Reaching Peak Performance at GCSE

As teachers, we have had to adapt to the new approach to the examinations and ensure the students are physically, mentally and emotionally prepared for their GCSEs. A combination of approaches is needed to ensure they can achieve their peak performance. Last academic year I worked in a variety of schools, in a variety of ways. With some students it was specifically in English, with others it was with revision and motivational techniques. I also I had to ensure my own son kept a level head and a measured approach to his 2019 GCSE examinations.

Future Planning

An essential element of motivating the Year 11 students was to get them to consider and discuss their future plans. In encouraging them to think about their future, it puts their individual needs into a context where they are working to achieve the qualifications for themselves, because they NEED it, not because they are told they HAVE to do it.

The Strategy
Reverse Psychology – ‘It doesn’t matter’, ‘It is not the end of the world’… They need to be told this BEFORE the examinations. They cannot feel that their whole lives are dependent on their success at 16 – it doesn’t. Success at 16 would make their life easier in the short term. Too many students tell me they are not trying, because ‘if I don’t try, I haven’t failed’. We must reverse this closed mindset. There needs to be a shift away from ‘force’ to genuine care.

Year 9 Options

I asked students about their biggest regret. Many of them said they felt misled by the options process and regret their GCSE ‘choices’. Too many students are studying subjects for YEARS and then being made to drop them in the run up to the examinations. When they are told they are not good enough in one subject, it can be a psychological blow that impacts on all of their subjects. With some targeted intervention and a major boost of self-confidence, ALL subjects could be improved. Feeling a failure with a matter of weeks to go to their examinations, does unnecessary damage to their self-esteem and must be avoided.

The Strategy

If schools are making students choose their options in Year 8 ready to start Year 9, they need to add a mechanism at the end of Year 9 to swap or drop a subject. OR, schools must put early intervention in place to make sure they have the support to pass the subject by the end of Year 11.

Independent Reading Skills

When working consistently on a one to one and small group basis with students, it soon becomes apparent that the biggest pitfall in their responses to both literature and the language sources is their inability to find the most interesting elements of the texts to write about.

The Strategy

We worked on how to select the very best examples. How to plan effectively in exam conditions, including the huge importance of TIMING. No matter which subject they were being examined on effective timing is essential. In English, there are always ways to use up the time – no one should be finished ‘early’.  Achieving  ‘flow’ in their writing is also the key to success. It is important for them to understand that they need to answer the question and write a sustained and well-argued response – following  a decent plan will help them with this.

Overwhelmed

One school specifically asked me to focus on prior higher attainers and get to the root of the problem of why they were significantly underachieving in English. When I asked these students why they had not even attempted the recent GCSE English Literature mock, they said they felt ‘overwhelmed’. They has ‘counted the ceiling tiles’ to pass the time! When they are told to learn hundreds of quotes for Shakespeare, a 19th Century novel, a modern text and learn fifteen poems – their instinct was to shut down. What I soon established was that they did know the texts, they just could not transfer the knowledge in an effective way. Do not leave it solely up to the students to regulate their own stress levels. Students can either get over stressed and over anxious and underperform, or opt out. Neither approach benefits the students or the school.

The Strategy

We chose FIVE poems they knew well, and reduced each poem to ONE SIDE of ONE flashcard. I then reassured them, that they had to have the confidence in their ability to be able to analyse the poem given to them, and adapt their knowledge and quotations from the poems they knew well, to whatever was asked of them. We minimised what they had to learn – and it worked! They all said that for the very first time (and just in time!) they could actually complete the exam paper in full and feel confident about their responses. Interestingly, each student had selected different poems, and gone with what they felt most confident in. They also realised that writing in a confident style is the secret to the success of all written examination papers.

Flashcards

I have a new found love of flashcards. At a time where students are bombarded with all kinds of information from every angle and every subject, the beauty of the flashcard came to the fore. The skill of reduction can be transferred to every subject and in working with them in fine tuning what they had to remember in English, they were then able to transfer their new found skill in to other subjects.

The Strategy:

Do not take for granted students know how to revise – they do not. The must be taught this alongside the content and the exam technique. Teach them how to use flashcards effectively – once they have done a few, they can transfer their skill across to all of their subjects.

Knowledge Organisers

Knowledge organisers can be extremely useful – BUT – only if the students complete them themselves. One of my students arrived with a knowledge organiser about ‘A Christmas Carol’ they had bought off TES. It was so ‘busy’ it was unreadable – the font was TINY. Admirably, the author had squashed everything you need to know on one side of A3 – but it was ultimately unusable. Do not just give them pre prepared knowledge organisers and read it with them. It is dull, and they do not retain the knowledge.

The Strategy

Give students a GUIDE and STRUCTURE about what they need to know. If they have been taught the text well, they don’t need every single potential reference to a text on a sheet – they need PROMPTS, phrases and words that trigger their knowledge. Therefore it has to be their work based on what they know. It disempowers them when teachers automatically assume they know nothing about texts they have been studying for three years. Get them to complete it themselves – maybe in groups or pairs.  They will learn and retain much more if they have to THINK FOR THEMSELVES!

Curriculum Crossover

Having supported my son in the undertaking of his 33 examinations over a four week period, I soon realised just how many crossovers there are between subjects. To minimise stress, teachers need to map out the curriculum and demonstrate to students where the content and the skills overlap – rather than make them feel like they have hundreds of different approaches to master, along with copious amounts of content. For example, whilst discussing approaches with my son we realised that ‘the heart’ was in PE and Biology, and ‘ecology’ was in Geography and Biology. Many of the equations in Maths could be used in Physics…

The Strategy

Now that staff are more familiar with the examinations, they need to sit and map out the curriculum and the approaches and support each other as well as the students. Geography could revise ecology, and Biology could also set this element of the paper so that the students can focus on technique and not get loaded down with content. With some thought, schools could make the whole process significantly more straightforward for the students.

Emotional Bonds

Working with small groups of students gave them opportunity to create a stronger bond with each other. A mutually encouraging bond where the motivation is to work, not to resist. One boy described the English sessions as ‘like therapy’ where he said he particularly enjoyed the opportunity to ask questions that he would never have dared to ask in a whole class situation. It gave them an opportunity to allay any fears. They became a source of mutual support and encouragement for each other, which helped them approach the examinations in a more serious and more positive manner.

Achieving Peak Performance

An interesting analogy that one boy stated was that he felt that the mocks were like rugby training and the actual exams were the equivalent of playing a real match. He believed that he couldn’t ever reach his true potential in a mock because in the back of his mind he knew it was not the real examination. I then used this as a means of motivating them to reach a ‘peak’ of achievement and make sure that they were ready to perform to their capacity in their actual examinations.

Ultimately, we need to embed revision techniques much earlier in the GCSE process. Schools need to assess the amount of pressure each individual student is under by taking a close look at how the examinations are timetabled. In one week, my son had 8 exams in 4 days – an unbelievable amount of relentless pressure. In reality, these GCSE are not just about content and hard work – they are about managing emotions. Students need to learn to keep everything in perspective.  This is why we need a whole school approach to learning. When students are under such intense pressure. It is the responsibility of the schools to MINIMISE the pressure experienced by the students and help them manage their time, their emotions and their expectations, to enable them to reach their peak performance.

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