GCSE exam clash

In a contingency day the whole exam cohort will be sitting the same paper for whatever subject is needed to be sat.

There are 2 contingency sittings. In this world if social media/internet no pupil could be trusted to sit an exam weeks after the main sitting. The longest they can wait is for the next day if kept under strict supervision. This happens more in alevels as the exams are longer and could exceed the daily limit.

Contingency day is in case of significant local/national issues, like...a bombing in the underground or something like that. So a lot of candidates affected by something.

Are you sure? This is not the case with A levels.

You did ask if they could take the exam on contingency day as 3 exams in one day was too much. The contingency is for national issues not an individual one.
Your EO will be in contact shortly about the clash and what the procedure and timings will be. If there is a long break you are allowed notes and food but no access to phone.

Now a days the there is really less than 6 hour exams on one day. I remember when there was a three exam clash with 9 hours and the student had to sleep at a teachers house which I think was a really fair way of dealing with the situation.

I don’t think any posts on here are hysterical.

And tbf what you originally asked was could you get one of the clashing exams moved. Which would be somewhat of a special dispensation.

I think what people are saying is that it’s just something that happens, perhaps more so when unusual combos are taken (Mandarin is still quite a niche subject at GCSE) because the timetable has to have some exams clashing – and obvs not ones that everyone takes like biology and maths. The switch of subjects is also really standard. DS2 had 10 exams in his first week – 10 different topics and ways of answering questions and subjects to think about, It was fine.

For me it’s more that it’s massive context switching to go from essay writing in English to programming in code to listening and reading in mandarin than about the time spent doing it really.

He’s had 11 years of it. That’s what school is like. One minute you are coding, the next someone is wittering about Ohm’s Law, then you are being yelled at to climb a rope, then someone is saying “right, geographers, we’ll just have our quiz on coastal landscapes and then we’ll start on the changing urban population of North America”, and before you know it you are gouging out a picture of your grandmothers cat in a square of lino.

This has been normal for at least 30 years (I’m 41 and I had at least 3 delays of GCSEs with 3 exams). These days, they are often better spaced out but it doesn’t mean it doesn’t happen. Your child will just have to suck it up like everyone else.

It happened to DD1 at A level when Physics and English were at the same time. Students were told to do the longer exam first, which was Physics for her. However, the formula sheet which had been downloaded was the wrong one, so the students were all asked if they wanted all of them to have a delayed start, or just the Physics lot, whilst new sheets were printed. They decided that they'd all start late, so it was rather a long day for DD. Still, can't have done her any harm as she scraped A stars in both.

I think that's probably because clashes tend to occur between exams that are less commonly taken together. My DS did two A levels that are very frequently taken together and one that isn't. The 2 commonly combined ones were spread far apart but the other one was on the same day twice and at the same time once. Timetabling all those exams must be a logistical nightmare so I guess they schedule the most common combinations, so they don't clash meaning that if you do get a clash they're more likely to be dissimilar subjects.

It's a long day have multiple exams on the same day. Based on my son's experience I would say a key thing is to ensure that they've got plenty of high energy snacks for the break and enough water to last the day to ensure good hydration.

My DD has three exams one day. She also has extra time which means the total time is over the 5.5 hours limit for GCSEs (A-level limit is 6h in one day).
We discussed this with school and had the option of sitting them all in one day (you would get 'special consideration' for the final exam which is only 2%), or moving one exam to the following day, which fortunately only has one exam timetabled in the afternoon.
Given that my DD has ADHD and processing difficulties we decided that she would be too tired and unable to concentrate for over 6 hours and a 2% uplift wouldn't compensate for that.
As her clash is in the afternoon she has been told she can decide which one to sit the following morning and we just have to ensure she is supervised overnight with no phone/internet and she can't get the school bus

The exams officer will have it all sorted

It's really common and he'll be fine.

He presumably switches context every lesson change anyway, and has been for nearly 5 years...

Well that happens all the time tho. Maths in the am, history in the pm.

When I said an hour for the Mandarin, I meant an hour each. How long is the CS exam? School has the discretion IME to pull the CS one forward - so Eng lit 9-11, then CS 11.30-1.30 then Mandarin 2-4pm. But ofc he has to be in isolation for all that time. Worth liaising with school tho.

Having gone through this last summer with DD she had two days with clashes and 3 exams each day. It was knackering. Basically they did one exam. Had a supervised 20 min break then the next. So she finished late in the afternoon.

Not read the full thread so not sure if this is mentioned but it's to do with the hours. If it goes over a certain amount of time they can do the clashed exam the following day. With certain conditions set for supervision.

Most gcse papers are 2 hours max, so 1:30-3:30 comp sci and 4:00-5:00 mandarin rand l for example.

Actually I don’t think HCSE clashes are that common, but Mandarin is not so commonly taken hence the clash.

Very common at A level. None of my DC had GCSE clashes but DD had an A level one, geography and French. Luckily a friend also had a clash (FM and geog) so they were together in a room doing IIRC their geog paper early. They then stayed in the room all day, no phones obvs, until they went to their afternoon exams.

The r and l exams are only an hour tho I presume? So he’ll just be in school till about 5pm? It’s tough but that’s just how it is. He can’t do one three weeks later or he’d know the questions.

Sorry I don't think that is clear.

Google JCQ ICE guidelines. It's freely available.

Here are the rules OP.