GCSE course not completed by mocks time

[OuiOuiMonAmi]

Is it normal for a class not to have been taught all the topics by the time of their Year 11 Mocks? This is the case in 3 of DD's classes, which is starting to worry me. I assumed the Y11 December mocks would be a real practice - but it can' t be if the teachers are saying "just ignore this bit, we haven't done that yet"....

In most subjects mine had covered all the material by the Easter holidays. It's unrealistic to expect them to have covered a two year course in four school terms.

The mocks are to familiarise them with the process of taking public exams, to enable them to practise exam technique and to assess their understanding of the topics they have covered so far.

It depends when their mocks are. Some schools set them as earlier as December, others a little later, or much later in the year. There is a lot more content in the reformed subjects, particularly the sciences, so it would be unreasonable to expect them to have covered everything by, say, January.

Thanks. Seems like it's not uncommon then.

DD2 will be learning new stuff right up to Easter even though her mocks are in December/Jan.

A mock is never going to test everything - for one thing, it's usually only one paper per subject over two weeks, where some of the actual exams are three or four papers per subject spread over a month. It's only to give an idea of what to expect in June.

There are two sets of mocks at dd's school; one in November and one in February. The teachers set the papers based on what they have learnt, made up from past papers, ie a mock paper but not always a complete paper.

If they are doing mocks in December and real exams in the summer then they won’t have finished the course. Unless they were to spend the last six months revising. There is no coursework or controlled assessment so everything is exam now.

I’m aiming to have my GCSE course with my year 11’s finished by Feb half term.

DC1 had new maths content in the final lesson before the real exams!! :-( This was 2017 - first yr of new curriculum & grades. The school now starts maths & English GCSE content in yr9 to fit it all in.

Highly unlikely that most of the new linear GCSEs will be completed by January of y11. Would be very uncommon to be completed.

In our experience (DD's school and those of friends DCswho have all done GCSEs this year) most are finished by Easter, though even then, not all.

History in particular have struggled in many schools this year, often being taught right up to the exam. And science is often taught over three years how to fit it all in.

Out of interest OP , what would you expect to be happening in lessons if the courses were all finished by December?

Out of interest OP , what would you expect to be happening in lessons if the courses were all finished by December?

We were told that most of her subjects would be finished by then and that the rest of the year would be consolidation. So I just asssumed that would be the same for all subjects. I see now that appears to be unusual though!

Good grief... I pity the teachers who are sticking to that! 5 months of 'consolidation' would be soul destroying. It also prevents students from revising at home as they believe schools lay it all on...
I think you can be content that in the lessons which still have content to teach, proper lesson activities and actual teaching will be going on!

My plan is to complete the course between February and Easter. After that I'll focus extensively on exam technique, revision etc. (Time gets lost after Easter as practical exams are much earlier)

I don't see any benefit in people finishing courses with loads of spare time. Personally, I'd rather spend the time teaching things properly in detail and then revision time is just revision. Call me cynical but you much of what some teachers call revision is actually reteaching lots of content that was rushed first time

Absolutely Maisy! In fact, if I had my own way, I'd be teaching to the wire. Focus is so much better.

My plan is to complete the course between February and Easter.

In all honesty this will be me. I aim for Feb half term so when it doesn’t happen I’m not too knackered

All my exams are done and dusted by May half term so that gives me 5 weeks ish to revise and hammer technique

Agree piggy
I agree when students complain about finishing the course in the last 2 weeks. That doesn't leave them feeling confident or give them time to revise new content. But there's no need to finish with ages to spare. What i hate is when teachers make a big deal about being done really early or ahead of other groups. The reality is those classes never seem to have the same consolidated knowledge.

Feb to Easter is ideal for my courses and then lots of exam prep and technique work because that's what let's them down (2 hour 15 min exam anyone?)

Yep, finishing around Feb, then reteaching the bits they are crap at, past papers and so on.

It’s a bloody shock in Y12 when we teach right up to the exam and they are expected to do all their revision at home.

DD sat her GCSEs this year, I don’t think they had finished a single course before Easter and in Geography they were still going in for lessons after study leave had started. Her mocks were in November and only included work done to that date. I wouldn’t worry about it.

We still haven't been told what the final book is yet for English.

It might be Animal Farm or An Inspector Calls. As Ds1 is wanting to take A level maths/physics/computer science, I don't want to make him read 2 English books ahead of time in case they change their minds altogether (I love English, I have a degree in it.)

Maths, they are still learning new stuff but doing a complied paper every week to test them on stuff they have done. In History they are starting their final topic after mocks in November.

I think the only one they have almost finished is Statistics but they are doing further maths in that lesson at the minute.

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