Current YR10s - revision over the summer?

[Jorah]

Dd has GSCEs in 2019. She's hard working and diligent and keen to do well. She wants to revise a bit over the summer and has a few revision bits from her teachers. What's the best way to do it? Is revision over the summer overkill? She could do past papers but obviously won't have covered quite everything yet.

I am amazed anyone does any revision between Y10 and Y11 apart from any small pieces of preparatory work set by the school. The exams are a year away! You can't revise all year

Perhaps revision is the wrong word. You can keep up your maths, learn vocab, make sure you have covered everything. You can start to learn formula and facts.

Dd's school are doing past papers already.

Tbh I've fallen foul of this mumsnet attitude that no children should do any work in the past. There's absolutely nothing wrong with it and tbh dd doesn't seem exhausted at all.

I think past papers are overkill at this stage - also there aren’t really any to do!

If your dd wants to do something positive she should read extensively (a range of fiction and non fiction) which will greatly benefit her writing.

(OP you did ask for people’s opinions so no need to be cross if those opinions are different from yours).

Well, OK, I would have been surprised if either of mine had kept up their maths, learned formulae or facts or done anything other than read, relax and in the last couple of weeks of the holidays completed any specific tasks set by the school. I don't think there is an attitude on Mumsnet that you shouldn't do any work, but equally I don't think the summer holiday between Y10 and Y11 is a time to do much work - that's all.

But if your child wants to and is happy doing it, all well and good. Mine would both have been completely miserable and completely perplexed at the idea.

OK thanks all I'll just get on with whatever feels right at the time. Have a good holiday everyone!

Sounds like you've come up with a good plan to me. Have a good summer!

I'd recommend 10 - 15 mins a day.

Get things sorted.

Get a 'revision book', a spiral bound book. She uses the right hand page for exercises, maths questions etc.

Then go back the following day and make notes on the left hand page about how she approached the problem, whether it was easy, did she miss things?

My DD had the best of intentions to revise/makes notes the summer before her GCSEs and I don't recall anything being done at all! She did get her predicted grades, in fact, two results were higher.

However, I'd say DD is willing to do it and it helps her feel more relaxed going into Year 11, then let her, as long as she gives herself time to relax, have a change of scenery and friends. This will be the last time she has a break for a year.

DD - high achieving, also dances many hours per week - was told in no uncertain terms at a recent parents' evening that the summer holiday before Y11 was for resting, relaxing, and getting recharged for the long haul ahead.

She will, however, do lots of Art, and probably lots of Textiles, as tbh that's what she does for relaxation anyway.

I am not expecting too much from DS1. He is tired. However, I will expect him to get the study sorted out so we can find the bloody table!
As well as having a rest, the main thing I want is that he is well organised for next year so he can hit the ground running.

My DD has just done her maths so we don't particularly need to keep that ticking over. She's doing a week's language exchange at the end of the summer so vocab work at some point before then will make a lot of sense. Other than that I haven't thought about much; some music stuff will also happen I hope but not specifically gcse targetted. I had thought of going through some physics with her but thinking more of extension / alleviating boredom than anything else; she doesn't seem to get very much work to do for physics at the moment.

Organisation ... oh yes, if we could figure out how to help her with that for next year!

DS has just finished GCSEs. The thing that helped most last summer was all the memory stuff that takes a long time to get into your long term memory. Spanish vocab and Maths/science formulae. Also reading all the English set books and starting to make/memorise quote banks.

BBC bitesize is a good way of revising things in small chunks and presents things in video as well as text which varies things nicely.
For maths, Corbettmaths is a good site. Videos and worksheets on specific topics, plus 5 a day worksheets at different levels. Your DD could try a few at different levels and see which is best for where she is at.

"The thing that helped most last summer was all the memory stuff that takes a long time to get into your long term memory...Spanish vocab and Maths/science formulae. Also reading all the English set books and starting to make/memorise quote banks..."

Many Thanks @Walkingdeadfangirl really helpful advice to take on board at this stage.

And also to others on the thread for the adequate rest and organisational preparation points too.

Another one just finishing Y10, but I've never done this before, so terribly useful thread. Thanks for starting it, OP.

As an English teacher, I would definitely recommend reading the GCSE texts, regarding of whether they've been covered yet or not. It's a bit lighter 'revision' but it's so important that the texts are read more than once.

CityTeacher I always used to get an unabridged audio book of my uni texts as well. Astonishing how effectively just one listen-through would boost my knowledge of the text.

DD2 is in the same boat but I won't be telling her to revise. She already has plans to extend her reading for English Lit, do some independent research for History because she is passionate about it, and she and I are going to do some French reading together. That will be quire enough.