Revision!

VJsmum

How do you get your teenager to revise?

I have a 15 year old DD who is in year 11 and about to embark on GCSE's - like, on Monday :eek:

She has 10 exams over the next month and this morning has gone shopping. We told her we didn't think she should go, she should revise. We have separately offered to take her out for a break this afternoon after she has done some revision but she found all sorts of reasons why that wasn't the best thing.

She sat all morning gawping at the TV, so i told her to go and do what she wanted and then come back and revise as she wasn't doing anything anyway.

She is bright and is likely to get 10 A / A* grades. Even at this stage, even without revision, it is unlikely she will get anything lower than a B. She has got into her 6th form of choice which only requires 5 C and above GCSE's - so what motivation can I use to ensure she does the best she can? And should I be [STRIKE]nagging[/STRIKE] encouraging her to do more? Or just leave her to do it her way?

Person_one

I didn't really revise and I got 9 As.

I'm still not really revising for my university exams next week and I expect to do fine. I'm old enough to know better now at nearly 30 but some of us are just not revisers!

If she's going to get high grades without revising what's the point of pushing her?

kitrat

VJsmum wrote: »

How do you get your teenager to revise?

I have a 15 year old DD who is in year 11 and about to embark on GCSE's - like, on Monday :eek:

She has 10 exams over the next month and this morning has gone shopping. We told her we didn't think she should go, she should revise. We have separately offered to take her out for a break this afternoon after she has done some revision but she found all sorts of reasons why that wasn't the best thing.

She sat all morning gawping at the TV, so i told her to go and do what she wanted and then come back and revise as she wasn't doing anything anyway.

She is bright and is likely to get 10 A / A* grades. Even at this stage, even without revision, it is unlikely she will get anything lower than a B. She has got into her 6th form of choice which only requires 5 C and above GCSE's - so what motivation can I use to ensure she does the best she can? And should I be [STRIKE]nagging[/STRIKE] encouraging her to do more? Or just leave her to do it her way?

You daughter sounds similar to me at that age. I only did a bit of revision the night before for most of my exams except one (which was science) where I just read a revision book for 3 days.

She'll probably just do it her way and by the sounds of it she'll do just fine.

At A-level though she'll need to do more revision, and if she's anything like me she'll realise this on her own as she'll want to do well and that will spur her on. I think she's getting to the age where she's got to learn to do this by herself and no amount of telling is going to make much difference. She'll find her own way.

Dunroamin

If she's planning to go to university and is likely to want to study something with high entry standards or at a prestigious university they'll look at her GCSE results carefully. For some places, Bs across the board just won't be enough.

saterkey

I have one of the same age, i try and talk to her to see whats coming up and what strategies shes put in place, try to suggest times or allow her space. She knows shes got to work at it, but really i cant stand over her and have to take a step back, shes getting to be her own person and has to make her own decisions, hard as it may be.

Actually you ve made me think a bit, she came down with all these little cards shes made about what revision she was going to do on what day, and i was more bothered about that she was going to stick them all over the wall and the blue tack issue rather than that she was good for planning etc, might have a word of encouragement to her later for that. she still stuck them on the wall mind you, :rotfl:

gibson123

You said it yourself, she is a straight A student, she has got there on her own merits, due to her hard work, back off, she seems to know what she is doing and putting on pressure at this stage will only result in arguments, and additional stress for her and you. Why not just say that you are very proud of her, believe in her and trust her to do the best she can. The best way to support her is to be there with cups of coffee, sandwiches, smiles and hugs.

Dunroamin

gibson123 wrote: »

You said it yourself, she is a straight A student, she has got there on her own merits, due to her hard work,.

No she isn't!

The OP said her daughter is capable of A grades (not now the highest grade) but is currently only achieving B grades because she isn't doing any work! if you're bright you don't need to work very hard to get Bs.

Chakani

My parents were both teachers, and pushed me hard to revise. They set up a special study area, made timetables, set alarms, nagged, banned social activities.... Do you know what, it made no difference at all to the work I did.

When I didn't want to do it, I didn't. I might have been sitting at a desk, for a quiet life, but I wasn't working. I did have a bit of a shock at A-level, when I had to up my work rate, but I always did the bare minimum to scrape the grades I needed.

Encourage, praise if she does some, remind her from time to time - that's all you can really do at this stage, it's up to her. You can offer to go over things with her if she doesn't like to work alone, but there's not much else that anyone can do.

anguk

kitrat wrote: »

You daughter sounds similar to me at that age. I only did a bit of revision the night before for most of my exams except one (which was science) where I just read a revision book for 3 days.

She'll probably just do it her way and by the sounds of it she'll do just fine.

At A-level though she'll need to do more revision, and if she's anything like me she'll realise this on her own as she'll want to do well and that will spur her on. I think she's getting to the age where she's got to learn to do this by herself and no amount of telling is going to make much difference. She'll find her own way.

That is very true. My DD revised a bit for her GCSEs but once she started 6th form she realised there was much more work and revision involved. She's got her final exams coming up within the next few weeks and she's been revising for months.

I think lots of kids get quite a shock when they start 6th form and realise that there's a big difference between GCSEs and A levels.

Person_one

Dunroamin wrote: »

No she isn't!

The OP said her daughter is capable of A grades (not now the highest grade) but is currently only achieving B grades because she isn't doing any work! if you're bright you don't need to work very hard to get Bs.

That's not exactly what she said.

Person_one

anguk wrote: »

I think lots of kids get quite a shock when they start 6th form and realise that there's a big difference between GCSEs and A levels.

Some people are just lucky enough to have a good memory and retain information well without needing to spend hours revising.

I didn't do as well in my A levels as in my GCSEs but that's because I'd discovered older men, driving and alcohol so my coursework got neglected. I still got high marks in exams with no revision.

I got a first in my first degree and firsts in the first round of exams in my current degree, again no major revision.


(I realise this sounds like showing off, but I just want to make the point that revision in the sense of sitting down and poring over books for hours on end is not necessary or the right way to learn for everybody. Nagging teenagers rarely makes them actually get on with it anyway!)