Are we ready for a GCSE’s 2019 thread?

[KittyMcKitty]

If so I’m in.

DS (my pfb) will be going into year 11. Mocks after half term. Crossing my fingers for him - needs average point score of 6.5 (across all 10 subjects) to stay for 6th Form.

Anyone else?

My ds had mock mocks a few weeks ago. He has real mocks in Feb. Tbh I didn't see the point of Nov mocks but looking back they've been good to kick him a good kick up the backside. He says he wants to go to Oxford but doesn't revise. He might do a couple of hours one day then nothing for a week.

He was expecting the mocks to be easy but they weren't. Don't get me wrong, they've shown him he needs to stay working but he hasn't started the actual work yet. I feel a bit despondent because I feel like I should be forcing him and doing more hand holding but it's really hard with an unmotivated teen.

I'm shocked at how quickly the year is going but the seems to think he has loads of time to get going. Scholl have not finished any syllabus yet they're behind in everything. Luckily they have a sixth form and he's predicted 8 in everything so they want him to stay. Whether he gets the grades they expect of him is whole different thing!!

Really thought I would be able to do more to help and thought I'd be more hands on but out really is a hard year and you've got to leave them to it to find their own way which is frustrating.

Doing early mock mocks has been great though.

I could have written all of this Power

My ds had mock mocks a few weeks ago. He has real mocks in Feb. Tbh I didn't see the point of Nov mocks but looking back they've been good to kick him a good kick up the backside. He says he wants to go to Oxford but doesn't revise. He might do a couple of hours one day then nothing for a week.

Except mine's a DD and we do have sixth form visits to do as well, and it's likely to be touch and go about whether she gets in to either of the best ones because of our location.

Getting her to revise is hard though, if I mention it it backfires and she rebels against me so I'm trying to stand back but it's difficult when you've got a far broader view and experience to them and can see that they need to be more consistent. I'm trying to gently point out the reason she felt so bad about her maths paper was a lack of revision but she insists she wouldn't have remembered it anyway . Oxbridge does add extra pressure though, she will get good results but she needs to put the extra work in for good enough for Oxbridge.

Everard this thread is great as it allows you to see that so many of us are struggling. My dilemma is that ds it's bright and wants to go to best uni, earn well, travel etc but he's too immature to work out that to achieve anything in life requires hard work. And the more you push the more they rebel. My relationship with him is more important to me than nagging him to do well.

It's difficult because like you say you want to be able to share your experience and tell them that working hard will help them so much in life, but you've got to allow them to learn themselves. From life experiences and mistakes. Ds was actually shocked the science exams were hard, he doesn't really connect his lack of prep to his poor performance! He's an otherwise lovely boy and I don't want pressure, but there's a huge huge part of me that wants to sit him down and sit watching over him while he revises, plan his schedule, write out sample essays etc etc. He's got to learn himself, but at what cost.....

Soursprout, Everard, Power my DS is the same. He's kept me at arm's length wrt his GCSEs. I've tried to help with revision planning, getting hold of past exam papers, easing back on stuff like chores (as the school suggested we do!) but in the end, it felt as though I was doing half of his work for him - and he still only revises when it suits him. A group of them have been doing revision online in the evenings and the school has been running 1 hour of revision each week, I'll just have to hope this will be enough. As you say, it's something they have to do for themselves.

He stumbled in his end of term 1 exams, English has always been a very strong subject for him but he said that for some reason, his mind went blank in his last exam and (in his words) he ended up writing 3 paragraphs of "total carp", achieving a final mark 5 grades below that which he's used to getting. I've played this down and rightly so, because anybody can and does have an off day occasionally. It's set the seed of doubt in his mind now, though, and he keeps thinking to himself, what if this happens on the day of the GSCE?

Well, that's Drama Devised Performance done - Phew! She wasn't ecstatic about it, on the other hand, nothing went wrong, and she is very glad it is out of the way. This week was hell, lots of rehearsals, lots of last minute stuff, and not just for their group, but one group left all their sound and lighting until just before the performance, which DD had to sort out for them as well :-/ Also, so much homework, and tests and essays....... tests were all disasters, but then she couldn't revise, but all the homework was done and in, so no detention marks for missing those deadlines. One night she was up until midnight working on an essay.... poor girl :-(

Mocks timetable in, we can beat you all! DD's first day, Monday 10th, the do ALL the Eng papers, Lit and Lang. 6 1/2 hours of exams! All the other days, are at least one, sometimes two, but she doesn't have three, although some others do. So, today is a rest day, Lord of Rings currently on TV, revision starting tomorrow, with three weeks to go.

Older what a relief that must be, to have Drama out of the way! Glad nothing went wrong for her but sorry she was under so much pressure with it, and everything else. Did the Kalms help a bit? I don't envy her her English papers, 6.5 hours of solid exams seems like a slog but then again, I suppose it does get the whole subject out of the way in one go. Is she feeling reasonably confident about this?

Mrsr8 it happens doesn't it? Mine's used to 7 or 8 in English, it's always been a strong subject for him but he scored a 3 in his last test! Love the term brain fart, I'll have to remember that one

there's a huge huge part of me that wants to sit him down and sit watching over him while he revises, plan his schedule, write out sample essays etc etc. He's got to learn himself, but at what cost.....

Same! Trouble is DD has done well in her science mocks so is a bit complacent. Her maths will bring her down a bit I think when she gets the result. Tbh I'm not entirely sure how much they should be doing now, they're at varying stages through the syllabi (?!), some nearly finished but some with a way to go, so still getting normal homework. She's convinced that everything is fine and she doesn't need yet to really be doing much revision. And her results are pretty good to be fair so perhaps I'm being over anxious! We have sometimes sat down and looked at things together, which has been helpful on the things she's been struggling with a bit more. I guess the school have it in hand though so I should just chill. Which is fine until she has a meltdown over something and then it's difficult not to say "told you so"!

Mush Ha, you remembered about the Kalms. Well, yes, they do seem to help..... could be placebo, but who cares, she says they take the edge off, so we will keep going with them. English is her top subject, so yes she is confident, and therefore hoping all will go well with that. She also has Class Civ (loves), and Maths (hates) before they break for xmas, and the rest when they go back in Jan.

Good news, that English is her top subject, hopefully that particular day won't seem quite so long for her then? Hoping she will do well in all 3 exams. Those Kalms sound jolly good, I've got some for DS now. Thanks for the tip

6.5 hrs exams in one day for mocks?
How do the kids who get extra time cope?

I've just re-checked DS's exam timetable, his don't actually start until this coming Wednesday (result!) and they finish 5th December. Art will be assessed on coursework; and all the children have to take a City & Guilds Level 2 Technical Qualification alongside their GCSEs, which takes care of another subject (assessed as they go along, no mocks for this one).

TeenTimesTwo - Gosh, well spotted, just looked at the timetable and that includes the extra time.... so DD will have less overall, approx 5hr15m. Their school day is 8.30 'till 4 though, so pretty normal for them.

Kalms are great - you can get them everywhere. I take them for menopausal symptoms too, and when I get stressed before going on holiday..... I know, but I just hate travelling. Always work for me.

Hi all, Yes Kalms! Going to get some (probably for me) Not posted for a while. Reading through this thread and seeing how much work done kids are doing I’m now quite concerned about DD and mocks. If you have read the whole thread you’ll know she has diagnosed mental health difficulties. So revision has been tough...
She thinks she is revising a lot but I beg to differ. About an hour and a half Mon - Wed, nothing Thurs and Fri ( we have to go to therapy, a 3 hour + round trip on Thurs) Saturday is her ‘ day off’ 🙄 apparently and Sunday she has 2 hours tuition from tutors so refuses to do anything else. She hasn’t a hope has she? 😞

Sri But 6.5hrs per week is way better than nothing! I also do think time with tutors counts. Keeping the mental health OK is very important. Knowing her limits and going above them is essential.

Sri I think teenagers have a very odd sense of time. It ds can do an hour and wok come down saying he's done 3! He genuinely believes he's done loads. Still waiting for that burst of energy and enthusiasm. He's ramped up the extra curricular sports but there's still no revision.

In response to recent messages about how much revision per day/week at this stage and mental health and so on (and having been through Year 11 last year with DS1), I would say this.

For mums going through GCSEs for the first time, it is absolutely natural to feel for months on end that you/your child could be doing more, and to read these threads and panic because you read that others are doing so many hours a day/week etc. And possibly to feel irritated that your other half is seemingly oblivious to the whole thing.

But the truth is, it doesn't matter too much if our children aren't doing heaps of revision yet. Or, indeed, if we don't see them doing an awful lot of revision at home ever. For most children, at most schools, they'll be revising at school all through the spring term/early summer term. Most homework will be revision-based. Yes, some subjects will still be teaching the syllabus (and some resilient children will be teaching themselves much of the syllabus because they've lacked good teaching in that subject) - but there is LOTS of time built in at most schools for revision. There's also quite a lot of time towards the end of the Spring term, during the Easter holidays and during the exams themselves.

Mocks are a great way for the children to practise sitting exams/become familiar with time management in an exam etc. Mock grades should provide a useful indication of how your child is likely to be able to do in the final exams. But they're really not the be-all and end-all.

If we provide decent dinners and lots of snacks, remind our DC to drink enough water, insist on reasonable bedtimes and make sure they still have a chance to get out for sports/social time, they will be fine.

If we make sure they know that they should aim for their best, so that they feel proud of their efforts, they will be fine.

And if we make sure they know that, while GCSEs are quite important, our children's happiness and health are the most important things in the world to us, they will be fine.

And so will we .

Before the inevitable questions come up about how well mock results predict final GCSE grades, I will share that DS1 improved by exactly one number grade in every single subject between mocks and final GCSE results. I know others who improved by 2 or even 3 in many subjects.

Keep smiling everyone!