Anyone else have children sitting GCSE's this summer?

For my DS it is homework rather than coursework - the teachers have not yet finished the courses and the pupils will be thrown out of the scool on exam leave on May 11.

We had this whole last-minute-coursework thing with DS1 and swore it wouldn't happen with DS2 & DS3 I wonder if daughters are any better?

DS has four pieces of homework this weekend - courses not completed, so no chance of revising at school and they will be thrown out for good in another 3 weeks. I'm

Wouldn't say smiling exactly Milliways! DS2 seems to be doing quite a bit of revision but is doing a lot of the subjects he really likes (Biology, chemistry etc) and not so much of the ones he doesn't Now I have looked at the exam timetable it seems frighteningly close

DS really appreciated his Easter revision courses and the enthusiasm of the teachers taking the class (he has rather given up on his current school). French oral next week, so I shall be spending time with him listening to his party piece and learning French teenage argot. We had his resistant materials project home for the holidays for varnishing and adding finishing touches, so am pleased it is no longer clogging up the kitchen.

dd has finished ICT and textiles coursework this week. Shes doing a BTEC in sport as well -worth 2 GCSE's and solely coursework - so that is on going,but she does work most lunchtimes and stay behind after school.
The beauty of BTEC is in May she gets an extra 3 hours per week in school time to revise as the course is finishged

DS2 is working very hard. Finishing off course work this weekend (DT, Maths, Geography) in between two lots of private tuition. Breaks up next Friday and is spending the following two weeks doing revision courses at his own request! We are amazed how he has matured in the last couple of months and is organising himself so well.

DS2 STILL "finishing off" IT and History coursework. Worked for mocks and got good grades but I fear he has peaked too early! We are going away to the Lakes for a fortnight at Easter, so hopefully he will get quite a bit of revision done then

ds2 is sticking to his timetable (surprisingly). Maybe needs to do a bit more though!!

geoggy teacher here to help if needed x

Boarding school so no pressure here . seriously though, ds1 is taking his this year. Interesting to read posts as some pupils seem to be under greater pressure than ds - just did his parents/pre 6th meeting and his school actively instructs staff NOT to suggest that a pupil takes his or her subject at A level.

We've just had parents evening and I think ds2 is shocked at how much revision he's expected to do

He's just finished a revision timetable which looks lovely but I'm not sure that he'll stick to it!

In our area applications have to be in by February 9th (i.e. just before half term). DSs has gone in - via the school - already despite the fact that we have not yet had a parents evening or report. Many hours have been spent producing his personal statement at a time when he has a lot of coursework.

Hiya
My dd (13) is doing three this year. She's taking English Language, Statistics, and module 1 of the science course (not that it means anything to me, when I was at school we did all three science subject separately!)
I have to say I am hating this year, the pressure is too much for her as she is young to be taking them anyway. I just keep saying it's not the end of the world if it doesn't go how you would like it to. that's probably not the best advice but to be honest I don't know what else to say.

How is the studying going? Mocks finished next Monday here. They "seem" to be going well. Have mixed feelings about them - want him to do well, but not too well to make him complacent [wink). He has an as module exam next Tues that he hasn't even thought about due to mocks revision! The mind mapping looks great - I will definitely get him to try it thanks martianbishop

By pulling the stuff on slips, you can shift stuff around a pit before you stick it down....this can be helpful.

It really is an excellent guide to how well you can integrate a subject. the more connections the better.

It works in all subjects.

my dd sits her gcses in the summer..sadly she didnt do very well in her mocks

Thanks MB. I've always wondered what a mind map is - I have a rather more linear approach to learning, but I can see that this is probably far more effective (I wish I'd tried this at university). I shall definitely encourage DS to do this - I think that the school also recommends this approach, though I don't know if they "teach" it or merely give out a sheet outlining what to do.

that is on Bold not in bod!

Mind maps are great fun and great for revision.

Get your kids to list all the key words in a particular topic. These will often be in bod in their text book. Write them on small slips of paper.

Put the topic title in the middle of an a4 sheet. Now put the key words around, and put those words which have things in common near to each other.

Then see how many connections you can remember between the key words.

So , for a topic like Photosynthesis a key word might be Cholorphyll. THis could be linked to another key word, cell (chlorophyll is found in cells) it could also be linked to another key word chloroplast, (chlorophyll is found in chloroplasts) is is also linked to the key word light (light needs to fall on the chorophyll to let photosynthesis work) The more connections you can make between the key words, the better you understand them.

If there are words unconnected to the rest, or only connected to the topic title, you don't understand them very well.

You can do them is different colours, add little drawings, they are a great revision aid, since they are active and also highlight what you don;'t yet really understand. They are also ideal for kids who don't like to write a lot, since you only have to jot doewn a few words and phrases.

Does that make sense???