Y11 2023-24 thread 4

the weirdest thing about this thread for me isn’t the revision that is or isn’t being done, it’s how many kids are spending time with friends & how social their plans are. Makes me feel sad about DD who doesn’t have any plans like that.

Anyway, I’m taking DD for a helix piercing after her last exam. She wanted it for her birthday last week but I was worried about pain/interrupted sleep etc so said she had to wait!

Mine is having a BBQ with some of her friends in the back garden. We have some days out planned but they will wait till my eldest has finished hers.

My dd has developed a thing for jigsaw puzzles to unwind 🙂

We're having a dinner of her choice and watching last night's Doctor Who. DD2 will be back from a school trip and it's her birthday that weekend as well and Father's Day so a big celebration weekend.

Edited to add: we've got some trips away with her planned over the summer, DH is taking her to London, I'm probably taking her to my old University town for culture, bookshops and cake (as DD1 told her History teacher who is from there).

DS has come down with a rotten cold. Chemistry revision is an uphill struggle as a result.

DS and friends will go out on Friday evening which is the final exam day for most of them. They will go to a nice town by the beach. They have apparently booked a table in a restaurant / pub, and agreed which train to take there.

@Tiredalwaystired We all love to eat, so we always go out for a meal at the end of term.

This year, DH is away, so ds and I are having fancy burgers from a local restaurant pop-up on Sunday (he's going out with his mates on the Friday).

We'll do a father's day/end of exams at his restaurant of choice when his dad is back.

Other than that we are going on holiday, it's his birthday at the end of July and he has a day ticket for Leeds festival and I imagine the best reward is sleeping and seeing his friends. I don't expect to see a lot of him over the summer.

In my experience the closer to Results Day, the worse DCs think they've done. It's the inevitable passage of time, watching TikTok etc which makes them doubt themselves. I found remembering their initial reaction when they came out of the exam as a better guide to how they'd actually done.

My DD (not doing GCSEs) has just bought herself quite a large paint by numbers which she is finding relaxing so far.

I'd love a giant Lego set!!!

@Tiredalwaystired we are having a takeaway of her choice. Very, very rarely have them so she's very pleased. 😀At the moment it looks like a Thai meal but that may change...

DS has just done a maths past paper and admitted that in his head, yesterday, he was done. He knows he needs to knuckle down to Maths, Spanish, and a bit of chemistry for the rest of the day.

Anyone doing some thing nice with their teen the day they finish exams or close to it to celebrate? I know someone said they were taking their kid abroad but that’s not possible as we still have one in school. Any other nice ideas to mark it?

We have a crazy stressful summer with building work starting in a couple of weeks, and packing up the house, and moving in with PILs, plus madness at work. The next few months will be horrible but at least we'll be distracted from thinking about and waiting for the GCSE results! Silver lining and all that...

No revision here yesterday. We had a day out as we all needed a break, and some oxygen, and not to stare at screens or paper. This morning DS is still asleep - will wake him up at noon as agreed so he can make a start on chemistry. He is finding it very hard to keep going, he just wants it all to be over.

Thanks Lighthouse - I guess I’ve just got to put it out of my mind for the next few months

@BestsellingWine went through it last year. All but one result was same or better than mocks. She had felt all the exams had gone pretty well and she's a good judge usually of how she's done. She was still very nervous on results day (as was I!).
This year, I just have no idea how it's all gone.

My mind is now going to results! Just haven’t a clue how ds has done. He is confident about a few but then says something like everyone on tiktok says the answer was x, I know they are all wrong and the answer was y!

I just couldn’t imagine him doing worse than his mocks but now I’m wondering if he might have done - because there is just so much content to revise at once. Would be interesting to hear from Anyone who has been through this before, were the final results much different to mocks results?

DD hasn’t done any revision so far this weekend, and she’s got Chemistry, History and Further Maths on Tuesday. Chem is one of her weaker subjects. Hoping she’s productive today - leaving her behind while we head to the beach…

Lots of revision this weekend.
This morning was maths then chemistry then a bit of history this evening.
But ds managed to watch a film today as well.
Tomorrow will be much of the same.

I think it's a P2

Ah thanks. Do you know what grade is equal to a gcse grade 4? I will let mine know that she found it boring. She’s not 100% on it but showing an interest.

Yes it's been mainly coursework for the two years, the last part is the exam. It's graded as you have said. My daughter wouldn't have taken it if she had known what it was really like, she's found it ok but a bit boring

DD has seen her maths tutor, spent most of the day doing chemistry flash cards , and now just finished her history flashcards. I don’t understand her process but she seems happy with it !

Ahh ok. Was the coursework done in year 11? We are contemplating this for my youngest but don’t know much about the course yet. 40% isn’t too bad I guess. How is it graded? Level 1 pass, merit , distinction and level 2 the same?