GCSE 2018 no. 6: stress, struggles and success (hopefully) *Title Edited by MNHQ*

Cherrybun not smug at all, infact I would of thought those aiming for A*'s would find what you put very reasuring

Hi everyone. I’ve not read the whole thread, but just come on to let out a long wail of despair! Youngest son seems to have all the facts in there, but really needs to nail exam technique. Especially with English lit and history.

Except he’d rather do anything else and will only revise if I do it along side him. He seems paralysed by anxiety.

On the plus side, he got his English teacher to look at a Macbeth practice answer he did with me last week and she reckoned it was about a 6. Given that he got 3 in his mocks, I am starting to feel hopeful. If I can get him to concentrate.

I've just read that back. I'm really sorry if it sounds boasty/smug. I just remember that the panic about what they don't know can really set in as the exams approach.

DS is prioritising the content-heavy subjects and those where he is weakest. So Science & Maths is getting less time than say Geography, English Lit and RS.

Aside from Tassomai, his Science revision is doing past papers, then revising any topics that he drops marks on. But we also look at grade boundaries for that paper and if he's scoring highly. They don't need to know absolutely everything inside out as long as they know enough for the grade they're targeting.

Same approach with Maths. Past papers, then looking over anything he didn't get and doing more questions on it.

The 'wordy' subjects are less straight-forward because they're much harder to mark even with the mark schemes. Most of his teachers have been happy to mark any practice questions he's done though.

He had a revision timetable over the Easter hols but hasn't had one since he's been back at school. He's just been revising stuff he felt needed it (for around 3 hours after school and 6 hours on weekend days). We're going to do a new one from Friday when study leave starts, tailored to when the exams fall.

Right now he's doing a Biology past paper then will spend the rest of the day and all of Tuesday on History for the exam on Wednesday.

I do think it can be counter-productive to think that you have to know absolutely everything in great detail for the whole syllabus. With the odd exception (RS and from memory Latin when DD did it) the grade boundaries allow for the odd topic that is understood less well and where marks will be dropped. DD (who is an arts and humanities girl through and through) got A*s in all 3 sciences and she definitely didn't know everything about everything. But she knew enough to get enough marks IYSWIM

Dd is doing 10 subjects. One is RS which she has completely written off

Of the other 9 she has split them into 4 categories based on how she wants to weight them.

A = English language
B = English literature and German
C = 3 x sciences
D = maths, geography and computer science (aka fun subjects).

Then she rotates the blocks to give equal time to each block (meaning eng lang gets 3x as much as biology)

This is because she is borderline and needs to pass it whereas more time on sciences will mean a 7 rather than 6 and doesn't really matter.

She might change th categories today to take into account when exams are but it means she doesn't need to change her timetable.

I think DD is very similar to Whats. She is taking 11 and focusing on Spanish at the moment before her exam this week. Add maths is pretty mush ignored until after all the rest have finished. She seems to be doing about an hour on other subjects each evening as well, but I can't confirm this as any questions are met with snarls.

DS1 is doing 10 (did one last year).

I'm not sure if the exact split between subjects but he is doing about 6 hours at the weekend and 3 after school. He often stays at school to do homework anyway and then comes home for supper and does a bit more.

Today he's planning more history (past paper), geography and some maths. His on track for his iGCSE but the Ad Maths needs more work - hence the work on it now even though it's the last exam.

DS better today. He's going to make flashcards for Macbeth (thanks Loose for the tips!) and do some Maths later on.

mmzz, DS is doing 9. He revised 2ish hours on school night and around 4 on the weekends, so 18ish hours a week. He does about 2 hours per subject, but focuses slightly more on the STEM subjects as that's what he wants to do in future.

DS is doing 10 GCSE's and according to his plan next week he will be doing 3 hrs of all the sciences, maths and his options except PE which is only an hour and 2 hrs for each of the Englishes......no guarantee he will stick to this.

Then the following week he ramps up for all the subjects he has in the first week of exams to generally 4 hours and then an hour for subjects which he has exams in the second week.

He aims to do 3hrs a night and 6 over the weekend but he is given virtually no homework the odd paper that he would incorporate into revision.

I'm glad tips are useful! I don't teach DS - I teach in FE and tutor quite a few dcs but DS does his own thing as far as English is concerned.
He has taken some excellent photos and done some interesting things to a few of them.

DS has had a History-free day! He's done Maths, Biology & Eng Lit (plus Tassomai) and has now gone out to see the new Avengers movie. Back on the History tomorrow though!

He's going to Reading-tickets already booked (on the proviso that he worked hard). The Y12 advance party is a great idea TheSecond. Not sure that DS's group of mates know any Y12's well though...

DD practicing for French Oral and some Tassomai today...although she has been to the gym and we also had lunch at F & B - meal free of charge because they were trying their best to poison DD with uncooked chicken!
Thanks for the link for shoe @stickerrocks ... she's looking for something plain (she was looking for heels) but this may well change given that the possible plus one she may go to the prom with is 3ins shorter than DD - we now have grumbles of why do I have to be soo tall!

Loose - thanks for English tips too...

DD has been reading me some of the notes she has written about teachers which she intends to write in TY cards this week - including one to the French teacher which is highly amusing but honest too - I am sure it will bring a tear to the eye...not sure where DD gets her wit from but she's somewhat gifted in that area.

DS2 has zero desire to go to Reading after his GCSEs but DS1 has been and might go again this year.
For any Y11s who want to go to Reading festival, DS1 recommends going in a group with friends from Y12. The Y12s arrive on the Wednesday with the tents, pitching them to reserve the area. The Y11s then arrive after GCSE results on the Thursday, bringing extra food.

Loose I have cut & pasted all your hints & tips into a Word doc to slip under DD's bedroom door. She appeared earlier for dinner and I missed my chance then. Thank you so much - it all sounds very constructive. Do you teach DS or are you in different schools? I hope he listens to you more than DD listens to me!

How did the photography go in this grey & gloomy weather?

It should be ok on the name front as you can keep making changes until the certificates are issued. It's only an issue if they ask for ID but the school can sort that out if they have mucked it up. They can also foot the bill if they incur a fee.

On the topic of Festivals, Reading has been mentioned here... "Obviously only if I work really hard, mum"...

Back from Imperial Festival. DS2 loved it, and I enjoyed it too. Saw a good talk by Stephen McGann, and an interesting lecture about the science of Star Trek.

Loose I gave DS a printout of all your English advice........first shock he actually read it and second shock he has spent all afternoon doing English (unheard of!!) compiling quotes and then put them to characters and themes.....he's still going as I type. So a huge thank you from me have and on me!!

Good luck all those doing igcse's next week, didn't realise they started so early!

Hope all the poorly DC make a speedy recovery......DS is still bunged up!

Words fail me. Hope they haven't put their exam entries back by a month (but at least They're probably in the right name....)

Immaterial difference mmzz!