How are your children coping with GCSE pressure?

[Flowermoon26]

How is your child coping with GCSE pressure and how are you supporting them?

DC is feeling the pressure and exhausted, stressed. Ready for the summer holidays. Currently in year 10.

Are you in England? I know that in Wales there are some GCSE exams taken in Y10 but they normally aren't for another year in England.

My DD is in Y10 and concerned about how to fit in revision for her end-of-year exams in just over a fortnight on top of homework. We sat down together a couple of days ago and made a plan - not specifying which subjects to revise each day but finding slots for revision amongst other things. She was much happier yesterday as she had something of a plan.

Is your DC's school really ramping up the pressure at the moment? It feels quite early to me, but DD's school is so careful not to cause hysteria (all girls school) that they seem to be keeping the pressure down so far.

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https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/secondary/5393905-y10-20252026

My son is in year 11 so just about to go into the exams. He's pretty chill to be honest but if your child is already feeling the pressure now, I'd be a bit concerned. Do they need any other pastoral support to help them? As things are going to get a lot more intense next school year.

That’s very early to feel like that. Is the school putting a lot of pressure on?

Goodness so early to be feeling stressed. I don't think my DS ramped anything up for year 10 (though he is really laid back).

He was all about a very slow gradual build up to the actual exams in year 11.

DD is in year 11 and the exams are about to start. I wish she was working a bit harder and a bit more stressed to be honest, and spending less time socialising. We sometimes have a few cross words, but she’s generally ok I think.

My dd is in year 11 so exams are a week away. She is coping ok as she is well prepared, but I’d say that has come from steady prep and work all the way along rather than tons of cramming at the moment, so my advice would be to encourage them to do little and often all the way through. However, they are teenagers so would they listen to us!!? How am I supporting? Buying nice food, bringing chocolate treats to her bedroom, getting her out of the house for a dog walk or beach trip, testing her on exam topics if she asks, encouraging, reassuring that she has done everything she can and she’s going to do great. That’s about it!

I think the best you can do is have an AMAZING summer holiday and then hit September hard. Year 11 is a really horrible slog but it's good to have a positive summer behind you so you can look forward to the post-Y11 exam summer too! Best of luck x

Feeling the pressure in year 10 is not a good sign, i would suggest not sweeping this under the carpet, but rather trying to understand what's causing the concerns.

Is it a state school? If so, then more than 2 and a half months of school (and teaching as they don't wind down) left, a bit early to be ready for summer.

Mine didn't really feel any pressure until Easter Y11. I helped them by making life as easy as possible for them so they could focus on studying. I couldn't have done that for two years though!

In my DS school they had two sets of mocks. One just before Christmas and one in the spring term. So I'd say Year 11 stress kicked in pretty quickly. He's coping well though but as others have said, it will ramp up next year. Might be worth having a chat with their form teacher to share?

I would be really concerned if she is this stressed now in year 10. What will she be like in year 11 and first round of mocks in November? My son is year 11 had his 1st GCSE Friday and did nothing at all revision prep in year 10

My DS starts his GCSEs the day after tomorrow. Keen to just get on with them now. There shouldn’t be huge pressure - as long as kids get the minimum grades for the next stage, no one (barring Oxbridge perhaps) will ever care about GCSE grades. If he’d been really stressed in year 10 I’d have worried, and done my best to put things in perspective.

Yes. It seems to be a very competitive environment

My son starts his exams in 1 week. He's worked consistently (but not hard). attended all the revision sessions offered by school and he feels very comfortable about it all.

Tell your Yr10 that exams are a year away yet and there is plenty of time to chip away at it.
30 minutes everyday is better than the whole summer off then hours every night.