Amount of revision for GCSE mocks

[pomegranita]

I’m curious to know how seriously other schools take their GCSE mocks? My Y11DD has her mocks in week’s time and is getting quite stressed because she has had so little time to revise. Her regular homework has been relentless this term - usually c.3 hours a night - and by the time that is finished she is completely burnt out and ready for bed. Weekends are a similar story with at least one day full of regular homework (pressure all from her, not from me, I might add).
Hence she has had very little free time to revise and has done almost nothing which is making her (and me!) feel anxious. I kept expecting that the school would allocate time for revision as part of homework commitments, but that hasn’t happened and I can only assume that they don’t view the mocks as very important.
When I did mine, years ago, they were in the January and we treated them as if they were the real exams. I spent much of the Christmas holidays revising and by the time the real exams began in May, I felt as if I’d had a head start and was well in control. Can’t see this happening for poor DD.

Dd has her mocks in January. She will be revising over Christmas. Up til then she is concentrating on normal schoolwork & 6th form auditions/scholarship assessments.

She has approx 1 hour of homework most nights (less some days)

DD1's school takes them seriously, in terms of there is a proper exam timetable, full exam conditions etc and they are running a programme of extra revision sessions etc. They will have two or three exams per day for the last two weeks of term, so there's a little way to go yet. But at the moment, we are having a similar issue with homework - by the time that's done there is little time or energy for revision. I'm hoping it is about to tail off, but I may be wrong!

I wouldn’t worry too much about revision time for mocks. I always say to pupils (who are normally complaining that they have homework in the lead up to exams) - the homework IS the revision. Mocks are there to check their understanding and to be a wake up call if they do badly while they still have several months to do something about it. Thy aren’t the real exams and if we set lots of ‘revise’ time as homework many pupils won’t actually revise and it will be wasted time. Setting tasks (and still getting through the syllabus) is more helpful. Someone who is diligently completing their homework every night like your DD doesn’t need to be worrying about revision for mocks. She will have revision time before the real things over the Easter holidays, study leave and in the weeks of school before this when the lessons will be revising previously-studies syllabus. So she should just try to see the homework she is doing as the revision and rest assured this is normal.

DD did her gcse's this year.
The main thing about the mocks was she had to put the results on her sixth form applications.

Not sure how that will work this year as no one knows Grade boundaries.

The main thing about the mocks was she had to put the results on her sixth form applications.

That's our issue too. The sixth form application has to be supported by the mock grades. If he doesn't get the grades, he won't be allowed to choose 4 A levels (they are very strict on only allowing to apply for 4 if they get at least 5 grades of A/8 or above). So if he gets less than 5 grades A/8, he's limited to 3 A levels, and school have confirmed that's non negotiable - they can accommodate change in subjects once the real results are known, but they are adament they won't allow someone to change from 3 up to 4 A levels if actual results are better than mocks.

All of dd's 6th form applications have to be in before she will even take her mocks.

That's weird. Our local 6FCs don't ask for mocks in the application. They do ask for predicted grades & achieved grades, though, and school reference.

DD seems to be doing feck all revision or homework lately, for which I am immensely grateful. She has years of over-working behind her, now she can reap benefits.

My DS has been attending revision classes four nights a week since September term started. Some additional homework too.

and by "four nights a week" I mean after school for an hour

I think the school take the mocks fairly seriously, but as for individual pupils, that varies hugely.
However, none of my dc have ever done anywhere near the amount of homework you say your dd is doing.

My DS will sit mocks after the Christmas holidays. So far, absolutely no revision. We talked about it last night and he plans to begin spending 45 minutes an evening (from Monday onwards) making revision notes, starting with the subjects he is most worried about (sciences), then all other subjects. He already has some notes from his Y10 exams, so will be adding to those. He hopes that by the end of the Christmas holidays, when the mocks begin, he will have a complete set of notes for each subject to revise from and will then look over these before sitting the mock exam in each subject.

I did a panic Amazon order last night of a desk lamp, pin board, pins and magazine files to help him create a decent work space and get his sh*t in order, having read through the school's 'What Can A Parent Do To Support GCSEs?' booklet! Up until now, his school books and notes have largely be strewn all over his bedroom floor/chair/desk and the kitchen table and the living room in complete chaos.

I think over-working outside of school is a potential threat to not only doing well, but also a child's mental health. There is still six months to go until the real GCSE exams and doing hours each day out of school between now and then, in my opinion only, is likely to lead to burn-out. Much more important is that they are diligent throughout Y9/10/11 in class so that they get a good understanding of the material first time round and good notes from which to revise.

But I hadn't considered that the mocks results might affect his A level options, which he must take in February. Having read these posts, I'm going to check with him tonight whether this is the case and, if so, if that changes his priorities in terms of which subjects to focus on.

Best of luck to everyone for the six months ahead with our children. With lots of unconditional love, healthy eating, regular bedtimes and plenty of relaxation time alongside their revision/homework, I'm sure they will all be just fine.

Look forward to checking back in in May, though, by which time my hair will no doubt have turned grey and I won't be believing my own words.

Scipio has it - year 11HW just now is revision. I set my year 11s some work which was a practise task on the last topic we did - ergo helpful for the mock!

So if she's already doing that much HW a night, no worries. As long as it is three good hours, not piffing about.

They should do as much as they would for the real thing.