Year 11 GCSE Exam Support Thread

Yes, that's a tough week, mine has one exam on each of 2nd, 4th and 5th too inc Eng Lang and Maths which obv are particularly important ones.

Good motivator there! Nice to have the place sorted.

Thanks Errol. She will complain - she's 15 after all

She's actually got a bit of a bottleneck around 2/3/4 June - but on the up side it does mean that she only has 2 more exams after those dates so can begin to see light at the end of the tunnel.

She has accepted her conditional place at a new school for 6th form - she can see the new school from her bedroom window so is strangely motivated to meet the entry requirements. Amazing what the prospect of an extra hour and a half in bed can do

Oh, and good luck for her mocks.

Woolly - that'd be Wed 3rd July, presumably - my DD has the 2 germans and geog but also computing so if your DD complains you can tell her it could be worse!

DD brought home her exam timetable yesterday. There are a fair few before they break up for May half term. She has three exams on one day (2 German papers and a Geography paper - not brilliant, she's not a linguist and Geography has been a chore). The rest are pretty well spaced out and her last exam is 17th June. The school usually give them exam leave from May half term but nothing definite has been announced yet.

Mocks start next week. Her recent report had her on or above target for all her grades so it will be interesting to see if that translates to mock results.

I guess that's one reason why it's a good idea for them to put some effort into mocks - if the real thing comes out lower then presumably a remark is more likely?

DD got one of her mock papers back on Monday and found 11 marks the teacher hadn't counted, so she can add an A to her list of results now.

DD enjoyed her 6th form taster day, but in the DT Systems and Control session she was the only one to say she definitely wanted to do it, with two 'maybes'. Today they have external applicants in, hoping that some of them want to do it.

Iranian, they are a very respectable set of results. Good that the science tutor is confident.

That's great the Maths tutor worked out well Dingit.

DD doing same set texts as above. She is asking to go down a set on English back to her old teacher who she found she understood well. I'm quite happy about that.

Definitely a mixed bag there TeenandTween and opposite of my dyspraxia DD who got F in Maths but B in English. Funny how it can affect people so differently. DD was diagnosed way back in Reception though as really struggled.

My Mother has Dementia and has taken a turn for the worse and I think I have some rather testing times ahead with both DD and her over the next few months.

So, mock results in for recently diagnosed dyspraxic DD.
Mixed bag to say the least.

Bs for maths, sciences and languages, Fs for essay based subjects.
hmmmm. Have requested a meeting with school on how to progress. (Luckily she's running on As for English CAs so not quite as dire as it sounds, but still).

DD got some (CGP I think, not York, don't know what the difference may be) via her school. Not sure if she's actually looked at them yet...maybe I should read the 'conflict poetry' ...

Yes, thanks - I think we have them for both Mice and Men and An Inspector Calls. Not sure about the conflict poetry anthology though...

bTM - same here ... have you seen York Notes do revision aids for both those books (and many other texts) and conflict poetry anthology? Just got them this morning and very happy to add them to DS' armoury ...

dingit, that's great

Well done to your DD Irian

DD is doing Of Mice and Men, An Inspector Calls and the dreaded anthology.

Irian - good solid set of mocks, and hopefully the science results will focus her mind.

dingit - that's great, so pleased it went well!

The maths tutoring was a revelation. Dd says she learnt more from him in an hour, than she does in a week at school.( not difficult, as they had no teacher again today) He seemed quite please with her work and gave her homework. He was quite positive about her doing A level, and said he could tell she enjoyed maths.

Finally! We got DD's results. They kept them until parents evening last week. DD had to reschedule her interview at college because she didn't have her mock results and the school wouldn't give them to her early!

Anyway....A* in geog and history, A in maths, B in English and Spanish, C in core and additional science (ouch!) and B in art. She will need at least a B in the two science exams to do physics and biology at A level - her targets are B and the teacher seems confident but she still has lots of work to do. Highest marks in her tutor group!!

I wish DD was doing Woman in Black (they did it in yr8 or 9) as we saw the play in London a few years ago, it was really good!

Yes, agree it's nice for them to show some different abilities - that's why we were pleased DD chose Drama as one of her options. She'd have preferred not to do a language but it was compulsory, and (now she's finally managed to do the Speaking!) should be OK with that. (her English intervention is A/B borderline, the school likes good A/A* stats!)

G&T - was there somethig particular on Woman's hour today/recently?

Draylon - that's good. My DD sounds rather similar - she's not lazy but frankly doesn't see the point of Eng. Lit, and hasn't sufficiently mastered the art of getting her thoughts down on paper in an orderly way under time constraints for the 'writey' subjects. She had her first 'English intervention' session last week - actually found it really helpful, possibly because its a different teacher. Though if anyone can give me a convincing rationale as to why she needs to be able to analyse An Inspector Calls, some 'relationships' poems and (inevitably) Of Mice and Men, I'd be most grateful, it's beyond my powers!

Errol & Dingit - your girls would make Jenny Murray (R4 Womans' Hour) weep with pride ...

Whew, well after all that, the German speaking CA is done and according to the teacher might be an A. I think part of DD's problem was worrying too much if she got something wrong - whereas (as I understand it) that doesn't matter too much, they assess what they get right.