GCSEs 2018 (16) - The Final Countdown

DS1 has 4 possible outcomes on the 23rd in descending order of preference: -

1. He does well generally across all subjects and gets his place at the Selective sixth form (hereinafter: SSF) See me showing off my contract writing experience here?!

1. He does well enough to get what he needs for SSF, but there's very few 7-9s

1. All good, but gets managed a 6- on Physics and therefore didn't make the SSF.

1. Aargh!

Anyone who asks, my replies will be

1. Got this... we are delighted. He worked hard and it paid off.
2. Not as good as expected but he still got into the SSF
3. Disappointing. He worked hard but Physics let him down. We are having a re-think about doing it next year because it doesn't make sense to trust last year's physics teacher with teaching him A level, given what's just happened. DS just can't relate to her teaching style. (That's true).
4. Awful. He worked hard, school predicted good grades. Don't know what happened or what to do next.

When my first DS did GCSEs another Mum texted me on results day saying their DS had done incredibly well with loads of As and A*s and how they thought my DS had too and what had they got? My DS had good results but not that good and had in fact dropped a couple of grades from mocks. I found the text quite hurtful at the time although I know it wasn't intended to be. In the end I replied that he'd done enough to get into college for the subjects he wanted and gave no more information.

This time around I have my answers ready come what may as DS2 is already very private and does not share results except with his close family.

Kick definitely tell her we’re all rooting for her!
Bimkom the number of GCSEs definitely doesn’t matter - you still deserve support!

count me in Soursprout, I am another one with a DS in Year 10 and only waiting on two GCSEs this year (Biblical and Modern Hebrew), with a lot more to come next year (triple science, maths, two English, Art, Geography and French). At least with two over, and Art being finished by the time the main exams start, the number of exams to be sat next May/June is a considerably smaller than some - I think I counted around 17 or 18, compared with the 20+ some are sitting.

kick My DD asked me and DH to go into school with her too. Don’t think she knows I post on Mumsnet .... I hope she doesn’t read my posts!!

Kick please remind your DD that we genuinely care how they all get on! I'm more nervous for some of your DC needing specific grades than I am for DD.

Kick you've got to have somewhere to talk about it after your DD has mentally moved on (i.e. By lunchtime on the 23rd!)

Dd told me today she wants me to come in with her to get her results

Her exact words were "you'll want to know as quickly as possible so you can post on mumsnet."

My daughter is going with friends to pick up her results, I have been banned from going anywhere near school next Thursday! I have been promised a phone call before they all head to McDonalds to celebrate/commiserate.

She's getting one of her best friends to open her results as she's very nervous that she hasn't passed French, it's her weakest subject but I'm confident she will have got a 5. We're away in Spain until Thursday but the nerves have definitely set in again, not looking forward to the final week of waiting.

My niece gets her A-level results this week, she's on holiday with her boyfriend so my sister is collecting her results and delivering the news by phone!

Ours has a single 1 hour slot to collect their results in person, so I will have to lurk in the car park along with the other parents.

Two people got better O level results than me at my very ordinary secondaryschool. I know one passed away a few years ago and I've finally googled the name of the other. She looks exactly the same today as she did then & after what seems to be a hugely successful career in the City, is now a director for a household name company. I bet she's didn't have to spend the day defrosting a freezer!

Some schools post results on personal accounts to pupils to see. Kids can check results before they go to school to collect envelopes if results good and celebrate with friends.

My standard comment to my students is that I hope they get the results they deserved. I ask friends & family if they got the results they wanted or a general how did you get on & (if they're close enough) send them a card regardless to acknowledge their hard work.

I know at least two chums have said that their DC plan to collect the envelope and run. One doesn't even intend to tell their dad unless he asks (& they all live together). Now that's weird.

PandaG electronic engineering (at Cambridge, maybe!). Wow! (That sounds really difficult!)

DS1 has unconditional place at uni so results mater only for himself (he is very competitive) and for school. He is leaving for uni straight after A levels results. 2 years ago when he done his GCSEs a lot of ppl asked about his results to compare to their children.
DS2 is completely different story. He is bright but not constant like his older brother. His results depends how he was feeling on the day of exam. He need good results to get into school of his choice.

Two if my neighbours asked about DS's results. I told them they weren't out yet. They don't know whether he's low, high or average ability, they just know that he's 16 and I felt they were just being polite, in the way I was when I asked them if they had a nice holiday.

I feel a bit awkward now because I have always asked if I remembered, and, tbh, I'm no more interested in the answer sometimes than I am in hearing that the weather was sunny in France and they had a couple of day trips. I had no idea people might think I'm being nosy. Now, I will have to put some guesswork into whether they might take offence and how to phrase it to be as neutral as possible.

@mmmz Electronic engineering at either Cambridge or Leeds, depending on results....going to be a tense few days!!
@soursprout - absolutely agree. DS is very bright, very motivated, focused etc. He works hard, but it does come easily to him, and he generally gets the grades to reflect his aptitude and attitude. DD on the other hand, is still reasonably able, but she has to work much harder, and doesn't have the same ability to self-motivate over and above like her brother. Her results will be starkly different to her brothers, but should still be good for her.

I remember my own a level results, I did ok and got what i needed to go to my first choice university. I was delighted. But my sis still had to wait for her GCSEs the following week. I got a bit upset that my parents felt they couldn't celebrate me in case my sister didn't do well - she found academia harder than I did.

I intend to celebrate whatever the results on Thursday - we already celebrated the end of exams and all the effort, but I do want DS to know we are pleased with him without reference to his sister....and then do the same next week for her!!

Agree they are not remarks any more. They are now a 'review of marking', and grades will only change if there have been errors made during original marking - scripts will not be fully reassessed as they used to be. Dcs school used to pay for remarks if they thought it worth it, but have sent out forms and fee structure to all parents for requesting a review.

Which course is he planning/ hoping to study, PandaG?

The start of adult life seems suddenly awfully close when the talk is of which course you'll be doing in a few, short weeks and that's the course that will lead to your actual career.

DS (aged about 4) used to want to be a Hot Wheels car designer. Then he wanted to be a zoologist. I think I'm still stuck in the mode of smiling indulgently and thinking that it's all way into the future. But it's not.

Yes, first time through A levels since my own!!

Re asking how others got on - yes I do, but usually phrased something like hope x's results opened the doors she wanted? Showing interest but not expecting grades iyswim.

2 years ago with DS's gcses he let his GPs and aunts know, and some of my close friends asked me. We took him out for dinner in the evening and i did post a photo on facebook - entitled celebrating great GCSE results. Didn't want to brag, but also, it let folk know who were interested but didn't want to pry that things had gone well. This time round will probably post which university he has got into, once he has let family know...

On the remark front that's not entirely correct. Each paper is around £30 or so but usually there would only be a single paper causing concern/ worth remarking for any given subject. Where my DC have had papers remarked it's usually been the Head of Department calling for a remark anyhow, and the school has paid.

mmmz loads of people - not just family - have always asked how my DC have got on at every stage when results are out and I tell them and that's that. It's never occurred to me to think that they were being anything other than utterly normal.

Oh and Remarks are really expensive - you pay over paper, not per exam. So it's about £70-£100 per GCSE. And there was some other stuff about remarks not actually being remarks any more, more like re-sample or something.
Anyway, I hope none if us need to find out about the remark process.

As an aside, one benefit of the move to 9-1 is that writing A* twice in the same post does not mess with Mumsnet's shortcode for bold

Is this your first time through A levels, Panda?