Terrible mock GCSE results

[Notagoodtime]

DS goes to a local grammar school.He has just received his mock GCSE results and they are hugely disappointing. He was graded a 1 in English lit. We know it’s his hardest subject but at no point did we think he would score this low. He has recently started going to an English tutor every other week but I fear that it is all too late. We are trying to remain positive for him but has become disengaged and says he no longer cares. All attempt to try and help him gets rebuffed.

I'm sure that others will come along with more useful advice op, but what does the school say? What have his previous exams/mocks been like?

Sorry you are going through this. It is so bloody stressful.

A 1 is incredibly low and really not a very helpful thing for the school to have done, in terms of engagement and confidence. I think teachers sometimes misjudge this sort of thing and think everyone responds well to a shock, and it isn't the case.

Does he have the revision guides for his set texts?

Sorry, posted too soon- have you had a meeting with his teacher? Has he read the texts?

Has he got a copy of the exam? Can the tutor talk through where he could have scored more marks and exam technique. If he passed for grammar presumably he has the potential to do much better.

Does he understand the set texts? Has he read them? Is he using revision guides? Does he understand what the questions in the paper are asking? Is his spelling and grammar up to standard? These are all the questions i would be asking. Use past papers and he will need to practice these. The school should be telling him where he is losing marks so he can work on it.

If he's bright enough for grammar and has read the books he should be on for a 5 even with absolutely no effort.

He has little time now to turn around such an abysmal score.
How were his other results? Surely this can't have just come out of the blue, did he have mid course exams or topic tests?
I would be in contact with the school to see if there's anything they suggest.

This. Has he been going to his lessons? Has he been completing his homework?
What has gone wrong over the past 5 years to get to this point?
Where does his tutor say he is at?

If they have say a full paper this close to GCSE's ad that is it actual mark achieved, what do you expect the school to do? It's not a guessed grade, it is based on what he would actually have got if he had sat that paper. It would be equally unhelpful to tell him the amount if work done would give him a 4, and let the 1 be the final result in August.

OP: without his buy-in it is going to be very difficult to turn things around. Does he have a plan for next year? What does he need to progress onto the next stage? I'd focus on(one of) the English papers, maths, and his favorite 3 other subjects, and try and get 5 passes. He is obviously bright or he wouldn't have got the grammar place.
Revision guides - get the right board, looking at past papers and the mark schemes, you've already started with a tutor. If you can get hold of the papers he has sat, can you or the tutor go through them and see if you can identify the main issues? Does he not know the information? Does he not answer the question?
Given he was grammar material, I think he can turn this around, but it is going to involve a lot of hard work and support. Good luck.

Surely this, unless he has an extremely spikey profile.

Did something go wrong during the exam that meant he didn't write much or something?

Did he study for the mock?
My children went to comps and their teachers made it crystal clear that they were always happy to mark work done at home. Could you get him to do the questions at home with no time constraints and slowing him to look at the texts to see if he can come up with a model answer? I am assuming that as someone in grammar he doesn't struggle with understanding the texts.

Do you mean they should have falsely marked?

How on earth is that going to help?

If you don't mean that then I have no idea what you do mean, my child does heaps of practice papers

Have you had a meeting with the teacher ? Is there an issue or did he not even try. I would also say ask the school for support up tutoring to once a week if finances allow- .. my Ds has been offered a financial reward for grades 5 and above- i never thought it is something i would do but it motivates my ds.

If he is genuinely working at 1. This should have been picked up a long time ago. What were his other grades like ?

My DD is in the same boat! Academic scholar and failed 4 out of 9 gcse mocks with 2s and 3s....dropped down to foundation in French and chemistry despite being in tops sets! No idea what has happened with her (apart from total laziness!) as she was getting over 90% in all subjects in year 8. Arghhhh

Yes, this. If he was/is genuinely working at a 1, then this should have been picked up much earlier.

What does he say? I wonder if something just went horribly wrong in the exam, eg failing to turn the paper over and answer all the questions?

I'm a private school parent and would create merry hell if this happened to mine - or at least the school would have immediately come up with a solution.

I've been I. For meetings...School have offered lots of support but only works if DD turns up and doesn't just sit on her laptop and look at instagram! You can lead a horse to water....

Perhaps the year 8 teaching and marking was poor. I can't understand how a child who is bright enough for an academic scholarship and had been attending lessons and doing the set work would be getting 2s for any subject at GCSE, they aren't even that hard!

Ah. Totally forbidden at our school. I'd hit the roof if my dcs did this. You can't actually access Insta via our school WiFi.

2 in chemistry
3 French
3 Latin
3 physics
4 RE
4 maths
5 biology
5 geography
6 English lit
7 English lang

Originally 7-9 in everything based on CAT scores etc.
She does absolutely nothing outside of lessons (boarder so not a lot I can do)

She is stopping boarding at the end of this term so I can crack the whip....but too late though!

Well 6 of those are passes. Shame she didn't do combined science and I'd have dropped Latin.

Yes I wish combined science too

Latin - she has been studying it seems yr5 and was a prized winner in yrs7 and 8 🤷🏻‍♀️

Anyway OP I feel your pain and let me know if you have any break throughs! Good luck!

If she's a boarder I'd be really pissed off with the school

If she's clever and going to lessons she shouldn't have to do much out of lessons to get at least 5s and 6s in everything.

I teach English in a Further Education college and most of my job is working with students who failed to achieve the magical Grade 4 in their GCSE English Language.

If a learner gets a 1 in a mock exam, it's usually because they haven't been engaging in their learning. It's as simple as that. I see it year on year, class after class. And there's very little I can do about it, especially at this stage - it really is too late to catch up now.

A Grade 1 result isn't just getting the odd question wrong or misunderstanding what's required here and there - it indicates a total lack of engagement with the fundamentals of the subject, the course and the assessments. And before I get the usual Mumsnet chorus of 'Oh, he must have (undiagnosed) additional learning needs', it's highly unlikely they wouldn't've been picked up by now and, by the way, some 80% of my learners have additional needs - statemented or otherwise - and their marks tend to be Grade 2/Grade 3 borderline. To get a Grade 1, you've really got to be not trying in the Mock and not trying all year.