GCSE textbooks

[gscenitemare]

All DS does for schoolwork at home is homework, never extra study even for mini-tests. He's been doing fine so far so I was fairly relaxed about it. However, he brought back only history homework for this holiday and nothing else. So I am thinking to get some textbooks for self-study, maybe maths, biology, chemistry, and perhaps also English and German, aiming 30-60mins a day. I think something lighter and shorter than full-on GCSE textbooks would be better for him since he doesn't have a habit to study during a holiday? Any recommendation would be greatly appreciated!

What year?

I would recommend the CGP revision guides. Or the Seneca online stuff.

But you can't just say 'study' There needs to be an aim. So depending on the year group it might be 'learn' or it might be 'understand something not understood before' or 'practice exam style questions' or whatever. For MFL learning vocab could be an aim etc.

just get revision guides from the library would be my recommendation

DS in Year 10 has the CGP books for the sciences and Maths and also Scholastic books for Maths revision. You need to know what boards they are doing for each subject as each book is geared towards that specific syllabus.

We've also just bought York Notes and the workbook for one of the English texts. DS looked at both York Notes and CGP and decided the York one was better.

He finds these books useful for test revision. I've also told him this year he needs to learn not to rely purely on the teachers and the work they're doing in class. I think in Y10 they need to start learning to become more independent learners.

Thanks for the recommendations and advice. CGP seems very popular so I might get a few of them. I also heard of Seneca as a good tool. I'll check that too.

Teachers say DS gets a new concept quickly and often works out the next stage by himself. His weakness would be impatience and carelessness. He tends to get a high mark but often miss a full mark due to rushing through his work but also I suspect there might be a bit of gaps in his knowledge, something not quite mastered yet because of his impatience and eagerness to move on. So, I think focusing on consolidating the topics he has already learned by trying a mini-test and check the answer kind may be good for him.

It would also be great if he could work on his writing during the holiday as he's weaker at writing an essay. He always has a lot of interesting ideas but gets bored quickly so often ends up rushing to finish off then moves on to the next essay. I don't know how to help him as it's not as simple as going through questions like other subjects. We have loads books and he reads everyday.

He is doing the Edexcel IGCSE.

speaking from bitter experience, you can buy all the revision guides, flashcards and educational subscriptions you want but the child has to want to do the extra work or you will simply be wasting your money..

Very true. Can't beat a dead horse. DS is fine with 30-60 mins study during the holiday. I like to provide appropriate resources so he can get on with it.

I've just ordered CGP 10 mins test for 4 subjects, and also signed up for the free content of Seneca. They seem to be a good start, light and manageable? Any more recommendation would still be welcome for future reference!