Has anybody got positive stories of gcse results after woeful mocks?

[Noth1ngtoseehere]

It’s going to be a loooooong 6 months otherwise.😩

Ds v anxious. Screwed up his revision and ended up covering very little, had a meltdown midweek. Supposed to get 8s/9s but got a range from 3 to 7.

We could both do with some positivity.😬

Hey, I've had 1and a half weeks of mocks and have 2 days left, it's a stressful time and the results aren't always reflective of ability, I'm sure his exam technique will improve with time.
A thing I find really helpful is looking at old mark schemes and examiners reports to see what they want you to say, not what you feel like you should say.
Most of the time you can get a high regrade without knowing all the facts, if you know the style and what they're looking for e.g. Key words

Thanks for all the posts, they’re reassuring.

We had a meeting at school, they didn’t see overtly negative and said he wasn’t alone.Obviously it is what it is and it isn’t pretty but they seemed fairly positive that we could turn things round.

Bit worried about the plan ahead. I want to get cracking with the revision as know ds with the anxiety and starting early will cut down on panic.I also want to be involved as leaving it to him didn’t pan out well. They were saying they will still be covering stuff and teachers will be steering them towards a plan around Feb. They think he’ll be better going over weaknesses and gaps now which I get. Thing is they want him to have ownership and work it out from the papers. I want to know best resources and to know the gaps myself. His HofH is planning on contacting all the teachers to find out over the next couple of weeks.I’d rather do it myself and now as we’ve got several subjects that need to be sorted before the holidays. Not keen on Chinese Whispers either, seems silly. He won’t know all the resources we have from the diff depts. Going backwards and forwards with questions will be time consuming. Just one email to each teacher listing what we’ve got, what ds thinks he needs to do seems a better use of time. He seems to think they won’t know his gaps as will no longer have his papers which was a bit surprising.I left it to ds to give him ownership before. Wrestling with mh means he needs support. You get good days and bad. I can’t screw up this time round.

Not sure what to do. This is all so stressful.

@Noth1ngtoseehere
At our school the teachers wouldn't mind if you emailed them. You could say that you know HofH will be contacting them at some point but you'd like some advice in the meantime on what DS can usefully do in the holidays so that he is ready for next term. Tell them what revision materials he has, any areas he feels are weak, ask what they think would be the best use of the next few weeks, any good revision tips or materials they think would help etc etc.
Good luck. Having had to do this last year on a smaller scale my advice is try to persuade him not to have any expectations about results - there is so much he can't control, like how hard the paper is. All he can do is work hard and whatever happens will be good enough. Your main job may well be to keep it all as low key and relaxed as possible!

Just came on to say many years ago I got an E in my English mock and managed to get it up to an A, not by revising but more about understanding how to answer questions and time management. Even though exams are very different now dd seemed to find the story quite reassuring.

Just to add it might be worth having a rethink about the further maths A level. If maths doesn't come very easily indeed it might be a bit much. Did he want it for computer science degree in future? I heard some universities insist on FM but some do not.

Don’t let knowing where the gaps are stress you out. Just revise everything. The topics he knows well will just mean he doesn’t need to spend much time on them.
Get a copy of the specification of each subject and just go through it.
Some topics he’ll know well, some partly, and others he’ll be learning.
Don’t wait for teachers, just crack on.
Do you have textbook and resources for every subject?
The stuff my dn found useful as well as textbooks
free science lessons on you tube
Mr Bruff on YouTube for English
Corbett maths doing the 5 questions a day

Maths is his best subject. He got nearly 90% in his end of year 10 exam. Got a 7 in the mocks which is low for him but considering he was mid meltdown not bad as far as I’m concerned. He normally gets 8s and had a glowing end of year maths report. Counselling will kick in hopefully and he is dropping Spanish which will free up sessions during the week. Has always found maths easy. We’re going to be screwed if he can’t do further maths at Alevel as it’s one of the only 2 subjects he wants to do,the other being maths. He needs an 8 in maths which I think he’ll get, obviously if he didn’t get it that would be that but will face that if it happens.

Hi
I'm a secondary school English teacher and would definitely recommend taking these mocks with a pinch of salt - the main purpose of them is to simulate the actual GCSE setting so students have a clearer idea of what it's going to be like for real and hopefully eliminate silly exam stress related mistakes (like answering on the wrong literature text - happens every year without mistake). I don't mean to suggest they eliminate exam stress but will help, as I say, with these sort of mistakes.
Secondly, the exams are condensed into a week (usually) so are much harder in terms of preparation - actual GCSEs are spread over a month or so.
Thirdly, although teachers obviously want students to ace the mocks, they are preparing them to be 'Exam ready' for June - not November/December when they're really only a term out of year 10!

There are loads of things to be done between now and June including finishing all the GCSE courses, studying exam technique in greater detail and in-class revision, all of which will contribute to better performances in the real thing - mocks are like a dress rehearsal done 6 or 7 months before the performance-useful but nothing more than that.

If I can be of any more help them please just ask!

Wow thank you for all the advice, we really appreciate it. You feel so alone and trying desperately to keep ds feeling positive. Negativity will just make it all worse.Cth75 I may take you up on that.

The first thing to do to relieve the worry is to stop talking about grades. Focus on improvement and what they need to do to get better. The score creates stress, if you work solely on learning it will take some pressure off. Measure success by understanding of a new topic. I have regularly seen 2-3 grade improvement between Jan and May.

My DS got 2's and 3's.. still yet to hear other grades but I don't hold out much hope as his revision techniques were severely lacking. I'm obviously quite concerned, but I've come to the conclusion that helicoptering and micro-managing is going to cause him more stress. So I'm buying revision guides/cards/planner and shoving them in a cupboard until new year. Yes the exams are important but not the be all and end all. Even at what your DS has produced in his mocks would be a respectable end result and above average. So I think the most important thing here is that his mental health is taken care of and that he's resilient enough to handle the stress of the real thing, as he clearly has the ability. Our school freely admit that mocks are tougher than the real thing and are used as a wake up call. Most pupils in previous cohorts went up several levels in each subject. Preparation is key and I suppose the good news is we still have 5 months left to get them ready for the real thing! I'd maybe look into teaching him some CBT techniques for anxiety as well, as at this point may be more useful than focusing on study material.

Coming back to his A levels again, is he actually just planning to do 2. It seems a mistake to only do 2 A levels if he is really good enough at Maths to do FM. He will need 3 A levels for most uni courses but with good results in maths and further maths plus one more he would have a lot of great options in STEM related degrees. What about physics that will use his maths skills, or computer science if it's offered he would probably enjoy that and I believe you can take it even if you didn't do the GCSE.

Yes, I have a positive story for you. My son is very bright but was totally lacking motivation for GCSEs and his mocks did not go well. He attended a state funded grammar school and needed to achieve a minimum of 5 x A/Grade 7 in order to stay on for sixth form. His mock grades were nowhere near that and his worst grade was an E for IGCSE Chemistry. We all knew he could do much better.
The mocks served as a wake-up call for him. He realised that if he wanted to stay in sixth form with his friends then he needed to work and we got him a Chemistry tutor.
The result was that he got a A* in his Chemistry and did well enough in all his subjects to stay at school and his lowest grade was a 6. He then went on to get AAB in his A levels and has just gone to Warwick University.
So, yes, it is possible to turn things around, but you need to find a motivator.
Hope things go well next summer.

As my name suggests I am a teacher of Maths, nor sure how that went for him in the mocks. But what I do know from years of experience is that it never comes together until the last few weeks maths wise as at this point he probably hasn't learned 30or 40%of the content. I tutor one to one with students and I work in schools. The best practise is lots of past papers which the school should be giving him. If he's edexcel then I recommend a revision guide called practise papers plus it's blue and white not to be confused with past papers plus. They are similiar. Available on amazon. This is a set of 2 sample mocks with answers and complete worked solutions for the math gcse and I buy them each year for my pupils. It's green for foundation if he's maths foundation but I didn't think he was from reading your post. Pearson that is the board who writes the edexcel gcse also sells revision cue cards on amazon and I recommend these as you can revise 1-2per day and then shuffle. Definately get these and make sure they match the board of his study aqa/edexcel etc, this will save him hours of making summary notes and contains all the key points. Think they are maybe 7 quid and you sell them on later. The real key is starting early on which you are doing and little and often. Also a website called Corbett maths has instructional videos on all aspects of the gcse and is suitable for all boards. They have worksheets and practise materials with answers. I recommend him doing the 5 a day programme from this website at a higher level to build up his core skills. I can't comment on other subjects but hope that steers maths in the right direction. Best wishes and good luck. X

Past Papers

They are an absolute game changer. I didn't realise this until I went back to study as an adult, but they are so helpful. Also, with textbooks, focus on the practice questions rather than wading through swathes of information.

It might be helpful to have a chat about using the past papers and practice questions to identify weaker areas so he can work on those - I have a tendency to subconsciously focus on areas I am relatively good at and skim over the areas I should be focusing on. Past papers made me be honest with myself about where I needed to focus my time.

Khan Academy have loads of great videos which are free to use, I found their maths and science ones really helpful.

The third Alevel is a bit of a nightmare. He is good at coding and doing CS but hates it. Got a place on that final round of gov Cyber security thing and went to the camp. Refusing to do CS at Alevel. Toying with Economics just because there isn’t anything else which worries me.

Teacher of maths he got a 7 in the mock, normally 8s. Got nearly 90% in the end of year 10 exam.

I honestly think you need to stop worrying, OP. He got a 7 in
the subject he needs an 8 in, so perfectly on track. And perfectly on track, if I understand you, for enough 6s for 6th form. His mental health is fragile. Good enough GCSEs are perfectly fine.

Apparently not Bertrand,maths teacher quite negative even though he can’t focus in lessons, couldn’t revise and fell to pieces during mocks. Mocks honestly aren’t great, a real range from 3s up to a couple of 7s. But yes I don’t think all is lost and the stories on here have heartened me no end.

My daughter is very quiet in class, so half the teachers probably didn't think she existed. She was predicted mostly C's and a few Bs. No As or A*. Didn't get any Cs and only 1 B.

(Rest were A & A*)

Me!
It's a good 15 years ago now, but I went from Cs and Ds to As and A* in everything. I did it through flash cards and memorising facts.

Hi, so I did my GCSEs 2 years ago and I'm now on my last year of A-levels. When I did my mocks my grades weren't what was expected at all! However teachers were able to use this to know what I should and shouldn't be revising, what I could improve on whether it be exam technique etc. Most students improve by atleast 1 grade from now to June. GCSEs are stressful but they're not the be all or end all. You can resit etc. My friend failed every single GCSE and she resat and is now on her first year of a levels. Try not to stress your kid out and be supportive as you can. Teachers tend to put revision classes on over Easter holidays etc and sometimes after school. Obviously your child is very capable by his predicted grades but be supportive as you can and he will do amazing in the summer! X

my daughter went to king Edward boarding school and she did not pass her GCSE last year I blame school for failing to support her all she did was athletic for school.I have requested school to send me her mock results and her predictions grades but the school has refused to send them. what can I do as I desperately need them.

Dd got a 2 and a 3 in English language and literature mocks.

I panicked and hired a tutor. Tutor looked at her mocks and said they were more of a Level 5 (and tutor was also an exam marker).

She had an hour a week between jan and May. She got 8s in both.

Is a tutor a possibility, might help with exam technique, what to revise, etc. But I think past papers are important.

I got a D in my English Lit, C in Language at mocks (GCSE) then got an A in Lit and A in Language ( back when A was top!) Then did the same with Physics at A-level - D then an A. I believe to this day that we were marked way harder at mocks than was required for the real thing - encouraged us to work that bit harder, and it worked (well, for physics - I actually gave up on English and just stopped caring, and that actually worked... Too many years of being told how to think!! Not saying it will work for everyone though!)

Hi. My son last year was in a similar position. He was getting mainly 4s. In the easter holidays I sent him on a Justin Craig revision course for most of the bad subjects. Although they may be quite costly I can say its definitely worth it. He came out with 6 sevens 1 nine and 2 sixes