Revising for Yr10 end of year exams - how much?

[agnesf]

DS in Yr 10. Has end of year exams in about 4 weeks time but will be away on work experience for 2 of those weeks.

He's pretty bright, does well in class but also pretty laid back and rarely seems to revise for tests at home (compared to his sibling who is a year younger and does loads).

I know these exams don't matter but I want him to get into a better routine of revising at home in preparation for his GCSEs.

We had a chat about home revision and he suggested a couple of hours a week (he has almost no other homework). I was thinking of more like an hour a day!

Who is right?

I am going to speak to his tutor about this but would like to get a wider perspective too.

Are you sure the exams aren't external? Most Y10 pupils will be sitting a number of GCSE exams that very much do count. In my school, Y10 are doing the full English and maths GCSEs (resist opportunity next year too) and some science modules at the very least.

This is normal teenage behaviour but I agree that an hour or two a day is what's needed to succeed. Remind him that his results this year will affect what class he's in next year as well as his confidence towards subjects and also that he could be in a position to focus elsewhere in Y11 should he pass the Ines this year.

*resit and ones

(Autocorrect!)

No definately not external. They do all GCSE in one go next year. Unlikely to affect which class he's in either - he is top set for everything and not at the borderline.

The main incentive as far as I can see is a) once you've revised once it will be easier the next time b) its about getting yourself into good habits (but this unlikely to bother him).

I would say 1-2 hrs per night. If he is away for 2 weeks work experience, that could still only be 20hrs revision which is only 2 hrs per subject which is next to nothing really. So really 1-2 hrs per night plus more at the weekends plus more the week of the exams.

I think revision for y10 exams is useful to:

• practice revision techniques - what works well for them both in terms of structuring the time and what techniques work well
• making revision cards / notes for content heavy subjects so don't have to make them later
• revising subjects, as the ones you revise now will be easier to revise again

Dd is Year 10 & ds is Year 8 (different schools). Both have internal exams after half term.

Ds's school have issued a revision timetable. The expectation seems to be 3 revision sessions per day. He's been doing between 90 mins - 3 hours or day over half term.

Dd in Year 10 has been doing around 3 hours per day.

Ds was in a show last week (week before half term) so did no revision (homework isn't issued in the run up to exams just revision lists). Dd was just doing her normal homework.

DD has hers immediately they go back. They had a couple of tests before the holiday too, and a full homework timetable. She's probably doing a couple of hours a day in total, but some subjects set heavy holiday homework too.

Then just let him do it his way and see if you're both happy with results. You've given him advice so you've done your bit.

In some ways I'm tempted zebra and he'll either do quite well or if not so well, come up with a number of excuses why things didn't pan out .

Up to now I haven't been too worried but now I'm not sure how far to take the brinkmanship before cracking down on his laid back attitude. Its very annoying as he's clever and it seems a waste to not make the best of it.

The other thing is that its so long since I did GCEs (yes that's what they were in my day) that I can't really remember how much work I did for them. Its hard to cast your mind back over 30 years. So this thread is really useful for getting a reasonable perspective on things.

Our DS did his "end" of year 10 tests a couple of weeks ago. He started revising once they were back at school after the Easter break, so about 4 weeks. He'd do an hour on a school day and a few hours at the weekend, on top of homework (there wasn't much). So, probably 30-40 or so hours in total. That's an average of only 3-4 hours per subject (10 GCSEs in total), which isn't that much at all. His results were "interesting" and showed which subjects he didn't do enough - mostly the "wordy" subjects and languages.

He spent a lot of time (far more than 3-4 hours per subject) on Maths and the mathematical bits of sciences. These aren't "spectator sports" and really need several hours of properly doing the calculations rather than just a cursory read through of their books - DS probably spent 10 hours on Maths, and maybe 5 hours on Physics and Chemistry calculations.

My ds last year did literally no revision at home for his end of y10 exams. He did ok - not top, but above the middle. He's working pretty well this year for his GCSEs. My dd1 was similar, minimal effort until it counted. My dds 2 and 3 are quite different, much more conscientious and put more work in consistently. So far I haven't seen much difference in their results!

An hour a night with a bit extra at weekend, for a fortnight, sounds fine to me.

Since these exams don't really matter, I would let him do things his way.

Odds are reasonable that he won't get the grades he'd like. Then he will have proof why he needs to work harder next yr when the exams count for real.

DD is in yr10, she did end yr exams in non-GCSE subjects back in early May. She over-studied for them, which is to say she barely did as much work as people imply here is absolute minimum for their kids. I would like her to revise a lot less than she does. Her results made her just about top of every subject.

My DD has been preparing revision notes over the past few months and studying for a few hours each night for the past month or so. She only really revised subjects she feels weak in (some past papers, some re-writing of previous questions she'd answered and lost marks on, some revision 'games' for studying with someone else). She has spent several hours each weekend revising too, but I don't think she is very efficient with her time! She gets frustrated that she works hard in some subjects for average grades but does little to no work for others and tops the class, and occasionally the year group. She is hoping to see improvement in the subjects she's been working on and maintain the excellent results in subjects she likes at which she seems naturally able

Hi... DD at academic school in y 10.... I was shocked to discover belatedly that they expected them to create a 3 week revision timetable and do a couple of hours a day and more at the weekend .... She's done 4 intense days of 5-6 hours each over half term so around 22 hours... and then some during exam week (now) as well ...Definitely NOT enough ....but I reckon it'll show her how much more she could have done to get the results she wants. She'll probably do fine but complain a bit about others who've done better, while ackowledging they studied harder.... I know some started work in Easter hols and had all their notes done, so just doing practise papers etc for last three weeks... which feels excessive to me. You know your DC... I think these exams are excellent practise for them to learn how they revise best and how much they want to do... and agree with you an hour a day with a few hours over the weekend sounds like a good amount. If he is effortlessly academic, now feels a good time to challenge him to see what he really can do if he puts a bit of effort in... will be interesting for all!