The GCSE Mock Exams
Year 11s are currently in the middle of ‘Mock Season.’ This means they get an opportunity to test their skills and measure their progress from the end of year exams in Year 10. In English these will usually consist of two papers – one language and one literature.
Important Things to Bear in Mind
It’s a useful ‘yard stick’ for finding out where the work still needs to be put in before the real thing. This is a time when I often get the most enquiries. Students will often not perform as they’d hoped and parents go looking for additional support to make a difference in the New Year. Whilst I am delighted to be able to support new students and give them the intervention needed, there are a few things you should bear in mind:
- Don’t panic! It may seem as if the real GCSE exams are upon us, but there is plenty of time for students to make good progress.
- As parents, it’s important to remember that your son/daughter is still in the middle of the course. Their grasp of the set texts will be fairly minimal at this stage, as they have probably only just finished reading them and will not have had a lot of time to revise them. Also, their skills in terms of how to approach the language paper questions will still be somewhat embryonic and they will make mistakes, which is a GOOD thing because it’s part of the learning process.
- Your son/daughter is not yet ‘the finished product’ and we should remember that these exams serve as an opportunity to practise new skills, many of which are not yet fully formed.
The Main Objective of the Mock Exams
In short, the mocks are an opportunity for both teachers and students to identify where the work needs to be put in. They give teachers and tutors the chance to be proactive in terms of intervention. Most students will improve by several grades between Christmas and the actual exams. DO NOT PANIC!
What Can I Do as a Parent?
I specialise in a forensic approach to understanding how the AQA English GCSE papers operate, and I am an expert in giving students the knowledge they need to tackle the exams and target the mark schemes confidently. but please don’t take my word for it; have a look at my reviews and drop me a line on claire@theenglishlab.co.uk if you’d like a chat about how I can help your child to feel more ready for the next round of mocks and the real exams too: theenglishlab.co.uk/reviews