Anyone else’s child not started revising yet for GCSEs?

[mumofteennotfun]

I have twins doing their GCSEs this year.
One has been revising steadily since Christmas (not naturally academic, hoping to pull in 5s and 6s at a push).
The other is still faffing around with coursework for art and DT and hasn’t started revising yet! She’s a bit more naturally academic but I am feeling rather anxious (obviously haven’t shared this) that she hasn’t done anything yet and we are literally weeks away!
Any other Year 11s not made a start yet?

Hopefully it isn't as bad as you make it out to be.
Did they revise for mocks?
Have they engaged with school lessons and homeworks?
I'd be worried.

Are they taking an MFL? If so, their speaking exam will probably be in the next couple of weeks - have they been prepping for that?

What other subjects? Once art coursework is done, that’s ticked off. How have they done in (for example) practice Eng lit essays in class this year?

Have they keep up with Hw and class work? How are their notes?

My DD is doing all sorts of activities for revisions and I asked her to give me resources so I can share it with you,
So apparently Edumentors platform is doing online mock simulations (i think weekly). At the end of the blog they have a typeform linked where your DC can choose the subject they want to practice and they will contact you.
Also on the right side there is a banner that says "GCSE essays", they launched a feature where you can submit your English essay and it gives an instant feedback. But keep in mind its only for the past papers.
They also have a discord server where they share all kinds of stuff your DC might need for GCSE's <a class="break-all" href="https://discord.gg/kZt746mEtf%22]discord.gg/kZt746mEtf[/URL]" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">https://discord.gg/kZt746mEtf
I hope you find these helpful just as my DD did!

I am sorry I did something wrong with the link. here is the one that should work https://discord.com/invite/kZt746mEtf

Very little being done here, bright DD who is predicted 7s and 8s, mocks were good. She is probably doing 1.5 hrs most days but no more than that. She works hard at school but does very little in the holidays. She needs 8s and 9s in order to study the subjects she wants at A level. Bit worried but it’s kinda up to her.

That must be somewhere quite selective. The only thing you really 'need' an 8/9 for is maths GCSE if doing FM A level. Do you have an alternate 6th form lined up that is less demanding on entrance grades?

DS did GCSEs last year. His school chooses options in yr8 starts coursework in Yr9. They were only still doing course content in one of his subjects, Music, where there had been a teacher change. He revised every day during the hols and after return to school it was revision lessons and - quite soon - study leave

Thanks - that’s really useful.

No MfL thankfully.
She did OK in mocks - mostly 6s and 7s but capable of more with revision.
The coursework has taken up so much time that there has been little for anything else. I can’t wait until the deadline next week!

My DD spent most of the Easter holiday on Art and Drama coursework and not much else.

I fretted a lot.

But it was good to get it out of the way, and she knuckled down to revision of other subjects by the end of the holiday. So it did work for her.
Also worth thinking about how much revision they've done at school and whether they've revised for tests as they've gone along. It might well be that they've done a lot more than you realise. What grades does she need for "the next thing" - if she's doing "well enough" there's not necessarily a huge benefit in doing "even better".

Any words of comfort / wisdom re. English Language. DS is really struggling. School haven't been sufficiently supportive (too little, too late). He now has a tutor but I don't know if that's going to make enough of a different. I've bought various books and study guides but am slightly at sea myself.

He has ADHD. finds it hard to focus. Slow. Also incredibly discouraged by it all.

Arrgghhh.

I helped one DD (dyspraxia, couldn't do inference) scrape a pass under the old system, and the other DD (dyslexic) can produce grade 5 work but not consistently enough to pass, yet.

The exam is very structured. Paper 1 Q1 will require certain answer type. And so on. He needs to be able to recite the key things needed to answer each question type. Then of course he needs to be able to do it too.

On writing you gain more marks for interesting language than you do for spelling.

Is he doing AQA? I have heard 'Mr Bruff' is good though it should all be stuff he has been taught at school.

Do a search on this board, this comes up a fair amount. Search for MrsHamlet, she gives very helpful answers.

Ds tells me he's done revision.

As far as I can tell that means playing a "flying a spitfire" computer game = history
Watching football = maths (angles and numbers he explained)
English literature = he used one quote from Macbeth in response to something...
You get the picture. 🤔

Mine got 8s/9s in his mocks with very little revision so is convinced he doesn't need to do more than a day or so of cramming for each subject before each exam. Time will tell if he's right or whether the mocks were just more leniently marked than they should have been. I keep telling him that complacency is his biggest risk, but he's not persuaded.

@TeenDivided - yes it's AQA. Thanks for the Mr Bruff tip- that could be useful!

I am feeling rather anxious (obviously haven’t shared this) that she hasn’t done anything yet and we are literally weeks away!

Why are you not discussing this with her? It sounds like she could do with some help to plan her time and get some revision in.

Most Y11s will be revising over the Easter break, and many schools will have them in for revision sessions over Easter too. I understand the issues with coursework, especially this year BUT that's 2 GCSEs, and could impact her others across the board.

How much does she still need to do for her coursework?

Her first exam will likely be less than a month away- she really does need to be doing something in order to achieve her full potential.