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.......

I’ve read your question properly @stringseleven - all three themes will be covered in the oral, but not all topics. Hence picking one theme and just getting questions on 1-2 topics. But the other two themes are covered in photcard and second part of general convo - you just don’t know which way round before the exam.

Ooh I'll look these up! Thank youa

I am beginning to wonder on what date do we move from, darling ds will you pop and go and do some revision, to GO UP STAIRS AND GET ON WITH IT.

I feel I am losing the will to live! On the one hand I can’t wait for DS to go back to school so I can not worry about trying to constantly nag but on the other hand I am filled with dread that we are now less than 5 weeks ago! Am also wishing there was no such thing as study leave as he finishes on May 11, and then we are back to the nagging! I guess what will be will be, can’t do it for them. However I feel your pain!!

My DD is doing maybe a maximum of 40mins a day (though some days none at all) and only focusing on the subjects she wants to do at A-level. I don't think this is enough and I'm panicking that she's suddenly going to panic but my nagging her will simply not work. I can't wait for it to be all over! I just don't want her to regret not putting in enough effort 😬

I'm already there 😂

Having tried encouraging, chivvying, coaxing, nagging, bribing, threatening tactics....I have now discovered the holy grail of them all.

Laissez-faire.

The day when I stopped all of the former approaches, DS2 started doing 4 hours revision a day. He writes a little plan each day and then sticks to it.

This has so far lasted about 4 days.

No study leave here thankfully. They are in school every day until the final English language exam.
DS1 has managed 2 or 3 subjects most days in the hols with a few days off to relax.

German oral is less than 2 weeks away. I’m massively over invested here as I did languages to degree level but whenever I try to ask him something simple in German I get ‘I don’t want to revise now’. Aargh.

@BaconAndAvocado I have also adopted this approach, I think what spurs them on is also peer pressure when they see their friends are actually getting down to it they do too.

SilverGlitterBaubles I think you’re probably right. DS2 has some very clever mates!
Also, he goes to a grammar school where I’d imagine the pressure has been and will continue to be high every day until the exams begin. Double pressure wasn’t working.
It doesn’t come naturally to me to take a step back but that’s what I’m trying to do.

Sadly this technique hasn't worked for me. And he couldn't give a monkey's what his mates are doing. And he's not fussed about how well he does as he still hasn't applied to college.

@BaconAndAvocado I am doing this too with my (autistic and PDA) dd. She says it stresses her if I even mention revision. It's actually taken a bit of weight off my mind, it's up to her now.

bendmeoverbackwards I agree. DS2 is 16 (not a baby anymore) and if he doesn’t study and therefore doesn’t get the results he needs, it will be a life lesson.

DS1 has just come in worried that he hasn’t done enough. I think he’s been doing a fair bit. Aargh. I hope he’s ok.

I've decided to step back too; DS has a second French speaking mock next Tuesday so he's mostly been practising for that, he also had 2 x in-school French tuition (4 hours total) this week so that has helped, he says.

He's autistic and gets very stressed over 'the pressure' that I think I've been - unintentionally - putting on him ("you must do well, get your a levels, go to university..." etc.) so I'm stepping back as much as I can and so far, he's been making more of an effort to revise (he's gone from no revision to 'some' revision, which is a small step up, at least!).

Hello - can I join the handholding please? DS is not doing much. Has never done much. Needs to get certain grades for 6th Form and will be transferring to a new school so I'm stressed about that. No idea whether he is stressed or not. We've tried nagging, threats, bribery, leaving alone, begging, etc etc etc. Nothing really works but I have reminded my husband (after I went out last night and the 2 of them had a row) that, if DS gets upset he won't do anything at all. If we can humour him and be kind / supportive to him, then he might do a bit. I can see - on top of everything else - I'm going to have to stick around at home as much as possible to make sure nobody falls out.

Mock results (for what they're worth -and I don't actually know) were ok but he's not doing well in English Lang which, of course, he can't afford to do badly in. He needs a 5 but aiming for a 6 would be safer. He's struggled a lot with this subject and he hasn't been sufficiently supported at school. He's now got a private tutor for the final 8 weeks (luckily these exams come quite late in the timetable) and she's confident she can give him a boost. There's no quick fix for his difficulties though, it seems.

What I'd like to know: are there any short exercises for the different aspects of English Language which I can give him to do. If he does only one thing a day, it should be English. Practising skills (if not exact exam questions) and building confidence. He has ADHD and focussing on things he doesn't like is very very hard. I've bought lots of books but they're all very complicated and wordy in their instructions and I can't quite get to the nub of it. No wonder he's overwhelmed. I've just checked in on him and he's struggling with the past paper that the tutor set him. He's read the text, highlighted, annotated, written a plan but he just cannot get on with the writing. I'm so distressed about it because I feel it's going to completely mess up his future. Poor kid.

I don’t know if it will help but my DS also struggles with the English - partly focus but more language processing so his writing is v basic. We’ve tried doing lots of the past paper comprehensions - highlighting the text, using at least 4 or 5 quotes from the text and then I sit through and try to go through them with him after to brush up.

Essay wise - I brought a ‘descriptosaurus’ off Amazon - and we have written 2 or 3 essays around a theme which he will then hopefully try to apply / adapt to various titles. The descriptosaurus has been great as it has phrases in it he can just copy and apply, and I’m hoping some of these will stick - for example, there’s different sections on deserts, storms, emotions, pain, grief - all with different descriptive phrases full of exciting adjectives and alliteration / metaphors he could just not generate himself. We will also be doing a lot of English Language over half term! Thank goodness the English Lit - which is verging on a disaster and a waste of time for him - will be out the way!!

@kidstaxidriver - thanks for the tip. Which book in the Descriptosaurus did you get? I haven't heard of those but looks a good idea.

DS is also doing very badly at Eng Lit and we think he should just drop it. He doesn't have time or brain space to even think about it and turning up to an exam to do nothing is not a great use of time. That's going to be an interesting conversation with school on Monday when we tell them that's what we think he should do!

@BaconAndAvocado (referring to your origianl post) my son is also currently at an IB school and plotting his escape as there's no way his highly-polarised, ADHD brain would cope with 6 subjects. He has an offer for another Grammar which he should be able to reach apart from Eng Lang which is dodgy. No idea what Plan B is. There isn't one. I'm so stressed.

filchards We don’t have a Plan B either if he doesn’t get the requisite grades for the other grammar (7s in Maths, Chemistry and Physics 😳).
Other than he would stay at his current grammar and do the Career-Related Diploma which feels like it might be underselling him.

Hang in there 🙂

Ugh add me to the stressed list. Da is finally putting in work but in some areas seems to have no clue 😩I try to give suggestions how to improve English writing and he snores in my face. Ugh

After reading your posts, I suddenly realised that there has been no mention of English Lang revision. I have now reminded ds who groaned!! He luckily sat english lit last year.

The BBC bitesize website is good, select the subject and exam board and off you go. It’s in Welsh too!

Sadly we already dropped a subject so now can’t drop English Lit even though some kids have done so. Hindsight…….
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Descriptosaurus-Supporting-Creative-Writing-Ages/dp/1138093025/ref=asc_df_1138093025/?tag=googshopuk-21&linkCode=df0&hvadid=311004742540&hvpos=&hvnetw=g&hvrand=6015411860795419021&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=&hvdev=m&hvdvcmdl=&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=9045856&hvtargid=pla-393312053227&psc=1
Ignore the fact it says 8-14 years on it
also using https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/aw/d/1138093025/ref=dp_ob_neva_mobile

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Descriptosaurus-Action-Adventure-Alison-Wilcox/dp/1138858692/ref=mp_s_a_1_4?crid=1U9VKV9V7PQFA&keywords=descriptosaurus&qid=1681579208&sprefix=desxript%2Caps%2C79&sr=8-4