GCSEs 2012 support thread

Maths ok here. Ds knows that he and his friends all had different answers for one question! Five more exams left.

Apparently Maths (WJEC) was hard. DD catastrophised (as usual) about one question she couldn't even understand, but admitted after that most of it was OK. FIngers crossed.

Thanks Empire. DD found today's Maths paper very hard. She has her other Maths on wednesday too. Does that mean they're all doing the same board, or do the boards all try to schedule subjects on the same days?

Just heard from DD that she got some really weird answers in maths, so doesn't know how it went. In Latin this morning she ran out of time on the last question but thought it went well apart from that.
I think I will have to go and get some more chocolate to calm my nerves. We went to Cadbury World last week and I swore I would never look a Dairy Milk in the face again after the choc-overdose, but...

Ds reckons it was ok. In fact he says it was hard but that he was incredibly prepared (to be honest I think he was). In fact his tutor has just left debriefing todays exam and preparing for Wednesday and tutor reckons there were no real surprises. We shall see.

Maths "hard" but apparently DD managed to attempt all of it so who knows? First one over for this week - another 6 to go........

RE was okay, he's glad to seek the back of it though.
First day of study leave today so it's a bit odd. He goes to a rural school where half the kids are bussed in and some come quite a long way from out of catchment. He rang me to pick him up at lunch time (no public transport), but some of his friends from different villages were left hanging around until they could get the school bus home.

Maths was OK apparently. But he couldn't remember what a rhombus was. But so far everything has been 'OK' so I don't set much store by it

Best wishes to your DD Primrose and to all those doing maths this week. DD has maths today and Wednesday.

Secretsquirrel, she seems ok. She was quite nervous this morning as she's got maths, and although she does well in Maths in class, she tends to not do too well in Maths exams. She lost some study time last week with us travelling to and from the hospital, which is an hour away. It's really come at the wrong time for her. The school seemed to think that it was a case for special considerations, and I am just about to ring them to see if they want evidence from the doctor.

primrose - just read your post about DH. So sorry. Fingers crossed that they find out what it was and that he makes a full recovery x

God I wish DS had panicked about his maths exam He was way too blase for my liking.

After helping DS with his RE revision this weekend I now know more about God and Christianity than my church going mother ever managed to instil in me .
This RE today is his last tough one.
3 x sciences, Geography and Statistics left.
Hope everyone's DCs are okay this morning.
Primrose how is DD ? Often they are surprisingly resilient.

Ds has re and maths today. He is in a bit of a panic about maths as they have changed the format and he didn't like the practice papers.

2 maths and 2 history this week, starting with a maths paper this afternoon. Study leave and half term have not helped. Dd's mindset has shifted to that of someone who has left school and she has 6 exams still to do.
It's a bit of a battle to get her back into it especially when friends are all out socialising because they only have 1 or 2 exams left.
Never mind, 2 weeks and it will all be over!
Good luck for this week everyone!

Primrose, wishing all the best to all of you. It's put my whining in perspective.

I have dd1 doing A levels, dd2 (migraine sufferer) on GCSEs and ds with Y10 GCSEs - he's very dyslexic and I worry he won't achieve his potential which would be so unfair.

Most of my time is spent entertaining dd3 (8) as her sisters normally spend loads of time with her.

House is a mess but as long as everyone's calm....

Oh Primrose, how very distressing for you and DD. Glad to hear DH is back home safely. I'm sure tomorrow will bring some small measure of relief when you get full support from the school and the exams officer.

Maths tomorrow for us, Ds is bored with revising, he has done all the past papers, everything in the books, BBC revisesie, Mymaths, etc. Likewise history. Fingers crossed for everyone that all goes well.

Cardibach loving the idea of a special breakfast. Might have a think about that ;-)
Oh and speaking of breakfast now we are back in exam week, tomorrow will be egg fried rice (leftovers from tonight).

Primrose, what a stressful time for you all. Hope your dh recovers well.

Maths for ds tomorrow, he has gone to a friends house to study.

It's luffly, BeingFLuffy. Bocks FIzz and/or champagne, croisants, pain au chocolat, brioche, bacon sarnies if anyone fancies it. All bought before results collected and consumed after. A celebration of the work done, and hopefully of the results, but regardless of them. My sister started it with her girls.

Champagne breakfast - great idea!

THanks BeingFluffy. I am proud of her,and will be whatever the results are. t's just a bit edgy at the moment, isn't it! We have a family tradition of champagne breakfast on the results morning - whatever the paper says. As you say, it will probably be better than I currently think!

Primrose - glad your DH is back home and the tests were clear.

Cardi - my DD also had a maths meltdown. Throwing things around and getting really frustrated after making loads of mistakes on a practice CGP paper. In the end I told her it didn't really matter if she dropped down in maths, and to concentrate on the history and Latin next week. She has calmed down and did a couple of Edexcel practice papers today - marks are still not up to her predicted grade but she seems to be recovering her confidence. Unfortunately you can always work harder, your DD worked hard and I know you are proud of her efforts - I am sure she will do better than you think.

I think it is too late to do any meaningful revision now, apart from a bit of last minute cramming which probably won't make much difference. It is annoying that due to sheer laziness my DD will probably not make all her predicted grades, but hopefully it will be the shock she needs to pull it together for AS levels.

Guineapiglet - big hug for your DD - I had a disease very much like PVFS in my twenties and it was horrifying. She is amazing to have got this far.

Thanks for your good wishes.

He's home now, but not very well. He's sleeping a lot and generally feeling groggy (medical term!). He's self employed, so is worrying about needing to work, but really needs to rest first.

They are still not sure what happened, but the ct scan and lumbar puncture were clear, which is good. He can't drive for at least six months, and still has to have an MRI scan.

I have spoken to DD's school, and they have left a message to say that they will inform the examining board. I missed their call today, but they are going to ring back tomorrow. Hopefully her grades will not be affected because she really has worked hard.

Sending you and your family Primrose all good wishes, what a horrible thing to happen to your family. The school will have an Examinations Officer who you should notify immediately with the circumstances and details of how this has affected your child. IF possible, a piece of medical evidence from the Doctor to outline the circumstances and any effects this has had over the week -i.e. time taken up visiting in hospital etc, stress, - Examinations Boards like as much supported evidence from professionals as well as parents, as possible - this is likely to affect your child over the coming weeks in addition to the revision time over the holidays - good luck.

I shall be very relieved when all these exams are over, it has been a hard 2 year slog for all the children, as one of my daughter's teachers said, it is quite simply a matter of stamina for all of them. My own daughter has had some ongoing Post Viral Fatigue syndrome for the 2 years after becoming very ill at the end of year 9 - it goes in predicatable patterns. For her, also a fairly borderline candidate in some subjects for these reasons, getting through these exams, no matter what the grade, will be a real testimony to her grit and determination to continue on a full timetable. Thankfully only Maths, Geog, Statistics and 2 rather random German exams to go- there are three exams in one day which I think is going to be a killer for her, and then an 8 day gap before a 45 minute german reading exam.......... the end is in sight!!!