Gcse 2018 (10) The one with half term

[Stickerrocks]

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/secondary/3256691-GCSEs-2018-9-Will-we-get-to-half-term-for-never-was-a-story-of-more-woe-than-this-of-Juliet-and-who-is-Banquo

Oops. Can't remember how to link nicely, so this will have to do.

I'd suggest taking a look at the various syllabuses to make sure you have a vague idea of what you DC is doing.

As you'll see from this thread there is a lot of variation between boards on what is required. My DS has 'open book' on Macbeth but others didn't. There was also a horror story of a couple of schools having taught the wrong set text!

I think it would have been helpful to gave been more on top of notes (DS1 is very messy) but the CGP books are excellent.

I think starting early makes sense for many DC but for my DS he only really knuckled down for the January mocks- and then again from the start of the Easter holidays.

Kick if your DD is getting 8s in maths with no revision, it sounds like she will be fine.

That piece of information would make my DD cry, as she has worked SOOOOOO hard on maths, and still can't seem to crack a '7'! Considering she started Y10 on 2/3, I think she's done incredibly well to make the improvement.

Predicted 8s for Music and Spanish - wonder how they will pan out with the 'relaxed' approach to revision over the past week....

Hi bombula - yes, some good advice already here, and a good idea to get them into good habits.

My advice would be to help them sort out their files and notes as soon as possible, as some schools are better than others, but mostly DS seemed to have loads of loose sheets and booklets.
For quotes, DS liked Quizlet. Not only are there lots on there already which you can just copy to your own folder, but it means that revision can be slotted into odd bits of time spent travelling or waiting etc since a teenager and their phone are never parted!

I just wish DS had been a bit more thorough with his homework and end of topic tests throughout the GCSE course as it sometimes feels as if he is learning stuff for the first time, rather than 'revising' it (but that may also because he forgets things very easily too...)

From Y10: Early start with revision sessions / making topic summary 'mind maps' / designing 'interactive' revision activities for topics and planning revision sessions for increasing amounts of time as exams get closer seems to have kept DD working steadily and hopefully, revising productively.

Y11 has seen the increase in number of practise papers - Christmas holiday was the first time 'serious' revision really kicked in, and the same has continued until now with 4 exams remaining in all school breaks since then (and extra on weekends throughout the term - LOTS of homework in her school).

DS1 did not start revising until November of year 11 (and he had a break from Mid-December - Mid-February). Starting so late was a mistake with hindsight.
He told Ds2 that his main tip would be never to leave a topic in school without fully understanding it. I think this is all you have to do in year 10, apart from homework, class tests etc

Agree that understanding as you go along is key. It is really more about attitude rather than amount of time put in. DS realises now he took very little from all his lessons and homework in year 10 and start of year 11. He was getting good feedback from the school and was not on the problem radar as was engaged and handing in decent homework on time - but he wasn't focused in terms of realising he needed to take things in and understand them and also ensuring he had full notes. Before mocks he had little recall of what had been covered in the lessons, was whizzing off homework quickly to get it done and not looking at the mark or feedback when given it back. So it was effectively like learning everything from scratch for mocks and beyond. Some of that was due to his dyslexia but some of it was attitude/approach. DD2 by contrast was hardly doing any work at home so seemed to be working less, but was fully engaged, rewriting full notes as she went along and learning what she could from returned homework, and seeking help when something wasn't clear. I didn't explain that very well but hopefully it makes sense. DS says the main thing he has learnt from GCSEs is how to learn - I hope he s right and can take what he now knows into sixth form

It makes sense to me, Oratory1! We have the same child it seems. Unbelievable similarities

I absolutely agree with mmzz about never leaving a topic without fully understanding it. If extra assistance is not forthcoming at school, then take the initiative to use Bitesize, Khan Academy etc.

My advice to parents would be to really get to grips with the specification for each exam. Which board? How many topics are there? How will those topics be examined - essays? short answers? Which paper examines what? Is there any course work and, if so, what are the deadlines for submitting it? If possible, get an idea of which topics will be taught in each term. My DS didn’t really clock when he had finished one Geography topic and moved on to another one, so when it came to revision, there was a lot of sorting of notes + handouts to do.

Finally, don’t give up all extra curricular stuff - music and sport have been a life- saving release mechanism for DS this year.

Agree with all of this - in practice, most dcs seem to do a bit for mocks and then focus all their energy on the actual exams! Really agree about keeping extracurricular going as much as you can.
A good revision source for English texts is Collins Snap revision guides - they are really handy for the last phase of revision.

and another one that those who have had ill DC, or sudden family emergencies will agree on:
Don't leave the revision until the last minute. Start early and aim to finish early i.e. build in time for things to go wrong (or the school to suddenly issue homework that wrecks 3 weeks worth of planned revision)

"I can tell you how my DS has approached y11, although I won't know how successful its been until the 23rd August!!!!
We got him all the CGP books for his subjects (schools tend to sell these at a discount) he then went through them all and made flashcards question on one side answer on the back (he has made 1000's of these). He started in September at an hour an evening moving up to about 1.5 -2hrs from Xmas and then final stages 3 hours. This was possible as his school only ever set about 2hrs of homework a week, so he had loads of spare time. Probably from around February he started to actually go through the cards. He also kept up all sport and meeting up with friends, because he started early there has been no last minute panic."

This sounds a perfect plan to me from Bluebelle and I will definitely try this approach with ds when his time comes (currently in Y9)

I wish dd had started revision in September. She started in the Christmas holidays and given quite a heavy course work requirement (history course work, Art course work and PE course work) hasn't, overall, devoted enough time to revision.

Another similar child here!

From what I can tell from talking to other parents, this 'coasting and just doing enough to keep off the radar' seems to be quite common amongst boys. We had family stuff going on which meant that I didn't really realise that DS2 was doing the minimum in Year 10. Summer exams were a bit of a wake up call, but even then I just think he didn't have the emotional maturity to learn how to learn properly!
DS1 said he went through exactly the same thing and really only had the 'lightbulb moment' that 'effort in=output & results' in Year 12!

Oh HmcAsWas please check with me how he actually did before following my DS's advice

Okay, I will Bluebelle . I expect he will do brilliantly with all that great preparation.

Wonderwine - my ds would definitely coast if I let him. I am going to have to be on his case!

DS school has them sitting exams and controlled assessments constantly throughout the year, every year. Every time they finish a science topic for example they are examined on it. At some point he was having a Latin assessment/test every two weeks. He seems to be revising for something all the time. So if something had not been understood or assimilated it would be flagged immediately. For his Y10 finals he had study leave and gcse level past papers. This pace used to drive me crazy but I now know the value, as when DS came to Jan mocks he said it was just more of the same...

Is there any way to find out what topics were on a particular paper (or do the exams by that board happen on the exact same day/days)?

I was wondering if I could find out anywhere a bit of a steer on the topics that were in the AQA Geography Paper 2??

DS did all the tests Brainmelt (end of topic tests etc) but being a bright boy at a non selective school I guess his results were never bad enough to raise alarm and the main issue was he never showed any interest in the results or showed any interest in looking at the marked paper to see where he went wrong.

I would also say check files for notes as you go along - being dyslexic and disorganised DS never had a full set of notes so for year 10 exams and mocks he probably learnt everything in his notes not realising there were huge gaps. Revision guides are useful here as you know they cover everything on the sylabus

Yes I see oratory

DoinItForTheKids Look at the exam specification.

www.aqa.org.uk/subjects/geography/gcse/geography-8035/specification-at-a-glance (scroll down)
to find out in more detail, you'll need to know which options your DC is taking.

I was wondering if I could find out anywhere a bit of a steer on the topics that were in the AQA Geography Paper 2??

Were? Its next week.

My main tip for year 10 would be to keep their work organised so it's feasible to go back and read through it for revision purposes. DD1 has had a few issues with not being able to see the wood for the trees, when she goes back to look through a huge pile of topic work from a year or more ago. But conversely, her school has had them making "revision tools" for homework since way back in year 10 and has pointed them in the direction of lots of different resources online. She got irritated with the constant focus on revision at the time, but it's bearing fruit now that she has several different resources to use the final run up to the exam.

Thank you mmzz.

@brainmelt and anyone else doing Cambridge IGCSE Music, can anyone direct me to the markscheme for the 2016 paper? It’s the one that starts with the extract from Traviata.

Just alerting you - Mr Bruff has a new video on 'possible surprises' in the AQA English Language exam.
He basically is just advising students to read the questions really carefully but interestingly he is also suggesting it may be possible to disagree with the statement on paper 1 Q4 and still be able to find enough things to write about! I haven't seen that in any previous or sample paper but it's worth beating in mind. The video is good for reminding students to read the questions carefully, so I thought it's worth highlighting.

www.igcsecentre.com/cambridge-igcse-past-exam-papers/

Is this any good for the music?