The Mrs B Method for preparing reluctant learners for GCSEs

The Mrs B Method – Top Tips: Supporting your (reluctant) child through GCSEs.

Motivation at a minimum

(More details below if you want an explanation of each.)

1. Do not make a Revision Timetable

2. You don’t need a study space

3. Popular revision books can help, but only if you or your child can interpret them

4. Get interactive! Staring at a book will not help pass an exam

5. Take it back to the beginning 

6. Learn by stealth

7. Understanding is great, but don’t sweat it if they don’t

8. Find downright stupid ways to remember things

9. Have sacrificial subjects

10. Concentrate on Maths and English language

For those of you who want to know more...read on

1.     Do not make a Revision Timetable.

Everyone will tell you to have a clear revision plan, but try showing one to a reluctant learner - they look at the plan and the first word to appear in their head is ‘Nope.’ It's as if they develop a fierce case of Pathological Demand Avoidance with the presence of a revision timetable. (Apologies to the parents of those children with actual PDA) That’s why my method skips the neatly colour-coded schedules and is instead a bit more spontaneous (with a side of gentle suggestion).

Think revision by stealth.

More on that later, when you're not expecting it (see what I did there.)

2.    You don’t need study space.

These children work best on the hoof.  Most will look at a tidy desk with a lamp and then look for the prison bars. They don’t like to sit still in school for hours (don’t get me started on that – just yet), so they aren’t going to do it at home. As parents, we'd all love to have a quiet, zen-like space, but the reality is that most of us live with more than one child in a house with zero soundproof rooms. Revision is going to have to happen on the way to the dentist, sitting in a cinema waiting for the film to start or mid-trim in the hairdresser's (been there, revised in all three). My eldest was told she had to find a quiet space to study, perhaps in her bedroom (That was not going to happen - she shared the room with her sisters, one and four.) So, it was downstairs, dodging the Nerf bullets her brother thought might aid with her learning experience.

A quiet study space in a busy family home!

Spoiler: she still got all As and Bs in her GCSEs.

3.    Popular revision books can help, but only if you or your child can interpret them.

Revision books may seem like the way forward, but unless your child is extremely confident in reading and understanding explanations or you are confident in interpreting the method, they may cause more frustration than good.

One major drawback with revision books is that they often only show one way to complete a problem, which may not be the way that makes sense to your child.

For alternatives – see below.

4.    Get interactive! Staring at a book will not help pass an exam.

BBC Bitesize have mini tests for most topics in all subjects; they are usually made up of 10 multiple-choice questions. https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize. I get my students to go through the set and then repeat it until they have all of the answers correct. Then I get them to revisit a few days later and keep revisiting over and over again, with longer breaks between that set.

I have always printed out quotes, formulas and diagrams to stick up around the house. Our eldest, Owen, was 24 when Max took his GCSEs, and he could quote Macbeth like nobody’s business. This was because Macbeth quotes were plastered all over the mirror in the toilet – directly in their line of sight. I also put them on cupboard doors, above the TV and at the end of their bed.

Also, (cheeky plug) I'm creating some mindful colouring books that combine chilling with revision in layman's terms for students and parents and some wonderful revision cards (with a difference) that really helped Evie.

5.    Take it back to the beginning

If you notice your child is struggling with something, go back to the beginning of the skill and find out where they lost understanding. If they just can’t understand division, go back to Year 2 on a site like Bitesize. Do the little quiz, if they understand about making groups and finding groups in an amount, move on to the next year. Their mates don’t need to know they’ve been looking at year 2 work, but without a great foundation, we can’t build a sturdy house, and the same goes for maths.    

I have found year 10s who did not understand how to divide, so we went back to using buttons and dots to make groups to build a strong foundation before gradually moving on.

Also, areas like the names of shapes, etc, are very rarely covered in secondary school but come up in the exams! Make sure they know the names and properties of 2D and 3D shapes, the meaning of the words edges, sides, faces and vertices.

6.    Learn by stealth

You and your child are not going to sit down for hours on end staring at books. Learning by stealth involves short, sharp bursts of revision in ways that don’t feel like work but add up to a lot of exam prep. Because of this, it is best to start as early as possible, but don’t panic if you are reading this the month before their exams; every little helps.

Sneaky Learning

Examples of stealth learning…

‘I'll take you to your mates once you’ve mastered five cards in the box.’ (The box is a tool which I will explain in more detail in another blog/seminar.)

‘Watch ten minutes of this video before you start watching that film.’

‘One BBC Bitesize test with all answers correct, and I’ll order the takeaway.’

Also, use psychological trickery to your advantage. ‘Let’s do 20 minutes of questions.’ (They’ll probably moan) ‘Okay, I’ll let you do 5 minutes.’

(This also works with my husband, ‘Can we rent this cottage for £2500 a week?’ He’ll say it's too much and then I offer the one at £1000 a week, which I wanted anyway, but he would have said was too expensive if I'd gone straight in with that one!)

PS: My husband proofread this for me and now he knows my trick!

Me, realising my husband knows my trick

7.    Understanding is great, but don’t sweat it if they don’t.

The curriculum encourages students to understand and explain in order to know a fact, rather than learning by rote. (My husband said I need to explain this as he doesn’t know what it means – if you do, please let me know, as he has bet me £15,000(!) that no one outside of teaching will know) It means learning through repetition.  

Of course, understanding is best, but sometimes that just isn’t going to happen. GCSE exam questions are structured in a way that there are marks to be gained by knowing something, but not necessarily the answer. (This definitely deserves its own blog post in the future.)

 Your child may not understand the concept of a prime number (after numerous attempts to absorb it), but they can learn the first 100 prime numbers. In foundation science, it would be great if they could detail the different ways series and parallel circuits work, but sometimes they might just know how they look. And how to draw them. That’s okay.

8.    Find downright stupid ways to remember things

My children have remembered things in the most ridiculous ways, some silly, some very rude and inappropriate. A silly one, Roman Men Invented Very Unusual X-ray Guns (radio, microwave, infrared, visible, ultraviolet, X-ray, Gamma for the electromagnetic spectrum part of Physics) or learning Fleming’s left-hand rule in physics to work out the direction of motion in an electric motor.

9.    Have sacrificial subjects

This might be a bit controversial, but it can help to choose two subjects that your child won’t spend as much time revising for - ones they can either revise for on their own or only cover during school time. My daughter had two ‘sacrificial’ subjects (I won’t say which!), and by focusing her energy on the others, Evie ended up with seven excellent results. Just make sure these sacrificial subjects aren't core ones like Maths, English Language, or Science

10. Concentrate on Maths and English language

If all else fails, focus on revising Maths and English Language. These are the only subjects students are legally required to retake in college or sixth form if they don’t achieve at least a grade 4.

Achieving a grade 3 or below can mean the difference between a four-day college timetable and a three-day one. (This is often all the insensitive many 15/16-year-olds need!)

Only Maths and English Language resits are funded - English Literature and other subjects won’t be covered.

 After English and maths, Science should be next on the list, as it counts for two GCSEs and is often needed for careers like primary teaching.

11.  A word on tutors… (in my opinion)

By all means, employ a tutor if you feel they will help your child. However, I have some advice …it's important to recognise that a positive, qualified, experienced teacher may cost a little more but may well be best for your child. This is because good teachers understand how to break down complex concepts, adapt explanations to the student's level, and guide learning in a fun but structured and progressive way. In contrast, someone who tutors on the basis that they did well in the subject at GCSE will know the subject deeply, but lack teaching skills and may struggle to communicate effectively or connect with the student's needs, making the learning experience less productive.

Of course, some people are born teachers (Miss Conway at my last secondary school, I’m looking at you) and need very little experience to be fantastic; this is just a guide.

12. Finally

 Remember, all students must stay in education or training (including apprenticeships) until age 18, and even if they don’t pass any GCSEs, they’ll be offered a place on a Level 1 course at a local college. Education remains free until the end of the academic year they turn 19, giving them up to two years to work towards a higher qualification (Level 2 or 3).