Y10 woes-might not pass GCSE English

[wineapotamus]

DS is in Y10. He’s bright, funny, sociable and kind. Loads of friends, nice to his little sister etc. But he’s struggling with the expectations at GCSEs and has never really got to grips with hard work. He has an ADHD diagnosis and wants to revise and work with multiple screens on/whatsapp pinging away.

I had a good phone call with his English teacher yesterday who said he understands the work and can talk about it to grade 6 level, but thinks he needs some support to be able to get it down in essay form, otherwise he’s at risk of not passing. DS has agreed to do some revision downstairs with one of us with no screens/phone and then he can get on with his other stuff and I am happy to help him with it. Any recommendations for resources for inspector calls, or either English lang paper? People to follow on instagram/techniques and tricks? I did English at uni, but coming up to 30 years since I did my GCSEs 😱.

Thanks so much-worried for him.

Is he on meds for his ADHD?

No. He’s never wanted to and we haven’t found he’s needed it.

First step is find out what exam board he is - you can then buy revision guides/ Google past papers online. I always recommend flash cards to my students (History rather than English but similar in terms of lots of content and having to get it down on paper in specific ways!) Ask his teacher if they have revision check lists for content and any exam technique guides for how to answer questions. Is he down for any reasonable adjustments for exams with the SEND team?

Hi OP. Does your child have any LSA support? My DS is ASD and has regular LSA meetings and those are helping him focus on the English expectations.

DS also does all his work with phone and movies playing and various other stimulation.

FWIW, if it can be made into 'normal way of working' candidates can listen to music in exams on headphones now. The exams office will provide an MP3 player and headphones. This might help. Lots of ND candidates work better with noise in headphones.

Eng Lang. What board (this matters a lot)?.

Each question will have a 'formula' he needs to know.
What is the question asking for
How many marks
How much time
How much to write / expected structure

Eg how is language used to effect?
Focus on words used and effect they have
8 marks
10 minutes
4 short paragraphs each giving a quote, the effect, and how achieved (using terminology if known but not essential). Link the paragraphs.

Did you ask the teacher what they were going to do in school to help him and what the teacher thought you could do at home to help him?

Revising is not really going to teach him exam technique if he doesn't already have it.

My DS was on track to fail GCSE English at the start of year 11, he was put into a small group at school who just went over and over exam technique (instead of doing PE) and came out with a 5. And his school were particularly shit in general so a school that has teachers willing to call you and discuss this in year 10 I would expect to have some sort of strategy for this themselves.

Firstly check which exam boards he will have. Mine had AQA for Lit but Educas for Lang.

There is a lot of free information out there to help. I can highly recommend Mr Salles on Youtube for both English Literature and Language. If you want to go one further you can buy his book on An Inspector Calls on Amazon. See how you get one with that as a revision guide and possibly buy the others for the books he is studying. He does overviews, which are the best quotes and a formula for it ie you want to mention the start and you definitely want to mention the end. Tell your son that everything he is reading for Lit and the poems is fiction, someone has contrived the language to make the audience feel a particular way.

Past papers are all online and easy to find. The best thing is for you to familiarise yourself with what is expected. I would start with English Language as he needs to know the Lit texts a bit more before doing this. Open the past paper in one tab and the corresponding mark scheme in another. Walk him through it one question at a time. Discuss your answer together, then look and see what the mark scheme is looking for. He will be being taught this in class so look at his school book too.

With Lit, have a look at a paper on Inspector Calls and look at the mark scheme. I think the most important thing that isn't conveyed to parents (although it was to us as our children went to an incredible school) is the AOs (Assessment Objectives) you have to hit all of these. They are laid out in the mark schemes before you get to the answers so don't skip ahead. The answer will also be listing it out under the AOs.

Exactly what @TeenToTwenties says. Treat this like a game. You start with zero points, you need to know what gets points to level up. The mark schemes and Examiner's reports are really helpful. It is easier for an adult to read them, understand them and then talk through them with their child.

I assume you mean both Eng lit and Eng lang? They are quite different exams and need a different approach IMHO.

Yes which boards and which books for Eng lit – then people can advise you better.

ETA: sorry it’s early! I thought he was in year 11 but if year 10, then there’s time to work on this for sure.

This is so helpful! Thank you. I think it’s AQA for language paper and I’ve been looking at the past papers. The idea of gamifying it will help him I think, and we can def work on the extended questions. He’ll need to build up some perseverance to write 40 marks worth of something.

School said he will be picked up after the next set of exams (after Christmas) if he performs in a way that implies he won’t get the grade, but I would rather he didn’t have things after school. He’s got lots of music and PE things (which he loves and is good at) and I don’t want him to resent English any more than he already does!

Thanks so much for the tips-much appreciated

Dd in year 11 got 3s for her English mocks. I hired a tutor and she got 8s in her actual GCSEs. The tutor looked at her mocks and said they should have been marked higher than a 3 and were more of a 5 level. But the tutoring definitely made a big difference. The tutor said Dd didn’t understand the exam technique of what she was meant to put down. And once she understood that she was fine. I’m not sure I’d have been much help as i wouldn’t have had a clue though I suppose I could have done some research and tried to work it out. And yes YouTube videos and revision guides would probably have helped with that. But I knew Dd wouldn’t listen to me like she would a tutor!

my DS was exactly the same - ADHD and predicted a 6 but just couldn't get it down on paper. Tutor tutor tutor.......
Mine had a tutor at school but she went sick...in Y11 my DS got a 3 in English Language, retook in Nov, 3 again, retook in the summer of Y12 and got a 4. There is hope!!!

To be honest… I’d get him a tutor. My DD sounds very similar to your DS, she’s also ADHD but no medication. DD knew her stuff but couldn’t get it done on paper. Was scraping through on every test. The tutor taught her how to pass the exam. It was an absolute game changer. She did really well in her GCSE exam, and what she learned also had the knock on effect of helping her to get answers down on paper in other exams. Would highly recommend a tutor.

I really liked this guy:https://www.aqaenglishrevision.com/an-inspector-calls AQA revision

It's very simplified and aimed at passing/ grade 6s rather than a lot of the YouTube ones who seem to be about getting higher grades.

For my DD dyslexia/ADHD we just needed her to get a pass. Revision needed a lot of input from me but she pulled out a 6 for Lit and 7 for Lang in the end.

Oh and to support Justonkeepingon.. DD did have a dyslexia tutor from age of 9 and from Y10 they did totally switch into exam technique. So yes maybe not just my brilliant support 😂

Could he drop English Literature and just focus on English Language?
To me that's the important one.
If someone can't analyse some old novels and plays - so what? It's not a life essential.

all I’ll add to this is that with ADHD, some background noise can help with concentration. I take my son’s phone when he’s revising, but he always listens to music. If was up to him he’d also have the multiple devices going!

Well he obviously does need it doesn’t he?

Sparks notes have free study guides for An Inspector Calls online.
https://www.sparknotes.com/drama/an-inspector-calls/sparklets/
But really I'd get a tutor if you can, the difference one can make is shocking.

These resources look great thanks, and I think a tutor is definitely an option. It will be interesting to see how it goes in the exams after Christmas and what support schools provide. I’m not against it at all, although I think he will be, so if I can do it myself it might go down better with him!
His teacher doesn’t think his ADHD is the cause here, and unless we had clear feedback that school felt it would help, wouldn’t want push medication on him if he doesn’t want it. I think it’s more learning exam technique and how to play the game rather than his ADHD needing medicating.

Also, background music is fine, helps me too. Yesterday we did some history revision listening to jazz haha. But it’s the whatsapping he finds so hard to turn off from. The groups move so fast he feels under pressure to reply immediately. We are trying putting it on do not disturb but he wants to use it for revision notes so hard to be away from it.

Unlikely that the school will facilitate this.

OP is it AQA for lit paper as well? Let me look later at some tips I have used (MFL is my core subject but I have supported a number of YP with eng lit and lang).

It's a shame if the school won't.
I think it's crazy that they insist on carrying on with a subject that is being struggled with. It takes time away from the subjects that the student is actually good in.
Surely it's better to have (for example) 6 GCSEs at excellent grades vs 9 GCSEs at not so great grades (because they had to spend so much time focusing on a not so important subject that they neglected some subjects).
But obviously it's down to the school.

It’s not down to the school really. It’s basically a directive from the govt. School is judged on a number of factors and one is related to GCSE Eng lit grades. So it is more or less obliged to enter students for the exams.

On a practical level, what would a student do when they were supposed to be in Eng lit? Schools don't have the staffed resources to offer a space for YP to be off timetable and supervised. And they cannot be unsupervised.

Tbf it doesn't sound to me as tho the OP's DC is going to get a U/1/2 in Eng lit anyway. Or rather, it sounds as tho with some effort and better direction, plus focus on exam techniques, they could get a grade 4/5 which IMHO is more than worth it. It's never a bad thing to have to work at something and see that you can improve. I have to say I don't share your view about novels and plays, tho I do agree that for many, Eng lit GCSE as it stands has sadly sucked the joy out of their study.

@clary I love novels and plays 🙂
I just don't think analysing them to pieces is a vital life skill.
Interesting if you enjoy it. Horrible if you don't.
English Literature GCSE really should be optional in my personal opinion.

@Needmorelego I'm glad to hear you love novels and plays :)

I guess we will have to disagree on this one – I think some understanding of our great literary heritage is really useful in life. I am not however particularly defending the current spec of GCSE Eng Lit, which I think has a number of issues.