Year 11 GCSE support thread 4 - more exams

Tilly, hope your DD has got some sleep. I agree with what you said about 'catching them out'. I guess ok if there's just one or two questions where the real mathematicians get it but the one who are just good at maths don't, but sounds like this one wasn't like that.

It sounds GCSE maths was similar to iGCSE maths paper 1 which was so bad my sons were sending me links to the youtube videos about its awfulness. Paper 2 yesterday (iGCSE) was fine. Music today and then just history next week and it's all over until AS/A level/degree/post grad......

Yse, I agree the constant changes make things hard. Some people my age eg have no UCAS points even if they had brilliant grades, for on line job applications. Others took exams when no A was available. It's going to be more complex soon when GCSEs are marked 1 -9 rather than A A etc. If university degrees change from 2/1, 2/2 that will confuse employers even more.

Oh Tilly, sorry DD was upset by the maths.
Hope everyone will feel better this morning and decide tomorrow's another day IYSWIM

We have biology too today. Another one that matters more than most - but because it's a strength she wants to continue with - so that brings mixed feelings doesn't it?

Thanks for all tips everyone - am getting some blueberries in for next week
(our final week yay! )

I'll have to ask DD about the cylinder /cone one, she didn't mention it. I think she thought that quite a bit of the problem was that some of the questions were wordy and needed reading carefully to understand what was required. Perhaps similar to the issues causing a brouhaha about the new spec papers being too difficult and being scrapped?

BTM I hope DD has woken up in a better mood.

Good Luck to all today, last day before 2 days 'off'!

My DD is doing Biology and Music today.

Oh BTM This makes me so angry, it is so unfair and talk about not having a level playing field from year to year, no one seems to give a shit about the effect all the messing around with GCSE's over the last few years has on those sitting them amd who will be forever judged on their results. Fingers crossed that Biology will be OK and she can regain her confidence.

DD couldn't move on at all last night, despite copious support from us and going for a run. She said there's no point in revising anything now, and doesn't want waking up for Biology, so I expect a load of abuse when I go in this morning to wake her.

Completely agree about how traumatic it is for them now. Such a shame that the exams don't allow them to show what they can do rather than trying to trip them up and catch them out

Feel drained.

DH thought the sweets Q was pretty straightforward when DS told him about it; likewise the cone/cylinder Q.
He has a Masters in Maths though, so he should be able to do it shouldn't he?!

I'm hopeless at Maths, so all Maths is ignored by me

Good luck to Science takers today. Really hope it goes well and they get confidence back after Maths.

I totally agree Back for good? I don't remember it being anything like this. Wouldn't worry about DD and Maths, seems like the wording was the mai issue and she assumabky was able to work her way round it.

See there is a petition about the grade boundaries.

Blueberries came with shopping this week for DS. Will.mske DD eat them whilst revising (I live in hope)

I suspect trying to get my very fussy eater dd1 to eat blueberries, might be even harder than getting her to do a reasonable mount of revision

I think this thread is great though for us parents to let off steam - I think it's FAR more traumatic for my dc to be taking exams than I ever thought it was when I was taking exams.

Perhaps we should find exactly what this Hannah and her sweets question was and start a 'maths help' thread- see how the MN collective rates it?

Well at least they're ALL saying it was a difficult exam so that's 'good' !

Am so pleased to read twitter and see that everyone is saying g the same thing. Ds told me about Hannah and her sweets and the strange n2 0 thing. I'm gonna show him the twitter feed but not the answer bit.

Wouldn't they have to be fed blueberries while they were revising though?

For anyone whose DC was worried by today's now infamous Edexcel Maths Higher paper, it has even made ITV news www.itv.com/news/2015-06-04/students-mock-their-gcse-edexcelmaths-exam-on-twitter/

I watched a program about feeding students blueberry smoothies before a test and how their scores improved significantly.

Apparently blueberries have magical properties to help with memory.

I tried it with DS2 when he took a language aptitude entrance test for a school but it seems blueberries don't enhance language aptitude.

It hasn't stopped me waving blueberries under DS1's face each morning this week.

Discussed IVF with DS this evening, his face was like this
Not sure how he thought it happened!

That's OK then
Pointedly ignores Lynette (sounds grim)

• and plans oat and barley porridge (new from this week's LIDL shop) for breakfast tomorrow

I am now freaking out about a stuffed rat a dead rat in the street.

But can top trump it with a pickled baby in the biology lab at my secondary school.

Have inspected pickled animals at DCs school and nothing more intimidating than a snake.

No! A cute scruffy cuddly toy rat. Teacher had a great sense of humour.

I hope it wasn't a real stuffed rat Littleham?
Sounds dreadful - especially if she didn't find it!

DD's primary school teacher had a rat (stuffed not live) which he put into the messiest child's drawer as a reminder that they should tidy it. My dd broke the school record for the longest rat occupancy rate. Her drawer was so bad that she didn't ever come across it! The shame of it.

littleham. So glad we are not the only ones. Saw a dead rat in the street yesterday and told DD that I thought it had escaped from Her room as it couldn't stand to stay in it any longer. . Things growing in cups. Maybe it's a science experiment?