Do they usually gain higher GCSE results than achieved in mocks?

[ifonly4]

Just wondered what others experiences are, do they usually improve a bit between now and GCSEs and some of their grades go up, is it about the same or do some do really well in mocks and GCSEs don't go well.

I think DD did really well in her mocks, but she wants to improve. She thinks she'll do this with more revision and also the fact there were a few areas in the mocks that hadn't been taught yet.

I think they will improve. From now on, they should do more past papers, pick up the gaps and improve.

It depends on whether they are lazy slackers or not.

If they work hard and do revision between the mocks and exams, it's perfectly possible to go up a grade or even more.

I have also seen kids go down grades, but they were not the hardworking ones.

It gave my dd a wake up call! Knuckled down and did really well.

Both DDs went up. Younger DD did have a bad time in one GCSE so that went down .

You would hope so, unless they've got A* across the board now. My older son went up a grade in most subjects and two grades in a couple. Mostly because they don't really have time to revise properly for the mocks if they're still at school or they're after Christmas and lots of boys (my experience as don't have daughters) don't seem to think it's worth busting a gut for something that doesn't 'really' matter.

depends if they work or not, some go down.

my son went up in 8, stayed the same in 2, went down in 2. One subject went down by 3 grades!

Most do improve, yes. More time to revise. Plus some do really badly in the mocks and it's a good wake up call!

I expect my students to go up 2 grades from December mocks to the final exam. We have a second round of mocks in March and expect them to be within one grade by then. Some can make more improvement than that and a few might not improve at all. In a few extreme cases I've seen kids get an E in March mocks and an A as their final grade.

Fuzzy, do you teach A level, what are your expectations then?

My ds went down 1 grade in every subject.
He did really well in his mocks and then rested on his laurels.
He was disappointed when he got his results.

A level really varies. I had a girl get a U in November and a C in January who I fully expect will get an A at least. Others got Cs in November and I think they will likely get a C or B overall. Big improvements definitely are possible in my subject though. (history)

Surely this depends on the individual student's response to the grade they got?

I found my DCs achieved a grade or two lower in their mocks than they did in their real exams. Mocks motivated them to try a lot harder in the real thing!

Please, please God, otherwise my department will be getting sacked. Most of ours came out between 1 and 3 in the mocks.

I do not have children of GCSE age, yet. A few friends whose kids have done GCSE and Alevel mocks say that generally the mocks act as a wake-up call. Just make sure they practise plenty of exam paper questions in their weak areas. They can then correlate their answers against the marking scheme. The Examiner Reports are useful, too.

Forget about faddish revision techniques, just do questions, questions and more questions.

Ps, has anyone heard about the Elevate programme. DC's school are adopting this.

Btw, most schools use thematic exam questions: AQA has Exampro, etc, so just ask teachers to print off thematic questions/mark schemes in weak areas.

DS2 went up more than two grades in every subject but one, but tgen he has ADHD and only bothers when he has too, it wasnt unusual for grades to go up in his year though.

I suspect it's a personality thing. Ds1 totally underachieved in his mocks which has given him a shock and he's started revising properly.

I'm so glad they have mock exams it was a wake up call for my ds he got -4 in maths which he's expected a 6+
A 5 in English (theirs only gonna be 1 result for english even though they have 4 exams 2 literature 2 language)
D for science core expected b+
U for additional very concerned
F history expected c
Language c expected a
And that's it only 3 other exams which are important but they marked as pass merit distinction
He's had a wake up call best thing is make ur kids do alot of pass papers and revision flash cards are very handy and a timetable I'm just worried he won't achieve these results cause their's only 12 weeks for the real exam alot of preparation any advice pls anyone thank you

I would hope so - otherwise that would suggest that the students didn't learn anything between January and May!

As students get closer to their exams, I expect that more exam technique will be taught. Departments (at my school anyway) also run revision sessions or at least give out sheets on areas which a lot of students didn't show understanding of in their mock. My department (MFL) also run 1:1 sessions with teachers or sixth-formers, primarily for any student who is working at a low grade (C or below) or a grade significantly below their benchmark.

By the way my ds school run extra intervention classes everyday for all the gcse children not only that are below target but it different classrooms. Plus they give u pass papers as many u want for each subject and either the teachers mark it but I can aswell by looking on the mark scheme on website and I've asked for all the mock papers so at least I know the weaknesses of my ds. To make a child successful the student, teacher and the parents have to work together hopefully with all the hard work and time it pays off just finished marking ds paper ready for more tomorrow.....

So good to read what you just said. Cause my son got a -4 in maths and needs a 6 to get into the course he wants to do, I've got a private maths tutor for him hope that helps him and he's started doing pass papers. The mock paper's were very hard I've seen the paper's the higher tier they like an A level exam. Good luck to all the children that are taking their gcse's this year.