Anyone up for a GCSE handholding thread?

[BaconAndAvocado]

DS2 has his GCSEs in June. He had mocks in November and more (why??) next month.
He needs to get 5 6s to stay at his current school (IB, not overly keen) or to transfer to another local 6th form.
He said he’s going to start revising this week......
Think his school will be helping him devise a revision timetable this week. I’ve bought him flashcards, he just needs to knuckle down now.......

Does anyone know if schools provide past papers or if you have to source them yourself? From the various exam boards I presume?

Ds has had some from school and has printed off some at home. They are not difficult to find on line, just search subject and exam board.

Like ‘rainydogday’ our DS is not even worried which is a blessing but sadly I do think he will massively under perform. But I’ve realised you can’t do it for them. I love the flash cards people are talking about. I just wish we weren’t at the stage of still making them!! We are also doing PE and DS hoping to do it for A level. It’s by far his easiest subject, I just wish we didn’t have to try to get through chemistry and English lit. He’s really struggling with the sheer volume of content. We’ve also got A levels here, so a fun Easter ahead. Eldest child more motivated and it does seem easier when they have an end point in sight with a target to reach. The other interesting factor, which puts it all into perspective, is that eldest DC can’t even remember what he got in his GCSEs! So I’m trying to hang onto the fact that many unis just want a 5 in maths and english. fingers crossed

We will have the same in two years! One doing gcse DS and DD doing A levels.....maybe! Didn't think that through when thought a two year gap was good timing to have kids DD loves doing the flash cards but like others have said there is soooo much content. We have found Cognito revision videos really helpful. (Especially me for trying to help)! They also do good online thing. It's mainly for science and maths.

Hi, can I join?

My DS started off in the gifted and talented bracket due to his SATs results and I think because of that, I dropped the ball a bit - didn't take my GCSEs due to my parents moving house in the November before my exams and they encouraged me to just go and get a job and start earning, rather than retake Yr 11 as my new school wanted me to do - so I really have no idea about how to revise, exam technique, I'm literally like a newborn when it comes to GCSEs so am no help to my DS whatsoever! He was in the middle of the top set (and has remained there ever since) so I thought he would be fine :(

Anyway, they've had 3 sets of mocks in school and aside from homework and the 2 x after school interventions a week since January, he hasn't really done much revision.

I tell him he needs to, print out a revision timetable and a few past papers, but that's all I can seem to manage as I have no idea where to start with helping or advising him.

His three sets of mock results have been as follows (most recent grade last):

Maths - 7 6 7
English Lang - 7 6 7
English Lit - 7 6 5
RE - 6 6 6
Biology - 4 6 5
Chemistry - 5 4 5
Physics - 6 5 4
Computer Science - 6 7 6
French - 6 (based on speaking only) 4 4
Geography - 7 5 5
History - 4 3 5

He says he really struggles with the listening part of the French as he can't hear/catch what they're saying, and he's always struggled with History and Geography. We know he's weaker on a couple of the History units so can work on those.
And the Sciences - at the end of last year they offered him the chance to switch to combined science to take the pressure off and improve his grades but we agreed we would see how his first mocks went, after which school seemed happy to keep him ok separate sciences so I assume his grades were good enough not to be moved down.

So. If you were me, given how his grades are all hovering around a 6 area and at least are all passes (although 6 seems a lowish grade to me) what would you focus on?

His first proper exam is a French speaking on 5th May so we need to work on that as a matter of urgency, but in our position how many hours a day would you expect him to be revising? Do you think I should get him to focus on Maths and the Sciences, as he was hoping to do Maths, Physics and Computer Science at A Level, or just work through revision in order of exam dates?

Any advice appreciated :)

Really good point re GCSE results and the future.
Unless your child wants to go down the Oxbridge route or do Medicine, the grades aren’t important. A level grades are obviously a different story.

@Howamisupposeedtopickausername

What my DD does for history (which is also what her teacher suggested) is pick a topic, then 'blurt' out everything you know about it on a whiteboard.

Then she cross references all those notes to her books to see what she missed. That gives her the areas she needs to revise further.

Then a practice question to ensure that she can use the points in questions and able to explain the importance / context of them.

Also @Howamisupposeedtopickausername a 6 is a B. I think with the change to numbers it makes that seem lower than it did in 'old' grades. It's something I'm struggling with for my daughter as she just sees how many marks diff there are from a 9.

Thank you, I do keep trying to say to myself that I'd have been thrilled if I got a B in my GCSEs but I think the fact I have no clue about GCSEs or how to revise, it's making me panic more.

Plus DS seems to have chosen the most difficult A Levels!

The history revision idea is something I think I can get DS to try though, thank you.

@Howamisupposeedtopickausername

What she said with the blurring is she does it completely cold so she won't look at any notes / books before hand. Then she finds she gets a true picture.

So I’m trying to hang onto the fact that many unis just want a 5 in maths and English. fingers crossed

Ds's attitude is all he has to do is enough to get to the next stage. He doesn't see the point in trying to get higher marks if he doesn't need to. I just hope he doesn't underestimate his ability. His mock results were mostly round the 5/6 level, but the teachers agree he was capable of being round the 7/8 region for most.
Wish dd1 had given just a teeny bit of her perfectionism to him and dd2; it would have done them all good.

I’m so with you MargaretThursday! DS’s attitude exactly, even if it is slightly black and white - it says I need to get a 5 in my English Lang and Maths, not a 7 🤦‍♀️

@kidstaxidriver

It's so frustrating isn't it? If I say anything he thinks I'm just trying to push him for the sake of it, whereas I want him to do his best for himself.

Dd1 would fret over not being able to get the last mark on a paper.

@MargaretThursday @kidstaxidriver My DC has a similar attitude, mocks were below par yet she is spending the day sitting in her phone refusing any help. I have offered tutoring over the holidays and that's been met with refusal. What more can you do

Ds is also very good at hearing what he wants to hear.
Apparently they were told not to do too much over the Easter holidays as they don't want to burn out. So apparently that means he shouldn't do much work. I suspect they talked about doing 14 x 12 hour days or something.

As I said to ds, I'll be astonished if he even gets close to smouldering. He's planning plenty of relaxing days...

Not sure if this is any help to the stubborn ones… but I have a younger child too who is autistic and we use alot of the approaches from the PDAsociety https://www.pdasociety.org.uk/ as telling her to do anything directly normally results in defiant objection. So instead it’s about suggestions, options and negotiation. I’ve tried it with my older child doing GCSEs and been more adult with our conversations about what she wants to do and what she needs to get there but how she does it is 100% her choice. I check in regularly and supplied books / cards etc. but she’s getting on with it in her own way. I’m aware it’s very YP dependent but if you have got a defiant one it may help 🤷🏻‍♀️

What grades do the 6th forms want for GCSE's to enable kids to do A levels? Ours are 6 in the chosen subject. Possibly may consider it if just under. This is our problem. DD desperately wants to go to this 6th form as all friends are there. But we are skating on thin ice at the moment with the grades. Has some back up BTEC options. ( nothing wrong with these, I did them and have a good career). But......if she gets anything less than 6 in gcse in for example, A Levels are much harder so perhaps this is why they choose a cut off of a 6.

My DD needs G6 in her A’level choices plus 8 passes I think. It’s going to be a challenge in one of the 3 sciences as she’s a G5 in one but G7 in the other two. But could well get a G8 in maths & physics so I’ve said just do what you can and college may negotiate if you’re strong in the other areas. Plus she’s competing at a high level in a sport and wants to do A level PE which they like.

@Howamisupposeedtopickausername hi, MFL specialist here - re your DC's French, I assume given a 6 grade being mentioned, he is taking higher? Foundation is a lot more accessible but it's too late to change now - so my advice is this (broadly): in 2019 a 4 in French higher tier (AQA) required a mark of 106/240 - about 44%. In other words, assuming he is working around a 4/low 5, he can expect to be unable to answer around half of the questions. That's tough and can be dispiriting to say the least, so he needs to have the resilience to deal with that - think, well that one's hard but let's see what I can get right; now let's look at the next one. That way he can maximise his marks instead of feeling despondent and giving up (which I have seen often).

For speaking, there are lots of past paper questions to practise. And he will have planned out some questions for his first topic, so go over those with him (they do not need to be perfect).

For listening - if he really cannot hear, can you ask for him to do the test in a smaller room? We used to do listenings with a smaller cohort in classrooms rather than the big hall. If it's more that he cannot understand - again, lots of audio on past papers (and other boards are useful here IMO) to practise.

@rainydogday ds' 6th form says 5s, with 6 for Maths. Plus obviously they have to pass English and Maths or redo it.
So he thinks that's fine, he's already on that. I've tried explaining that at least in those subjects the better he does this year, the easier it will be next year, but he's very much of the opinion that why put off for tomorrow what you can put off to the day after.

@WinterMermaid234 Thank you for this I certainly recognise some of the PDA traits and I will try to use the strategies.

Elder ds is coming home today from uni and is about to sit his finals, what with that and all the gcse revision in school I am thinking that this Easter may not be that relaxing!! I may need a secret stash of chocolate and wine!!

How many of you have dc in year 10?

dc2 is in year 10 and has already sat 1 English lit exam and done his science practicals in January.

This summer he has the other English lit exam and a paper in each of the sciences and well as Welsh literature papers and his first maths paper.

More to come in November (he’ll be in year 11 by then) and more in January and May / June 2024.

dc1 didn’t have anything like this thanks to covid so it’s all new to us. It feels like a very long and drawn out process.

@Muchtoomuchtodo we are also in Wales so ds sat gcses last year in year 10 and yes it is a long haul. Although on the plus side they can resit if they do poorly in year 10. We did not do Maths last year and honestly I do think it is a stretch for them to do it in year 10.

Thanks @mumonthehill. He’s done really well in everything so far so perhaps it will take some of the pressure off for year 11

He’s doing one maths paper now and the other in November. If the result is good enough he’ll sit additional maths in the summer of year 11. That’ll mean that he’ll get 12 GCSEs in total which sounds bonkers to me! He could do 8 or 9 and still get accepted onto the same A level
courses.