Year 11 GCSE support thread 4 - more exams

Sorry to hear that DC found the additional maths paper hard, but I second/third the idea that the grade boundaries will probably be lower.

Sorry to hear your DD had a mare in Geography Ashbee, but it sounds like she was pretty resourceful.

Thanks for the heads-up on the maths equipment - just asked DD to check and she immediately said she needed a screwdriver to tighten her compass as her tutor had told her to this morning!

DD said Add. Maths was 'awful'. Geog went 'very well'.

I've started stacking text books to return to school, slowly ticking them off the list as each exam is done!

Geography seems to have gone oK question about map types seems to have caused problems from some of this class mates as guess what ........they hadn't covered it! But ds happy as he'd looked at the revision guide this morning and had heard of the choices. Think it maths tomorrow. Not that he's revising oh no he's killing klingons again (-there'll be no klingons left in the federation soon!)
Am gonna chase him down to the beach after tea for a walk in the sun.

No exams here today and maths tomorrow which I think is iGCSE and should be fine as they both like maths.

I was with a chief examiner's daughter yesterday at a work thing so lots of common ground there.

I love this thread. Thanks littleham, that's really useful to know about the additional maths.

Not so good on geography today. DD mystified by the case studies , none of which she seemed to have done - and she's done a ton of revision. She ended up making up a response about an example location for coastal erosion as the question was about the 'wrong sort of erosion' that didn't fit with her well trodden case studies. I think I need a lie down.

Maths tomorrow.

oops

Geog (AQA) feedback is positive here - used three case studies that he was solid on ... done and dusted!

9 done - 9 to go ...

Classics tomorrow (first of three papers!) on Rome, and maths n/calc

Geog (AQA) went well here ... feels happy with use of inevitable case studies ... glad its over!

9 down, 9 to go ...

Classics tomorrow (first of three papers!) on Rome, and Maths n/calc

Day off today for DS with only maths tomorrow so currently on the golf course with some mates having some down time. Hopefully their conversations DO NOT FEATURE GCSE TALK.

It won't matter at all in that case. A lot of people got E's and U's in Additional Maths at my dc's school in the previous years (same problem - not many lessons scheduled so they were doing it themselves). It was compulsory to put it on the form but they still got offers at good universities.

Usual 'alright' report from DD1 about this afternoons Geography exam. Very slight panic this morning as I got a text from the school to say she hadn't registered. School receptionist found DD1 just as she was about to go into the exam and it turns out (and I thought this was happening) that with revision classes being all over the place, registers aren't being done.

But another exam done, 7 more to go. Difficult one tomorrow ~ maths. I've had a text from school saying to make sure all pupils have black pens, rulers, pencils etc for it. This is one of the few exams that DD can come home after it as well (rather than stay for revision classes as she has done up 'til now) so she's looking forward to being able to do that.

No Littleham the plan is English but she wants to do Maths to AS level in 6th form. She just doesn't do failure ! She is predicted fab grades for everything else . Add maths is her nemesis. But the add maths she has done will help with a level maths.
Add maths has largely been a self taught subject. She has had an hour a week at lunchtime in year 10 and school finally agreed to put an hour a week into timetable in year 11 so was always going to be an uphill struggle. But the challenge has been good for her.
She is now revising for Maths tomorrow.

Ahh, breakfast at yours sounds good smoothieoo
Thirty something years later I still remember the lovely cherries my Mum put in my lunch-box during the exam season
Geography better for dd, breaking a rather frustrating run of exams this week. She virtually finished this one, only missing a 4 marker which is good for her ATM
Some schools have very tough criteria for A level don't they? That seems rather un-necessary and very difficult all round. It's B's for A level here, and even then possibly only for maths and sciences.
Fingers X for all x

Just spoke to DS1. German went well but he fears that Geography may be a minor disaster (as did a fair few of his classmates). I'm hoping that the earlier exam plus his coursework will scrape him through - it's one of the subjects he hopes to take at A level but can't continue to 6th form at his school unless he gets at least an 'A'. Bugger. I'm hoping he's being slightly over-dramatic...

Maths tomorrow - less pressure to do well probably means he will do well.

He seems to be coping well generally, although is very tired. He's had a small treat every day of his exams and a special breakfast. Tomorrow's is a croissant and fresh raspberries (whereas it's usually a slice of buttered white toast)!

She does have to put it on the UCAS form. Does she want to take Maths at University?

I fear not Funambulist. She came straight home and goggled whether she has to admit to ever taking the exam to UCAS as she thinks it will be a U. Her best mark on a past paper has been a low B and she generally can manage a C . Bur she's adamant its a U.

dingit I think sometimes if they come out of exam and don't feel it went well they can be overly harsh/dramatic with the "I'll be lucky to get a C" type of comments? - I hope so as I've had similar from dd

DD didn't like the German exam. Shame.

She couldn't do a couple of the questions in Additional Maths so reckons she has dropped about 11 marks. But.... grade boundaries are likely to be low as people seemed to hate it. I think previous boundaries for a grade A were down near 60 (out of 100) so they could still get high marks.

She'll be an asset to many a pub quiz team in years to come, mummytime!

The geog case studies did seem to entail quite a bit of independent work to gen up on them - DD seemed to have given some thought as to which to focus on to give compare/contrast pairings, but it does ( or by now, did) depend what questions come up.

DD has a special gift for remembering Statistics - so she can quote exactly what time the Mount St Helen's Volcano erupted etc. Don't know what "real" use it will ever be, except for surprising people in presentations, but it does help with exams.

Billy Joel ... I meant Billy Joel ...

When I came home yesterday from the school run with DS4, I did a double take at DS1's face - pale with huge dark circles under his eyes! Yet he was fine in himself ... quite happy with RS; said English was depressing - a couple of bits on child poverty and another on how spoiled western children were! Nice!

German and geography today - another two lids on subject boxes snap into place

Did anyone-else find the 'geography case study song' on youtube? In terms of a song the bloody thing is rubbish beyond belief, but its set to Bruce Springsteen's 'We didn't start the fire' which has been in my head all day!

Its here if you want a giggle!

wed - sometimes with hard maths papers the grade boundaries are pretty low. DD was quite surprised having marked an FM past paper which she thought she'd tanked on that she'd scraped an A (not an A* though!). So your DD really may have done better than she thinks.

Weds my dd has just done additional maths, and wasn't very positive. She didn't do a 12 mark question and thinks she will be lucky if she gets a C. She got an A in her last mock and is predicted a B so I'm trying not to show my disappointment.
Fair play to her, she has no more exams this week, and is back in her room revising. She also has niggling toothache and has an appointment at the dentist in an hour