Year 10 exams

[Hazyjaneishere]

We are struggling with our son and his end of year 10 exams at the moment.

He wasn’t well and had a week off school just before half term but he did revise during half term, maybe 3-4 hours a day. The exams started the week after they got back - he revised 1-2 hours per night that week.

He’s a week into them and feels he’s doing badly. I personally feel he should have been revising for them a few weeks ago, before the week he wasn’t well as it’s ten subjects he’s being tested on but it doesn’t feel like the kids were getting the message from school to do that?

this is affecting his confidence, he won’t talk about it, just keeps saying he’s not good enough, not as smart as we think he is etc which I don’t think is true, certainly not in all subjects. He does struggle with a couple but has always been ok in others.

there are subjects he is taking like geography and history where to my mind it’s not so much about being ‘clever’ but about learning information and facts.

im wondering how long other people’s year tens revised for, for end of year, how far in advance they started? He reckons everyone started revising at half term but of course kids often don’t tell the truth about revision.

i guess I’m just wondering how to encourage him for year 11 to be more realistic about the effort involved and to not be so defeatist about his abilities?

Come and post on the year 10 thread Op. we are all going through it!

10 - 2023/2024 Support Thread www.mumsnet.com/Talk/secondary/4868977-year-10-20232024-support-thread

Ours were revising from the start of term, girls, egging each other on.
these are practice. if he does badly then he'll know to start earlier next time. has the whole summer to catch up. not the end of the world.

good luck with it all

My DD's just had hers. These are good practice. Your ds knows how much preparation he did for these exams. Tell him there'll be no judgement on the results. If they are where he wants them to be then he did the right amount of prep and can carry on as he is. If they are lower than he hoped then he needs to do more work in one of the three following categories:

1. Knowledge - did he know the stuff? If not and his knowledge was lacking then here's the place to start.

1. Application - did he know the facts but not get the application right? Practice on exam questions and really looking at the assessment objectives on the spec and the details in the mark schemes will help here.

1. Exam technique - did he run out of time or find himself spending too long on some questions and rushing through others? More practice under timed conditions and planning practice for essay questions etc needed.

Seconding @Oblomov24 - come and join us on the year 10 thread where we support each other in the road to GCSEs.

Thanks! This link doesn’t seem to be working though?

Try this link
https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/secondary/4868977-year-10-20232024-support-thread?page=3&reply=133438904

In answer to your question - less than 30 mins a day, starting at Easter. I proposed it, and he's taken it on board, and tells me he's done stuff if I ask. But I haven't investigated.
In all honesty, I'd quite like him to mess these ones up, so we (ie him with a parent) can look at what needs to be done for the y11 mocks round Xmas

Mine has done Jack shit.
I’ve encouraged, bribed and threatened but to no avail. She will probably fail and then be more demoralised and do even less.

Yeah I’m in agreement except now he’s messing them up it’s making him think he’s stupid and he won’t do better next time. It’s tricky. On the one hand he probably needs a wake up but if he’s demoralised then that could be counterproductive.

This is my worry. He hasn’t done nothing but I think he’s probably not done enough either. It’s tricky!

Thanks for taking the time to answer and i agree, if he does badly he needs to figure out why so he can improve. He’s not wildly academic - though in lots of ways is a very smart kid - but I do feel he can pass his GCSES. I had a quick look at the thread and thanks for inviting but there’s too much talk of higher grades like 8s and 9s for me to feel comfortable joining in. My son isn’t really in that league. Last predictions were mainly 5/6 with a couple of 7s. Thank you.

The more people who talk on the general threads about less than top top grades, the more other people will join. DD's could only have dreamed of 5/6s with a couple of 7s.

Yes please do join. It's not about top grades but just supporting each other. We all want our children to be happy and achieve their potential - whatever that might look like for them.

I do get that and thanks so much for the encouragement but, no judgment, some of the posts made me feel quite stressed. I did ok myself at GCSES (a mix of A,B,Cs) did A levels and have a 2:1 degree but going back into all this… it’s like a different world! I think I’ll have to do some research as I don’t feel very well equipped to help him but also am wary of a hothouse approach. At some point young people do have to stand on their own two feet and yet I’m also a bit torn at the idea of just leaving him too it, with encouragement and resources, so that he steps up a bit and going all in to help. Gah. I feel the next year is going to be tricky!

Please join. My ds2 has done practically no studying and is at the 5/6 stage. The thread is very supportive of all. Suggesting apps and things that help. Plus we laugh at all sorts of stupid stuff!

I’ll look again in a few days :) I do appreciate you all being so friendly! Xx