When do state schools usually start GCSE mock exams?

[dylexicdementor11]

When do state schools usually have children sit mock exams for GCSEs ? DCs private school starts mock exams in year nine and I wondered if this also happens in the state sector. Thanks!

Ours started year 10, they didn’t really do any GCSE content in year 9. They do lots of past exam papers, but the first proper mock in exam conditions was summer term, as the sports hall was set up for real GCSEs. They do them in year 11 too of course.

Not normally until year 10 although many do end of year exams all years. They’re not normally based on gcse papers until year 10 though

For Ds it was the November of Year 11

dd was at a private school & she did sections of past papers in the summer of year 10 eg in English she did half a paper.

Doing gcse content in y9 is a really bad idea - are you sure they’re not just end of years?

we do y10 assessment week at Easter, y11 December.
most ks3 have an assessment week at some point in core subjects plus a couple to build practice

Not y9 at our stare. We havent had a single proper end of year exam yet.. which is crap.
I think ours are after easter y10.
Even worse is they started the science content start of y9 (fine) but as above no proper exam yet.

Theyre still giving them gcse type grades on reports though

Ours do GCSE-style papers for maths, science and English at the end of Y9 as they've ready started GCSE content. They also sit those exams in the exam centre under proper conditions.

Full mocks in summer term of Y10 and just before October half term and then in February of Y11.

They won’t be (shouldn’t be!) doing GCSE content in year 9. They’re just calling them mock exams. They’re end of year exams same as every school does. Proper mock GCSEs are only really when the majority of the content has been taught, and that won’t be till part way through year 11.

Thanks everyone! It does seem to vary quite a bit. I know a few of our local state schools start GCSE teaching in year 9 with children picking their options in year 8 - which seems very early considering that they have not had a chance to ‘sample’ all of the options.
DC school has all the children sit mock GCSE exams end of year 9 and uses the results to help determine sets for year 10. But the proper GCSE curriculum does start till year 10.

It would be interesting to see stats on the differences in final marks for state schools that start the GCSE curriculum in year 9 versus those that start in the year 10.

Dc had end of year 9 exams to look at which set they went in then termly mocks in year 10 and 11. They didn't start gcse syllabus until y10. It was twice a year when dc1 did them but increased due to lessons learned after covid. They also had mini tests after every topic area.

My younger 3 did their first mocks for English, maths, and the sciences in Year 9, at 2 different state schools, with mocks in other subjects starting in Year 10.

My youngest is at a state school where options are picked in Year 8, the other two were at one where they pick in Year 9, but all three covered some GCSE topics in Year 9.

Thank you! Which did you prefer picking options in year 8 or in the year 9? I’m curious as to whether or not it is less stressful to start the curriculum earlier.

Ofsted frowns on this and our school was told to stop it. They pick options in year 9, I appreciate why some schools do it as most schools will start teaching the maths, English and science GCSE content in year 9 as there is to much material to get through in just 2 years. But that isn't generally the case for option subjects.

All the schools I know do proper mocks from end of year 10, then 2-3 mocks during year 11. With actual past papers.

There is an unhelpful tendency these days for some schools calling any exam a mock exam.

Imo, a mock exam needs to be a real (ideally) exam paper from a previous year, having actually taught all the content on the paper for the real exam.

Thank you that’s really interesting. It does seem unfair that some schools start earlier than others. Then again, considering that private schools can do whatever they want (pretty much) the entire school system is unfair!

Thank you, I know in DC school the year nine mock exams were past GCSE papers. I was not keen on this because it’s so ridiculous to test children on content they have not been taught, but DC did really well in the subjects they will continue with a year 10.

One of mine has already done some conflict war poems in year 8. The school has also recently switched lit texts at GCSE, which means that a cohort are now doing Animal Farm (which they have already studied at KS3).
It does feel odd tbh if schools are all doing different things up and down the country, as it doesn't appear to be a level playing field.

My DC only started GCSE spec in year 10 so a GCSE mock before that was impossible. Obviously there were in-class tests in KS3.

First mocks were towards the end of year 10 – any earlier and they would not have covered very much of the material (eg Eng lit texts, history topics). Same situation at the secondary school I taught at.

If a school starts KS4 in year 9 then it may be different, tho I still think year 9 is rather early to be dosing anything approaching a GCSE-style mock paper.

DC school has all the children sit mock GCSE exams end of year 9 and uses the results to help determine sets for year 10. But the proper GCSE curriculum does start till year 10.

This makes no sense to me @dylexicdementor11 - if they have not started the GCSE curriculum then how can they do GCSE papers? I mean if they have not studied Macbeth or ACC how on earth can they answer questions on those texts? Similarly with GCSE history topics or, well, anything really. I suspect they are actually being examined on work done in KS3, albeit in a GCSE-style (as in, exams in the big hall, no phones, essay questions for Eng lit etc).

You also say @dylexicdementor11 "it's ridiculous to test children on content they have not been taught", well yes, no argument there. What on earth would be the point? Did your DC genuinely study (say) The Tempest in year 9 but then face an exam question on Romeo & Juliet? Did they study the Norman invasion in history and have to answer exam questions on medicine through time? I am a bit puzzled tbh.

Thank you! Which did you prefer picking options in year 8 or in the year 9? I’m curious as to whether or not it is less stressful to start the curriculum earlier.

My youngest's was less stressful, but I don't think it was because of being in Year 8.

My older kids school was a fairly typical comprehensive where I am with a lot of options, it prides itself on having options for everyone, and there is just a lot about picking options, how important it is to consider carefully, and so on in Year 9. Many assemblies, multiple events about it, parent-teachers nights all focused on it. There was sometimes a feeling in all this from how the teachers talk that they were trying to convince the kids to pick their subject and, especially for my older autistic daughter who at that time hated to disappoint any of her teachers, it was stressful. This school was also very EBacc focused and spent quite a bit of time explaining why it was the best.

With my youngest, it's practically the opposite - his school has about a quarter of the options with no focus on EBacc. While there was a brief mention of it at the start of the year parent's evening, it wasn't a focus until just before the summer term. There was an online presentation you could watch live or watch back later, we could send in any questions, then it was just an online form where he put the options in preference order, each listed how many places, and notes of which subjects relied on results from their Year 8 summer assessments because they were very maths heavy (one was Further Maths) and it was unlikely to be enjoyed if that wasn't a strong area. DS2 doesn't recall any remarks from staff, all I remember is one teacher informing him that the work he was admiring was done by students in a particular subject. It was all very matter-of-fact and treated as any of the options could get them where they wanted to go if they applied themselves.

Both schools are non-catchment schools rated Good by OFSTED. The one my youngest attends is a much smaller school known for attracting more autistic students and I think how they set up the process had that in mind so my younger son, who is also autistic, was very comfortable with the whole process - which was a novelty as he's my child who tends to worry the most.

It will vary from school to school, probably depending on practical factors such as space, having covered enough syllabus etc.
A lot do them at the end of year 10, probably after the actual exam season.

We are in Wales and had mocks in Feb. They did a week of year 11 mocks, then a week of year 10 mocks. Year 10 did some actual exams at the end of year 10 ( so we have results for those in August).

Some schools start gcse subjects in year 9, so thry have more time to coclver the syllabus. I know of one locally that did mocks in a few subjects at the end of year 9, but not for all subjects.

Thank you! That’s very helpful.

Some subjects don’t have specific gcse curriculum.

eg in maths you are learning maths. The sats at the end of year 6 test basic numeracy as well as geometry etc etc and you’ll still get some basic numeracy questions on the gcse.

obviously there is new content at secondary but it all very much builds on what was taught previously.

science is similar, as is English language (write a story based on this prompt could be an exam at almost any age).

obviously for English literature and for history, geography etc this isn’t the case. But most schools will be aware of what’s on the spec and eg will study poetry at some point in ks3 as well as doing a play (possibly even a different Shakespeare).

Our school did them in the January/February before the actual exams in May/June. It was the same for me as a child many moons ago. So all in y11.

Not sure how you can sit a mock exam in y10?

I invigilate in a state school. Year 10 sit end of year exams under full exam conditions as we have the sports hall set up for GCSEs. They then have mocks with past papers in November and again in March - all in full exam conditions either external invigilators,