Year 10 GCSE Support Thread

[OrangeCinnamon]

Hi all,
Can we have a thread for Year 10 support please? Even though Dd started in Y9 I have already noticed a massive ramping up in pressure and her anxiety I imagine it is a fine balance of being supportive but not a helicopter parent. How do you motivate but not nag? How do you encourage good study/revision skills without being overbearing? How can I help my Dd to be resilient....so many questions hoping for some hints, tips and support along the way.

Dd is Summer born so struggles sometimes. Her main loves are Music and the Humanities subjects. She bobs along with Maths and Science and despises French. Wants to be an international popstar, historian, writer, journo or judge! She sufffers terribly with low self esteem but hopefully this term will be able to get her on a course of cbt.

[TheThirdOfHerName]

expat1407
DS2 is not particularly good at geography but managed to get a 9. He didn't find any revision resources online so made his own * . He made an index card for each case study and memorised a lot of statistics. He made an A4 revision poster for each topic. He also made sure he used all the key words in his answers.

• He started the course in 2016, so there may now be some useful resources online.

[OrangeCinnamon]

Ok so for youtube we have
Mr Salles -English
Mr Bruff - English
Primrosekitten - Science
Mr Hegarty/HegartyMaths - Maths

Hopefully someone wil be along for Geography...perhaps there is a gap in the market a mumsnetter could fill?
Website
Bbc Bitesize
Khan Academy useful for picking up content not gcse specific
Seneca learning i think this is a paid
Hegarty Maths extra content available through Dd school suspect may be paid maths
Exam Board specs& resources for on GCSE (History-Eduqaas) there is almost a text books worth of resource available online!

CGP books are great hopefully available for all the new specs ..we are currently having trouble finding AQA Religous Studies Christianity &Buddhism though....

I will update the list as people add.

[TheThirdOfHerName]

AQA science:

Freesciencelessons on YouTube.
There's a video for each topic and they have been organised into playlists for each exam paper. There are also videos on the required practicals.

DS2 (Y12) didn't watch any but DS3 (Y10) says they are helpful.

[TheThirdOfHerName]

For pupils struggling with science who need to bring their grade up, I'd recommend Tassomai. It's a monthly subscription and is expensive though. Best started once they've completed more than half of the course, then used for a few months leading up to the exams.

[OrangeCinnamon]

Thanks @theThird I willupdate list later as Dd informs me I need to delve into the studentroom threads

expat1407
My understanding was Grade 8 standard on main instrument , Grade 5 Piano/Keyboard, at least Grade 5 theory if A Level music not done. I guess they can be Grade 8 standard without actually taking exam? I've also heard at A Level stage some people engage consultants from Conservatoires if they want to go that route..

I dont think Dd will end up doing Music at Uni ...she wants to keep as hobby ..her instrument is voice so it is harder to get in anyhow.

[TeenTimesTwo]

You've missed Tassomai (sp?) for science, but that seems to be for when the course is complete, ~Jan y11. An online questioning tool that makes you go through the whole syllabus. Haven't used it myself but have seen other y11 parents on here saying it is good. Not free.

[TeenTimesTwo]

Sorry third missed your post.

[ILovePandas]

A few useful links to past papers/revision:

mathsmadeeasy.co.uk/gcse-maths-revision/aqa-past-papers/

corbettmaths.com/5-a-day/gcse/

revisionworld.com/gcse-revision/french/french-gcse-past-papers/aqa-gcse-french-past-papers

www.gcse.com/french/speaking_leisure_time.htm

www.fastpastpapers.com/page836.html

[myron]

HW has definitely ramped up for my YR10 DS - about 1.5 - 2 hrs per night. Has anyone else planned any holidays over Christmas and Easter? Please say that I'm not the only one booking holidays and not planning for their YR10 DC to do revision cards/notes.

[Seeline]

DD usually has about 2 hours of homework a night, and sometimes more over the weekend as she tends to leave longer project style assignments until then if she can.
We probably won't be doing much over Easter as her Y10 exams are straight after the Easter break. certainly some revision will have to take place!

Christmas will be as normal this year, although next year will be different as mocks are straight after the holidays.

[OrangeCinnamon]

Hi all,

Been ridiculously busy but I have added in links and stuff - fingers crossed.

Youtube links
Mr Salles -English
Mr Bruff - English
Primrosekitten – Science and Maths
Freesciencelessons There's a video for each topic and they have been organised into playlists for each exam paper. There are also videos on the required practicals.
Mr Hegarty/HegartyMaths - Maths
Latintutorial – Latin (Cambridge)
MrMcMillanRE – Religious studies/Education ( not all themes)
Bizconsesh – Business Studies


Website
Bbc Bitesize
Khan Academy useful for picking up content not gcse specific
Seneca learning
Hegarty Maths extra content available through school suspect may be paid
Exam Board specs& resources for on GCSE (History-Eduqaas) there is almost a text books worth of resource available online!
Tassomai (paid)


A few useful links to past papers/revision:

//mathsmadeeasy.co.uk/gcse-maths-revision/aqa-past-papers/

//corbettmaths.com/5-a-day/gcse/

//revisionworld.com/gcse-revision/french/french-gcse-past-papers/aqa-gcse-french-past-papers

//www.gcse.com/french/speaking_leisure_time.htm

//www.fastpastpapers.com/page836.html
www.physicsandmathstutor.com/
CGP books are great hopefully available for all the new specs ..we are currently having trouble finding AQA Religous Studies Christianity &Buddhism though.

[TheThirdOfHerName]

Well done OrangeCinnamon

[expat1407]

Thanks a ton OrangeCinnamon. You are a star

Thanks for answering my Music grade question too.

[Bimkom]

BTW Tassomai (paid) has a section for French as well, although it doesn't cover the whole sylabus. We are on it (we are throwing everything we can at French), not sure if it is as good as the science bit though.
Seneca has some Geography boards on it, so that is something for Geography - it has OCR B, which DS is doing.
DS (Year 11) has found something called snaprevise.co.uk/ - recently but I don't know if he has done enough on there to have any idea whether it is any good or not. Also a friend suggested savemyexams.co.uk - but again, no idea whether it is any good or not. So far DS in Year 11 has been using Seneca and since the summer, Tassomai. I confess given the cost, I didn't want to start on Tassomai until we were close to Year 11.

[Clutterbugsmum]

I’m going to bookmark this thread.
I have a yr 10 dd who is sitting her English Lit paper this year has her mock next month.
She also doing English Lit A Level before school 2 days a week and additional further science after school 1 day as it can’t be fitted into her timetable.

So I will be making a note of the YouTuber.

As for homework definitely a lot more her science teacher has told them she has to set at least one hour a week.
Her school use Showmemyhomework website that the teachers use and we as parents have a logon to check that they are up to date with it.

[RomanyRoots]

Just looking at all this study and realising that dd isn't going to manage all this extra study.
It's hard enough to fit school, practice and concerts, and very little time left.
I'm hoping that prep will be enough and maybe the odd half hour here and there.
I shouldn't come on these threads it makes me panic.

So far I've introduced the 15 min bag, for when she has a few mins to spare but not long to study.
I'm not sure if she's keeping it up but in the bag go:

A few sums for practice, current reading book, German vocab, science formulas or summaries, etc.

The idea being that when you have time you pull something out of the bag.

[2BorNot2Bvocal]

Like the 15 min bag idea.

[RomanyRoots]

2B

I worked out that my dd had so much time during the day where she was waiting around, so thought I'd try it.
I can't claim the idea, I read it somewhere.
She often turns up to a rehearsal to find they have to wait for people, I'm hoping that introducing the idea to her friends parents will mean they will attempt the bag, rather than chatting or sitting staring at the walls on their own.
She did say that she has used the bag, but I bet it's still got the same things in when I look at half term.

[Thevelveteenrabbit]

Dd is using Seneca for sciences - she likes how it saves sections in different places and oddly I think that may help with the revision!
I have suggested she tries Mr Bruff for English but wasn't that receptive to it - but she finds English the hardest so we will see!
Really need something for Geography- a lot of her homework seems to "researching" case studies without that much guidance....

[TheThirdOfHerName]

I'm impressed at how industrious your Y10s are.

DD & DS3 complete their homework and revise for topic tests, but are not doing much extra at this point.

Occasionally there will be a flurry of enthusiasm from one of them and they'll spend an evening making flashcards on a topic, but it's not consistent.

[TheThirdOfHerName]

Today I learned that for anyone who knows me in real life, I've put enough identifying information on this thread alone to make it very obvious that it's me.

The first person to point this out is a good friend who already knows pretty much everything I've put on Mumsnet anyway.

However, if she is able to identify me, there's the potential for someone less benevolent to do the same (if they haven't already).

Time for a name change...

[AlexanderHamilton]

Dd last year found Primrosekitten and especially Tassomai very useful.

She didn't really find Mr Bruff/Salles useful as she did Edexel English which has different format/mark scheme than AQA.

Ds is upset this week that they have no music teacher for the next few months and the school show might have to be cancelled/re-arranged. The Head has even asked the kids if they know of anyone who is available to cover. The music department is ds's safe haven.

He has been doing tests and got very good marks for mths (8), Chemistry (6) but in Physics he got 2!

[AlexanderHamilton]

Third - ds isn't even revising properly for tests and is getting late homework detentions!

[whistl]

May I join in? Ds2 is in year 10 doing 10 GCSEs including triple science, History and Geography.
He does the bare minimum (i.e. what the teachers make mandatory and no more, and he tends to revise for tests whilst waiting to go into the form room on the day of the test.) He thinks its unseemly to be seen to try.

[LimitIsUp]

Hello all - also hoping to join. I know some of you already as I am also a veteran of summer 2018 GCSEs (I know that dd actually took the exams but it felt like I was right there with her)

Ds is in year 10 - a bit prone to laziness, and so will need nudging from me, although this term he has shown some inclination to work. His weaker areas are English and French, and he is reasonably okay with most other subjects (apart from bored with and resentful of having to do RS)