DD15 is not doing a single bit of revision for GCSEs

[dancceeee]

My daughter is going into Year 11 and will be sitting mocks in early November and GCSEs in May. She is literally not working whatsoever. In school, she does not pay attention in lessons and has a laugh with her mates instead. She is well behaved and parents evening doesn't go awfully but I know she gets poor grades in Sciences especially and doesn't bother to try for them. She cares about doing well but it is not willing to put any effort. For her Year 10 mocks, she did not touch any revision until the day before or the day of the exam.

She did get decent mock grades - 29s in History and Latin, 2 8s in English Language and French, 27s in Maths and English Literature, a 6 in Chemistry and then 35s in Biology, Physics and Computer Science.

Considering she barely revised, we were shocked but she wants all grades 7-9 and doesn't seem to understand she won't be getting those if she doesn't put in some effort. She will be devastated to see anything below a 7 on results day and knows this fully well but is more concerned with having fun - which I completely understand and want for her but if she had just done a few hours over summer like her friends have!!! She has Summer homework that she has not started yet. Everything is last minute with her and I despair!

Being naturally bright when young means nothing without work tbh

Yes I know. Which is why I want her to put in work lol

Not necessarily. Yes, I theory hard work.pays off but if you don't need to put the effort in then why would you? Took until the 5th year of a medical degree for my dc to need to actually revise because they could no longer retain 4all the info needed ( memory) The being bright part meant they knew how to answer the questions in a relevant way

She sounds more likely to really put the effort in for GCSEs if she does crash and burn Y11 mocks.
With those grades - and a history of actually doing some work - I’d have a low pressure chat about revision = grades - but then leave her to it.
I also told mine that you never know when a global pandemic will lead to TAG, so it’s actually worth getting good grades on record in mocks.

Also, you say she’s not doing any revision… isn’t it pretty much the first day of Y11?
She may well have friends who have revised in the summer… but I really don’t think that’s the norm.
Give her a chance to actually get back!
The behaviour of her peers now she’s actually in Y11 and teacher talks about this year are likely to be taken better by her than something from mum.

In school, she does not pay attention in lessons and has a laugh with her mates instead. She is well behaved I could not compute those two sentences which seem to me to contradict each other.

You can lead a horse to water .... and all that. You cannot make her work for her exams.

This.

Happened to me.

I also got to the point where I was worried I wasn't as bright as I thought I was.

Also ND and struggled with getting down to work (only found out in later life) and spent hours planning, not working & easily bored. Married a bloke who really works to get good at stuff and was utterly shocked at how he could just get down to work, be efficient, etc. Past papers ftw, apparently!

@Testina She is worried about the pandemic thing happening again actually - not a serious worry obviously but is terrified that something will happen and her Year 10 mocks will be her final grades.

And she hasn't started school yet actually - not until Thursday - so you are right in that sense but she's done none of her holiday homework. She had Maths, Biology, English Literature and French and there was quite a lot involved with all of it. There's also going to be a mini History mock a week after she starts plus Physics and Biology tests apparently! Nothing's been completed and no revision has been done. Regarding homework, she does it extremely last minute and makes up excuses if she hasn't done it to nice teachers and somehow manages to get it in with less lenient teachers so she avoids trouble.

Was in the middle of typing up the same thing.

Walked my GCSE’s without a tap of revision. A-Levels came around and I had no inclination to revise and got mediocre grades. Got into second choice of Uni and came away with another mediocre grade.

I honestly don’t know what could have been done differently to help me knuckle down, because I think it’s something instilled into you from a young age. I was always praised for being naturally bright, but the hard work that’s needed to sustain it was never drilled into me because it came naturally.

Maybe trying to praise her revision time rather then the grades may help? A revision reward chart?

I notice your DD is planning to take 10 GCSEs in one sitting. Is it possible for school to print off an example GCSE exam schedule for her subjects? I sat 9 O levels in one sitting and I still have the schedule; there were recovery gaps because, in my day, you typically sat two 3 hour papers for each subject.

These days you typically sit three shorter papers in each subject; the total examination time is approximately the same but there is little or no recovery time as there are single or multiple exams day after day.

Someone who plans to cram the syllabus prior to each exam as it comes up will struggle. Perhaps seeing an example exam schedule will make her realise that, at the very least, some concentrated revision is needed after Christmas of Y11 to consolidate learning and more easily recall during the GCSE exam 'blizzard'.

Y10 mocks are rarely like the real thing; they are more like doing half marathons as training for full marathons - so useful but ultimately not the real experience; important not to get lulled into a false sense of security.

Obviously these are tough messages to deliver. Can you juxtapose them with some discussions/exploration of end goals and work back to show each stage opens possibilities for the next? The types of uni/courses your DD aspires to are likely to want AAA minimum and, as A levels are a step up, so Astar (ie grade 8-9) at GCSE in the chosen subjects is the goal.

I have quite a similar dc who has done reasonably well in GCSEs despite little work in years 9 and 10, and starting revision late in y11. but not the straight 9s his teachers thought he was capable of. Much begging cajoling persuasion incentives all in vain

I took him on an Oxbridge open day post GCSEs and he really sat up and was able to discuss about working for MAT and getting good A level mocks and predicted grades. I wondered whether I should have tried this earlier? who knows

I found bribery quite effective.

I'd focus on the GCSEs she needs for the next stage to be honest, they'll be doing mocks soon enough and that usually terrifies them into doing some work (this is largely the point of mocks)

If she's looking at law then she doesn't need the sciences. English language gcse is completely blagable with no revision - in fact because it mostly involves responding to an unseen piece plus creative writing it's largely intended to be unrevisable for.

Latin and French are quite similar as it's all about build up of knowledge although I have less than fond memories of my DD memorising the Latin translations of Tacitus the night before the exam, she got a 9.

It won't kill any of you for her to get a shock in the mocks.

Her grades are amazing so she is clearly paying attention in class and working outside of class and what ever method she is following is working. Maybe you think studying looks like sitting at a desk for a certain amount of time and she is working in a different way. GCSEs are a marathon not a sprint (though they can have a sprint finish), so pushing her to work at full speed all the time is going to lead to burn out and stress. It is great that she has friends. It is great that she knows how to switch off. She is doing great. Provide support not stress.

I feel your pain. Similar situation. Did one GCSE last year, got an 8. Did ok-ish in year 10 mocks, a lower than could have done due to lack of revision. We agreed I would back off as he said he hated me asking what he is doing. Now he is doing nothing. Like yours he wants 8 and 9s (couple of 7s expected). So what do you do???? Agh. I’m at a loss