Exam concerns

[Lou898]

DS 15 is in gcse year. He is a good kid in most ways...can be argumentative at times but I can accept it’s part of growing up. Just been to parents evening recently and they pretty much all told me he’s capable of doing well ( you think I’d be happy) and I am to a point. The thing is he could do really well but he is putting little or no effort into revision. He goes up to his room and says he’s revising but I had suspicions He wasn't and have seen messages on his phone to friends saying he can’t be bothered and will be happy with lvl6’s even though he’s capable of 7 and 8’s. This is not him just saying this to his mates as the one he was messaging was saying how much he’d done.
I’m worried he won’t get what he’s capable of and will regret it but if I mention anything that’s when I get the back chat and stop hassling me type of response. I’ve bought him loads of revision type stuff to help him and will do anything to help him succeed but I can’t do it for him. Any suggestions?

I will watch this thread because I have a dd the same in GCSE bought loads of study aids, She does a bit but sings through it all, with headphones in.
At parent teacher meeting she was predicted to fail English and Spanish and I just don't know what to do to help her.

I personally think it's till too early for real revision. It's a long slog through to the last exam, and I think it's easy to burn out.

Is he getting proper homework ie covering new topics, having to hand it in for marking etc, or is his homework actual revision yet?
My Dd is also Y11 and is still getting lots of homework. Some of it is revision for topic tests, but most is still 'proper' work. There isn't time to do revision on top of that (she spends at least a couple of hours a night doing HW, and probably 5-6 hours over hte weekend).
I think try to encourage homework is done, and if that HW is to revise for tests etc then offer to help with questions etc.

There will be a more intense period of revision for mocks (after Christmas?), and then revision for the real things starting after feb half term.

You want to get yourself onto this thread: www.mumsnet.com/Talk/secondary/3626184-Starting-Yr11-Gcses-2020-Support-Thread-Edited-at-OPs-request

What does he need for his next step?

For example if he is intending to do Maths A level he'll probably need a 7 in that (or an 8 for Further Maths). Many other subjects expect a 6 at GCSE to continue to A level. How will he feel if he's capable of a 7, aims for a 6, then has a bad day and gets a 5?

Some universities look at GCSE grades alongside A level predicted grades. Plus of course if you haven't 'mastered' the information/skills at GCSE it can make things harder at A level.

Also if something goes 'wrong' at A level (e.g. serious illness) he'll have better GCSE grades to show his 'potential'.

Sorry for not replying I’ve had some family issues with my mum who is now in a coma in hospital.....thanks for the advice on here. I’ve had a discussion with him about aiming high so he doesn’t miss targets he’ll need to do A levels. He’s just finished his mocks and got 3 results so far 2 x 7’s and a 6. Still some to come but don’t feel quite as bad now but he is obviously capable of better as this is with the minimal effort.

Sorry to hear about your mum. I have a DS same age and although he works I don’t think it’s always enough or effective.
He is in middle of mocks and unfortunately ill beforehand so am not expecting much - school know so won’t penalise him for it I hope.

I think from the difficulty of the mocks it’s opened his eyes to how hard the exams are. He’ll not do well in Spanish as he finds it tough and mainly puts effort into the subjects he needs for A level!! He is capable of getting 7s and above but not sure he will.

Agree with previous poster, it’s a long slog and breathing down their necks just makes it worse.
I bought every study aid in panic mode and barely any were used. What did work was helping at the start, planning a revision schedule using the traffic light system so that topics that were red coded were studied first , arranging that was a negotiation but she did allow me to help finally. They say in theory 16 hours revision per subject so we used it as a baseline. The where to start seemed to be the biggest hurdle for us and once Dd was over that she seemed to feel in control.
Definitely have the conversation re grades for A levels . Seneca for the sciences was a god send Dd didn’t even open her text book and found a maths tutor from December to work through past papers. A hands off approach worked well for us although I felt like an F&B manager towards the end! You have my sympathy💐

Hi reading with interest I could have written this post too! We are in Scotland so my DS is 15 doing his first set of exams at Nat 5 level. His studying is minimal despite constant nagging from me. He is so laid back he is horizontal. The school have predicted him all A's in terms of what he is capable of but his working grade's are B's C's and one fail. He recently had the pre-lim (mock) exams and got an A in History then B's and C's in the rest and failed Art. Several teachers have spoken to me and there is supported study offered at school but he is just completely uninterested, easilly distracted by tech and just plain lazy sometimes. He assures me when it comes to the real exams he will do more and I am thinking of banning all tech until he has done an hour or so but it's a constant battle xxx