Any tips on how to support for GCSE year

[namechanged221]

DS did amazingly well in his year 10
Mocks. He looks like he could get 8 or 9 across the board in all of the GCSE's next year.
He's at a state school and talented at History and maths.

I want to devote time to helping him get organised so that he can really fulfil his potential in his exams.

Any tips on how to help him?

I did very well at a very ordinary school due to my parents' help. Some things they did:

No chores for me.
Allowed to eat whole meals in my bedroom while studying.
Given my own place to study, decent table, decent light etc.
Not expected to join in with family activities unless I wanted to.
Trusted and left to get on with studying.

If they are already very motivated then sometimes you have to step in and give them permission for downtime.

My DD kept up dance lessons all through her exams, with the exception of the weeks of actual exams where she would have had an exam the next day. Did her the world of good.

Look up spaced repetition techniques. My DS found them really helpful. Especially with history, as the syllabus is so big they hardly get any revision time. Although we won't find out if it helped until next Thursday ! 🫣

It sounds like he's doing brilliant and might not need the help but maybe pay for some tutor classes for help In the areas that he feels suit
Honestly he's doing amazing I wouldn't worry I'd just believe in him he will do it x

I think the most important things you can do (especially with an able and motivated student like your DS @namechanged221 ) are:

Provide a space to work that is quiet and calm (desk in room, desk in kitchen, study)
Be on hand with drinks, snacks
Be there if needed to support - eg ask revision questions, check past papers - make sure he knows this esp if you have any specialities
Provide any resources needed - stationery, revision guides, online support if needed
Make sure they take some downtime - ds2 continued with his sport and DD still did dance class and Guides and music

Best of luck to him

Another one saying keep up any sports or hobbies and make sure there is family time and some fun.

Exams are important but if your child is bright, motivated etc they will still do well.
We kept going with the sport, even before exams as it wasn't like he could revise 12 hours a day.

The biggest revision tip was concentrate on your weakest areas. Lots of people go over and over their strengths.

Ofcourse you want to support and encourage him but sounds like he is doing super-well on his own and having that level of self- motivation at this age is an excellent thing and will stand him in good stead for his A levels. Have you asked him if he wants any help? He may do, or he might find it disempowering.

As well as giving him space and time to study, making sure he still does any clubs and sports he normally does is really important for his physical and mental wellbeing. His school will be piling on the pressure (often because they want the 9s for the sake of their own reputations) and I think it's a parent's job to remind our children that balance is important and frankly, although we don't tell our children this for obvious reasons, as long he gets the grades he needs to do his A levels, it doesn't really matter to his future prospects if he gets 6s and 7s or 9s although ofcourse if he's excited by the thought of getting 9s then he should go for it!

Clear organised space.
Encourage him to focus on what he finds hard
keep doing other activities, family etc - don’t allow him to hole up in his room all the time, but keep relationship close - balance is so important
get a post gcse plan to motivate him.

Obviously it worked for PP but I would not encourage meals in their room personally - for my DC it was very important that they stepped away from the books and for our family mealtime is together.

Coming on to this thread - suggestions for less well organised teens going into Y11! Treated ADHD, could be so much more efficient with time but gets very bristly when this is suggested. has had some coaching but not keen.

I would say that if your kids are getting great results in their mocks, trust that they and their teachers know what they're doing and leave the academic side of things well alone.

Other than that, encourage them to take breaks if they're overdoing it, to get to bed at a decent hour, and to keep things in perspective.

Thank you, so many great tips here.

His revision so far has been walking around in the garden reading his revision cards and talking to himself. Seems to be working.

I need to help him organise his room to make a good work space.

Thank you all!

Somewhere quiet to work
Allow them down time

Don't pressure them to find a part time job. DS has friends who work part-time And whose parents wouldn't allow them to give or up or reduce hours. When the school allowed them to leave (two weeks before exams finished) they were picking up more hours whereas DS went into school for the revision sessions that were running.

Follow their lead. DS didn't really revise much at home. The school were outstanding in terms of revision classes. From the beginning of April there were revision classes for subjects each Saturday morning from 9am to Midday

On the morning of exams there was an hours revision class

After school there were 1 hour revision classes. He revises better this way than solo revision.

He carried on with football and the gym to unwind

Make use of revision guides and practice papers