Disappointing GCSE science mock results-how to improve in 13 weeks?

[alwaysplanning]

DC received their mock results last week. Overall ok results, with room for improvement across the board. However, he is especially disappointed with science results-5/5/4 predicted 6/6/7 (triple). Biology especially disappointing (4, predicted 7 but realistic might be a 6).

How best to focus on the time that's left? He admits that he didn't do enough (any?) past papers but as he still has a lot to relearn of the syllabus how should he spend his time? He mostly used Seneca and cognito with free science lessons videos in there too but his working memory is poor so he's obviously not retaining the content.

If he starts with past papers, should he methodically work through each question with his revision guide/YouTube videos and learn through tackling the questions? With the answers to hand? Should he struggle and persevere with revision notes? Do flashcards?

Sorry if that is a really basic question, I'm not sure he really knows how to revise. He has no useful class or revision notes either, has dyslexia and probably finds making notes stressful and difficult.

Thank you.

I seem to remember when working in a college that broadly speaking when students sat an exam they kind of went up a grade each time they did a test or mock exam but I was in Admin/Exams/Senco
But I'm a firm believer in doing past exams but would say do answer every question. Don't worry about how long it takes to answer one question - just do it to the best of his ability. As he practises and understands the type of question and how to answer it he will improve on the timings. By answering all the questions he is extending his knowledge and not merely choosing those he knows the answers to because he swotted for them. After doing a selection of test papers - just go back and start repeating them again. All this reinforces his knowledge and confidence. I'm sure he'll be fine.
Do make sure that he has the extra time he is entitled to for his Dyslexia - if he gets tired in exams - it is possible to build in breaks, and maybe a prompt if he tends to forget the time and go off on a tangent with a question. These allowances can make a huge difference to the eventual outcome.

Thank you. Would you do for example all the paper 1 past papers first then move to paper 2, or would you keep switching between them? I guess doing the latter keeps all topics fresh? Also, once he's been through all the published past papers would you suggest reprinting and redoing them? Sorry that these are really basic questions.

This is really helpful, thank you

OK, firstly leave triple alone and get him entered for double award. It is much less content to revise. It doesn’t matter if he is in a triple set, school can enter him in double award and any employer would rather see 7/8 than 5/6/6 or something similar.

CGP revision books are best. There are different ones, so have a good look and make sure you get ones for the right board.

Ultimately you can’t beat effective ‘active’ revision.

Get sets of topic-related question. Physicsandmathstutor.com is a great site for Physics and Maths. Try some, mark with mark scheme and then revise the bits you do worst in…..and repeat.

With, focus, he can go up 2 grades at least.

My ds moved his gcse grades up a couple of notches from mock results.

We explained the difference between receptive knowledge (being able to understand it as you take it in) and productive (can recall the facts without prompting). He honestly thought that as he understood it whilst he was reading it or watching it that would be enough.

I tested him a lot in the sciences and he ended up with 7s from 4s in mocks.

I would say to switch between paper 1 and paper 2, maybe do 2 from paper 1 then 1 from paper 2 to start with. It's probably been longer since he was taught the paper 1 content, and the exam will come first!

I would suggest to revise a section or topic, then answer exam questions JUST on that topic. If he looks at physicsandmathstutor.com it will break it all down like this for him. Then move on to whole past papers once he has done a good chunk of revision. It can be difficult for youngsters to see what they need to revise again from a whole paper. This focussed approach is easier to plan in on revision timetables etc. for each hour I would suggest 20 min revising the content using revision guide/ flash cards etc then 40 minutes completing questions, then 20 minutes marking them. The marking is the most important bit!!! This process can be sped up sometimes by not writing everything down when doing the questions, just thinking of the answer then seeing if they are right and only writing down the bits they got wrong or that they should have added in. They need to be quite disciplined and honest with themselves if they are doing this though!

This is obviously not the only way of doing it, and other may have different / better advice. But it sounds like you are both really on it, he's very lucky to have you supporting him!

That's really clear and really helpful, he has looked at that site so we'll go back and find the topic specific questions. A breakdown of how long to spend on each area is really useful. He hasn't really structured his revision in any way yet so I think this will be a good guide. Honestly thank you so much, I feel much less panicky about it.

Glad to help, I just wish my own students took my advice! 😂

Past papers, past papers! They'll start seeing the pattern of the type of questions that regularly come up.
One of my DC went up 2/3 grades in a coupe of the sciences and 4 grades in another subject from Jan/Feb mocks. Hadn't done much in terms of past papers for the mocks (despite having been encouraged to do so).
Create a focused time table too...good luck!!