Y11 2025/26 The Final Stretch

I'm dreading repeating all this with DD. She's completely the opposite of DS: not academic but works really hard and gets stressed about schoolwork. I think at least she'll revise and let me help her!

Geography went ok here at both ends of the spectrum - dd2 who is predicted a 9 and wants to do a geography based degree was happy and dd1 who hates it with a passion and regrets picking it every day reckons she did passably.

tomorrw will be tense - dd1 really struggled in her mocks and had been working her socks off - she needs a 6 ideally for college (science subject for a level). She’s been comfortably getting that in her practice papers but she gets really overwhelmed and it goes to pot. Dd2 is doing a level maths and is putting heaps of pressure on herself to get a 9. We’ve done and said all the right things to her but we then laugh as she is her own worst enemy and we all know it, especially her.

so no more work, showers and early nights all round. Including me

DD is a bit stressed about Maths. She's desperate for a high mark as wants to do it for A level, but is struggling with a couple of topics on practice papers. I've told her to make sure she switches off by 9 and gets a decent night's sleep.
Big day tomorrow.

Oh no sorry to panic you @clary DS does CIE German so a different board. He seemed happy with it, apparently there was a random odd question on the computer science paper but overall not too bad.

I invigilated edexcel geography B today and the students seemed to take in in stride, and were quite buzzy coming out of the hall so hopefully that was positive. Only two went to sleep towards the end (invigilator “sleepometer” is often a decent indicator of how engaged they are as an ocerall cohort!).

Maths tomorrow for DS (and me!)- I am not looking forward to it as I’m in a side room of students who are prone to being a bit silly and disruptive. Practising my stern face and don’t mess with me voice!

I couldn’t agree more on high stakes exams. DS also not a fan on AQA geography, something to do with Sand Dunes. Mind you the last time he really beat himself up about a paper on a mock it went well. We are very much in work hard but whatever will be will be. My difficulty is I am really busy at work and too busy to support as much as I would like

DS sees quite relaxed still - he had 2 exams today, and has 2 tomorrow. He’s out on his bike now, but he’ll probably do an hour or so of work later.

I’m not loving any of this - I really don’t think that 25+ relatively high stakes exams are the best measure of our young people (and particularly in this day and age).

Edexcel Geography B here. DS came home pleased with how it went. He's not stressed about maths tomorrow. It's one of two subjects where he's done a lot of revision off his own bat so I hope he does well.

My son in a really good mood today. I think 2 biggies - eng lit and geography done. He’s confident with his maths and well revised for history on Friday, so hopefully a nicer end to the week. The next scary one is the dreaded eng lit paper 2 on Tuesday (AQA)

DD had aqa Geography said she mis read a question spotted it at the end and tried to turn it around. Wasn't a fan of the paper. She seems very tired got two more exams this week !

Oh no poor @BeasKnee DD - I hope it was not a high mark section .

@ShesRunningOutTheDoor - same here - though you got a lot more detail than me .. DS likes tropical rainforests so will have been pleased they came up

DD accidentally missed a page today (only realised after chatting to a friend afterwards) so is really upset. It's frustrating but there's nothing that she can do now. I understand why she's annoyed though. It's one thing not being able to answer a question and another to not even have seen it to be able to try! I guess she won't make the same mistake again though (I wish this had happened in a mock instead)...

@waitingquietly we are Edexcel A geography. No case studies came up. It was oxbow lakes, coastal erosion, typhoons and tropical rainforests. My son said it was ok.

Good luck to everyone with maths tomorrow - I guess it’s one we know they are all doing and they all need it !

Hi all- hugs to you all and your wonderful DCs going through this.

DS messaged that geography today went well.

maths tomorrow. History friday.

I'm heading home now from London so hopefully by the time I get back DS will be fed and showered and ready for an early-ish night.

Best of luck to everyone.

Mines revision start time keeps moving back .. started at 4 apparently now 5 … weather here is awful and some of our neighbours have a power cut so I’d like him to get on with it really

My dd also struggling to get motivated to revise after school. We’ve settled into a routine where she does 1.5h (give or take a bit of faffage) before tea, then chills after tea. I’m pretty happy with that. I think tmw eve will be a different story tho, with a lot of History cramming. Her teacher said she has Grade 8 writing skills but Grade 3 knowledge of key dates and stats 😬

Just joining this thread and it looks like everyone's DCs are working really hard. DD is in her room on the phone to a friend, I think she's struggling to motivate herself.

We're over in NI where some school do modules a year early, so DD has some big gaps and I think she'd have done better to be in school rather than on study leave.

Biology - DS1 got a 7 with 73% last year the next grade up was 77% - can’t tell you about 9 .

I have some boundaries written down as we needed to decide what marks to check .. in the end we only checked eng lit on one paper as my son was 2 marks off a 6 .. he retained a 5 . We also checked DS2s eng lang which was again 2 marks off - he kept his 7 . I do know people that varied marks up , but also someone that lost maths marks

I think grade boundaries tend to be low in all the sciences. DD told me biology last year was something like 65 or 70 for a 9, so don't worry those who found it hard.

Hopefully paper 2 will be better.

A break day here today, but Maths and German writing tomorrow (AQA) and then History on Friday so intense end to a full-on week.

Next week looks better though and then half term.

I think they are the same thing too - the grade boundaries documents refer to both I think

Agree.

I think they are the same thing

Is Pearson and Edexcel the same thing? On DS's timetable it has his Btecs down as Pearson which sounds right and I can find Pearson Btecs online but then also geography and maths down as Pearson but they are definitely GCSEs. I have found some reference to Pearson Edexcel online is that the same thing as when people are mentioning Edexcel on here?

Not heard a peep from my son today. He was geography edexcel A. I’ll let you know when he’s home

@bellygazing you do have my sympathy - my sleep is all over the shop but that could also be blamed on menopause . DS2 occasionally sleep walks and dreams though nothing lately .

any more feedback on Geography ? Edexcel . DS said it wasn’t as good as he thought it was going to be . He was expecting it to be easy as in his words he’s done soooo much work