Starting Year 11-GCSE2021 (title edited by MNHQ)

That’s really interesting thanks, have just shown ds and he hopes they keep that timetable as they’re all fairly evenly spread out for him.

Petts That's interesting thanks.

With all the boards correct, this year DD would have
Week 1 - 4 exams
Week 2 - 6 exams
H/T
Week 3 - 5 exams
Week 4 - 5 exams

With just AQA, then next year DD would have
Week 0 - 1 exam
Week 1 - 2 exams
Week 2 - 6 exams
H/T
Week 3 - 6 exams
Week 4 - 4 exams
Week 5 - 1 exam

So more spread out with just AQA compared with the actual boards (AQA, Edexcel & WJEC) this year.

So AQA have published their draft timetable for May/June 2021 GCSEs. Emphasis on draft. Seeming very real. Do not panic. filestore.aqa.org.uk/admin/t_table_pdf/AQA-TT-GCSE-JUN21-P.PDF

Well we're done. Exams over. Just need to wait for the results to start coming in....
She did think she might get computer science result today which is the one she's most worried about and her lowest predicted grade.

I've just said it is what it is and we will deal with whatever happens.

*or

Teen that's the worst we've had it a few times when we've landed at Manchester, it there is one person in passport control

tropp It wouldn't have been so bad if it hadn't taken an hour from landing for our luggage to come through. (I think it was so late all the baggage handlers had knocked off for the night.)

@toobuktim well she's certainly used to an exam situation now!

Oh no teen I saw that on the news it looked awful!

Tomorrow is the last day of exams for us thank goodness, nothing seems to have gone disastrously although she did say chemistry was hard.
She did well in Spanish oral 23/25 so that's good. Results will start to trickle in at the end of this week.

Back from half term but only just. We were meant to be having a relaxing week in the Canaries. The airports everywhere closed for quite a while yesterday due to Saharan sand. We should have got home by a respectable 8pm yesterday, instead it was close to midnight. So poor DD has gone in this morning more exhausted than rested.

So half term done! 6 weeks till Easter

DDs friends have let her down lots with plans which has resulted in her doing an awful lot more work/revision than I anticipated.

We had her tutor come for the first time for an introductory session, they got on well and she felt it really helped so going to give that a go for a while, she spoke to her old maths teacher who she gets on really well with and she told her she can't be moved down to do foundation as it's too easy but she is struggling in class in higher so hopefully this will help.

Have some big concerns over Child Development, she chose this as her last option as she really had no other choice, exam is this year and coursework next, however she says they still haven't covered all content yet they are now revising plus have had no guidance on structuring answers etc so will be emailing HOD plus we have parents evening end of March.

Hope everyone has had a good week off for those in half term.

Dickens not Dickinson!!

Half term almost over here. DD has work experience next week which she is looking forward to. Will be home a good hour and half than usual! We have plans for early evenings, so still time to relax a bit. Her exams are after Easter. We have been reading 'The Five' about the women killed by Jack the Ripper. Apparently Dickinson lived not far from the first victim and it gives a great insight into Victorian attitudes to the poor. DD found it interesting with regards to Scrooge and Christmas Carol, so thought I would share.

I suppose they’re trying to normalise the exam situation for them so it doesn’t freak them out too much next year

We've had ours it was last week so they had the holidays to revise then two days in school which were revision sessions and exams started yesterday for a week.

Yesterday went well, maths was "easy and hard" whatever that means?!
English lit was "fine".

Today is chemistry and drama.

Their study periods are a bit strange though. I was expecting them to take place in a classroom in groups with a teacher supervising but they are in the hall with exams going on around them. They work in silence on individual desks and no eye contact. Seems a bit brutal but I suppose they are actually revising (or staring into space).

Have you already had half term....or is yours next week @troppibambini?
Hope your dd had a good start to her exams x

Dd starts her exams this morning. She was really nervous bless her, school do pile the pressure on a bit more than I'd like.
English lit and non calculator maths today.
Fortunately her timetable is not to bad with two exams a day for the rest of this week then three exams on Monday and three on Tuesday.
Study periods in between I think that they could have done with some pe sessions too just to get them out and not thinking about studying.

Hope those on half term are having a nice break

TGIHT.
DD is shattered and was only hanging on this week by her fingertips.

DD has her last exams tomorrow thankfully. She has worked really hard the last couple of weeks so I hope it has paid off. She already got her art grade back and got an 8 which she is fairly happy with (with art she is only truly happy with 9's - crazy!).

Looking forward to some relaxation in half term (apart from all the art coursework of course!).

My ds is pretty laid back and hasn’t even contemplated revision as yet. But they do have tests every half term and full on end of year exams in June, so I’m hoping he’ll knuckle down soon as start getting into the habit of it. He just doesn’t like doing anything at home - does all his homework at school so he doesn’t have to!

Thanks toobuktim that's really good info, dd is an all girls school that specialises in maths and science so are really good at encouraging the girls into more maths and science based subjects.

In fairness she has really knuckled down to some revision today and is tackling her least favourite subjects first.

www.ncsc.gov.uk/section/education-skills/11-19-year-olds#section_2

@troppibambini your dd sounds like my year 8 dd - she and her brother are polar opposites. Only having one term prior to the course isn’t great though, but it does seem to be a subject that gets compromised a lot. At their school they do two terms a year of one hour a week from year 7 - they use the other term to do pshe.
But I’m sure your dd with help from the teacher will do well, a supportive teacher really makes a big difference. It will certainly stand her in good stead for future employment - there is such a shortage of skills in that area. Both my two have been on the free cyberfirst courses run by gchq that cover different age groups all round the country - they always emphasise how much they want kids with training - for all sorts of jobs, not just for them. They especially want girls and are crying out for them. Being able to combine geography or history and so forth with coding skills helps cover other parts of the spectrum that might not be covered by their main intake of boys/maths/science - there are so many opportunities out there!

Toobuktim It sounds like your ds is my dd in reverse her things are English, RE and history and she finds the maths and science side more challenging.
She only did one term of cs before y1O so I think it's come as a bit of a shock to the system.
I think as well because a lot of the class are very maths-y the pace is fast.
At her school pretty much every subject has a lunch time support club you can drop into but cs doesn't, the teacher did say he's available whenever to see her so that's good.

Portico Between dh and myself we could help with every subject but cs it's like a foreign language!