GCSEs 2012 support thread

Kez, the different boards seem to structure their RE differently. Dd is doing AQA and a whole GCSE is 2 exams or you can do just one and get a half GCSE. Dd did one exam last summer and has one more in a week or two to make the whole GCSE. It sounds similar to what your dd is doing but different to the OCR structure.

It is confusing.
OCR here too. According to his timetable there is an exam for both short and long course today, and then two exams on 11th June for the long course only.

found this and its confusing me even more
DS is doing B602 and B603 which is listed as both short course j621 and full course j121

Sorry just to clarify this happened in January on the last paper. DS is doing the whole GCSE there are 4 papers altogether. One done in January, one today and two more in June.

The RE paper apparently covers multiple religions but they study the subject from the perspective of one religion (Christianity in DS's case).
The teacher has repeatedly drilled it in to them that they Must Only Answer Questions x and y of the 20+ questions on the paper.
Two long answers required. Apparently if they answer more than two the examiner just marks the first two answers.
This did not stop one boy answering every question on the paper Islam, Judaism, the lot.

DS is doing an Ocr paper today, from further up the thread ds appears to be doing the .5 paper but he has another RE exam on the 11/6.

Everyone at my DDs school thought the French OCR was really weird. It included a French version of the very bizarre Japanese news story from a few years ago of a woman living in a man's cupboard which he was unaware of until he noticed missing food - but transplanted to Belgium!

DS said "everyone" said the French was hard today - including the teacher! That's about the level of detail I get though, nothing about goats or men in cupboards. He mentioned in passing it was a bit unfortunate he has been revising the Islam part of his RE over the weekend, and he's just twigged it's the Christianity part of the exam tomorrow (don't quote me on the details or go into a panic if that doesn't sound right to you - I might have got it the wrong way round, he told me in passing a few hours ago and I've been at a difficult meeting in between ). Don't want to panci anyone!

DD did her French listening today- edexcel higher level. Said it was really hard and her teacher helpfully did it along with them, told them the answers afterwards and DD thinks she got loads of it wrong Stress levels were high as one girl was 15 minutes late for the exam and they had to sit in silence waiting for her

She got an A in one of her practise papers a few weeks ago so I thought it was all going rather well...

Biology double award iGCSE and RE (ethics) tomorrow.

Dd has Art tomorrow, and went in to school this afternoon to prime her board- only to discover that the teacher who had promised to cut it for her had forgotten!

So she has to be in at the crack tomorrow- driven by guess who. I am just a bit cross..........!

RE re-sit for DD tomorrow, because she didn't get the best grade she could a year early. She got a B fgs!

Anyway, she has not been taken it seriously tonight. I was asking her sample questions from her revision pack and it was about the begining of the world. I said, 'how did the earth begin then?' and she sang the theme tune to 'The Big Bang Theory!'

Poor dd is all stressed and sad with a headache. Not happy with the french.

P&R and biology tomorrow.

I don't think Gove can afford to have exam results get worse. He'll 'prove' everyone is crap by moving the goalposts as usual! I hope, anyway...
Very unfair on DCs if not.

So much for ds doing an iGCSE in maths - he can't even count! 4.5hrs of exams today, not 5+

He does all his revision in the playroom/family room downstairs. I frequently burst in on him to check he's not on FB he's OK. Surprisingly he hasn't been distracted much at all. Bit of Skype, supposedly revising with mates on line but mainly it's been head down concentrating!
No study leave at all at his school.

I suspect that this year and next year the Grade boundaries will be tight so Gove can prove that schools/teachers/exam boards are all shite. Then they might be loosened to show what a difference academies make.

I have no evidence at all for this - but it seems to be a common theory!

Hi there, just found this thread!
DD had her first English Literature paper today (IGCSE). She sounded pleased but went straight off to ballet so I haven't had much time to talk. I was so nervous!! She wants to do A level so she needs a good grade.

Break from them now until next week. Then masses of them all at once week of 28th. Cannot wait for half term!

The school I teach in also had music this morning. There was a revision class first thing with cakes . The head of music is fabulous. I think he found it a relief to get them done, though!

AQA French foundation here. DD said is was reasonable. No recollection of goats or men in factories though!

Early reports from my school, who were also doing AQA, were Foundation quite straight forward and Higher - bloody hard! Have also heard the same from a couple of other schools in the borough doing AQA French.

Glad the first one went well for DD. Physologically, it must be better to have a relatively straight forward start, rather than imposibly hard!

Have just completed a test of Biology revision cards ready for tomorrow's exam. She also has RE, but she does that through the medium of Welsh so I am of limited help!

None today but RS tomorrow. She is currently having private maths tuition in the dining room. Dreading English lit next week!

That's what dd is hoping too clam - though she's in a fortunate position because her old teacher entered them for the two French exams last summer instead of having internal end of year exams, so it will be her best result from the two that counts. She was rather hoping to improve though.

5+hours (not exactly sure as he anticipated 5 hours this morning before he realised that the maths was longer than he thought).
Nothing more now until Thursday, so he's taking the evening off from revising. Sounds fair enough to me. Made him take the dog out instead!

Well, my theory is that if they all found it hard, then the grades might be rebanded accordingly??????