How can I help my DC with GCSE revision?

[anothertry1]

Do you help your DC revise for GCSE's? If so, how exactly do you help, especially if you haven't got a clue about a subject?

How do your DC revise and make sure they cover absolutely everything for each subject?

No, I leave her to it. She's very motivated and predicted all 8/9s. I've offered but she says she's good.

No, I do not "help" them to revise as the drive has to come from them. I do make sure they have a quiet space to revise and all the materials they need - the rest is up to them. Those exams are theirs, not mine.

They need to do it themselves. They should have everything they need from school to enable them to revise (their exercise book/folder, textbook or online resources etc, plus things their teachers have put on Teams etc). As long as your child knows which exam board they are doing for each subject, they can view the syllabus online and you could buy them revision guides.

Can only tell you what worked for my 3...no 1 would stay up until 3am before night of every exam ...total last minute Cramer. Didn't want any intervention from me...took laptop into loo and did 45 mins revision daily. However I had taken away the ps4 controller (Monday to Friday ) but that was already a rule In our house for years anyway.
No2 ...what worked for him was short bursts...got him to write a start time and finish time and subject studied in exercise book. He needed huge amounts of monitoring. He hated revision with a passion.
No 3 ...well she carried on her revision programme from mocks onwards...post it notes from floor to ceiling...postcards, mind maps the lot.
I think it's a case of finding a revision style that works for them.

This is my approach too. Make sure she has resources and quiet space to do what she needs to do.

The expectation from us as parents is when the GCSEs are over she can look herself in the mirror and honestly say she did her best. Whatever the outcome on results day, we'll be happy if she can do this.

• GCSE BBC bitesize
• Holding the book and testing them on keywords, formulae etc
• Buying them stationery (pink, yellow, blue, green index cards and highlighter pens) so they can make their own revision cards.
• Encouraging them to do whatever is on their school's VLE (e.g. hegarty/sparx maths, educake, seneca, doddle, kerboodle, tassomai, Oak academy etc) There may be access to online resources, extra tasks or online library, depends on school.
• Encouraging mind mapping/concept plans
• Revision guides/past papers from school
• Encouraging them to write a revision plan where they do "chunking" half an hour per subject not six hours on one
• Nagging for completion of homework or coursework at home
• Encouraging them to attend any drop-in help sessions at school
• languages online website for mfl
• seeing plays on National Theatre online/going locally if they have Macbeth, A Christmas carol etc or renting off Amazon prime (A Christmas carol musical version with Will Ferrell and Ryan Reynolds is on Apple TV soon)
• Asking them to tell me everything they know about x topic

Hope that helps!

Different problems people have different learning styles. Some people are active learners and having a parent to help can be important. My dd made revision notes and would get me to question her on the notes. Worked very well for her.

I sat down with my eldest on some of the weaker subjects and it helped him a lot - school predicted him 3s and he ended up with all 5s so made a massive difference - the study guide will guide you

My kids school allows us access to these study skills seminars. They are great for study tips and revision techniques! Maybe watch one with your child?

uk.elevateeducation.com/home

Share this with your teen so they understand how to learn: ncase.me/remember/

@Notcontent Learning styles is a pervasive and unhelpful neuromyth. People may have preferences, but learning styles do not exist!

Teenagers do need support in revising. The frontal lobes are not yet fully developed and as such they know they should be revising, but struggle to actually do it.

Helping them make a plan, from now, to do a little each week in each subject (as little as 5 mins a week is better than nothing) such that they'll practice everything in the course by next May.

Then they need adult help to actually sit down and do it. Withhold the TV remote/their phone/use whatever they enjoy as the reward for getting 5-10 mins of revision done of an evening/morning etc.

As for what to do? The very best thing they can do is to practice what they'll actually be doing in the exams. So past paper questions.

At this stage in y11 that might mean using the revision guide to help them answer the Q. But then more important than having a go is using the mark scheme. They need to worry less about being right, and focus on it being a practice exercise. So looking at the mark scheme and thinking 'where was I on the right track?' and celebrate that, but then also really interrogating it: 'where in the question does it suggest I should give that answer? Where are the clues I should have spotted? What was the knowledge I'm missing for this question? What was the key vocabulary I should have used?'

And then if this is repeated, even just one question a week, they'll get used to recognising what questions are asking them to do, and how to compose the answers.

This is less fun than making posters or mind maps, but those are far less effective. And if you're going to do only 5 mins, it needs to be the most effective 5 mins.

5 mins a week across 10 subjects is less than an hour. Ideally spread out across the week.

Remember something is better than nothing.

Teenagers look like adults but are still children who do need support. (Most of them, some of them do just do it!)

Oh, and these days there are loads of revision websites and YouTube exam question practices they could do (if they're not going to get sucked into a google/YouTube hole and waste all their time)

I can't believe people don't help. Not necessarily in going Through their essays with them but in all sorts of supporting eays from establishing a routine, giving reward for focused study, helping with boring fact learning by making subject specific Top Trump cards, reading essays, talking about key areas or paying for tutors when school teaching isn't all it should be.

Maybe some of that is A level not GCSE, but supporting learning starts early with trips out to track a river source to estuary or a visit ti somewhere Roman in primary, to visits to galleries to see.El Grecos andvwatching sub titled films for Spanish, trips to the Globe or Stratford for English lit or arranging high quality work experience that motivates for success.

By A Level they should certainly be doing this sort of stuff for themselves. Do you really do that at A Level stage. Even at GCSE stage that is spoon feeding to the extreme imo

Results are everything when it comes to academics. Yes. Why would you not support your child? Why would you not want to go and explore their subjects with them, listen to their fears and ideas?

If you compare independent and state (we've done both) it is clear the difference in approach rather than quality of teaching is key. No outside work, structured prep times and a strict routine, wide extracurricular opportunity and supportive/broadening/motivational trips around subjects.

Why would you not set your child up.to succeed? Mine are past school exams now but still taking some professional exams. They are evidence the approach and parental involvement/support works. The research would also show that the best indicator of academic success is parental involvement. It's not spoon feeding; it's involved parenting rather than abdication of responsibility when they finish primary.

Make sure they have a sensible revision timetable
Make sure they use index cards and narrow down the topic to a list of bullet points
Make sure they have cards with questions on that they can make sure they can answer
Revision is not reading. They should always be making notes.
Get them to try answering an essay question. It’s easy to say ‘I know that’ but harder to write about it for half an hour.
Lastly, allow breaks and treats. Study for 40 minutes , then 15 minutes off.

Im guessing you might have girls..

I have two boys. Both at independent (Yr 11 Yr 13). Both predicted very high grades. They need to learn to work independently otherwise they will be at a disadvantage at university. But in any event the most they will accept in terms of help is possibly a bit of testing right before GCSE exams.

I have a friend who takes off every school holiday prior to exams to literally sit with her DD day and work with her. She wrote her personal statement for university. She checks every piece of work before its submitted. Its not actually going to help in the long term.

@Era you have rather proved the point. Yours are at independent school where much of what I.say is already provided.
I have both. Well past GCSEs. Past university too. They did good. A first for twowith prestigious grad scheme for one. We've not helped with the accountancy exams she's done - beyond us now. She's just come top globally and gets an international prize.

I made sure mine had all they needed ...space ,paper,pens and highlighters etc etc
Would ' test them ' verbally if they asked me to.
Didn't plan any holidays or visitors in the May Half Term ( or Easter come to think about it )
Made them cups of tea and bought fave treats etc
Other than that ...well that was up to them !

I leave my Y11 to it.

I buy her flash cards (btw Wilko do them
On a ring so they hold together which she likes).

I have not planned any holidays from now - we had one this half term and I was not expecting the workload she got already.

I am actively planning that she gets a break from her younger sister in the holidays - one or other will go to my parents so she has peace and quiet.

She might ask me to test her flash cards but equally won't!

She is predicted 8/9 and is very self motivated in researching past test papers mock answers etc so don't feel she really needs active involvement.

My eldest son wouldn't let me help him and then covid cancelled exams anyway

My second son said he was nervous about history and all three sciences. Due to patchy teaching over covid I decided to help him as much as I could.

I bought revision guides and together we worked out what topics he needed to focus on. We sat on the sofa and I asked him questions from the revision guide. He made notes and I kept testing him and teaching him from around Easter. I tested him on all his Latin vocab. He also revised alone and school kept them in with no study leave

He ended up with 9s, 8s, 7s and 6s which was a marked improvement on his mocks. Really proud

Forgot to mention that I declined holiday and days out to stay with him and revise🙃

I think some people with naturally academic children are skewing this conversation; lots of kids need support from home to get through their GCSE's.
It's different for each child; different styles, different levels of support. Congratulations to those who have self-sufficient, self motivated kids (I have one of those too) but please understand that not all kids are the same. Some very successful people needed major support in the earlier years. Teaching kids that they are failures because their personal organisation skills haven't yet developed can have life-long negative ramifications, and that's what happens to many people when they fail to achieve what they are capable of in their GCSE's.

I sort of help by desk sharing, we both do our own seperate work at the kitchen table together with a bowl of popcorn or nuts or something between us.

She makes revision posters which is just arty spider diagrams with info on it and we have these tacked up in the hallway so she can read them whenever.

She makes flashcards with the answers on the back- so I can show her the question and actually know if she is right or not. We made a game out of it as we have the game 'something fishy' and substituted the cards with her flashcards on her turn as guesser.

Sometimes we will go through a book like her biology revision guide and i'll ask her questions from there

if its something I csn help with, like reading lines for drama or asking the prompts and reading along with her french or something I'll do that if she asks me

She likes to essentially monolouge at me about various things- i think it helps her to have to explain her understanding back at someone- I have been told many things about volcanoes in iceland and the american revolution while cooking dinner or cleaning.

Mostly this is because she wants to do it, she is nervous about failing and generally likes to study, so I don't know if any of this would work if she didn't want to do it. She is really bad at studying in her room on her own though- can't focus or motivate herself- so even if I don't do much she seems to study more if I am just around with her.

Been teaching secondary for 20 years but according to my year 11 boy, I know nothing (despite running the dept with the highest grades in the school!)

He has pulled his finger out and sorted his own revision, I have pointed him in the direction of a few types of revising and am here if he needs or wants more guidance.

Don't forget schools are very very geared up for this and in many cases would rather the parents were there to support in the evenings by providing food, drinks and a peaceful atmosphere. Being able to switch off for a time in the evening is infinitely more beneficial to a student than running battles or parental hovering.

However, Twinkl has some incredibly useful specialist subject and general revision stuff, it is well worth taking out a subscription for a bit (they have defo moved away from just a primary school focus).