GCSEs 2012 support thread

Ds does have lots of "frees" as he puts it. Supervised revision. I think this will be his saving grace!

Does anyone know, if a college wants maths and English do they mean both English? (This is what I have told ds.)

I'm not pushing the revision at home too much tbh. I'm in a fortunate position, that I work at a local secondary school, so I can get my hands on hundreds of extra revision aids for her, but when I asked her what I could get for her, she said that practically every lesson she does at the moment is revision.

She's got several spaces in her timetable now, as she's completed Maths and English already and she's been going to other departments for work and seems to be really focused doing it too.

I will try to persuade her to get on a French revision website that we use at school, which is mostly learning games, but very good and she has just finished reading Of Mice and Men again, so we're going to watch the film again tomorrow.

RE - she's quite good at letting everyone know her opinion on things, so I have a feeling we'll be OK on that one!

Good luck to all DC.

DS2 is sat at the moment revising music, or rather watching the BBC wildlife prog.

First exam 15th May, 11 in total.
Dd a very reluctant reviser! She seems to think an A grade will just be handed to her on a plate. Not sure how I'm going to get through the next few weeks let alone her!

That's brilliant thank you IDon'tKnowWhyICare.

I will do that and tell him what you said. He only tends to work when there's no escaping it atm. :(

Hello.

DD has her first one on 14th May. French like a few others. Then it's a steady flow of English Lit, RE and another French before half term.

After half term it's double science x 2 and Geography x 2. Think the last one is about 28th June.

She's already got IT, Art, Maths and English Language in the bag. Oh and a BTEC in Careers? Not sure why that was necessary, but she got a Distinction in it!

At her school, they have been doing a thing called 'Going for Gold'. For each A-C you get, you receive a badge and when you reach the magic 5, you get a gold tie. She is collecting her gold tie this week.

The one with the hair, get the marking scheme for his exam board and learn it. Get the timings down pat, see examples of work, learn the key words and phrases, it all helps get extra points. Def possible to get a better grade even if its not possible to revise. Start a new thread there are some lovely teachers on here who can help.

No help with EngLang revision I'm afraid. Ds says you can't revise for it.

Any help from you lot also greatly appreciated. I really font know what I'm going to do with him.

My dc3 is three and I thought I had a big age gap.

Congratulations by the way BringBack.

I asked DS how he was revising for eng lang - apparently they have been told to 'analyse' newspaper cuttings!

I think DS is starting to get a little stressed, came back from work this afternoon having a big moan that he had to do an extra 20 minutes on poolside. I think he was hoping for a quiet 5 minutes looking after the reception in the sauna area to read over his physics. His exams go from the 15th May to the 26th June.

Dd doesn't seem stressed, but maybe she just hides it well. She is very tired though (also does lots of sport) and has always had concentration issues. Luckily her timetable doesn't seem nearly as bad as some (20+ exams must be horrible - I guess it's the way things will be in the future with the move to all terminal exams).

English Language is her least good subject - is there any way to revise for this one?

Similar situation with mine, Yellow. What subjects is it that your DC chose to get such an awful timetable. DS does triple science, two options with three exams each and one which has four

Honestly don't know how they all manage it!

at thought of 23 exams. You know, I've been trying to remember how many exams I had when doing my O levels (old gimmer here). It was definitely 2 papers for some subjects, but I have a hazy recollection of my entire fate in History being decided by one 3-hour paper. Which I rather flunked.

DC6 has 23 exams starting next Monday across 11 subjects, all linear. Vile timetable with lots of heavy subjects twinned on the same day - the worst timetable any of mine have had to date.

BringBack1996
I'd do it all again tomorrow. Too old though. 1996 changed my life.

TheOneWithTheHair I'm pg with DC3 so really am doing it all over again!

DS is in a position where he is stressed, tired and wants to do well. However he isn't revising, is always too tired due to sports commitments and then gets even more stressed because he hasn't done the revision! He wants to do well but really lacks motivation IMO.

I think it's partly that, BringBack, but probably also partly the choice of subjects. I feel for your ds though- that's an awful situation, imo.

Ds1 doesn't appear to be too stressed at the moment, although I have noticed he's been complaining of tiredness more over the last couple of weeks. But he's been revising since just before the Easter holidays so he feels in control. I think.

By the way, love your name BringBack1996. :)

Don't think I want to do it all again though!

Ds's start with French on Monday. That seems to be a common one with us. Food Tech theory on 16th and more French the day after. English on 22nd and 24th then 3x science on 12th June.

So only 8 exams left. Not too bad but he seems to be reluctant to do any revision at all. He has already had a massive strop at the mere suggestion that he do some work. :(

my ds is the opposite of stressed. I've just gone down now, to find him and his mate (who I didn't know was here) playing on the x-box. Not quite sure how tht's helping their study ???

Thanks for starting this thread kez100

Drama down, loads still to to. Mostly all before half term and I'm convnnced she hasn't done enough work arrrrghhhhhh

Got to dash now but am marking place

They do seem to go on for a long time. Just asked DS and he has 19 exams, starting with Geography. The thing is that with controlled assessments he has already clocked up many, many hours worth of work towards these GCSEs during year 10 and 11.

I did O levels in, ahem, 1974. All crammed into a couple of weeks if I remember correctly.

How nervous or stressed are everyone's DCs?
DS makes out he's not worried but he has lost his appetite. A serious symptom in a greedy 16 year old boy. . I am annoying him by nagging trying to coax him into eating better.

I wish DS's was like that, Milady. He'll have a period with three/four days without exams then he'll have two or three on the same day! He seems to think that's because the school use a few different exam boards but I have no idea