Dilemma about elite sports camp weekend before GCSE exam.

[moneyboxlive]

DD is in year 10 but doing short-course RE GCSE a year early. The exam is on a Monday morning. She also plays a team sport at national level and has been invited to a squad camp the weekend before the exam. She wants to go, especially as it may influence her selection for the team in upcoming competitions, but I'm nervous about it.

She says she will have 2-3 hours free time for study on the Saturday evening, plus 2 hours in the car at each end of the trip. It sounds enough but I'm concerned she won't use the time as effectively as she might at home. She is bright, with a target grade of an 8 (and capable of a 9 on a good day), but tends to be complacent about how much revision is needed and got a 7 in her mock. She is often distracted by long phonecalls and messaging with friends. At the camp I won't be there to take the phone away.

WWYD?

I say let her go too. And I’m an RE teacher

Thanks all. That's all good common sense and helped me to feel much better about the idea of her going. She certainly has no plans to take RE A Level or theology - she's more inclined to maths and sciences. She does have thoughts about applying for Oxbridge in future, but hopefully they will offset her sporting achievements against any less-than-perfect GCSE scores in short-course RE.

Flylady site still saying not secure so I won’t link.

Sunday is renew your spirit day. Even if it’s only 2 minutes with a cup of tea, try to take some time for you.

April’s habit is making your bed.

If at a loss for what to do, declutter some hot spots!

Oops wrong thread sorry OP. Glad to hear you plan to let her go though .

If that interested anyone, please do join us on the Flylady thread in housekeeping .

I think too stressy has it correct. Sunday is renew your spirit day before her exam on the Monday so doing something she enjoys is good ( as long as she has done some revision during the week)

Sports camp with relaxing & naps rather than cramming. She'll be tired, so getting enough rest will probably make more difference than last minute revision.

I wish her well with both 😀👍

No they won't offset sporting achievements against a low gcse mark if she is applying to Oxbridge. Indeed if she is applying to Oxford in particular her gcses results will matter, even half gcses especially of not taken alongside others.

However if it is her only one she should be able to have completed all her revision prior to the sports camp and anything sje does manage to get down whilst there consider it as a bonus. Good luck to your DD in both.

But people do go to Oxford with no GCSEs or minimal GCSEs. The guy who wrote The Shepherd’s Life stopped attending school and has none, or two maybe. Ended up with a double first in history.

Absolutely let her go to the sports camp!

Yep, sports camp!

daisypond - bit different. It was as a mature student after having done his a levels at evening classes. If the Op's dd will be applying within the context of a normal UCAS application either during year 13 or during a gap year they will be looking at all gcses taken.

One weekend won't make any difference to the grade she gets, unless she's let her revision go right to the wire and was planning to pass on the back of two days of cramming.

If she's self motivated enough to have reached national standard in her sport, and she has known for a while that this camp would be right before the exam, I doubt she's done the latter.

I used to run admissions at an Oxford college for a major STEM subject. We never cared about RS/RE grades at any level and the only filter from GCSE was to see A* in relevant subjects. I have no idea where OKBobble gets those notions from.

Exams are important but you have to balance with real life too and being good at sport can make a big difference to your chances of getting into university and I am sure that you can get in with slightly lower grades if you are an elite athlete.

Anyway, if the OP is still reading, my son is year 11 so has all GCSEs this year. MFL oral next week, he is doing a race on Sunday. Written exams start 14th May, he's doing a race on 6th May too. You can't revise the whole time, so it's great to get away from the work and do something else to avoid stress and burn-out

not that my son is in any danger of burnout

My DS is not preparing for GCSE but for 11+.
He is can easily to be distracted and it was difficult to return his mind into “the working condition” after summer holidays with grandmothers.
DS is also sporty and has a great potential. However, our daddy and I think that sport could not prevail above the studying. The knowledge forever but sport has a limited time.
If your daughter would manage both, why not🤗.