GCSE mock results

mae

My son has just had his mock results and didn't do as well as hoped, he is capable of more which I know and also his teachers have said he should be easily getting Bs and if he applied himself and worked very very hard he could get As. Now I am not interested in pushing him to that extent at all however I do feel its a shame for him to get the results he got for the mocks in his real exams as he didn't revise much for the mocks I am hoping he will for the real ones.
These are his results
ENGLISH LANGUAGE B
ENGLISH LITERAUTE C
MATHS C
DUAL AWARD SCIENCE D
HISTORY C
LEISURE AND TOURISM C
PE D

The reason for my post is I was thinking of getting him a private tutor for an hour or two a week, what are peoples thoughts on this to help him with his revision and does anybody know how I go about getting a good one??
Thanks, any thoughts welcome

icklejulez

I got 2 B's and 9 C's and I was really pleased with these results, they got me to A level college and I went on to uni so dont be too harsh on him. He's certainly in the brighter quarter of the school. It annoyed me when my mum only put me down for what I achieved and I got no congratulations for the work she never realised I put in. My sister on the other hand failed all of hers but got so much praise as 'she tried hard'. Sometimes we cant win!

icklejulez

Just so you know duel award science is 2 qualifications. Also why is he only studying 8 subjects?

mae

Yes you are right about the dual science although on his results paper it justs shows 1 D? And also he gets two for his Leisure and Tourism but the other mark will be for his portfilio which we don't have yet. He doesn't take RE or I.T or PSE so that is why he will only get 9 results not really sure why this is and I've just asked him and he doesn't know either.

sockospice

You need to look at why he isn't achieving what you think he can. Is he struggling with the work, or is it motivation that he's struggling with? If he's just not interested in what he's studying I'm not sure putting extra hours in with a tutor would help. He needs a reason to study: does he have any career plans? What results would he need for those? If he can be encouraged to look beyond the summer, he might realise that it's worth his while to knuckle down.

Does he have extra-curricular activities that impact on his study time? Mates who 'lead him astray'? Maybe looking at the wider picture of why he didn't revise much would be more profitable than putting him under more pressure with a tutor?

3plus1

I think he would benefit from a tutor for science, but only if he agrees to have one. Despite your best intentions, if he point blank refuses extra help and you get it for him anyway, it'll be a waste of money as he won't learn.

I didn't do GSCEs, I did the Scottish equivalent, and everyone I knew at the time, got slightly lower results in their mocks, than they did in the real exams.

I'm very lucky and got excellent marks, but I didn't think this was all that important at the time. Now that I'm a final year uni student, applying for jobs, those GSCEs are becoming all the more important, as every single one of my previous academic results are being scrutinized by the big employers. If I'd known that when I was at school, I would have worked even harder!;)

I don't know if they do this for GSCEs, but what I found really useful, was practising past exam papers. When you sit exams at this level, you're not being tested for your overall brilliance in a subject, you're being tested for only specific areas, and doing well, is a matter of knowing what's going to be asked. Doing past papers really did make me more aware of which areas would be likely to come up, and which areas to really read up on. I think that was crucial for my revision.

Is he actually putting in the work, or is this as good as it gets? Hard question for a mum, I know, but children aren't always working when they claim to be.;)

You said you thought it was a shame he got what he did, so you're obviously disappointed. Is he? What was his reaction?

Oldernotwiser

What is he planning to do after GCSE? If you know this it might be easier for you to choose the subjects he needs tutoring in, particularly if he's planning on doing "A" levels in any of these subjects. It's important to make sure he'll be ready for study at the next level rather than just upping the odd grade for its own sake. You can also see if his school has any extra revision sessions he can sign on for and supplement them with a tutor.

melancholly

If he manages to pull up to getting all A-C, that would probably be good, but if not then it really isn't the end of the world.

a lot of schools give hard mock papers, when students haven't really revised much, to try to get them to work hard and revise for the real things. they should have lots more revision classes buliding up to the exams in a few months. if often takes a few mock exams to get students used to the format of the exams and how to use what they know to get the best marks!

emma0787

What you should remember is that the mock results will not include the coursework your son has been working on when his real results will.

I did my GCSE's back in 2003 and in my mocks I did awfully I only achieved 3 A-C grades, whereas in the real exams I achieved 9.

I have a feeling a lot of schools make the grading a little harsher in the mocks to give the students a kick up the backside and realise there is work involved if they want to achieve their best. Personally I'm not sure wether getting your son a personal tutor would really help, just make sure he keeps on top with his coursework and it is of an high standard.

Personally I found when revising for my GCSE's if I went over a subject too much I'd start blanking out and forget silly things that I should have known.

The main lesson it seems he needs to work on improving is Science, this was the same for me. Ask him if he is taking the higher tier paper (you can achieve A*-D grade) or foundation (you can achieve C-G grade) I really struggled with this lesson, I did the higher Module Exams and achieved grade D in all 6 of them, but luckily for my real exam I did the foundation paper and managed to leave school with CC.

dora37

We have also just had DS mock results. At parents evening we were told that as all the work had not been completed, you should expect to go a grade higher than the mocks.

So with that in mind and if your son applies himself, then it looks like he could acheive B's without any extra tuition.

Our DS didn't achieve as high as expected in 2 subjects (History & Religous Studies), however this has now given him an excellent idea on what he needs to do to get what he wants.

Regarding extra tuition - would your son want it? If he doesn't, it could have an adverse effect.

Are the teachers not laying on extra study periods after school? In my DS school, there are extra Maths and Science lessons for those that want it. They don't force anybody, as they only want the willing and interested ones to attend.

amandathepanda

I don't think that many of the kids take the mocks seriously. My daughter didn't do any revision for hers, as she wanted to see how hard she would have to work to get decent grades in the proper exams. She got 2 A*,B's and 1 D. In her latest report she is predicted to get all A's and A*s. I am trying not to wory as I am sure she will knuckle down and revise. I am sure if I suggested a tutor to improve her D she would just laugh.
We will have to post again in August!! to see if they prove us right or wrong.