GCSEs 2018

[DoNotBringLulu]

Hi all, I am sure many of us with dc going into year 11 this year are trepidatious about teachers and pupils thrown in at the deep end due to the new GCSEs.

There is one thing I can do which I hope will help my ds (even though he thinks I'm mad!), which is to get hold of this year's GCSE English Language and English Literature papers, read the books and work through the paper myself - I studied English Lit at university over 20 years ago. I will know for myself after I've done this how difficult the exam papers are at least - I'm not sure who I can ask to mark it for me though!

Can anybody tell me how challenging the Maths and English papers were for their dc? I understand these were the two subjects introduced with the new format.

NobleGiraffe (the math teacher who posts on MN) says that A-level math is a big leap, so maybe would start to stretch your son. Math & history go together in my mind, both can be very analytical, yet offer challenges that are different enough that they don't wear out the same bits of the brain (or maybe that's just my brain).

To any lurkers: I'm sorry we sounds like boasters. I spent 3 yrs hand-wringing over DC1 who often bunked off school & since joined Army (talk about how to Guarantee MN disapproval). And my younger DC won't be Oxbridge bound, either. I point all that out before it sounds like every MNer has a high achiever child. Anyway, I am 99% sure yr11 DD says she got top percentile results on the science test, too (I think it was also EdExcel). I have failed so far to talk her out of aspiring for medicine.

I agree, and i'm sorry to if it sounds like a stealth boast, because it is not and I wouldn't want anyone to feel that the thread isn't about their child too. Ds is highly able at one thing - but that's it. For everything else, he has to work hard to achieve his goals, just like all our DCs.

Changing the subject...
If anyone is interested, I did a back of the envelope calculation with DS yesterday about how much work he has to do by next May - approx 500 hours. That includes time spent revising at school, but not normal lessons when they are learning new stuff. Its a lot if you think the average working week is 40 hours.

How did you come to 500 hrs?

It was a bit of finger in the air, but..

DS had a class test recently where he did 4 hours of revision, in which he was learning the material to the level of detail required. He ran out of time before finishing learning all the stuff he needed to for the test. So, ideally he needs 5-6 hours for that topic in excess of the time spent listening in lessons. There's about 10 topics for that GCSE course. Some need a bit more time, some a bit less, but 5 hours is a good average.
So, 5 hours x 10 topics = 50 hours per topic.
DS has 10 GCSEs, so 10 subjects x 50 hours per topic = 500 hours.

We were thinking that each GCSE needs about the same amount of work, even if English language is more about practicing writing different things and MFLs are about memorising vocabularly.

500 hours / 40 hours per week = 12 1/2 weeks of full-on work.

The school more or less finishes delivering new material around February half-term, and starts with pure revision from then on. That's about 12 weeks before the GCSEs start, so including all the hours spent at school, doing 40 hour weeks from mid-feb onwards without a break for Easter is roughly what it takes to fully prepare for the GCSEs.

If DS doesn't fancy that (he doesn't btw), then his only alternative is to make a start now, so that he can more leisure time in the Spring.

There's a lot of assumptions and extrapolations in that, but I think its a reasonable place to start. Unless someone who has been through it already knows better?

WOW mmzz, that's pretty thorough!

I have to say your DS sounds incredibly organised and motivated with that attitude I'm sure he will do very well........I can assure you that very few DC will be as prepared!

He's not that motivated - I am! I see education as a way of opening doors in life. I tell them that if you want nice things, you've got to work for it and if you have to work, you'll do much better and have a better time doing it, if it interests you. So, put in the effort at school and choose what you want to do carefully.

I don't mind what they do for a career. i just mind that they are happy doing it and I don't think either of my DC will be happy unless its something that they can do well at.

So, i research and try to understand the school and gCSEs etc. etc. (hence this thread) and then I tell the DC what I've learned and help them to identify and think through their options.

TBH I suspect most parents do the same.

Maybe we move in different worlds but my experience is that most parents aren't as clued up as you and even if they are its a completely different matter trying to get your DC to do as you suggest.....I speak from experience my DD certainly didn't have the maturity at the time to put in anything near the amount of work that was required at GCSE, and nothing I did could change that.

I hope that DS will learn from DD's approach to exams!

To be fair, DS is quite mature. either that or so immature, he still does what I suggest.

I've overheard conversations with some of DS's friends and they seem to be going completely off the rails! Its like listening to a toddler throw a tantrum and all because their parents have suggested that it might be in their best interests to do some work. They seem to have no idea that their parents are trying to help them, and the only thing the parents will get out of it is pleasure in seeing their DC happy in the long run. I feel really sorry for both the kids and their parents (some of whom i know and they are good people, not the monsters their sons seem to think). I'm desperately hoping that DS just keeps a cool head for a few more months.

We were told at a meeting last week that they should be putting in 2-2.5 hours each night. My chum has told her DD that it's that amount per week as "she doesn't want to put her under any pressure".

A lot of parents do pretty minimal, I reckon. I'm not saying that to condemn them, but they are doing what they can, and plenty of adults struggle to think beyond the next week or so of plans.

I know with DS it was achievement enough for me to just make sure he got to school & back. I had the bonus that he did want to work hard while in class, and he's naturally clever which helped his grades. He was a revision refusenik otherwise.

My kids teamed up to drive me nuts. I had Revision Refusenik DS, I have Revise-Until-You-Cry DD. Younger DC revision styles are shaping up to be "Procrastinate Until last Minute Sobbing Demand to Hold My hand" and "Grumble Grumble I'll do it on my own after all". I am quite looking forward to Grumble-Grumble doing GCSE.

So, two extra sessions after school a week for gcse music to catch up! I think it's a good idea as the school day is shorter than some and I'd rather they pinned DS1 down to finish stuff!
Otherwise he just has to put some extra time each month into art.
I'm going to remind DS2 of this next year when he chooses options!

2 1/2 hrs is about what DS is doing - 7 til 9.30 seems to work for him, so we've brought supper forward to 6.30ish.
He does a lot of sport, so his eyes are closing by half nine...

DS2 is doing an hour of self-set study & revision every evening (on top of homework set by school). He also does about 45 minutes of music practice every evening, so homework + revision + music practice probably adds up to about 3 hours.

The above is all his idea and is a complete contrast to DS1.

I just asked DS what the other people at school are doing for the GCSEs? He looked at me like I was crazy and told me they are 8 months off yet. Nobody is doing anything, he says.

I see him do a bit more homework than last year, and there's fairly frequent class tests that need to be revised for, but until he has to revise for the mocks, he isn't planning to do anything. I can see him panicking in a couple fo months time...!

Apparently DS won't be revising English and History when the time comes as he doesn't have enough room in his brain, what with all the other subjects!!! I have never heard that excuse before!

Bluebelle I am familiar with this line of thinking! I will be very interested to see DS1's approach to mocks revision.
If your DS can possibly be talked into short, sharp revision sessions for English, Collins do a great series of books called Snap. There are separate ones for reading and writing. There are also literature ones. I'm using them with a student who plans to resit English language in November.

DS2 tells me he only has a limited memory capacity. He says he will need to delete stuff if required to remember anything new.
Do they really believe this stuff or do they just think they can convince us??

?

Love the picture and will have a look at the Collins books. I think we are definitely going to need a sense of humour over the next few months!

I bought this planner for DD who loves to organise (endlessly...never actually starting the work, just doing more displacement). Thought it might be helpful for other DC.

sorry, trying link again

To any lurkers: I'm sorry we sound like boasters

From me too. When I post about DS2's high ability and unusual work ethic, it must sound a bit 'oh my life's so perfect' if people aren't aware of the context; how challenging it was to get DS1 through his GCSEs at all after three years of illness, and how DS2 struggled in his primary years due to his ASD & ADHD.

Second - your DS sounds like my DD (also ASD). She definitely doesn't get it from me!

Anyone else's DC doing Cambridge IGCSE English Literature?

For the poetry, they have a choice of an essay or an extract question. DS is convinced he can get away with only learning quotes for 8 of the 15 poems - 'If the essay isn't on the ones I've learned, then I'll do the extract'.

This isn't sensible, is it? What if the extract question is a real stinker?