Gcse 2018 (10) The one with half term

HMC - also guilty of flicking through posts although I did actually read your post- just juggling work with everything else today so vague posts.

My M & D were both in a home from when they were 90...dad had mild dementia - mum was just struggling to cope with dad - so having them together was on balance the right thing to do....they had amazing caring staff who cannot speak highly enough about...I was fortunate to take redundancy at this time and spent a lot of time with M & D in their final years but 240 mile round journey was painful so I can understand your and your dads concern. DD's DGM has dementia and sounds in a similar situation to your DM ...its very sad to see your parents decline . Not sure whether its possible but can you not find suitable accommodation for both your parents to be nearer to each other?

So sorry @hmcaswas -I can’t imagine how upsetting that is. I lost my mum young and I still miss her. Such a worry and so sad for you xx

TheThirdofherName DS'S maths teacher found exactly the same level 9 sample paper, except his paywall solution was to tell the students to compare answers. One of them was really difficult! It took ages to solve.

It was a good lesson though I.e. Nothing in the exam is unsolvable, and the students have been taught every skill required to solve it, so if you don't think you know how to do it, look again, because you definitely do!

Thanks Bluebelle too

I'm going to knock back the rest of this beer and have an early night

Thanks mmzz, I'm okay - just worried about dad who is now at home without her (300 miles away) and is struggling with it and frequently in tears on the phone.

Sorry HmcAsWas these threads are moving so fast I don't always catch everything.....I'm really sorry to hear about your mothers health, I think dementia is sure a cruel illness as it slowly takes away the person as you knew them, at least you know she is in a safe place where she can have the full attention she needs.

Thanks @Mmzz , @KickBishopBrennanUpTheArse and @BlueBelle123 . I'll be passing this all on to DD, she too will be thrilled! It's frustrating about the lack of practice questions she seems to have in some subjects and more frustrating that she has been adamant until now that she doesn't need any more resources! Still there is still some time left

hmc I saw it, and it made me stop and reflect on the shortness of life, but I didn't comment because I honestly got distracted with work. I'm sorry.
It's awful watching her fade away like this. I hope you are ok. I suspect you aren't, because watching a parent slowly slip away is immensely difficult to bear.

Sorry TheThird (and everyone) - that was a rather clumsy and petulant way for asking for moral support. I blame it on the beer (and the fact that I don't like to show vulnerability)

hmcaswas I have just looked back and there's nearly a whole page I missed completely, which included your post. I'm sorry to hear about the decline in your mother's health. It must be very difficult to see such changes every time you see her. Friends who have been through similar have commented that it's almost like a grief process as you are losing your loved one gradually.

Wonderwine - I think most of us could benefit from some form of therapeutic talking therapy, we are all 'damaged' in some way. Didn't use to think like this (was quite dismissive of it actually) until dd really benefitted from it and developed better coping skills for generalised anxiety syndrome

DS2 has also had access to more papers for maths than any other subject. Maths is the only subject he is doing with Edexcel, so perhaps it's an Edexcel thing?

The head of maths also found an entire paper of Grade 9 type questions for those in the top sets to practise. Apparently the answers are behind a paywall, so he has written out the solutions and put them on the school portal.

Did people miss my reference to my mother or is it not worth commenting on?

Hello! Just checking in for the evening crowd

Not too bad a day with DS, although he seems to have spent all day doing Maths. He did a paper 2 but spent way more than the allotted time - said he wanted to work out the questions he didn't know. DH marked it and said he did very well (A grade level) but it remains to be seen whether he can pull this level out of the bag under exam conditions!
He just doesn't seem to be able to work very fast at home, despite us trying to remove all distractions. He uses a desk in a study off the kitchen but comes out whenever he hears me putting the kettle on! He honestly has the attention span of a gnat. And I'm sure he is mistaking boredom for hunger and he keeps coming out looking for food (e.g. 45 minutes after finishing breakfast ).

@hmcAsWas - that's an interesting comment about counselling, as I was thinking about something similar for DS. He has very low self esteem and is very body-conscious, also has various OCD-like tendencies which I think probably impact friendships. I've often thought some sort of counselling/ CBT would help him, but don't really know where to start, or how to discuss it with him, as he doesn't seem to have any self-awareness of his slightly different behaviour.

Cross posting, again! And better answers again!!

Welcome, @devadiva
I thought I'd try to answer you, but it's not what you want to hear. It's the first year for 9-1 History, so as far as I know there is only the specimen paper.
It is a similar story for English, but with last year's past paper and, I guess the November resit.
That's my understanding, but maybe someone else knows better.

In contrast, DS's maths teacher seems to have managed to unearth a never ending supply of past papers and level 9 questions. Some of them require payment for the solutions, so maybe they are just guesses. I don't know why maths seems to be different.

Thanks Kick that looks really good I'll pass that on to DS, I'm sure he'll be thrilled

DevaDiva try this link for English Language:

www.tes.com/teaching-resource/gcse-english-language-paper-1-pack-of-5-sample-papers-and-mark-schemes-aqa-11363432

Deva Loose wrote this earlier on the thread which I thought was good advice on English Language -
I'd really recommend Mr Bruff for the writing questions - he does one on description and one on stories using the same photo. You could find different photos and practise the descriptions using the same techniques, then use an online thesaurus to find some synonyms and try to expand vocabulary that way. Finding alternative words for colours is particularly good

DS is doing edexcel history but he just uses the CGP books, for everything actually so I can't help there and he doesn't do music.

Beenrumbled sounds like you had the best of the weather today!

DS has still got a stinking cold hoping it will shift soon, so long as its not in my direction

Definitely having a half term lull here, which is concerning as she still has 16 exams to go. Is this a record?!

Today we had a family day out which was notable mainly for the abundant quantities of lashing rain. Tomorrow I'm taking her little sister out all day and am hopeful that the quiet house will be conducive to thinking about history. Next week she has 7 exams and I think it's going to be exhausting.

Does anyone know where I can find specimen papers for GCSE EdExcel other than the one on their website? Also, does anyone know any good revision websites? DD is slightly concerned about Music at it is deemed to be "her thing", yet she is struggling to get very good marks on papers.

My first post but i've been following the threads since around thread 4 although I completely missed thread 9! DD has been revising steadily since September, completely her idea and she's been doing brilliantly with grades ranging 6 - 8. Sadly she ran out of motivation and enthusiasm about 6 weeks ago and has been doing a lot less work recently. She had a bit of a strop today when DH suggested that she can't spend the whole of half term hanging out with her friends and we don't really care if no one is doing any revision she will be! Anyway we've had a talk and she has agreed it would be silly to give up at the last hurdle and she's going to get her head down again and committed to doing 4/5 hours a day for the rest of half term.

Before I turn to Google I thought i'd try here. I'm looking for some help with AQA History and English Language, does anyone know of any online resource for practice questions. DD has the CPG text books and some papers from school but needs more to practice. She's in school for some revision sessions this week but apparently the teachers have already provided EVERYTHING they have so there's no point asking them

beenrumbled I'm jealous - been pouring with rain here plus thunder and lightning!
DS revised music this morning and a bit of biology but too much gaming going on. He's got a morning of geography tomorrow at school and I think that's a good thing!

dd went for an "intervention day" in school, nothing sinister just revision really. She was quite relieved to have a break from revising at home.

Ds2 seems to have lost steam, or perhaps he just seems less nervous than before. I'm not really clear what he is revising now that Eng Lit is over - I'm now more worried about A level revision and ds1.

Beenrumbled that's what I should be doing, a beach and promenade...

@beenrumbled -sounds lovely!