Year 11 GCSE support thread 5 - finishing off the exams

Sit. rep. from Chez Gin: - Edexcel calc paper first 20 questions pretty good - last 8 really hard. First time this exam season he's rung his dad at work as he walked out of school and vented all the way to the station!

I think this has shaken him up a bit to be honest - and chemistry paper 2 is tomorrow ! Yikes ...

DS said he thought today's calc Edexcel paper was easier than the non-calc one. I haven't asked him about any of the questions, as I'd rather that both he and I were in blissful ignorance of any mistakes he may have made. The main thing is that it's done now. Another one ticked off the list.. Hurrah. Only 2 exams to go.

There does seem huge variation in revision sessions/study leave. DD's school - which is a GS and gets the best results in the county - had some optional sessions over easter, and I think DD said there might be a couple for FM this and next week (I'd better ask her about that), and they haven't had to stay in school since the exams started. My guess is that they think too much pressure is counterproductive.

She's been working pretty consistently but certainly not all hours - having read through the chemistry revision guide over the weekend, she's been bouncing around rather since she got home after maths (I did at least get her to choose some walking trousers online!) and then has been doing some FM which isn't till next week rather than chemistry.

Also goes to show how much some schools are prepared to put on to give them the extra push compared with others. Some kids won't want to go in to do revision even if they can focus better in their school environment (mine).
I hope the chem paper is not weird like the biol one reputedly was.

Oh dear. Just bumped into a friend whose dd was at Junior school with my dd but they went to different secondary schools - she was saying her dd has been in school from 8.30 - 4.30 every day, plus Saturday mornings, plus the last two school holidays.....staff putting on revision sessions.
Now, whereas I think this is extreme, it's giving me another wobble at how little work dd is doing...... wobble wobble (she's fine - totally stress free)

DS said he thought Edexcel Maths was 'OK'. No word on how it compared to the first one. He's currently chatting to DH about it, so I might get more info later.

Ds did calc maths edexcel paper this morning and informed me that the first question involved sweets that's as much as I got out of him.

God yes, Chemistry tomorrow.

I got one of those shower curtains with the periodic table on it and apparently there's something 'wrong' with the classifications. Thank you, Asda.

DD said the maths paper was tough, because there are usually a mix of questions.

Nice easy starter ones. Ones that are hard, but you know the methodology so you can give it your best shot and a couple of 'out there' ones for the best students.

This paper didn't have any of the first category and more of the third than is usual.

I agree that maths isn't so much a subject that you can revise, and I am really miffed at the school when dd says that they didn't teach her set any of the A grade questions because of lack of time (staffing issues), so even with revising she probably wouldn't have done better than a B even if potentially capable. I'm more worried for the other subjects that she didn't revise for without my realising it. I hope she has her nose in a chemistry revision guide up there.

The trouble with 'real life' examples is that the places people really use some of this stuff is in science or engineering a lot more advanced than GCSE level. In the case of probabilities, there might be 'real life' scenarios to do with criminal cases or risk/benefit of medical treatments - but I'm not sure there's a real life scenario where you'd go from probabilities to a quadratic equation. (I'd like to know if there is!)

Mellifera I think that's what my DS meant when he said a couple of the questions were 'off spec'. It only takes a couple of 'weird' questions to throw a candidate.

We have a national shortage of adults who are competent in maths at a higher level, from teaching through to the armed forces. Alienating and freaking kids out about maths at 16, and deterring them from A Level, seems counter-productive to the national interest.

My DD is similar, MadAsgardian. She puts so much pressure on herself that all the pressure from us is to urge her to take a break sometimes. Whenever she's not working she's feeling anxious. DD has 8 exams to go, 5 of which are science, so there's still a lot of revision going on. It's grim for all of us and I can't wait for it to be over!

My poor DD is having a hard time. So far she has been ok, all exams seem to have gone well and she has always been a hard worker.

We have never put any pressure on her re grades, just encouraged her and praised for hard work. However, for some reason, she puts an enormous amount of pressure on herself, not necessarily grades wise, but she seems to feel like she should be working all the time.

At times we have had to make her take breaks. This weekend she had a complete wobbly. It started with history revision and I could see she just wasn't in the right frame of mind. She has been swinging between tears and sleeping all weekend and then last night sobbing because she hasn't done any revision. I think she's just had enough. She's got 5 exams this week so I am hoping being back at school and talking to some teachers will have helped calm her down.

I feel awful for her but don't want to make a huge fuss. I have just booked 2 days leave for the 2 days after prom so we can have some quality time together. I'll be glad for her when it's all done.

I think it is. They have obviously tried to make the questions more "real life" (who in RL thinks up quadratic equations to work out probability when eating sweets) and harder. Which is what the government is pushing with the new NC in primary, so it follows.

I agree, BTM. Why do the exam boards do this? Is it politically-motivated? I hate the fact that our children seem to be guinea pigs for the system :(

So and that the Maths is so hard compared to all the past papers.

DD thought it was easier than the last paper, she attempted all questions but "made up the method" for some. I'm hoping on results day it will be a good enough result that she still wants to do it for A'level - someone advised that A'level questions are more straight forward eg. don't try to catch you out, so maybe that will be good news.

Ds says maths was Ok ish. I asked if it was better than the last one. no. Oh bugger. he's tried to get out of staying for revision this afternoon but he doesn't revise at home so I said I can't pick him up until 3. It's his only full day in this week. can't wait until they're over.

DD not in a good mood anymore. She found AQA Maths hard and weird, has no idea how she did. A level choice here too

ono, I saw Twitter and my heart dropped. But I have to say, the Tweets are really funny!

DD just rang saying that the paper was hard but not quite as bad as last weeks - thank God it is over.
However, she and her mate have just left school without permission. Which is not good. They have not been given study leave, but she finds it much better revising at home

sugar - yes, I think you're about right with the grade boundaries. A* is typically around 84% for maths. Pupils who are predicted C/B aren't expected to attempt all the questions.

DD is having 3 hours off after morning exams, so is currently out for a walk with DH, before coming back to start on Chemistry later this afternoon.

Linerunner - I agree! I bet there are discussions going on already. I'm amazed that they allow exams to be sat at different times