Y11 2023/24 thread 5 - results!

I’m really hoping that I sleep tonight.

dd seems to be quite chilled, she seems to be ok , and in a complete u turn from the early bus complaint, has now been choosing what new trainers she wants for college 😊

for me it’s the unknown . Everything can be sorted, even if it’s signing up to resists tomorrow.

@Echobelly perhaps it is unhelpful of me to mention that DD’s 6th form requires a 9 in maths for Further Maths and an 8 in maths for any of the following A-Levels: Maths, Biology, Chemistry, Physics, Economics.

Anyway, what’s important is what your DC’s offer stipulated. Was that communicated clearly in writing?

Less than 12 hours now. Our school uploads results to the portal at 8am prompt.

DC has also put a lot of pressure on themselves. They feel disappointed as they reckon they won't have a 9 in any of the 3 subjects where it was a possibility, but honestly that's not a thing to worry about.

Only concerns are English Language which I think is a really godawful way of assessing English and they found hard to grasp the specific rules of how you're supposed to answer it - I think they'll manage at least a 6 in it (which they need for first choice 6th form) as they were happy with how the papers went but it's hard to judge if you've done well I guess.

They are also worried as they said the last thresholds they saw for 2nd choice said they'd need a minimum 7 in Maths in order to do Biology A-level, which was what they were predicted but they think they've fallen under to a 6. But DH and I reckon a) they can't have changed that since initial offer and b) I, at least, can't imagine demanding a 7 in Maths for anything other than maybe Further Maths.

Really hoping my DD can be like this when it's her turn.

Feeling grateful DD just got told by a friend she has to wait till nearly 2pm to find out results at school then let her first choice know by 3pm if accepting offer 😱
DS very nervous but slightly hyper too. I nearly 12 hrs he will know and we will just have tto find a way to deal with it. School sent email saying you have to tell sign a form there if your going or not.

I remember last year someone got a phone call from the school the night before asking the dc to come in early the next day. Presumably because they had done well and wanted photos taking with balloons etc. At the time I had a tiny glimmer of hope that that might be my ds this year. Think it lasted until the first week of y11! Now I am just hoping that he gets enough for 6th form

Good Luck year 11s. It was a year ago I went through this with my dc X

DD back from trip away & says shes not worried, ‘it is what it is’ she says! She’s actually doing her bridging work though which is interesting…

school opens at 9.30 but she says can we go at 10 so she can have a lie in first.

DD is out today, we've not spoken too much about the exact timings and plans for tomorrow as she's asked not to, will let her guide me, what time she wakes up, gets ready etc, I will have to keep my nerves in check esp as she has a tendency to take forever to get ready but I also know that time is important for her own mental health. Eeeeekkkkk

Back in the day, I got separate GCSE results sheets for each exam board. Is it still like that or is it all combined on one sheet now? DS sat AQA, Edexcel and I think OCR or WJEC, I can't remember now but definitely 3 boards in total.

On the issue of illegibility, if people are genuinely concerned, they should raise it with the centre as soon as possible at the start of a course.

I regularly ask for students either to have handwriting intervention (even in sixth form!) or to be able to type exams.

But I can read 99% of handwriting. It's my superpower.

Don't worry - if an examiner can't read a candidate's writing, it is escalated among the team to another examiner until it can be marked. Examiners want our students to do well, so will do what they can to make sure things go well for your ds :)

Sorry, a bit of a late answer, but most if not all exam boards publish them at 8am tomorrow :)
Just to say, please let your dc have a think before checking these (they might have a mark in their head that is untrue, therefore making their grade predictions too high or too low, therefore upsetting them in the moment or creating "false" hope iykwim). I know I would 100% be tempted to check them before getting results at school, but it depends if your dc may be more upset should predictions be different x

@Pharos well I hope he has a lovely time.

@Tulipvase It seems like half his year are going but because it’s happened so close to time, everyone else has sorted lifts etc. He’ll be fine but it’s a seriously unnecessary additional stress. He’s in touch with a couple of people so knows where they’ll be.

@Pharos thats awful, your poor son. Does he have a friend he can talk to out side the WhatsApp so he can be kept in the loop?

Thanks to some shitty behaviour in his ‘friendship’ group ds is probably more worried about where he’ll be camping at Reading than his results.

A delightful young man has taken against him and removed him from all the WhatsApp groups and seems to be actively trying to ostracise him 😡

I’ll be driving him there so he’s at the entrance at 8am when it opens on condition he checks his results before he goes in…

We have no official Plan B but a local sixth form will interview on the day for last minute places.

I finished work at 3. I have washed the dishes, put some washing on, tidied the kitchen (cleaner comes tomorrow so she would do that anyway), packed up some sale sandals to go back and and now sorting through random bits of paperwork.
DS is in the shower. He reckons a film and pizza us the way forward for this evening.
Not sure I can cope until tomorrow

We have no plan B.

If DS doesn't get his grades I have no clue what we'll do. He's high functioning ASD so changing schools isn't a good idea anyway and he gets good support where he is. He got appalling grades in his mocks (didn't realise how much revision he needed to do despite us and school telling him) and his executive functions are terrible, unsurprisingly, so actually doing revision was hard.

Having said that, the mocks were a big boot up the bum. He got a poor D for his additional maths mock and a high A in the real exam which we got back last week and which will allow him to do FM at A level. So here's hoping the rest are better too! (He wants to do maths, further maths, computing)

I want to go and hide somewhere. With gin.

Thanks @MrsHamlet that's useful to know x

I'm quite anxious but DD isn't. She feels optimistic about it all. Her 1st choice is her own school and 2nd choice is a selective grammar where she was waitlisted based on mock results (doubt she will get in from waitlist as her subjects are too popular). Her A level choices are set in stone: Maths, Chem, Bio, Further Maths. She needs 7+ to study Maths. Ideally 8-9, to be able to study Further Maths.

She is more preoccupied with what to wear this weekend and which Reading camp they will camp in. She is off to the festival on Friday with half her cohort (what was I thinking) and she's more excited about that than the results (me: I won't sleep with worry until she's back). Time flies too fast... GCSE exams, provisional licence, national insurance number, registration on the electoral roll, Reading festival with no parents, no uniform from September, independent study time, planning to travel abroad with friends next summer, job talks... it's all a bit overwhelming.

Hopefully tomorrow will be kind to all of us. Not sure how I will manage at work, even though I'm WFH. I've booked a 3-hr "do not book calls" slot in the morning as I don't think I'll be able to do meetings regardless of the results😀

Good luck everyone for tomorrow.

DS has admitted he is now feeling nervous. Mainly about history, which is his favourite subject and he is doing for A Level. He is now worried in case they can't read his handwriting. Also getting stressed about maths- he should be fine, predicted 7/8 but felt a couple of the papers went badly and now feels probably lost a lot of marks. Realistically, I think / hope he will be ok, but will be glad when know the reality and can move on.

Today is dragging rather...

Further general advice:

If results seem odd, requesting scripts is free in most cases, although schools can charge an admin fee.

Only students can request scripts or reviews, and they have to be done through the centre.

Reviews are expensive so if you're considering it, it's always wise to get someone who knows the papers to have a look first. If grades change, there's no fee. If marks do, but grades don't, you have to pay.

Individuals can't have NEA reviewed. Only centres can do that. It has to be the whole cohort.

DD has now decided to come back to the car to open her results tomorrow. I’ve promised to go for a walk around the school field (while hyperventilating) to give her time alone.