Study guides Help

[allinmyhead12]

My son is starting year 10 in September, can any teachers out there advise on the best books to get to help him through the next two years

they don't seem to have text books like we used to at school to follow

Not a teacher, but my DD2 is also about to start y10.

You need to go into WHSmiths or similar and get your DS to look at the study guides and see what format he likes. Some can be quite 'busy' and jokey, which he may or may not like.

You absolutely need to know what board he is studying for each subject and make sure any guides you get are for the correct board.

Your school may well provide guides at reduced prices at some point in y10/y11.

If you have a local Oxfam bookshop, now might be a good time to pick up cheap guides (I've been doing it all year). If you do get secondhand then make sure you are buying the 9-1 guides, as the older ones are still knocking around.

(For my DD the guides are pretty much essential as her note taking is poor.)

Slightly more specifically, we have CGP guides. DD has started syllabus in Science and RE and they were invaluable for the end y9 exams. We used the guides, only occasionally supplementing with class notes.

i just find it amazing that we aren't guided to this ready for them to start. We all had books when we were at school so studying for tests etc was easy.
Of course i have to try and get him to study too.....Long battle ahead LOL

We've had no formal guidance on this from our school either, I think for most people it is too soon.
Come Sept watch out on here for a 'year 10 support thread'. They tend to be really helpful.
What subjects is your DS doing?

the normal main subjects and then extra of PE, geography and sociology

Whatever you buy make sure that it is for the right syllabus. Some exam boards produce there own revision guides. For example AQA science guides like this one are fantastic

global.oup.com/education/product/9780198359401/?region=uk

My students also use a lot of YouTube videos for revision - Mr Bruff is great for English Language and Literature. I also recommend getting proper Audio versions of set texts if they are not keen readers. Smartpass do some good ones,

As others have said, the first step is to find out (for each subject) which exam board and which specification.

Depending on how popular the exam board and specification is, there might be several possible books to choose from, or one, or none at all (as is the case with two of the subjects my daughter is taking).

For some subjects, it's not as simple as buying one book for the whole GCSE course. For example:
English Literature: you need to find out which set texts he is doing (e.g. which Shakespeare play, which set of poems) as there are separate guides for each text.
History: the school may choose from a number of options (e.g. Elizabethan England c.1568-1603) and there will be a separate book for each option.

Some young people get on better with certain revision guides than others. My son disliked CGP guides, never opened any of the ones I bought, and preferred to work from the full textbook. However my daughter likes CGP guides. Some teenagers hate working from books and would prefer to revise using YouTube videos, quiz websites and flashcard apps.

As PP have said first find out what boards your DC are doing. For example my DD will be doing English language and literature AQA,
Maths higher Edexcel, Science combined Trilogy AQA higher, History Edexcel with specification topics for each paper eg Weimar Germany
And so on. AQA science has text books and revision guides and workbook. You might also want to get an online tutor like my-gcsescience, or Seneca or Tassomai. Maths edexcel has excellent guides and practice papers not sure about other boards. Loads of online resources which are free are also available.
English depends on the texts they are doing but I have heard really good things here and from other parents about Mr Bruff’s online videos(free).

I also tapped the parent network for textbooks and guides and bought them for less than half price from other parents who wanted to get rid of them. Just make sure they are the 9-1 specifications.

Litcharts is a wonderful free resource which is an app available on iOS but you can look for it on android. Also available as a website which is free web based. Most literature texts are on it.

At DS's school, the school sold the correct study guides for various subjects as they could buy in bulk and sell at a reduced rate, otherwise I ordered the correct guide for the correct board from Amazon.

As others have said, check, check and check again that it's the right board and the right papers.