" to be going well. Have mixed feelings about them - want him to do well, but not too well to make him complacent [wink). He has an as module exam next Tues that he hasn't even thought about due to mocks revision! The mind mapping looks great - I will definitely get him to try it thanks martianbishop