AS exams next week - course not completed

[mrsrhodgilbert]

A bit of a moan really. Dd1 starts exams next week and it has just become apparent that her teacher has not managed to complete the syllabus in one subject. Not really her fault as she took over in January from a retiring teacher who appears to have been very de-mob happy running up to Christmas. She probably has 2-3 hours of tuition left before study leave on Friday. I contacted the school yesterday and it appears that they have now drafted in an experienced teacher who is away on maternity leave at the moment to do a revision session with exam tips.

I don't think the excuse that there have been a lot of bank holidays recently is valid. We have only had 1 day extra.

Having spoken to the school it appears this is not the only subject with this problem. Is this a regular thing in schools?

[LondonMother]

I've got nothing constructive to say, Mrs RG, except that I'm really sorry to hear this and I hope your daughter does better than you are no doubt fearing at the moment. It wouldn't be ideal to have to re-take modules in January but at least there is that option.

[HighNoon]

Just had a similar report from my DD about one of her subjects. Too many "missed Mondays" last month. Don't teachers have calendars??

I'm learning to let it all wash over me. Can no longer afford to pay uni fees in any case, and now Willetts wants the places for rich kids, so who really needs fancy book learning anymore?!

[ChishAndFips]

School shouldn't have let the teacher leaving affect the pupils, and I really hope the revision session manages to fill the gaps. However, can I ask how it is that you/DD have only just realised this problem? I mean, did she not check before now that they had covered everything in the syllabus/textbook i.e. when starting her revision? If she hasn't already, she can look at the syllabus online and go through every section checking what she knows, so she knows what she needs to learn now.

I wouldn't say it is a regular thing in school but not unusual either. My 2 DDs both had to teach themselves several bits of a certain subject because the teacher didn't manage to get through it.

[gingeroots]

Blimey chish how many 17 year olds are there that are checking the syllabus on line to check that their school has covered it all ?

[goingmadinthecountry]

My dd has had a couple of lessons after school (in addition to sessions in the holiday) to make up for missing lessons on Mondays. Still not sure History has been covered by one of her teachers. Other teacher seems to be taking up the slack.

[senua]

I was going to post exactly the same as Chish. When DS was doing his GCSE revision over Easter the first thing I told him to do was go to the examining board's website to double-check that he was revising the right things.

Forward pointer for MrsRG: don't take the school's word for anything if you are doing Uni entrance next year. Always to to the Horse's mouth i.e. the Uni website

[MmeBlueberry]

It is very hard to fit everything in. The exams seem to be earlier and earlier each year. We have stopped January modules in our school in order to save two or three weeks, but there is still a lot to cover with the newest specifications.

At our school we aim to finish teaching by Easter in order to give time for last minute exam practice.

We also brought our exam students in a day before the start of term in order to make up for the Royal Wedding holiday.

[ChishAndFips]

gingerroots: I though doing that was normal practice actually - not to check the school's covered it per se, but as part of revision - my DDs both did/are doing this, as are all the pupils in their classes - the teachers themselves suggest it as a good way of organising their revision. They're very easy to get hold of on the exam board's website, along with past papers. How can you revise effectively if you don't know exactly what it is you are supposed to know? The syllabus tells you, briefly, but enough.

I agree with senua about uni info too, DD1's tutor told her to 'get rid of all that work experience rubbish' from the personal statement, when in fact not talking about work ex in a Medicine application would have been a guaranteed rejection!

[Jonnyfan]

"Don't teachers have calendars?"- calendar no use if the lessons are on the days missed; add in a few specials like whole school assembly, art exams etc and one set could easily be several hours adrift of another which has lessons on different days. I know some schools recently ran a Monday timetable on Wednesday to try and even things out.

[thekidsmom]

I dont think your DD is in any way to blame, Mrs RG - I've never checked the syllabus with my DCs - I'd say that's down to the school.

On the up side, depending on the subject, it is quite likely that the paper will contain lots of alternative questions - answer 2 from 5 kind of thing - and that she will have covered enough

[mrsrhodgilbert]

Well a range of viewpoints which are all valid. The teacher who was leaving was the Head of Dept. so I guess her other staff didn't check up on what she was doing and the new teacher is very young. She realised immediately that they were behind and I think has done her best. It doesn't help that she is Mexican and unfamiliar with our exams, hence the difficulty in giving tips. Don't suppose they study Elizabeth 1st in Mexican schools.

It didn't occur to me to check the course online, but we are aware of that for the future so thanks. We assumed the school would have covering the course fairly high on the agenda.

I believe the exam gives a choice of 2 essay questions so not having covered this topic could be crucial.

There is enough stress here without me having hysterics about this so having spoken to the school twice now this week I will watch from the sidelines and offer support.

[vj32]

As has been explained - it is desirable but not essential to cover the entire spec when there is a choice of questions.

You can look at the full spec on the internet, and depending on the exam board you can look up past papers - your DD should have got loads of these from the school anyway.

You seem supportive of the teacher but then say you 'Don't suppose they study Elizabeth 1st in Mexican schools.' If you are not happy that she is a qualified teacher then you need to speak to the school about that. History jobs are very competitive so unless the school/college are trying to fill a post cheaply she probably has a British teaching qualification or lots of experience. She probably just doesn't have much experience of the particular exam board hence it being better to get exam tips from another teacher.

[mrsrhodgilbert]

Sorry vj32, you are correct. I had a problem with another new Mexican teacher earlier in the year who had to have her class removed. I'm getting quite frustrated now. Have just discovered that the teacher tried to cover the missing topic yesterday but some students felt it was too late and didn't want to do any new work, so the teacher did something else. Today she set them a suprise essay to do in class so effectively didn't teach them at all.

Of course we have had loads of past papers etc. but the school assured me this topic would be covered this week and there is 1 lesson left.

[mrsrhodgilbert]

Surprise even !