Y11 2025/26… come and join

New thread here I think!

https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/secondary/5517784-y11-202526-the-final-stretch?utm_campaign=thread&utm_medium=app_share

Well done to all DCs in the speaking exams so far. DD is at the end of this month.

Art today and tomorrow, I dropped her in this morning as she had so much stuff and I felt so emotional, lots of her class were being dropped off and lots of hugs all round and I just really felt it today. Need to pull it together for the next few weeks!

I’ll try to do the new thread.

@wonderstuff do you want to start a new one?

Oh! I've never had that before. Clearly more questionable than I thought!

@Wincher I used to dose myself with herbal gin before school but bought DS some lionsmane gummies as a slightly less questionable alternative. I don't believe they actually do anything but he was all into it and I reckoned they'd be a good placebo. He carries them around in his school bag like a kid version of magic mushrooms.

Morning all - I think we are going to need a new thread soon - I’m not sure how to do it - but hope someone else can 🤦🏻‍♀️x

German speaking next week for us. TBH DS says that he can’t do much more now and the important thing is to try not to panic in the exam situation. I suggested, jokingly, a shot of vodka before the exam… But in seriousness I’m wondering about getting him some Bach rescue remedy as I remember that helping in this sort of situation

Well done to your dd @Tebheag

Thanks for the positive words @Clary. I think DD has 15 themes and has memorised a few stock phrases for each. She's hoping technology and the environment don't feature!

Someone I follow on Instagram had a few useful tips for the English poems https://www.instagram.com/p/DWO7SLoGXsQ/?img_index=1&igsh=bHI0bWJmYnVyYmJx

I'm not sure if these would also apply to iGcse though.

DS least fav is La Belle Dame sans Merci .. - basically anything older causes problems .

He got lucky last year when he took his English Language and got the poem he wanted so chances of getting lucky again less likely ..

upside he now understands a couple more that he didn’t this morning .

DS1 did gcse last year but I can’t remember now which sets he did

I’m hoping she used lots of them anyway! but like I say, no MFL learning is wasted as the vocab will work for all the exams.

I don’t know the IGCSE spec but on GCSE you also don’t know which one will come up or which theme. But as I say, you can pick out 3-4 that cover pretty much every theme between them and then use the one that works best.

DD got Bayonet Charge and the effects of war which was a gift tbh. She wrote about Exposure but there were many other possibilities. They will never set Tissue – you heard it here :)

You have got me checking he’s got it right though - thanks all - it’s not at all impossible that he’s got the wrong end of the stick

DS is doing igcse so think he has to understand all 16 - as you don’t know which one will come up or which theme . A couple are absolutely incomprehensible to me .. and I did do A level .. thank god for save my exams . Upside is it’s 40% coursework and most of the rest of the paper is on a novella which you can read in just over an hour

@clary she had 54 questions down on flashcards.

Which reminds me I need to order more flashcards as she put just one question on each card oops.

yeh I meant to say before, re the poems – no need to learn all of them. Say it's AQA power and conflict – yes you will be given one and obvs need to be able to talk about that one – but you have it in front of you. In terms of learning, pick out the key ones that cover several themes. There are guides on line but eg Exposure ticks "war" and also "power of nature".

Next week for French speaking is good tho – gets it done before the written exams start. The window for AQA for example goes until 15 May – well into the Eng lit and science and all of it. At least doing it in April ticks that one off. For many students, it is also the one they dread (tho IME it is never as bad as they fear).

Which set is he doing? DS's school gave them a list of 7 poems they need to learn inside-out, which sounds a lot more manageable than 16.

DS got his French speaking exam date today - next Wednesday, which feels very, very soon. He's got PE physical moderation next week too. It's all getting a bit real!

Well if her teacher said that she must have done well :) 54 questions (unless a humorous exaggeration) is ridiculous tbh. If it’s AQA you don’t get to pick a theme at all now and so you cannot know what will come up. There's only one section where the examiner chooses the questions (the last element).

Mind you I can understand (of course) teachers getting their students to prep answers, and that's a good thing as posted already, to develop skills in verbs and vocab usage though, so hopefully the earning will stand in good stead for the writing and to some extent listening and reading too.

Thank you everyone DD is glad it's over as its her weakest part of the subject. Her teacher told her she did well and asked if she was going to do it for ALevel she said no as didn't like the sound of doing Spanish books.
@clary DD had about 54 questions to try and memorise!

@Stowickthevast good luck to your DD tomorrow its good that the school did a revision session DD school didn't do a language revision session in fact she got nothing from school.
Good luck to everyone else's child doing oral language exams.

Oh my word - 4/16 English lit anthology poems gone through .. This is going to take a long time .. and we really don’t have a long time 🤦🏻‍♀️.. DS back to school tomorrow .So wish I’d been more forceful on my offer to help at the start of the holiday .

DD’s speaking is on Monday. She’s memorised answers for 10 questions. I’m so over it myself let alone her.

Good luck to all taking speaking MFL today . DS not even back at school yet … still gaming - apparently he will revise English lit with me this afternoon - it doesn’t come naturally and is one of the few subjects I can help with . Other nightmares are the sciences of which I remember pretty much nothing .. starting to feel pretty close now ( to me not him )

Ah @whereonthestair Edexcel that’s OK then, yes he chooses the theme of photo and general convo, so yes, deffo worth learning some model answers. IKWYM about the struggle to say what you know, even if it is not true. Students always try to say something true but complex rather than taking the easy way and I do understand that.

It sounds as though he has a lot to deal with so I hope he does well. The good thing is that the examiner/teacher can (and should) adapt questions – so if they see he is struggling with an answer they can move on to something he can do – and I am sure they will. All the best to him and everyone with their MFL orals.

DS is doing Edexcel and it’s the first time his school have done edexcel. He does adapt what he says in answer to the questions but he actually freezes when he has to answer a question on anything if he does not have something prepared. So he has one theme but for example can’t remember what to say about his family or particularly his friends as he has to make up a lot of answers, his family being very small, and due to his disability the ability to say I went to the museum with my friends in French bring something he can do, but the ability to actually go to the museum with his friends bring something he cannot do, as he cannot get there, get in etc etc etc so he has to remember general answers about things he can never in fact do. The other themes would be easier but it is what it is!

The other parts of the oral are also a lot easier than general conversation for DS thankfully. Also learning the phrases does reiterate and revise tenses etc. The time last year we were pushing for DS to give French up as the part of the brain which does language is damaged for DS ( it shows on an MRI, and DS would still fail a year 2 phonics test now as a result).

This time this year he wants to get at least an 8! We will see.

good luck to those with assessments today and this week!

Just dropping in to say all the best to anyone taking their MFL speaking exam in the next week or so.

I have a tranche that I am examining and I start on Thursday; I’m a bit nervous too (always happens).

also now prepping French oral. We have 15 questions and many of them in parts a, b and c. He has no chance of remembering it all, and the memorised bit is his weakest part but we are going to try and do 10-15 mins each morning before school and then see.
@whereonthestair this is interesting. Can I ask what board your DS is doing? Because of the new spec this year (irrelevant to anyone in year 11 as it's the only spec they have done!) AQA no longer has a choice of topic – or is he learning answers to general questions on every theme I wonder? If it’s Edexcel then they do choose a theme in which case I can understand learning some model answers but it's not really the idea. Better to learn useful phrases to adapt. And opinions and reasons :)

Good luck to your Dd@Tebheag.

DD has German tomorrow. They had to go in for a receive session yesterday, it was an inset day, but I think it went well. One of her A levels so fingers crossed.