GCSE advice

[littlebillie]

So here we are entering year 10 and the 2020 GCSE begins any advice for parents/ students.

My advice would be to ensure your child is extremely organised with any coursework they do for art/design/technology subjects as pupils tend to leave most of the work until the last minute, which will then disrupt the revision for their academic subjects in the lead up to the GCSE exams 2020.. Artistic subjects tend to have an earlier finish date (May/June of GCSE exam year). Be very disciplined about homework. Perhaps get your DC to keep a rolling homework list. Little and frequent revision is better than masses at the bitter end.

Would second what Astronolus says about coursework for Art etc. It is very time consuming, so best not left until the end. Friend's son struggled hugely with Photography - his photographs were A* but he didn't do the required labelling/commentary, and ended up with a B.

Great post, I am unsure what to expect with year 10. Is it as stressful for the kids as yr11?
My eldest DS has chosen materials tech (BTEC) history, business and french for his option subjects.

Yes Leeds2, students' organisational skills are almost as important as their artistic skills in arts subjects. There have been many posts on MN of parents despairing when their DC have been rushing to finish coursework projects. It can become quite stressful for the DC and their parents. For academic subjects I would suggest parents keep an eye on progress. Maths practice really helps to get those higher scores, but don't force your child to do too much. For English I would suggest encouraging them to read at home. Get them to put the phones down and head to the library. Reading for leisure/pleasure truly does improve their English skills.

DD starts year 10 on Wednesday and DS1 has just gone into Year 12. DS1 did well in his GCSEs so I have some insight...

I don't remember Year 10 beautiful no particularly stressful. DS1 worked but hadn't really 'got it' by the end of Year 10. He end of year exams didn't reflect what the school thought he could achieve but he really got stuck in from the beginning by of Year 11. He learnt how to learn/revise and worked really hard for his mocks after Christmas and then ramped it up from March onwards.

At this stage I'm not too concerned about DD. She will have music coursework but no others subjects gave coursework for her. I will take a look at her set texts and see if there are productions coming up (1984 and MacBeth) but for now that's about it.

I would say encourage them to treat all end of unit tests / exams etc seriously. Aim to revise for them properly. Work out what revision techniques work well for them. Make revision notes / cards.

Then when they get to y11 mocks they will have learned a lot of it once already and will know how to revise and have the resources.

I agree with PP, get them to revise thoroughly for every test/exam. Make sure they know how to answer exam questions properly (if the school isn't doing it). Encourage them to go over formula/ideas regularly so they don't forget it (remarkably easy for teenagers to do this). Make sure they properly understand things. Don't leave everything until the last 2 months like DS did!

I have two starting Y10. They will be my third & fourth to do GCSEs.

• For each subject, find the specification on the exam board website. This will show the structure of the course, how many exam papers there are, and also give a list of topics. At some point in Y10, they should print an overview of the course so they can easily see what they will need to learn.

• They should use end-of-topic tests as an opportunity to get their notes in order and make sure they have full notes for that topic.

• If doing a subject with coursework or a sketchbook or portfolio, make sure this is kept up to date. It's disheartening to get to the March of Y11 and realise that you have weeks of work to do on top of revising for GCSE exams.

• When studying a text for English Literature, it's useful to create quote banks as they go along. For each main character or theme, make 3-4 points, with a quote to support each and brief notes on analysis/explanation. Each of these will be the basis for a paragraph in an exam essay. DS2 did this as he went along (starting in Y10) and got a Grade 8 in English Literature despite having very little natural aptitude in the subject.

Yes, sayya, you're right. Don't leave all the revision to the last few months. Also, whatever type of school your child attends there may well be one unenthusiastic teacher or a teacher your child does not get on with. This may put them off the subject and they probably won't score so well. We had that with Physics years ago. I bought a duplicate textbook and we worked through it together at home. Result was a top mark, plus I'm now much more knowledgeable in Physics!

DD s going into year 11. I think year 10 is a pretty stressful year, for us it was trips (French exchange / geog fieldtrip / history residential) which lead to time out of school and work to catch up so bear the n mind these sort of activities.

Agreeing with art type subjects. Ds18 done DT, we had no idea how much time it would take up. Not only at home, but going into the workshop at lunchtimes and after school to use the equipment.

Get your dc to spend an hour each evening if they have no homework to do, just going over their days notes to reinforce what they have learnt.

Another DC going into year 10 here. I read the advice with a mixture of gratitude and fear as my DD has ADHD, with poor working memory and executive function issues, so suggestions that being organised is vital make me shudder in anticipation of the struggle ahead.

Any suggestions from parents of children with similar issues?

I've got ds who starts Year 10 on Wednesday and dd who got her GCSE results a couple of weeks ago.

Advice gleaned from dd.

Don't rely on the school being able to cover all the syllabus. We reckon that paying for Tassomai for dd raised her scirence grades from 6's to 7 and 8's.

She wished she had started her revision earlier in Year 10 instead of waiting until her mocks.

She was incredibly dedicated. Ds on the other hand is another matter. He has slow speed of information processing, is very disoprgnised and has probles with writing. He also can't cope with large amounts of homework as the school day takes it all out of him.

This will be an interesting two years.

Floottoot
My 18 year old has similar issues. This is probably not what you want to hear, but I had to support him with organisation all the way through his GCSE courses. I basically acted like his PA.

I thought that modelling good organisational skills during his GCSE courses would enable him to be more independent for his A-levels, and backed off for those. His notes were a complete mess, with huge gaps. He left everything until the last minute. He started writing his personal statement for UCAS the evening before the school deadline.
He handed in his first draft as his English Lit coursework (got a D) and didn't manage to learn any quotes for the exam.

Despite this, he somehow managed to get five university offers and got the grades needed for his first choice. He applied for DSA (disability student allowance) and has been given software to help with note-taking and essay planning at university. He will also have a weekly meeting with a specialist mentor.

Alexander, you are quite right to highlight the school not covering all the syllabus. We didn't experience this but a friend whose child took GCSEs this year said that not all the new information in the reformed Biology was covered in time. There had been a large amount added to the specification. Also, there have been a number of textbook updates in some subjects where the publishing companies were not given enough time to produce textbooks without omissions/mistakes. So, do you make sure your child has the correct textbook for the subject. Many schools can't afford new textbooks but if there is one thing I would say it is worth parents stretching, if they can, it is that, particularly for the sciences. You can always resell them afterwards to next year's students.

should have typed "worth parents stretching to".

Alexander, don't worry, that's exactly what I'm expecting to have to do (in addition to battling with her school to get even the most basic support put in place). I'd love her to be one of those children that are organised, self-motivated self-starters (like I was throughout school) but I have to accept she's not (or at least, not yet) and needs every bit of help I can give her.
No idea how we're going to get through the next couple of years with our relationship intact.
Thankfully, her brother IS able to look after himself and his school work, so when it's his turn and she's doing A levels ( or similar), I'll still be in a position to drag her through them.

My eldest son started year 10 this week. He has coasted along to date but I think he is aware that more effort will be required over the next 2 years. He is also very disorganised so I want to help and encourage him to get into some good study habits. It doesn't help that I'm also disorganised!

AlexanderHamilton - At what stage would you recommend subscribing to Tassomai?

Dd began it just after her mocks which were January. She completed the course but it took a lot of work & dedication.

I’d say perhaps the start of Year 11 would have been better although I’ve just signed Ds up now.

Thanks Alexander.

DS1 started Tassomai 6 weeks before his first exam, did 60 hours and completed 50% of the course.

I personally feel that starting in the Sept of Y11 would be too early (as well as expensive) unless you have a DC who is very good at sticking with something long-term.

Does Tassomai just check pure facts? Or does it also check a) ability to apply facts, and b) exam style wordy questions?