Any tips from those who’s kids got great GCSE grades?

[ILiveInSalemsLot]

What do you think helped your kids achieve good results?
My ds will be doing his in a couple of years. He’s doing ok but definitely needs to put more effort in. I’d be really grateful for any tips.
TIA

Depends on the child and it also depends what's going on at school. If the school is on top of the specifications and has experienced, specialist teachers who can teach dcs how to prepare for the exam, including how to revise, then it's fine. If not, sometimes help is needed from home. And I was bombarded with emails from school about GCSEs and revision from the November of Y11 so clearly our school wanted parents to be involved whether that's sitting down to test them on their revision or simply making sure they've done some.

DD's school had parents evenings on how to get their children through GCSEs.

Following for later.

DS got all A* or 9 with a couple of very high 8s. He had been lazy and disorganised all through Y10 and 11, lost/crumpled notes etc. His mocks were very mixed but were a wake up call. Doing lots and lots of past papers for his revision really helped, so that he had experience of every question type and could highlight what he didn't know. He went to the library to work with a couple of friends every day during study leave so they got out of the house, had some structure and set goals for each day, but still had some downtime. Had a break for lunch etc. Still went out at weekends as it kept him sane. Obvs he must be bright and I wdn't recommend essentially teaching yourself the curriculum in the final few months, but as an approach to revision it worked for him.

Past papers definitely helped DD with maths and sciences. She got A* for them. They don't just test the knowledge, but exam technique.

Their genes
Functional family
Excellent schools
Encouragement
Love and good food.

DS1 has natural aptitude but also natural work ethic. With no prompting he worked hard consistently for alle xams. His instinct was to get to a level where he really enjoyed every single subject. So he came out with A8s in everything. But that was very much a mixture of genes and personality. I'm guessing OP wants tips that aren't just 'be clever and enjoy academic study.' Much as I'm very proud of DS1, DS2's grades are more indicative of what you can do despite having processing problems, and not really enjoying most subjects, and not having any in-built motivation to work hard and excel.

He made a timetable for every mock from Yr10 onwards and stuck to it. He researched lots of different revision techniques and used the ones that helped facts stick in his brain (writing stuff down/copying out info does nothing for him. Whereas watching videos helps facts go straight in. I'm the opposite. If I haven't written it down, it's as if I never heard it.)

He went to all maths and chemistry clinics.

He was strategic in revision. If he'd worked hard, he could have got As in two subjects where he was already scoring a high B. But instead he chose to bring up to C grades to Bs so the overall spread of marks was more consistent. That was his choice and he was really happy it paid off.