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Secondary education

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Original poster

How much revision for mock GCSEs

16 replies

georgine · 20/12/2017 15:06

I know this is a question like how long is a piece of string but I am just trying to get an idea of what's reasonable.

DS is clever but coasting. He thinks an hour and a half a day for the next couple of weeks will be fine for his 9 GCSE mocks. To me that doesn't seem enough.

What are others in the same situation doing?

OP posts:

Teenmum60 · 20/12/2017 15:49

My DD started her revision on Monday (broke up from school on Friday).

She did about 4.5 hours on Monday (mainly English)and an amazing 7.5 hours yesterday on solely Biology - she is also a coaster but after a few words over the weekend seems to actually be enjoying revising (she was told to stop yesterday because she had worked so hard).
Today she has done 1hr French and about 1.5 hours Physics...just going with the flow.
Tomorrow we are going shopping so this will give her a much earned break.

AChickenCalledKorma · 20/12/2017 16:16

That's probably about what DD1 did (just finished first set of mocks). It seemed a bit light to me, but she's got another full set of mocks in March, before the real thing in May. I took the view that mocks were a good opportunity to find out whether it was enough, with enough time to do something about it if it wasn't.

KingscoteStaff · 20/12/2017 16:20

Trying to do 4 sessions of 1 - 1.5 hrs a day here, interspersed with visits to the gym/cricket nets. Mocks start first day back after holidays and there are no second set in March.

TeenTimesTwo · 20/12/2017 16:35

DD1 had mocks early Jan. She had 5 solid days off over Christmas and otherwise did 4.5 hours a day over the holidays excluding breaks. It was 'compressed mocks' so only 2 science papers and no English Lit . This was 3 years ago now, so with the old exams with quite a lot of CAs.

user1469682920 · 20/12/2017 17:57

Oh my DS has been advised by school on around 2 hours a day so he s doing three lots of 45 mins. Very light by mumsnet standards it seems but I don't think I will be able to persuade him to do more if he's doing what school recommend ! I was also thinking I don't want him to get totally bored and fed up by the real thing so will leave it now and push for more at Easter, Its a long haul.

pointythings · 20/12/2017 20:10

DD1 did a couple of hours a day for her mocks - but that was on top of a full school day each time due to timing of the mocks. So actually a lot more.

For her real GCSEs she was doing a full school day's worth plus 3-4 hours on weekends. I had to take her away from revision because she was at risk of burning out.

She got very very good results., but has always been a grafter. I think coasters need to be pushed a bit.

CauliflowerSqueeze · 20/12/2017 20:13

3 lots of 45 minutes a day is perfect I’d say.
After 45 mins the brain starts switching off so working longer than this in one sitting is pointless.

mmzz · 20/12/2017 22:55

About 60 hours in total.

EllenJanethickerknickers · 20/12/2017 23:00

3 lots of 45 mins sounds fine. 4 lots of 1 and a half hours sounds much too much!

Teenmum60 · 20/12/2017 23:30

DD's school said 1-4 hours per day. I suppose it depends on what they are doing. DD has been writing up and condensing notes and revising area's she was told to revise by subject teachers. Hopefully the notes she is updating will make life easier come May too - definitely a tendency to revise subjects she enjoys at the moment. The difficulty will come with subjects she's not so keen on - I expect it will be 45 minute chunks then.

MaisyPops · 21/12/2017 07:57

3 lots of 45 mins a day sounds reasonable for mock exams to me as a teacher, however the idea of 'I'll do this and walk out with a 9' seems a tad arrogant if I'm honest.
Certainly for English, my bright studnets who got 8s and 9s last year were getting 6s at this stage in the year in full exam conditions (and were working hard).

I don't think the time revising is going to be the issue, more their attitude of 'coast and I'll walk it'. That attitude saw some of my students who should have got 6s get 4s last year (and a few years ago an A level student dropped from an A in mocks to a C overall because of that attitude).

TheDonald · 21/12/2017 08:07

Dd has hers starting on the 8th.

She is definitely coasting at the moment. She's done almost no revision for any test or exam so far although she did revise for one English lit exam last summer. She got a report this week and her predicted grades are one grade lower than she'd like across the board.

Yesterday she worked out an elaborate revision plan using getrevising and she plans to do around 28 hours in total. I'd be delighted if she achieved that, but it needs to be quality revision too. Not watching YouTube while flicking through text books.

MaisyPops · 21/12/2017 08:13

thedonald
Some students coast because the real thing seems ages away yet and/or they have their head in the sand
Some coast because they think they'll walk it without the work
Some coast because they think everyone else is coasting 'because they are just mocks'

None are ideal but 1 and 3 are fairly typical and those students often get to January/ February and realise they need to pull their finger out.
Type 2 students are the more problematic ones to me because they are the ones where it doesn't matter how much teachers do in class, what revision is on offer, how much parents try to help, those students sit back, don't try, do the minimum because thry think 'i'm smart so I'll get my grade'.

If your daughter is making revision timetablea and has had a shock with her report then I think she'll be fine. Just make sure she plans in hobby time and relaxatiob into her revision timetable so that it is manageable and not wall to wall revision.

TheDonald · 21/12/2017 08:21

Daisy she's definitely number 1 in your list. Very much only taking things seriously if there is a consequence to her. The English exam she revised for was because there's been mutterings about moving people between sets. She pulled herself from a 3 to a 6 with one weekend of revision.

I'm fairly confident she can do it when it counts but of course these mocks don't count.

I think she really needs to revise for them so she can get a feel for how long revision takes. My fear is she'll leave it too late in the summer.

TawnyPippit · 21/12/2017 09:15

My DS is doing 2 x 2 hour sessions a day. Allegedly. I suspect it is less than that but I feel there is enough room there for some meaningful stuff to be done.

I have not yet enquired what his revision timetable looks like as I'm having a tough week at work, but I'll sit down with him at the weekend and check eg all subjects are being covered

We are now in possession of a full set of revision guides as well

TheSecondOfHerName · 21/12/2017 10:14

When they get their mock results they'll find out if it was enough, and then hopefully use that knowledge to plan their revision for the exams in the summer.

I can't tell how much DS2 is doing because I haven't seen his revision timetable (if he has one). He revises every day and is revising whenever I see him (he brought a Maths paper to the cinema so he could do some questions while we were waiting for The Last Jedi to start).

His report shows he is on track for his target grades and at the recent parents' evening his teachers said he just needs to keep doing what he has been doing, so I'm going to leave him to it, and see what the mocks show.

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