How many hours a day should a GCSE student study over Christmas?

[gscenitemare]

A quick search on Google showed me at least 400 hours of studying would be required for 8 subjects, so 3 hours every day for revision at least 5 months before the GCSE exams. I even hear some DCs study 5-8 hours a day over Christmas. That sounds insane to me. I can't imagine my DC studying for 3 hours every day, let alone 8 hours! Am I being too naive thinking like this? Is that amount of time of studying really necessary for GCSEs? If so, I need to start thinking of rescheduling his activities. Currently, he has no time for studying that much...

8 hours a week fit between subjects. Double for A level students. That was what my school always recommend. Some of this time would be directed.

@caringcarer

8 hours a week fit between subjects. Double for A level students. That was what my school always recommend. Some of this time would be directed.

Delightfully sane

@portico

Multivac It’s only since 1 Dec I impressed the 2021 exam urgency upon the boys. Told them to aim for 2019 grade boundaries as a benchmark. Yes, I guess our metrics are different, but mine work for the use-case that interests me - namely getting them into skilled highly paid jobs later in life!

Well you don't know that they will get those jobs yet, do you? What if they don't want the same things as you? Obviously no-one is saying that good results don't mean more choices in the future, but it should be about their choices, rather than following a parent's plan for their life.

DS has always been described as highly intelligent/very bright by teachers, and always gets good school reports. But 'intelligence' and 'brightness' can be subjective depending on where you are and who you are being compared with. He isn't at an academically selective school. I was concerned if he was meant to do more as all he'd been doing was rushing to finish off homework and no extra study, and no self-study at all during school holidays. So I spoke to the school and they said he'd been doing fine so there would be no concern. But again, 'fine' is very subjective. How fine is he doing? To be able to pass all the subjects? Or to be able to get 7/8/9? Shouldn't he put in more effort to reach his maximum potential?

The ability to be able to work hard is also 'a (very strong and admirable) ability'. In my opinion, it's the ability much more important than being just naturally bright. I know so many bright people who are wasting their gifts. Obviously if they are happy that way, that's fine though.

Anyway, I wanted to see if I've been trusting DS and his school's feedback too much and if I should have needed to step in and guided him to apply more work. But it can bring opposite results if it's done wrongly - DS tends to lose his enthusiasm and eagerness when he's forced to do more than he feels he should. So I wanted see what's the normal expectation for GCSE students, and if it is okay not to do hours of study if they've been doing fine according to school. When I hear others doing 5-8 hours a day over Christmas, it's hard to ignore my insecurity.

Thanks to all the comments, I start understanding it may vary from a couple of hours to 8 hours, depending on the ability, target and studying methods.

Obviously a lot of highly able students don't need to do anything like as much work as this and most people, whatever their ability, would be bored out of their mind going over the repetitive uninspiring GCSE syllabuses to that extent (and possibly completely lose their motivation by the time of the exams.)

If you have a good memory, you can do well in fact based GCSE subjects doing serious revision from Easter onwards. If kids have mocks after Christmas, then they will need to do some concentrated revision over the holidays, but how many hours a day depends on the child and the exam structure - there's a lot to commit to memory in history and geography, but maths, English language, MFL etc don't really need 'revision' in the same sense as those skills are embedded via lessons and homework.

portico and CherryRoulade, I agree with what you said. Thanks for putting it into words for me about hard work and its rewards.

My dd lacks self-belief. As a parent, it is difficult for me to see her struggle sometimes. Yes, she had to work very hard in the run up to her GCSEs, a lot of it was driven by me at the time. But seeing her get good GCSE grades (As), positive praise and affirmation from her teachers, getting into the Sixth Form school where she is now blossoming and so much happier, nothing will convince me that it would have been better for her to work at her natural level and not put the hours in.

There is more hard work ahead of her for the A levels. But she got the choice of her A level subjects at Sixth Form because she mets the minimum grades. It is going to be the same at University as regards her UCAS points. Now, she is quite disciplined. I don't need to nag her to do her notes. She has learnt that consistent preparation pays. I see this as ground work for work ethic and setting her up for the rest of her life to believe that she can change things.

So I wanted see what's the normal expectation for GCSE students, and if it is okay not to do hours of study if they've been doing fine according to school. When I hear others doing 5-8 hours a day over Christmas, it's hard to ignore my insecurity.

Dd was at a lightly-selective private school with a non-competitive ethos. The teachers were saying everything was fine but when I saw her grades were dipping about 18 months prior, I realised, following an intervention, how not fine everything was. I don't know if your dc is at a fee-paying school but in those cases, sometimes school papers over cracks because they don't want the parents to start complaining and think they are not getting bang for their buck. They delay it until late in the game by which time it may be too late.

My ds is like your ds. When it comes it his turn for GCSEs, I wonder how much pressure to heap on him and whether it will be productive for a naturally bright but lazy boy. He is in a very competitive school. I suspect the school will tell me sooner rather than later because they want to keep their league table position healthy.

Hi blue shoes, I wholeheartedly agree with your points below:

“ There is more hard work ahead of her for the A levels. But she got the choice of her A level subjects at Sixth Form because she mets the minimum grades. It is going to be the same at University as regards her UCAS points. Now, she is quite disciplined. I don't need to nag her to do her notes. She has learnt that consistent preparation pays. I see this as ground work for work ethic and setting her up for the rest of her life to believe that she can change things.”

Still, both dc got just 8 and 9s. Both do/did 4 A levels. Both DH and me are medics, and are expecting dc to get into a decent course/job

Sill I say studying most days in the Xmas holidays 5 to 8 hours a day is too much for GCSE.

Yeah my boys are at a state secondary. No entitlement from parents or students, and independent hard work has been promoted and rewarded from day one.

Hi multivac, mine are at state too, though at a super selective grammar school. Teaching is normally great; though like most schools it has not adapted well to the online ways of working during this pandemic. I have sought to address the gap. The younger one spent 2 hours on his weaker Spanish subject today, in fact he woke up early and set about on his work. He has been playing for the same amount of time on the PS4 and will go on playing for many hours more, before tackling Spanish Grammar workbook again. I do love those kids that are naturally bright, inquisitive and can get by. Not all children are like that, so it’s incumbent upon parents like me, where possible, to step to the plate and provision some support. I was a poor per performer at school and it affected my work chances in my 20s and 30s. I am just trying to avoid something similar befalling my sons.

blueshoes, DS is at a fee-paying school and your DD's experience is exactly what I am concerned about. I know DS is doing mostly fine. He won't drag their league table down. But what about his own benefit? If he has a chance to get 9 rather than 7 or 8, shouldn't he be encouraged to work harder? Having said that, I wouldn't like to create a drama unnecessarily just to satisfy my own insecurity, as it should be about DS, not about me. So I'm trying to be careful how to approach to this.

portico, I know what you mean. We all naturally try to guide our DCs not to make the mistakes we made. I think you are just trying to equip your DCs as best you can, and it seems working well.

portico: Not all children are like that, so it’s incumbent upon parents like me, where possible, to step to the plate and provision some support. I was a poor per performer at school and it affected my work chances in my 20s and 30s. I am just trying to avoid something similar befalling my sons.

Absolutely.

Great for parents whose dcs get 8-9s with little effort. Must be your excellent parenting skills and hands off attitude. Dd is not like that. As a parent, I give her more support to work hard than my naturally clever ds. I show her the ropes in a way I don't have to do with ds because he retains information easily.

Both dh and I are lawyers, and the most academic in our respective families. It came as a revelation that not everyone knows HOW to study or how much they need to do to get the good grades. If it is not a natural skill, it can be taught. And also the hard work that comes with it.

There is the parable of the tortoise and the hare which I think of when it comes to dd and ds. It is not written in stone that ds will outperform dd in the long run.

@portico can you share a bit more about GCSEPod please e.g. cost, if it covers all the different Shakespeare plays for English lit etc. I've had a look at the website but can't find out which Shakespeare plays are available and don't really want to have to endure a full on demo in order to find out!

SE13Mummy
Gcsepod is no panacea but it delivered a majorly of the fix. Some schools have it. Ours doesn’t. I purchased it for £240 in May for one year. It provides tutorial pod cast content and videos for most board specs. It covers 9 of my subjects. It cost £240 a year. It works out at 7-9 pence a day per subject. Google gcsepod, call them or seek a quick 2-3 day free trial. I liked it, and so does my GCSE son.

It covered us for AQA Eng Lit Nacbeth, AIC, Jekyll and all poetry; though my son prefers Salles on the web

Macbeth not Nacbeth

Great for parents whose dcs get 8-9s with little effort. Must be your excellent parenting skills and hands off attitude

In fairness, the only ones I can see taking credit for their children's exam performance are the ones insisting on hours of daily drilling. Of course kids require different levels of support/arse kicking. And it's worth remembering that having parents who even think about this stuff at all puts young people at an advantage over many of their peers.

Getting bit scared here reading posts! My ds had mocks before Christmas, though has more round February apparently. He did well in first mocks in November though annoyingly a 'conservative' estimate [teacher said] in a subject he wants to do at A level. [will go on Sixth form application I imagine. Meets requirements but low compared to other predictions].
From tomorrow he will do some work on that subject as pissed off about prediction.
Also, we will all watch Macbeth film [the dodgy 1971 one I think!], do some music practice [that does need to be done].
But- he has needed a break I think.
Playing a Pokemon game with his brother with Home Alone 3 in the background at the moment...
Possibly will get up to 2 hours a day from him...
So far been relaxing and not working at all...

DinkyDaisy the Macbeth version with Patrick Stewart is quite good and it’s on Amazon Prime

I feel like I'm reading a post from this time last year. Am I then alone in thinking that the exams will be cancelled at the last minute and the marks more or less pulled out a hat? I have one child in the GCSE year, with their mocks already done. I'm making sure they draw up a revision timetable before 'next term', but I can't help feeling it's an utterly futile exercise.

Thanks, Portico. Will have a look.
I too wonder if exams will be cancelled.
Year 11s aren't stupid- apathy is an issue as their world is so insecure...

Having read this thread in full, I feel like I'm totally failing my ds and in part awe, part bewilderment at the level of parental input.

I ask ds if he's done his homework and if he needs any help & occasionally check his work if I think he's slacking, but otherwise have no involvement in his learning. He's average ability and with some effort should go on to do A levels but is quite lazy so not guaranteed. I have no idea of his learning style and he's definitely not doing hours a day but other than nagging him to do it, not sure what I else I can do.

Genuine Q for those of you so involved in your dc studies, are you academic? did you parents offer similar levels of interest? Do you work (thinking from a time POV)?

multivac said
“Great for parents whose dcs get 8-9s with little effort. Must be your excellent parenting skills and hands off attitude”

No sure where your barb stems from. I do not claim to have excellent parenting skills, but I have put my sons’ education at the focus of my priorities. What’s wrong with that. They still have a balanced life. All I do is provide the best resources, Past exam papers/Mark schemes to hand. It is my sons who put in the graft and pore over their resources to achieve their grades, not me.

You also said “ And it's worth remembering that having parents who even think about this stuff at all puts young people at an advantage over many of their peers.”

My response is, So what! My whole effort is at worst to confer an ability for my sons to level up with their cohorts, and at best to enable them to achieve 8/9/s.

*You also said “ And it's worth remembering that having parents who even think about this stuff at all puts young people at an advantage over many of their peers.”

My response is, So what! My whole effort is at worst to confer an ability for my sons to level up with their cohorts, and at best to enable them to achieve 8/9/s.*

You're not making any sense now, sorry. What is your point? And what do you think mine was? I was merely reminding the parents on this thread who can't invest £250 on GCSEPod, or pay a tutor, or afford private school, or get their offspring into a superselective grammar, or forget about work to stand over their children while they study for 7-8 hours a day during the holidays, that they are not, actually, letting their children down or ruining their future life chances. There are kids whose parents don't even know if they are in school or not.