GCSE Support Thread 2013

Beachy and Basildon, first maths paper over
Pretty difficult a/c Ds.
views from yours?
French on Monday.

What a weekend

Last day of normal school here before starting exams Monday. Anyone else's DC in the park getting pissed partying?

DD doesn't seem to be revising enough (for my liking anyway) . She says she does it at school.

I agree, no point nagging as it just causes rows. I'm now taking the stance if what will be , will be ( also on the vino )

Thanks Beachy I'll have a look. I think they've been doing old papers but she doesn't understand any of it .

circular I have just decided that its her exams, she should know what she needs to do to get the grades she wants (vv average, if not lower, she is not academic at all) and there is absolutely no point me nagging which would result in screaming, shouting and tears all round.

School is great and very supportive, so I put my trust in them, her and God!! (and also drink copious amounts of wine)

Does anyone know, is it just EDEXCEl that do not allow any discussion for 24 hours after the exam?

First on Monday here to - French Listening and Reading papers.
Hardly any revision being done except for school sessions - she thinks doing too much will be counterproductive.

Can't work out if she she is being lazy or just an over confident brat!

first one Monday here too mums, 9am, Religion & Life Issues - same thing? and I so agree with stressy shouting while claiming total non-stressedness.

DD1's english teacher has given them all a handwritten good luck card and a new highlighter pen each - sweet. Think her stress is being quite well-hidden, although there is the odd explosion like the fight with DD2 this morning over whether someone on TV was or wasnt Avril Lavigne (I havent a clue).

Worryingly, she doesnt seem to be doing much (any?) revision, tho she says it is all they are doing at school and she is doing extra sessions after school and on saturday. beachyhead maths is our biggest bugbear too. She got a G last summer, and then Ds in 2 subsequent retakes. I very much doubt she will get that magic C this time, which means a bloody retake or 3 in 6th form.

I am trying to remain calm, not going to give up smoking til after the GCSEs and find wine very helpful.

lots of stressy shouting here this morning - it's the first maths paper this afternoon

I've told the other dc to keep their distance over the next couple of weeks ...

Doin, we did a couple of Justin Craig short courses, one at Christmas and one at Easter, but mostly it's just been old papers, again and again....

I feel I've done the Maths GCSE already ...

I think she will feel better tonight, now she's actually started the exams. (She hasn't done any early, her school doesn't)

Awwwwwww Beachy it's so hard to see them stressed. My DD 15 year 10 had a mock maths exam yesterday and only managed 11 questions. She reckons she'll get a U

Can anyone recommend a maths tutor in Essex? DD has agreed that she will need one.

First one tomorrow... Maths of all things.. Tears here...

ds's study leave started on Tuesday afternoon

and on Wednesay morning he was back at school at normal time because he says he works better with the structure of being at school - fewer distractions!

first exam this afternoon - his teacher just emailed to say fingers crossed he might scrape an A ...

he has been working really hard ever since Easter - shame he spent the first two terms of Y11 arsing about ...

DS's last day of school today for a while. Study leave begins tomorrow!

DS did his drama performance on Friday and was also exhausted afterwards. Hope it was worth the effort, from the experience of students in other years it seems disproportionately difficult to achieve a high grade in drama. Still one down now!

That's good new webwiz, hopefully it has put him in the right frame of mind for the next few weeks :)

DS did his drama GCSE performance today and when I got in from work I found him fast asleep on the sofa! He said it went well so that's the first GCSE completed.

Yes roisin AQA, school have said anything above 57 likely to be an C, but given the shift last time, there are no guarantees are there.

She is sitting the exam again this time, so hopefully will do better anyway. She may need the wiggle room as CAs not far off borderline as well.

Is this AQA? We are interpreting 59 in January as a C+ ... I certainly hope so! Nov and August C boundaries were both 53; much lower than that in Jan 2012.

Circular yes it is really late, but as they have only done one other written piece, there is no chance of pulling out of this. They have no spares :(

In English, DD is just doing language, but even this is a struggle. Again here, it is the ASD issues of literal interpretation and very little imagination. Her spoken CAs are ok, but everything else is at the C/D borderline.

She sat the exam in Jan and got 59 which in previous years would have definitely be a C. But who knows what OFQUAL will do to the English boundary this time round. As her English teacher so tactfully put it, DD will get a C, but they are not sure when

Thankfully, because her struggle with English is related to her disability, she can go into sixth form without a C :). She can retake then if necessary. She needs to get 5 GCSEs in total, with Bs in the subjects she wants to take for A level (Maths/Sciences). She has As for most of the science modules taken so far, so this should be ok.

I would leave any foundation/higher decisions to the teachers tbh. they are the experts and will be as keen as you are for them to achieve their potential.

I do agree though that it's very late for CAs to be done. ds1's CAs were all complete before Christmas in all subjects; and they've been concentrating on exam skills prep since then.

Creamteas That's really late for the French written CA, DD had some in yr10. But then again only finished sciences last week.

I thought they did up to 4 written and 4 spoken with the best 2 of each being submitted. If that is just the last written to go, is it worth speaking to French teacher to see where her CA grades stand so far? Then you can gauge how much she needs in the exam for a C, and see how close she is getting to that ob the practice papers?

What's the English situation?