THREAD FOR THE 'GUTTED' ON GCSE RESULTS DAY.

late arrival here - my DS is away (so we had to collect results for him) Revision was a no no (my usual rocket up the arse technique failed like a damp squib). Some how he has manged to pass most of them (physics was a fail but I am also useless at this) - we are just waiting to see if he is ok for A levels at school - or his local college - sadly as he is still up in Scotland we will have to wait until enrolment day to find out - just hope he actually does some work this time

I agree it all comes down to motivation. DS1 has just screwed up his AS exams (see my other thread!). He's so laid back he's practically comatose. Isn't interested in school and has zero idea of what he might do. He's managed to get back into the sixth form but he's only going to be able to do 2 A2s and another AS. I can't imagine what he will do with his life. I've always felt DS2 wasn't as clever, but he's done really well with some early GCSEs and generally does much better at school. He's motivated, focused, competitive and doesn't faff around. Makes a world of difference

Hi everybody. I'm in move forwards mode now.

I had a great idea last night. As ds1 is about to start GCSEs in September, I recruitted DD to come up with some ideas to help him. She told me how long he should study, where he should study, ways to make sure he is sleeping and not chatting online at 3am. Basically all the things she probably regrets. In asking her what we can do to help DS, I made her reflect on her own experience.

We have decided to create a good study area for all the DCs to use and DD is going to help me with designing it. Another way off getting her involved, hoping it will encourage her to study harder next year

It's SO difficult watching him muddle through. I can relate to him, I was like that at his age to a lesser extent. But I can just see him still sitting on the sofa aged 25, still eating cheese on toast and watching reruns of flipping Casualty!
On a more positive note, I'm home now and have had a look at his results. He has a couple of cs in his individual english modules, and he has 3 distinctions and a merit in his ict. I'm hoping they equate to something useful.

Oh god - this is going to be me next year ...

Ds told Dh the other day that there was no point in working hard for gcses as the only things he cared about were joining the army and girls

Aaarrghhhh

I'm not looking forward to year 11 ...

You can't! He has to figure that out for himself.

I had to work in McDonald's for a year before I realised that qualifications might be an idea.

I feel like DS has decided that life is only inside his little bubble of sofa bed and explorer scouts. The outside world is just a myth! I'm not sure how to break that bubble!

I agree there are people out there doing well without academic qualifications but most whom we know of eg) Richard Branson etc are all driven and motivated individuals. Today I'm so angry with my two for their results, dh says I should be pleased they passed but I can't get over their lack of personal motivation which has led to their at best mediocre performance. It's as if they've made a decision to do as little as possible to pass and no more, they haven't strived for their best.

Thing is, I know there are lots of peeps out there who do well without qualifications, but that doesn't stop me worrying!

There's an info day on Wednesday, enrolment is on Thursday. He didn't get an interview, he applied late. (Newly created course) the coordinator will go over his results on Tuesday with us. Fingers crossed.

Well said.

Just wanted to echo longingforsomesleep's post about academic success not necessarily equating with work success.

My sister did really badly in her O' levels and only passed about 4. She left school for dead end jobs for a few years. She then went overseas to teach English and now 20 years later has written and published books, edited a dictionary, worked as a presenter and writer for broadcast media and still teaches (all with no formal qualifications above O' level). She has a fantastic career, earns quite a lot and has a lovely family, loads of friends and a great lifestyle. If she had been to Uni in England she is unlikely to have moved abroad.

Some people are simply not cut out for academic learning at a young age. It is always possible to study at Uni level via OU or access courses later on.

Hi Saggy, hope you're doing ok. Will your DS have an enrolment interview? I felt like I was walking a tightrope with DD at times. Push too hard - she'll freak out; push too little - she'll do nothing.

DS has done terribly. I'm about six emotions rolled into one!
He hasn't made the reqs for his course, but they will look at the individual modules of his English and see if they can scrape him through. I'm sad, because however hard I've harried him, he has ambled through school like I did! Sadly my grades were much better than his in spite of my apathy. I'm just so upset for him!

For OCR Level 2 ICT I was looking at this , specifically the botton table 'National First Award'.

What a dull post.

(It would be nice if the school had bothered to tell us what the qualification means.)

hiya all, just to put it out there- i was causing my mum this stress a few years ago i think she was on the wine before i got out of bed
i barely studied and my parents were very strict on good grades etc
i got
1 A*
1A
4 B's
4 C's
2 D's

scraped into 6th form at my school (my parents wanted me at a high school) and came out with a*, a, b, c..
all is not lost because gcses are bad..... have hope!

im not going to have any of this stress with my daughter (unborn) she will revise when i tell her and be a straight A student, right?!

Just reread your post and see why you put c as a pass for a different qualification rather than GCSE.

Sassh
Entry level 1 is equivalent to nc 1
Entry level 2 to nc2
Entry level 3 to nc 3
Level 1 equates to goes grades G, F, E, D
Level 2 equates to GCSE A, B , C

A pass is not a C at GCSE.

Having slept on DD's results, today is another day.

On the plus side DD has another year to drag those English Units up to a wobbly C grade. She will also finaly get the help she needs and there is time to improve on the CA's they've already done and not cashed in. She might not be able to go to one of our towns 6th form colleges but the other does do English Resits so all is not lost.

I hope for all the yr11's on this thread solutions can be found and places at 6th forms/FE college.

Just remember, a lot of really successful people didn't do well at school - Steven Fry, Jamie Oliver, Richard Branson etc. Exam results aren't always a measure of intelligence and certainly don't begin to measure the qualities we need to succeed in the world of work.

My DH only scraped a few o'levels but does a really demanding job which I, with my degree, couldn't begin to get my head round.

One of DS1's mates didn't get into sixth form last summer, tried a different sixth form, dropped out after a term and is now training with a firm and earning a good salary.

So all is not lost!!

Thanks sashh!

Teacher here

BTEC (not Btech - that's an Indian qualification) and OCR come in 4 levels.

Entry - Just starting to study
Level 1 - Getting ready for GCSE
Level 2 - GCSE Level
Level 3 - A Level

BTEC also do Level 4 which is an HNC or HND

The number of GCSEs / A Levels and grades depends on whether you do the Certificate, Diploma or Extended diploma.

Most GCSE students will take level 2, some will have taken Level 1 wich allows them to do Level 2 at college. Most schools seem to go for the Diploma at level 2, which is equivelant to 4 GCSEs.

BTEC/OCR grade at Pass, Merit, Distinction (they have introduced Distinction* at Level 3, but I'm not sure about Level 2 - not teaching at the moment)

Pass - grade C GCSE
Merit - grades B GCSE
Distinction - A / A*

Well done to everyone's dc.

We enrol at college on Wednesday so at least the school dunce has a place there. On the bright side at least we will not be paying private fees for sixth form! Had the call saying DS could stay as the school does not believe in losing the fees just kicking people out. As if I care now after a couple of glasses of wine.

Lets set up a free school for the roadsweepers

That might be why she's not putting the effort in.

She tells me she's going to the uni that's walking distance from home. Whereas I'm telling her she needs to go to uni far far away and live in halls and give me a break get the whole uni experience. :o

Or, as I say to me DD, 'If you pass these exams you are a step closer to escaping from me in a couple of years' time...'