GCSE Revision tips for ND DD 15

[ThatAgileMintBiscuit]

DD is 15. We have just received her mock year 10 results. Not great and we really want to support her.
She wants to go to college but isn’t sure what she wants to do.

we have around a year to try and help her turn things around. Does anyone have any top tips that helped your ND DC?

She has been granted extra time by JCQ so hopefully that will help.

Daughter is diagnosed with ADHD and is Dyslexic.

Following as in same boat but my daughter is currently refusing school a lot too.

I like the book from wellbeing to welldoing to to think learn and be well but my daughter won’t really engage with it. Google revision coaches- some friends have had success with that.

So there are college courses that are suitable for all achievement levels.

i guess the key point looking at that is that if she does not pass maths or English this year then she’ll be expected to resit at college.

so in your shoes I would focus quite heavily on maths and English and try to get her up to a passing grade (a 4) for those. The English should be achievable. Consider getting a tutor for that.

the maths looks trickier. Grade 1 at gcse is roughly equivalent to working at about age 7 in maths and there’s a big gap between there and a grade 4. If she gets a grade 3 in the real thing then at college she will need to resit the gcse, but if she gets a grade 1 or 2 then she can do functional skillls maths instead which is much more wordy and might suit her more.

does she have any ideas about what she wants to do at college?

most colleges offer courses at a number of levels. So for example my daughter did catering. She was able to start at level 2 because she had English and maths, but if she hadn’t she could have started at level 1 and then done level 2 the next year.

There is no result for Eng lang (which is one she ideally needs to pass) – what was her grade there?

Maths and then Eng lit are clearly the big concerns, as she needs to pass maths and ideally Eng lit too (tho Eng lang will be enough to move forward).

Can you dig into what the issues are esp with maths? Are there areas she is struggling with or is it the subject overall? Would a tutor help to clear these up? Is she in a lower set and thus is the engagement in the group in general not good? That can be an issue. Can the teacher help with areas of weakness?

HW is inconsistent in some subjects by the looks of it – so is this an area where you can help her focus and support with tricky aspects?

ETA: good post from @Octavia64 while I was spending too long typing! Agree college courses have a variety of levels. Sounds as tho something creative might suit (looking at the art and photog grades)

Our 17 year old (ASD but we think also adhd, but no adhd diagnosis) only seems to be able to focus / concentrate / get down to revision if I am in the same room as them, or sitting at the same table, and it has to be in the kitchen). It was like this for GCSEs last year, and now year 12 exams. Apparently it is called ‘body doubling’ and is very common in adhd… I have also helped (getting lots of revision resources, and helping make flash cards to make the content more accessible, and also being available to talk things through or test them when asked). We paid for a tutor (an hour a week, covering science and maths), and that really helped (with focused revision of weaker areas)…

There are a lot of resources online, if that would suit better - we found Primrose Kitten great for maths and science (lots of handy videos and full paper - recaps) and Mr Bruff (and others) for English.

You need to put all the focus on the Maths and English (what is her language grade like?)

I have a DD with ADHD and severe dyslexia so I know the struggles.

Is your DD using a laptop as standard? If not, I would try and get that in place as fast as possible for all lessons and exams and learn to touch type.

Make sure SEND are applying for all the access arrangements possible - reading pens, laptops, extra time, breaks etc and that your child knows how to use these effectively.

A really good tutor can be invaluable to help support outside school.

For maths look at dropping down to Foundation papers and focus on learning the content for that rather than the Higher paper. Max grade is a 5 but much easier to attain that on the Foundation paper.

This is my DD but she's about to sit her exams. That's been her exact grades across the board since this time last year so I'm not getting my hopes up on maths but English could go either way. I would say Eng Lang would likely be a lot easier for your DD if it's possible to switch to that.
For us Art went up from 5 to an 8, Drama from 2 to 6, maths from 1 to 2/3, English is up and down. Some days a 5 some days a 1. Science up from 2-2 to 3-4, hopefully a 4-4 on the day.
She has dyslexia and ADHD and has had 1:1 tutoring in maths and eng every week since y10. I think it all depends on the day, but for sure Lang is easier than lit. Lit has a LOT you need to remember.

I'm in exactly the same situation with my y10 dd (ADHD and autism). In her head she's off to college to do A-levels and she won't even contemplate that that probably won't happen unless she starts putting some serious work in. Which she won't.