Y11 2025/26 The Final Stretch

Edexcel non calc here for DD. Predicted an 8, capable of a 9 on a good day and wants to do it for A level. She’s been unusually positive about how exams have gone so far so I’m hoping this isn’t the one where it all goes wrong.

Full on meltdown at 7.40 here, tears, hyperventilating. Geography and computer science wiped her out yesterday, but once maths is done, she's 25% though having done 6 exams this week.

I drove her to school for 'maths breakfast' but she didn't want to go in, so we had to kill 20 minutes in the local supermarket! I insisted I needed some essentials to distract her, so ended up coming away with an utterly random selection of items (ketchup, sunflower oil and bleach), plus a packet of her favorite sweets as a post-exam reward.

Just been reflecting, my husband who is an academic says all students always say the questions on any exam are niche/ unusual as that means well they haven’t been on the past papers they studied which of course stands to reason. It doesn’t mean that they are necessarily hard nor that they don’t know how to do them.

He is also at a very prestigious university and categorically says that even though those he admits come with a string on grade 9 GCSEs the university consider an 8 and a 9 to be the same as any student who can get an 8 can get a 9 on a different paper.

Yes, I know that it's hard to recruit good CS teachers. It's a job to know if it's good/poor teaching, aptitude for the subject or a tricky paper which are factors. I guess it's just a question of supporting them, sensible revision and just waiting until we get the results at this stage.

Long time lurker here, but grateful for this chat support at the moment with DD sitting exams.

OCR Comp Science was tricky for us too - she said some very niche questions came up. Paper 1 is usually her banker so this has thrown her. We were wondering if she hasn’t been taught properly as everything else I’ve seen seems to suggest people found it easy!

Good luck to all for maths today

@clary It was Hannah with the sweets in 2015 when my DD1 did her GCSEs. She just thought she didn't have a clue, missed it out and carried on! I suspect more able students were more thrown as they expect to be able to do most of the paper. (It wasn't intrinsically that hard, just had probability and algebra together).

Hope maths goes well today, especially any on the 3/4 borderline. I was there last year with then 20yo DD2 doing a last ditch resit. (She passed).

One stressed DD at school. She was after a 9 but needs an 8 for further maths ALevel. Hoping this paper is a good one as so far she ain't been happy with any. @Onthesofawithmydog definitely a present for the teacher that question through my daughter.

DD didn't even get a study session for maths as they only did one and it was yesterday morning during Geography so no predictions from the teacher.
Going to be another long day
🍀

Good luck for all the maths students today. Dd was teary and stressed this morning. Just hoping for a pass as maths is difficult for her.

We’re getting mixed reports, computer science which is supposedly a solid A level choice- he said there were no questions on hardware and he doesn’t think that they’ve been taught a lot of it, this is paper 1, which is supposedly the easier one, he thought that geography went ok. I am a bit worried about A level choices, it seems madness that they have to select them before they get their GCSE results. I suppose that there will be a fair amount of shifting around once results come out. Wondering what direction/subject DS should be heading in and if his school is just weak on CS or if he likes the idea of computing more than the actuality.

Great advice @Clary - DD improved her grade when she started doing this: Even when not sure how to work the question, if she knows what it was trying to get her to do, she's write down the formula and get a mark or 2 doing that. I hope she remembers!

@Moneyordream I'm just so cross on your and your DS's behalf!

@clary I did just remind dd1 of this so thank you. A 6 would be great, a 7 amazing for her. Bless her heart she really doesn’t like maths at all but is signed up to do core maths in 6th form to help with the bio a level which I think is properly mature of her. Irony is she’s fine at it, she just clashed a lot with her teacher and lost confidence

dd2 had another wig out which doesn’t bode well.

dd1 just messaged me - she’s just had to step over some roadkill on her way to school and has decided this is foreshadowing of her doom. It’s not bloody English lit child. She is at least happy her hair looks great today so that’s a relief……

Sending love!

@Clary she's not a big fan of physics so think engineering may be out. But is quite excited about modern languages degrees. Other subjects at the moment are biology and RE (though she keeps changing her mind) so it's a real mixed bag! German and Maths are her certainties though.

@Moneyordream thats horrible treatment for your son and added stress to you all. I hope he does amazingly and feels proud of himself
2 potential a level subjects today. Ds seemed ok and sensibly stopped revising early and had an early night. I think starting to get tired. We've gently suggested no revision tonight
He is very good at maths but is really pushing and hoping for a 9 which feels real pressure
Another day of worrying today!

My son really wants a 9 in maths. He’s historically not backed himself but his confidence has grown as he’s got older. I hope he relaxes, breathes and ‘enjoys’ showing his passion for maths today

@Stowickthevast maths and German A level, I love it! I almost did maths A level, that's a great combo. Engineering firms love someone who can speak German. Hope her day goes extra well and remember to use the German she knows rather than trying to write something she doesn't. (you'd be surprised).

@Moneyordreamthat’s appalling!

DS Way too relaxed about maths last night though he did revise all day at school yesterday. He was making brownies and begging me for TikTok. I gave in in the end no point having an argument - what will be will be. He’s not allowed his phone at school officially but I told him to message me from the loo with some indication of how it went 🙈

@Moneyordream
good luck to your son. I think it’s awful they haven’t made v easy reasonable adjustments. I hope he does well despite his school

Another one aiming for an 8 here. She got a 7 in mocks but was a bit disappointed by some silly mistakes, although paper 2 is her worse paper.

I've just reminded her that she is actually good at Maths and it's not just a test of revision but also the skills you've accumulated over the whole 2 years.

German writing this afternoon, which is another A level subject. She hasn't done much for this as has history tomorrow so hoping her latent knowledge will see her through.

Good luck everyone.

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Thanks all, we have been on at them constantly. Calculator was brought up beginning of year 10. He has teacher for visually impaired who goes into school and she has been astounded by the schools lack of support. They just forget about him. When they give out revision they dont follow his passport that states font size etc. Honestly can't wait for him to leave. He is up and pacing for this exam, He is doing further maths this year also, and wants to carry that on to A Level so the stress is high

Morning all and all the best to the mathsers today.

Just a thought which may be worth mentioning – if your DC is taking Higher paper and is likely to get a 6/7 grade, there will be, more I think than in other tiered papers (certainly this is not so pronounced in MFL), questions that are aimed at weeding out the 8/9 candidates, so they may well find a few they simply cannot tackle.

Advice I think is to show anything you can in terms of working out/method; but please make sure they know this (they probs do already) so they don't come out catastrophising about "Jessica’s sweets” or whatever it was a few years ago. It’s one or maybe two questions and they are aimed at their maths-whizz mate. They can still get their secure 7 without that one.

worried this morning - DS needs 6 for all a level choices but did a paper yesterday and got a high 5 …. He thought it was probably a 6 so I kept quiet to avoid the spiral … I hope it’s a lucky paper

Our DDs sound quite similar @36and3
DD is predicted an 8, needs a 7 to do it at A levels and is putting a lot of pressure on herself. Things dont come easy, she worked hard to get there but the pressure she puts herself under is great. Im grateful it's a morning exam, no time to stress (too much) about it (for her, but also for me 😅)