Year 11 GCSE Exam Support Thread

dingit - she's planning on Maths, FM, Physics and DT Systems and Control. But if they don't run the latter course (not sure what the minimum number of students is), she'll do Computing. She wants to do Electronics, though DH seems to think she might like Mechatronics whatever the heck that is. She's starting to think a bit about universities but it's still early in the process. The apprenticeship with degree pathway sounds like a particularly good idea for aeronautical eng.

Meant to ask, what is your dd doing at A level Errol, and has she any Universities in mind? My dd was looking at apprenticeships, where they pay for you to do a degree. Sound like a win win to me.

She had a fantastic teacher for GCSE, then he left
She's planning Maths Physics Chemistry, and Graphic Design.
she wants to do aeronautical engineering, and is obsessed with air crash investigations ( so bagsy I don't sit next to her on the plane when we go on holiday )

dingit - hope the tutor can repair some of the damage that the school appears to have done. I just checked back some of your earlier posts, I've also got a 5'1" would-be engineer so I deeply sympathise. Actually I'm feeling quite angry on your DD's behalf! Mine is lucky enough not to have been messed about by the school, none of this early GCSE business, and good teacher this year. She saw some of the Additional Maths past papers (before they decided to do igcse FM instead, which she says should be much easier) and said it looked really hard - and she's had another good teacher for this twilight class. But she's been assured that she'll be fine with the maths A levels.

What other subjects is she planning on?

I thought she was too, but she's really lost her confidence, and doesn't enjoy maths like she did at GCSE level.
Poor girl, they are all under so much pressure, I don't remember it being that hard in our day.

Dingit, she sounds more than capable if she got an A in Y9

That sound encouraging Tilly. That's exactly what I want him to tell me, if she's capable of A level. She wants to do engineering, so everything hinges on her being able to do it.

dingit - she must be good if she got an A in yr9. How the heck was she supposed to teach herself Additional Maths? My DD's maths has improved enormously since then - no way would she have been able to do the GCSE back then, but now her teacher is confident she can do both maths and Further maths for A level. I'm sure the tutor will be able to reassure your DD (and you) as to her ability.

dingit, if she is self-teaching she must be pretty good. I bet the tutor will be able to give you a good idea of where she's at - on the first meeting,my DD's tutor asked her if she was planning to take A'level maths, as she should be as he felt she is capable. She was scraping a C grade at that point, but her confidence was boosted loads by him just telling her that!

g & t I'm really worried about dd doing A level maths too. She got an A, albeit taken in year 9. She's struggling with additional maths ( although last year they were self taught due to staff shortage). she is starting with a maths tutor tonight, fingers crossed this will give her a boost, more in confidence if anything, than grade.

Errol, fingers crossed for your DD - mine struggles massively with the speaking CA's and still has to do them for both French and Spanish.

Dingit, DD got a C in her Eng Lang exam despite being predicted A*. She had a shit teacher last year and the good one she has this year was focusing on the Lit first. Just hope she does better in her mocks.

Just done another sixth form interview - thankfully I didn't have to go in this time. Very competitive, but she sounded quite upbeat afterwards. Just need to keep her positive till half-term and the mocks (for which she has so far done very little) are over.

Dingit we ha e this with Philosophy and Ethics. She sent a sheet home saying what people got in their mocks v actual grades as I guess she didn't want parents to flip at low grades in Mocks. She scars DD to death and she gags in the morning she has her, great on Monday morning but DD says I am not allowed to intervene.

GandT, good results. I would be inclined to get him to do Maths as well and see how it pans out. What are the plans for after school ? If it is University and he wants a Russell Group type one I would be just having a look at entry requirements. We sat through a talk on facilitating subjects and they suggest two. I'm not entirely sure that Economics or Politics were on the list at the time though it was back in Year 9 and I may be totally wrong about that.

Fingers crossed that it had gone well today for her Errol. I have that issue of not understanding any of the language DD speaks. German is the one I could have helped with but not many of the schools here do it and she wasn't into doing it anyway which is sad as we have German family.

You must be pleased with that, G&T!

I'd say do encourage him to do the maths - seems like it would go well with the economics (esp the stats options I'd have thought). He's obviously an able student, so surely starting with 4 on the understanding that if he finds it too much he can drop one - not necessarily the maths - keeps his options open?

My DD still hasn't done her mocks, they start in the week after halfterm. They've got a 'taster day' tomorrow where they get sessions in 6 subjects plus time with the current 6th formers. She's hopefully done her German speaking CA by now (she totally dried on her previous 2 attempts) - DH and I were chucked out of the house yesterday so that she could practice it without any possibility of us overhearing. Neither of us speak German, we wouldn't know if it was right or not but as the weather was OK and the dog wanted walking we complied.

Well - DS has his mock results back,

A grade for Maths and Biology
B grade for English Lit&Lang, History, Physics, Chemistry, German
C grade for RS (whatever...)

Geog and Classics taking an eternity to get their marks back to the kids - but whatever, the general result is a relief that he's in the 6th Form for defo, and many of his teachers confident they can get the B up to an A in the real thing ... yay!

Dilemma now is whether to (push) encourage him to do AS Maths along with his A2s (Economics, History and Politics). As he has matured, so has his ability in maths ... so an A grade at GCSE would allow him to take the A'level (in our school there's a minimum expectation of A/A* at GCSE before starting the A'level). But I've heard the step up from yr 11 to yr 12 is massive and what if he tanks? Not sure ...

What are your DCs planning to take at A'level on the basis of their mocks?

We went to parents evening last night. Dd is predicted A* for history, and got a C in her mock. Reading the teachers list upside down ( as you do), she was top of her class. The other class apparently had a few As. Does that mean he is a bad teacher, or marks really harshly? Dh thinks the latter, so they all come out better in the real thing.

DD has totally thrown herself into maths since getting a B in her mock. I think she's aiming high .

OK, fair enough Errol - thanks for those thoughts, I'll have a look on Uni websites (admissions) for starters, just to clarify future possibilities with different A level options

Juggling - really don't just 'hope' that the sort if courses your DD may want to do don't need chemistry and/or maths - check websites now, also you can email admissions tutors (my DD did that over xmas to check her possible A-level combinations for engineering and got helpful responses - probably best if the email comes from the student not the parent though obv you can help her with the wording). If there are suitable courses then your DD can choose her subjects as she wishes - if there aren't, then much better find out now than later.

IME any sort of science benefits from maths - in the case of biology/environmental with the stats options rather than mechanics.

Anyway, parents' evening last night, though it was more like teacher/pupil discussions with parents listening in (which is fine). Mostly positive, except that DD misunderstood something on her Biology ISA (reckons her teacher hadn't prepared them for it as well as some of the other classes had been) and got a disappointing mark - she'd been thinking she would redo it but the teacher was very stressy about it and may have put her off trying which may well cost her a grade (whereas for the physics ISA she got a (low) A* but thinks she can do better and the teacher was very relaxed and happy for her to have another shot at it if she wants!).

Thanks SugarPlum. The teacher they had in Y9/10 is at least part of the reason the grade is so low - thankfully they have a really strong teacher now who is covering what the other teacher didn't and getting them up-to-speed. We hope! The interview isn't till after half-term, but it gives her something else to worry about

dd is pretty set on not doing chemistry or physics for A level. She knows this will rule out some things, such as being a vet - but then that is so competitive anyway and dd thinks she would worry too much about the animals which is fair enough and I can see, though she's bright and likes animals, it's probably not for her. Am hoping there are enough biology/environmental courses you can do without chemistry, but perhaps maths would help? (thanks for your helpful comments everyone)

She's in the top set roisin but not the top of that IYSWIM but dd and I joke that that's because there are some maths geeks in it, who've chosen Maths, Further Maths and Physics, or just those annoying people who are super good at everything, including sport, art, and music as well.
We've had some good chats recently - I've enjoyed talking it through with her Although she's put in her choices she can refine them if she changes her mind, including after GCSE results or for any other reason
Good luck to Tilly's dd for her interview

ds1 says that Maths is genuinely a big help/support/overlap with any of the sciences.

Do have a look at uni course requirements. A lot of biology/environmental-type courses actually specify that you must have chemistry or it is very desirable; often that is the specified subject at A level, rather than biology, which is an optional extra.

Juggling: it depends how good your dd is at Maths. Some pupils find it a real struggle and a big step up. But for others it is "light relief" - the homework is mainly just practice and more practice - not the all-consuming nature of extended reading/essay-based subjects, or a practical portfolio-based subject like art.

Thanks Tilly and SugarPlum - I think dd is interested in doing Biology or related environmental sciences at Uni and then maybe some kind of animal research or at present rather vague "work with animals" (she enjoyed some voluntary work in an animal refuge recently) So we're both thinking Maths could be a good support to that. Has been really enjoying her Art recently but again both thinking could continue this interest through other avenues as life unfolds, without the pressure of A level? (But then we both think maybe it would just be nice/good to do after all - it's so important to enjoy things in life as well isn't it?) We've talked about it quite a bit and definitely her decision though I've tried to be both honest and encouraging about how I see things, and any possible implications for the future. I'm sure too that there must be some differences in exactly how we see things even though I've talked in terms of "we think" - for one thing dd thinks Maths will be seen as helpful more than actually being so. I'm not so sure about that - I think developing skills and confidence in maths is always going to be really useful.
But am glad for her in how her choices are coming together, I think she'll enjoy them!