DS refuses to check his answers - help please

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Bucks Mum
Posts: 51
Joined: Mon Feb 18, 2008 2:34 pm

DS refuses to check his answers - help please

Post by Bucks Mum »

Has anyone come up with a way to persuade/demand/force a reluctant off-spring to actually check their answers - properly?? My DS is getting worse not better at going over his answers. I know that he's getting bored with the whole process and I can't blame him but he's now making silly mistakes because he refuses to check. Last night he even admitted that during his last practice test he'd turned the clock forward to knock off time so he could finish sooner, as normally I try to make him use all his time!! Aaargh. He's getting around 72 on his papers which is okay but I'm worried that if the paper's a real stinker he might slip below a clear pass. Any clever arguments/ideas gratefully received.
Sally-Anne
Posts: 9235
Joined: Wed Jan 11, 2006 8:10 pm
Location: Buckinghamshire

Post by Sally-Anne »

Hi Bucks Mum

DS2 is tending to do the same - finish as quickly as possible, stop the timer and shout "done!". Last time he did this he finished with 7 minutes to spare. I gave him a ten minute break, then asked him to come back and use the 7 minutes to check his answers. He found a couple of errors, and then agreed with me that he should have used the extra time, rather than just stopping when he did.

If that doesn't help, I think I would back off at this stage - you risk him burning out. (Been there, got the scars! :( )

When he is in a good mood, have a chat with him about it all. Say that you understand that he is fed up with all the practice and remind him that there is very little time to go now.

Then say that you also understand that checking his answers is a chore, but does he realise that he must do it in the real tests? You could ask him to tell you the rules that he knows he must follow in the real tests - circling questions he has guessed/not answered, using every minute of the time allowed, etc.

As long as he knows the rules and says that he will apply them in the real tests, I would just say to yourself that, from now on, the practice papers are just an opportunity to keep him sharp and keep the techniques at the top of his mind.

Hope that helps.

Sally-Anne
Road Runner
Posts: 410
Joined: Thu Sep 14, 2006 8:32 pm

Mel x

Post by Road Runner »

Hi Bucks mum

My dd also finishes with enough time to check and yet doesn't always seem to. In that I still find some silly errors. We were discussing this last night and I just said to dd that although she can get away with it in practise she will haveto check properly in the real thing. I don't want to burn her out or be seen to be nagging as like your ds she is doing very well in all the papers we have sat at home(haven't got her school practise papers back yet) but ofcourse at the same time I don't want her to miss the pass mark because she didn't check something.

Sally-Anne I laughed when you said your son shouts "Done" as my dd shouts "finished" and she always shouts so loud for fear of my not hearing her. I always time her, she doesn't use a watch as she feels it would distract her to have one.

Mel
Marylou
Posts: 2164
Joined: Sat Feb 25, 2006 2:21 am

Post by Marylou »

DD likes to think of each mark as an Easter egg hidden in the garden. Some are quite easy to spot (but still need to be picked up with care), others are high up and difficult to get at, or relatively easy but involve a bit of a climb. (Type C and N!) However, she is determined to get as many as she can and not to let Mr Examiner trick her out of any!

Well, at least it appeals to her way of thinking! :) The point is that the marks are there for the taking - it's just a matter of applying what's she has learned and practised, and not giving away any of those precious "eggs". If she finishes early and shows signs of not wanting to go back over her work, the thought that there might be another "egg" to be found, or one that she has "dropped" along the way, often encourages her to go back and have another look! :)
Marylou
Road Runner
Posts: 410
Joined: Thu Sep 14, 2006 8:32 pm

Mel x

Post by Road Runner »

Ah maybe should buy some eggs.

Seriously Marylou thank you. You have given me a great idea that I think will appeal to my dd. She loves those small eggs, you know not the cream ones the other little ones you can buy in a packet. I am going to tell her for every question she checks (I'll get her to mark them) I will give her an egg and for any she corrects correctly I will give her two.

I know our dentist wouldn't agree but hey ho she cna brush her teeth extra!!

Brilliant!


:P
andyb
Posts: 645
Joined: Tue Dec 04, 2007 10:27 am
Location: Buckinghamshire

Post by andyb »

DS brought his pack home from school last week and once I had marked them I asked him to go through the ones he got wrong and count up the "should have checked and would have got it right" and the "had to make a best guess". He only had 4 questions on the "best guess" list :) . I pointed out that for the sake of either a few extra seconds per question or 5 minutes at the end checking the questions he had marked he could have got a very comfortable pass rather than be in the "yuck zone". This method puts him back in control rather than me telling (nagging) him to check his work. (I think this is a method that Patricia uses with her students)
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