GCSEs 2012 support thread

that sounds like a busy day clam. Dd did Exdexcel French listening too and her group all thought it was very hard - much guessing required.

My ds also had music today, he thinks it went well.

DS had Music first thing, which clashed with Maths iGCSE, so he had to be kept in isolation for a brief break between the two. The maths was 2.5 hours but he said he finished it in an hour! Don't like the sound of that! He did however spend the remaining time going over each question again.

Then he had French listening (EdExcel), which he said was hard. And apparently he's supposed to be good at French. I say "apparently" as I've never seen any evidence of it when we've been over there. Most he's been prepared to offer is "quatre, s'il vous plait" whilst pointing at the croissants.

I've decided to pack DS off to school/the library tomorrow as his is incapable of revising at home. So far today he's walked the dog, made me lunch and researched university courses all in the name of procrastination

My DD had French today too - WJEC. Hers was about unemplyment, apparently. She thinks she did very well in the listening but isn't so sure about the reading. She also had music, and said it was hard (WJEC again) and there was a question on something the whole class agree the teacher told them not to revise, it wasn't on the syllabus anymore .
We have just had a fun half hour utilising the barbecue as a fire pit to burn French and Music revision!

One down 18 to go.
French went well according to DS. I didn't get much detail out of him but goats were not mentioned
1st of 3 RE exams tomorrow.

DD said something about a goat and a man in a cupboard (hopefully not together!) in hers!

Oh dear. Text from dd. Shocking.

Hope its not that bad..

Shes still at school doing maths revision then on to ballet so i won't get to quiz her till later.

Shhe doesn't get study leave till after half term. I think revision sessions at school are ongoing.

DD's was AQA. There were a few questions on relationships and something about a man who worked in a factory assembling mattresses. Sounds odd to me but she's feeling quite positive about it.

DD also just back from French. Did your DD do OCR? DD thought some of the the subject matter rather odd but all her friends concurred on the answers so either they are all wrong or all right!

DD's just back home after her French exam. She's relieved the first is out of the way as she couldn't sleep last night. RE tomorrow.

She's been doing 2-3 hours revision a day with the odd evening off to recharge. At school they've been revising and taking mock papers in practically all subjects for what seems like ages.

secret by half term they will have so few subjects with exams left that if the school continues study leave they will have so many frees that law and order will break down. I think ending study leave at half term is pragmatic.

seeker advice is good if your child works well in that way. For some concetrating hard for a third of a day is a step too far and other approaches may work better. Totally agree when not working don't think about it though.

BackforGood - a similar story here.
DS also not on "study leave" until half term. I don't understand why some schools are doing half study leave? (Starting study leave half way through the exams) DS doesn't finish his exams until 20th June. Surely the school should commit one way or the other?
He admits he thinks it's better to be at school.

Every lesson is a revision session. Normal timetable seems to be suspended and where they have completed a subject they can use that time to revise another.

French today here and DS has done very little at home.
He says he has done nothing but revise every lesson for months plus two extra revision sessions a week. He seems confident, lets hope he is right. I've always thought his French teacher over rated his MFL ability but she has predicted A*.

My dd told me her form tutor's study leave advice this morning. I think it's good, so I pass it on.

Divide the day into three equal chunks of time. Work for two of them.

Decide whether you're working or not working. If you are, work hard. If you're not, don't even think about working, don't beat yourself up for not working. Do whatever you want without feeling guilty because you know that you will be working hard again when the next chunk of time comes along. That way you enjoy your not working time, and use the working time effectively.

Same as Kez and Maureen -ds is still at school. They attend 'lessons' (as in revision periods supervised by their subject teachers) as per normal Yr11 timetable until they have finished all exams for that subject. So, for eg, ds has finished his maths by taking a linear exam in MArch, so whenever maths is timetabled they go to another room and can revise what they want, but have to sit quietly and look as if they are revising, but, as he's still got all the other subjects to go, up until this week he is following pretty much his normal timetable for everything else. Once he finishes French (for example as that's his first exam, tomorrow) then he'll no longer go to any French sessions, etc.,.etc.

I'm therefore not so worried about the small amounts he is doing at home, as I know he's fitting in 6 hrs at school a day.

Good luck to ds1 who starts his As levels tomorrow. Fingers, toes and everything else crossed. Xxxxx

I think DD is doing quite a lot at school tbh and I don't want to push it too much at home as well.

Her timetable now has lots of gaps in it, since she's already secured her Maths and English GCSE, so that's 10 hours a week and by the end of this week French and RE will be done too. They have been assigned IT rooms for those 'free' lessons and she's been going to the subject areas she needs to concentrate on instead. She's also been going to after school lessons. I know she's going because I had to sign a form to say she was going and they phoned last week to make sure she was still coming.

Did anyone else's DC get given a guideline amount of revision to aim for each day? DS has been told from one teacher that more than four hours is counter productive yet another told him to structure his revision as he would the school day, including the time he would spend on homework!

What have your DC been told to aim for and what do you think is a reasonable amount?

beingfluffy your dd sounds like mine. She hates writing, so will always revise by staring vacantly at reading text books. She doesn't seem to make notes in class either. But, when quizzed on things she does seem to know quite a lot, so I reckon she pays attention well in class and learns there. I am so glad she has revision lessons until half term and isn't on study leave, especially after this weekend. We too are a little worried about French tomorrow, it's her worst subject, but it will be lovely to have it over with (probably for ever) on Thursday.

The advice to take the controlled assessments seriously from the start is good. Dd's early ones weren't that great, but the recent ones have been excellent. It's a big help to go into the exams knowing you are already on the way to your target grade.

Well, here we go. DD is fed, watered, bathed and going up to bed. She has looked at Bitesize French for about half an hour. She says she's ready.

Just checked she has a pen that works and a spare pen that works. Asked her if she knew what time it started. She looked at me like I think that was me being told to 'shut the f up'!

It is annoying that DD seems to have picked up no good study habits/skills during her secondary career. I asked why she was revising from a CGP book rather than her own notes and she said she had difficulty reading her own hand-writing .

She looked at Vocab Express for about 5 minutes tonight and then decided to have a bath - just has to try and memorise tomorrow morning I guess!

The advice dss school sent us isno more than 30-60 minutes at a time of revision
make sure they are fed and watered
an keep things in perspective.
Ds has only. really just knuckled down. I don't think he really knew how to revise until very recently.