DS (15) is getting grade 7s in his GCSE mocks with no effort. Says there's no point working any harder to get 9s.

[MonikerBing]

And he says that GCSEs aren't important for anything other than getting into sixth form. So he's not going to work any harder. He did no revision at at for these exams. I know he can get 9s if he worked!

His older sisters who did exams before him did work really hard - they were more motivated by getting top grades - although it's not the grades that really bother me, it's my view that you should try the hardest you can.

Should I be persuading him to aim higher? And if so, how? I told him that as an employer I do look at GCSEs (although I'm not sure I have done). Would GCSE grades count against him for university entry?

For technical subjects like maths, all of GCSE will be assumed knowledge and because it builds on itself then the start of A level will be very difficult, and if he doesn't catch up quickly then he never will. Shoddy algebra (or GCSE physics for the mechanics section) skills will be the worst for this, and these are often the problem solving questions at the end of the GCSE paper that can take a bit of effort

Also if he's expecting to apply for 'top' universities saying he's passionate about x subject and they have loads of students with very top a level grades, it most certainly does not look like you are particularly passionate about your subject if you have only achieved a 7 at GCSE

If he's hoping to do engineering at a good university, then regardless of grades he'd better get into the habit of solid hard work sooner rather than later.

I have to say I would be coming down hard. He should be following a study routine on school nights and weekends. I would suggest creating this for him and then linking this to his privileges.

@MonikerBing if he knows what subjects he wants to do at A level I would contact the sixth form and ask them for their incoming and outgoing grade, ie if they get a 6 in biology what does that usually translate to A level grade wise. The rule of thumb is a one grade drop so a 7 (A) would be a B at A level. Obviously those that work at it or had a glitch GCSE result can get higher grades.

When Ds sat his maths GCSE we were told that 50% of the higher paper content determines the 7-9 grades, that means you can gain a 7 with only 50% ish of the knowledge required. This is why students tank at A level because they don't have the foundation knowledge to build on it. Noble has said in the past it should be an 8 to take fm and a 7 to take maths at the very least.

I would also show him now university entry grades. A prime example would be A star AA, how many applicants do you think they take in on A star AA? For Ds's course at a top 10 uni it was less than 5%, they make offers to the higher graded applicants, so 4 A stars, 3 A stars, 2 A stars and an A, then the A star AA. Exeter even admit they tier their offers to the top graded students first.

Those higher grades come from those with a good work ethic and the projection from GCSEs to A levels.

I was idly looking at some courses for my daughter recently and one did specify the 'majority of gcse grades to be A or A star'

I think for competitive courses (like CS for example) that may be oversubscribed, it's not a stretch to assume GCSEs might form part of the selection process.

Thank you everyone. It just doesn't sit easily with me that he's coasting, and I agree that I need to be firmer with him. I've told him that this week is the last week he gets to spend his time gaming, and he's going to buckle down when he goes back with some more structured working times. We'll also have parents evening at some stage where I can talk to his teachers.

@MonikerBing

How many hours of work is he doing?