GCSE Revision - any helpful hints to share??

[Janus]

DD2 is doing gcse's next summer and mocks next month.

She seems to struggle with the tradition revision techniques (eg look, cover, self test) and has had some relative success with things like mind maps.

However, I think something like Lord of the Flies for English has flummoxed her, she doesn't know where to start. Therefore, is there an online site she can look at that teachers maybe explain how to look at the individual characters etc?

Also, does anyone know how to effectively revise for English Language as she actually failed this at the end of last year when they gave her a mock paper. English used to be the thing she excelled at but not any more. I have bought her a kindle and told her to read every night before bed as I think it's the lack of reading that's had an impact. What else should she be doing? Can anyone break down what an English Language paper actually entails now??

If anyone has any useful websites for any subjects (eg maths, English, science, history, re) I'd be HUGELY grateful.

Thank you for reading.

Do you know which board she is doing? They all have their specifications online so you will see what they are examined on, mark schemes and what proportion of marks for each subjects.

As far as her novel goes she may be asked to discuss themes or particular characters. There are revision books available for most of the novels covered and Lord of the Flies is a fairly common one so I would expect there will be one for that.

Also I have heard Mr Bruff on youtube is good but unfortunately didn't cover my son's syllabus last year

Good question! I think it’s AQA but I should check that!! Found past papers online but that maybe a different exam board so I’ll check!
Also heard about Mr Bruff, must direct her to that.
She has the revision books but I think as good as they are I’d also like to be able to show her online as sometimes just reams of the written word seems to overwhelm her.
Thank you.

My son found Mr Bruff really helpful.
English is not his comfort zone but he approached it scientifically!
For language, he made a list of all the key 'devices' he neede to look out for or use - then practiced getting as many of them in as possible in parctice exercises.
For poetry he made a table comparing main themes, so he knew what he could compare with what.
In general, he worked hard all of year 11 and found making flash cards quite useful - questions on one side and answers on the other for each topic. Checking knowledge thoroughly and making a chart of each topic and wether he was red amber or green on each so he knew where to concentrate his efforts. (Are we seeing a theme here!)
He surpassed expectations on results day.

Placemarking

I will ask my DD later as she aced the first tranche of the new GCSE English spec (ie 2017). She is doing a bit of tutoring on it now (she us Yr 13) so could certainly give some pointers.

Basically she says she "cheated" at Eng lang because she just memorised an essay which could be adapted for any topic - I explained this is good exam technique not cheating!

Anyway will ask for her best eng tips. What grade is her target op?

Wow, good advice here, I shall show all to dd2.
About 2 years ago I’d say she’s have got an A (7) but she seems to have slipped an awful lot to a 4 (have no idea why). It’s a huge drop and I feel responsible as last 2 years I’ve been concentrating on dd1 getting the right A level results (she did!). I feel like I took my eye off the ball and she quietly coasted along as I didn’t ask enough. So part of this is huge guilt that I haven’t been checking on her. So now I’m focused on trying to help her (and really hoping I haven’t left it too late 🙄).
Sincere thanks for replies.

www.aqa.org.uk/subjects/english/gcse/english-literature-8702

www.aqa.org.uk/subjects/english/gcse/english-language-8700