Gcse 2018 (10) The one with half term

I never thought about the exam boards shooting up the grade boundaries for 7-9 compared with the 4? Surely the boundaries were worked out to be pegged to 4/C and 7/A and then the 8 and 9 a % of marks between the grades if you see what I mean. Can't see 18/20% for a 4 and then a massive 95% for a 9 for instance that would not only be unfair but also ridiculous

Teen I know that can be frustrating but from what I’ve read you and your DD seems to have a very calm and balanced attitude in an environment that could so easily be otherwise - so there might positive to be taken from not putting pressure on herself or from knowing she is doing enough to get what she wants.

In that maybe it doesn't really matter if she gets a 9? An 8 is just as good if you have no plans to take maths further.

TBH an 8 is just as good even if you do plan to take maths further. the only difference is the confidence having a 9 under your belt will give you.

mmzz - I think she knows this and I think if she could put her mind to it she would be able to do them but she doesn't see it has a challenge (I would) which is a shame because she's pretty consistent with most of the elements. She has no hunger to aim high in Maths.

I agree with every word in your post cubscout. Our DC have had it hard. The not knowing what to expect, so always having to prepare for the worst has made it all several times harder.

I think all the DC on this thread having nothing to fear, even if they do come to complete halt now and just turn up and try their best in the exams. They broke the back of the revision in February, March and April, plus what they did for the mocks.

But I can relate to what you say about the what-if he doesn't revise that and the exam board make it one of the big mark questions?

mmzz definitely burn out! I think our dc have had a hard year and mostly worked very hard but ds had 12 GCSE's and 24 exams not counting the language speaking and music/food practicals. They are still young and facing a lot of pressure.
I waver wildly between being relaxed and thinking 'ok, he's worked hard all year' and 'help - that last minute revision could be mean the difference in a grade boundary!'

@hmcAsWas - sorry to hear about your DM. Like others I did see your reference but am away and just skimming the thread. My DF has a stroke last year and a heart attack a couple of years before. He's recovered both times but I have a sense of things slipping with both him and my DM.

DS1 still working away but not with particular vigour. He's settled into a nice rhythm of dog walking, revising and cooking. He's actually home alone while we're away up North. Controversial I suspect to leave him home alone but DGPs are nearby and popping in and he's not the partying type.

@Teenmum60 tell your DD that if she can do all the other questions, then she can do the grade 9 ones. She has all the bits of knowledge and skills necessary, but they are like a crossword puzzle in that you have to mentally try to fit the various techniques you know together in all sorts of combinations until you hit upon the right one.

Like a crossword puzzle, or going for a long run, its hard at first but then it gets easier and easier the more you do because you get your brain trained for it.

hmc I'm so sorry about your mum. I confess I missed your post; sometimes I'm just dipping in and out at the moment.

It's a horrible 🌷

cubscout , is that what's called "burn-out"?

Gosh, pages and pages to catch up on after a few days away!
mmzz and wonderwine very sad to hear of what your dc have been through.
hmc again - sorry for what you are going through. I lost both parents 10 years ago - my father never really recovered from my mother being ill.
Sostenuto hope you are feeling better!
Another one here with a bit of half term lull! Ds is looking at a couple of subjects each day but a it half halfheartedly I think. Like Devadiva's dd, he has been steadily working since October and now seems to have hit a wall.

Difficult to know what the iGCSE boundaries will be for both Maths and English given its first 9-1 exam.
DD seemingly has mental block when it comes to the last question on the Maths paper - she knows it aimed at grade 9 and dismisses it because she doesn't feel she's capable of a grade 9 - I guess its a confidence thing...yesterday she decided not to answer the last 3 questions and still got a A on last years grade boundary (last 3 questions were 13 marks!)...Hopefully spend some time with her looking at those questions this morning ...although today needs to focus back on History.

Loose - I think maths will stay low for a 4, but the 8 and 9 will move up, and five and 6 will be very narrow. We shall see in August!

hmc I missed your post before but very sad to hear what you're going through. I feel for you - my cousins are in a similar position as my aunt is very dependent now on her family due to dementia and my uncle, who was looking after her, is seriously ill in hospital. It is very hard on you and your family.
Sostenueto good news about the vertigo! Your dgd is doing very well with the maths - I know DS is hoping for an 8 but I also worry about him making silly mistakes.
Mmzz I don't think the grade boundaries will change very much for English language and maths this year - they may well go slightly higher but not by much.

I put a calculation into DS's revision timetable yesterday to work out how many possible hours of revision there are left before he has to sit each paper: 35 hours until History on Monday morning, 87 until Physics paper 2 on 15th.

I suspect that most of your DC will be averaging something similar.

It sounds like a lot, but not when you think that past papers typically take 90 mins each, no including marking. Also, even 10 minutes here or there to learn some sub-topic, soon adds up to several hours. If DS does everything that he currently has planned, he is going to be busy for 80% of those last hours.

The assumptions were that the maximum possible hours to work in a day = 7, reducing to between 0 and 4 when there are exams.

Morning! Lost this thread as Tablet logged me out. Half term seems to be similar for most lack of momentum to keep going. History time line was lost nights goal. DD is off to a concert later today in Manchester so day will be taken up with make up preps! She is staying at friends tonight and school in morning so can see two days of little revision. Friday I am off to a 2 day football tournament with DS in Warwick so she is going to her aunties to revise hopefully.

Sorry to hear of poorly DC and failing health of parents - just shows life goes on around these GCSE exams as normal. Just added stress to our busy hectic lives.

Better get up and out to work - 4 day weekend was lovely with the sun put but normality calls! 2 day week though!!!!

Maybe the dual pressures at the ends of the spectrum will create an odd inflexion point in the distribution curve and the middle attainers will find that the difference between a 5/6/7 will be extremely small - so everything to play for in that part of the spectrum too?

It will be interesting to see what happens to the grade boundaries to English and Maths this year since its the second year of the new exams and so our DC are approaching them less blind than the DC last year did.

Maths will be particularly interesting because I suspect that there will be pressure at both ends of the higher paper spectrum: the more able, like Sostenueto's DGD will be targeting 9s in their revision which should pull the grade boundaries up, but at the other end, I suspect a lot of students have decided to give the higher paper a go, knowing that only 18% was needed in 2017 for a 4, which should distort the grade boundaries in the other direction.

Am feeling a lot better now vertigo seems to have bit the dust! The brain is a marvellous and wondrous thing! So is a few days rest
Dgd did last years paper 2 maths timed and scored 68/80. Said she mucked up on easy ones, and completely used wrong calculation on another. She predicts aqa boundary for a level 9 maths will be a combined score of 204/240 across the 3 papers. Or rather she's hoping it won't be much higher than last years ( 198/240). But she said she will definitely be chuffed with an 8. She's not confident about the first paper she sat.

In the time it took me to write that half a dozen cross posters!

So sorry to have missed your post hmc its all I can do to keep up on such a fast moving thread. Obviously you have all my sympathy prayers and thoughts in this sad time for you and I'm sure all of us on here send you the same. I apologise on behalf of all of us all for not responding.
I hope that you have support at home or a local organisation that may be able to help you through but you are welcome to pm me anytime you want for a chat and support.

Hmc, About your DF, people almost always cope with losing their lifelong partner, but, in all the times I've seen it, the adjustment is very difficult, and life is never the same again. I'm including DM in that observation who has been a widow for half my life. Your DF will get used to it, but not before he has gone through the grief for the lost way of life and the pain of having to learn to cope alone.

Ah, hmc. I lost my mum to vascular dementia just 4 years ago. The end was mercifully quick. I think it was easier for my brother and sister and me because my dad had died ten years earlier and my mum had been so lonely. She had forgotten him completely by the end. It's a terrible illness, you lose them bit by bit. I don't know what to say to comfort you, tbh.