Revision guides for AQA GCSEs

[Mañanarama]

Hi, just a few questions!

What is the difference between the various publishers (eg Collins, CGP) of revision guides? Does it matter?

Are the boxes of cards any good?

Are older versions ok to use or do we really need the relevant year?

Any other tips for what I can buy for a lazy / blasé year 10 who seemingly already knows everything?

Different publishers are usually down to preference.
Exam board matters, not as concerned about publisher.
Cards are good if you like revising that way. Useless if you don't like them!

Date: you need to find out when the specification changed (I only know one board for one subject, which was 2018 - before that would be pointless getting the books, anything after that would be fine. I don't know if other boards/subjects changed at the same time or not).

There are some great online resources - see what school subscribe to.

You need to make sure the guide us for 9-1 grades, as anything for letter grades will not be targeted correctly (I presume you are in England).

Maths and both English changed to number grades for exams sat in 2017 (so the first guides were published in 2015, if you ate looking at secondhand maybe); must other subjects switched the following year; DT and a few others were 2019.

My subject is mfl and the spec changed massively. A guide for exams pre 2018 woukd be of very limited use and I suggest best avoided unless you have an excellent exam knowledge (so I as a teacher could pick out some useful exercises from such a guide but a student might well be mislead as the newer exam is harder).

I don't think the publisher makes much difference. The key thing for your yr10 is to work out how they can revise most efficiently , and this may be in a number of ways. There are lots of useful threads in this section giving ideas.

Sorry for typos, I do know how to spell misled! And other words 😃

As the others said, 9-1 grades.

Some guides are bare bones revision, some have more explanation.
Some guides are laid out in a simple manner, some are more 'busy'.

Find a style your DS likes. (I like the CGP ones.)

Your school may offer them at reduced prices, but for some reason may wait until y11 to do so (which I think is a bit late).
I got quite a lot at our Oxfam bookshop.

If your DC is anything like mine, be prepared for the revision guides to remain untouched until well into year 11. However they did get used eventually!