Y11 2023-24 thread 4

Yes I have a year 8 and I'm anticipating the opposite problems I have this year. DS2 is a bit of a maths and science whiz so can just 'do' these without thinking too much, but he's mildly dyslexic and his handwriting is terrible. Because he is doing well at school they have kind of left him, so I've had to push for assessments etc. He is also not keen on English or any essay related subjects, or reading. I have a feeling that although he is the more academic of the two, because of that, he is going to have to work harder than he does now in the subjects he doesn't like, which I am going to have to spend a lot of time cajouling him into. It's like an uphill battle getting him to read a book now!

Ran into DC coming home as I walked to tube, thank God they looked happy and said they were really pleased the comparison was autobiography, where they feel confident they know how to answer well. Very relieved now as it seems likely they'll get the grade they need for first choice 6th form.

Haven't heard back from DS. He was saying the rumours about b were that it was going to be social media or ai. I told him before not to rely on Internet predictions, snd he was reading some Times articles which are all about the elections, so hopefully he had some ideas about careers and doing good in society from that. I'm jot sure how he wouid have done in the extracts. I wonder if the kids who did history of medicine would have a bit of an advantage, but who knows?

These are the same two questions DS discussed. He didn't like the Mary Seacole extract as he he didn't think they was enough about her work in it or something like that. From his description of Q5 I think your DD is right about accessibility, DS is good at this subject (his only 9 prediction) and he found that challenging.

DS back, AQA Eng Language and he wasn't impressed with Q2 or Q5.

Was fine here. DD has hit a wall of tiredness now though.

Hoping English went ok today!

DD just called to say the extracts were good - one from This is Going To Hurt (which she's read/watched) and another on Mary Seacole. She did say the section B was a bit trickier- an article on helping the vulnerable in society rather than focusing on wealth/status ? (I think- she was garbled by this point!) - given that there's no foundation/higher in English Language she said she thought this was quite 'high brow' and might not have been as accessible to lower level students

Oh goodness, that's a frenetic start to the day @Countrylife2002 - thank goodness for your dog's breakfast needs!

I hope the English paper is going well for our DC. I was talking to DS last night about it and he said the 40 mark question (AQA) is about beating the examiners head with an argument - he said it literally doesn't matter what the argument is you just have to be incredibly clear about it. He said he did one answer in the first mock where he argued against both sides of the position given and got 38/40, but said it was a risky move. These exams are so much more structured and formulaic than the GCSEs I did back in the early years. (Grove impact I guess). It seems that it almost doesn't matter what you write as long as it ticks the mark scheme boxes correctly.

DS has biology tomorrow afternoon and then 4 next week ending with Physics 2. I'm so glad he dropped further maths and his exams don't extend into the next week.

I'm on my phone and can't reference the poster, but with regard to the independent marking which caused mocks grades to drop from 7 to 4 - this is very worrying. I hope the school took onboard the comments made whether the re-marks were harsh or not. DS' school is part of a MAT and they tend to lift 10% from each set of exams and give them to senior subject teacher in on of the other schools in the MAT to re-mark. That system has worked well. It's particularly important for his school as it's very new and the first set of GCSE students was in 2021 which was still Covid marking so they didn't have the historic information that more established schools had and needed to benchmark themselves.

Not long to go until the end of the exam now....Off to lurk on The Student Room

Anyone else get to this time in the day and start to get anxious?!

Fingers crossed for a good English paper everyone!

Biology tomorrow, an afternoon exam with no morning exam which is a first.

I'm sure DD will be up at the crack of dawn studying......

DH's sciencey and not very 'creative' nephew, also doing GCSEs, ironically finds English Language much easier than our DC does, and even quite likes it. And I'm not suprised because in many ways it is a much more logical approach than a creative one.

In case this helps any younger siblings who hate English. My DC are VERY stem orientated especially DS. Moaned all the time about English. Told them maybe we can find a “Sciency” way to approach it.
So we looked at how English is marked and what you have to do to get marks in exams. So for example. English Lang you are marked for “imaginative use of vocab” so have a list of ambitious words for bad, good, happy, sad, hot, cold etc. Also marked for use of “language devices” so have a tick list of alliteration, simile, metaphor etc ready to use. Spag- tick list of different punctuation to get in.
Same goes for texts. Can also do the same for Poems. Learn 3 quotes per character, 3 per theme etc. Use the shortest or ones you like the best. Poetry analysis.. (DS worst part). Read the poem. How is it making you feel? Find the sentence that is making you feel like that. Which words?

DD has been told by her teacher to try and make the persuasive writing funny if they can or to take an extreme view. We’ll see how it’s gone later!

We have no English today, but Economics in the afternoon.

Oh lord! Panic stations!! Well done that pooch

Almost time ... good luck folks x

Mrs Hamlet

It is so tough isn't it, when the effort is there but they just struggle? Have one of those here

Hope he gets what he needs and then on to the next step x

Good luck today for all the English Language people.

It’s interesting reading how many of us are worried about our current year 8s having been through it with our eldest child.

My yr 8 wants to do really well but needs frankly put in more hours than her v v high achieving older sister to do almost as well. Although she DOES work it isn’t at the same level of focus. She’s also highly anxious and as a result v defensive and argumentative, whereas oldest will take guidance. I’m already gearing myself up for a very difficult time!

All the best for Eng Lang today. Not a favourite of oldest but prefers it to the creative writing paper which is at least over and done with and went ok. Eng lang was one of my strengths and I find it easy to pluck ideas out the air which she struggles with. She will certainly be glad to put this away forever!

Good Luck everyone. English seems like one of those papers that can go either way.
DD had a tutor for last year, since the beginning she has agreed that the writing needed to be more structured. I really hope she gets the score she is aiming. And after this never have to write an Eng exam again.
School didn’t give them any guidance, which I am really cross about. They rely on kids motivating each other, which they very well do. But that’s not the point and then they select weird board as well, no one else follows. So YouTube videos doesn’t help either. @Apolloneuro I really hope the tutor shed some light on the techniques for her, whenever I ask, “ it’s alright” but then worried as well occasionally.
I really am more worried than her, can’t say anything at home, so putting it all out here. Very lucky to have find this thread at the right time as well.
I suppose most of us will be doing the same for A levels in two years time ;(
My two are very different in terms of motivation and studying, but then DS is in year 6, I refused to worry about it now ( but every single day DD comes back from exams and comment on it, my mind goes to “what would I do with this one” lol

Good luck to everyone today. I know this is the big one for many - we will def be nearly there once this one is done!

How things have changed - neither of our alarms went off (phones went dead) so the only reason we woke was because the dog wanted his breakfast. 😰
Back to setting multiple alarms on different devices from now on!

Exactly the same situation here. DS will need a small miracle and a bucket load of luck for a topic in Q5 he can make an opinion on. Just needs to pass. I never want him to have to do this again!