Y11 2025-26 - Trying not to melt and pushing through the final weeks

Got confused by the Geography paper 3 talk as my dd has already covered fieldwork in paper 2.

Now realise there are 2 different Edexcel Geography syllabus and my daughter is doing B not A. Paper 3 on syllabus B is on people and environment issues.

just in case others were confused. 🤪

Why did you find this 'shocking'?

Agree with lots of comments here, FM appears to test students in a way many other subjects at GCSE don’t. More about the application of knowledge and process, and an element of lateral thinking in matching questions to likely methods. This is a huge generalization of course! But many GCSE’s appear to be taught and structured predominantly to the mark scheme - and are more about demonstrating knowledge, regurgitating facts, than testing application. As someone who teaches in HE I spend quite a bit of time persuading students to let go of the need for certainty in their education and asking them to stop trying to second guess ‘correct’ answers in relation to pre-determined learning outcomes.
@LolaBaby75 it may well be of course that our DC’s end up with exactly the same outcome just experienced the exam differently!

Trying to redeem myself.
straight from Pearson Edexcel
https://qualifications.pearson.com/content/dam/pdf/GCSE/Geography-A/2016/teaching-and-learning-materials/GCSE-Geography-A-(9-1)-Knowledge-Organiser-Paper-3-Geographical-Investigations-Fieldwork-and-UK-Challenges.pdf

It's a mistake to focus on past papers as a guide of what will be included in the next paper.

The whole subject curriculum needs to be studied so students are ready for any question.

If a topic has come up 5 years in a row then I would say that it is unlikely to be included for a couple of years.

Did your DD do them all to the allocated time? I'm sure she did, but I know that DD's issue was not the maths, more the fact that she was too slow and struggled to keep to the allocated time. As most of this was done at home, I always told her to keep going, that she would get faster. She did, but I think faced with difficult questions in exam conditions, she might have panicked a little and ran out of time.

The general view on most of the science exams seem to be that they were unusual. I'm wondering whether it's because there are limited past papers, they've done them all and there is some familiarity with them that they don't have with the actual papers.

Spanish listening edexcel - “really good”

My dd completed every single past paper for fm and got 9s in every one. But this one seemed completely different from the others. So maybe they are not that strong after all as you say and the past papers lulled them into false sense of how good they are. They are seriously considering dropping FM for a-level after this.

DD also dropped it in March, quite reluctantly but it was 100% the right decision for her. They have covered the material, the teacher told her that put her in a very good position for A level Maths without the stress of the extra exam.

I'm also waiting to hear from DD regarding Spanish listening and reading (AQA).

My dd also dropped FM, back in March. I’m so thrilled she did. It would have finished her off by the sounds of it.

just waiting to hear for Spanish listening update! Edexcel

I think you're correct, actually. My DC was so stressed out during and after the exam yesterday (having found Bio in the morning easy enough). Dc got a grade 9 in GCSE Maths last year after taking it early. But this FM was definitely another playing field. Well, we shall see what the results bring.. Onto the last 4 exams now.. nearly finished..

Son isn’t doing further maths (he’s doing extended maths which I only found out this week is same content as maths GCSE but more difficult problems, vs the additional topics covered in further maths) but I agree that part of the feeling that the further maths exam was too hard might just be the feeling of finding a maths paper hard for pupils who are used to maths being easy. Very very few students will be finding further maths easy otherwise it won’t differentiate effectively.

Good luck to all with exams today. Nothing here and back to it tomorrow.

Regarding AQA Triple higher biology, it was ecology heavy, which is the last topic and often dismissed by students as it seems easy. I guess that's why some said it was like a geography paper @UncomfortableSilence

Reading the comments on FM I'm glad DD dropped it, it sounds horrendous. DD's issue was running out of time, so I don't think she would have been able to finish yesterday's paper.

@ShesRunningOutTheDoor at least you made us laugh … also you have helped prove that DS2 does actually look at stuff I send him 😂… we shall keep it for next years economics a levelling

I think it’s more the case that those who are brilliant at maths aren’t used to finding maths papers challenging.

DD can do the normal maths GCSE papers with her eyes closed. FM takes it up a notch and really challenges them. Particularly as most school don’t actually teach much of it and so a lot is self taught outside the school timetable.

I think a lot of those complaining probably did significantly better than they thought they did. They are just not used to feel stressed and taxed following a maths exam.

Oh god it is economics. Sorry, I hadn’t watched it through!!! Back to study guide.

It’s very possibleto be very good at maths and not do so well in Further Maths - DS1 is a prime example .. predicted A in his alevel but only a 6 in FM gcse and has dropped the a level

I’m not sure how representative that view is. My son is not necessarily ‘brilliant’ but said that exam was ok and not too left field given past papers he’d done. Maybe those that struggled aren’t actually that strong.

DS2 also doing the Edexcel A Geography paper 3 . He was equally lost at the weekend but I have seen him intently studying a CGP revision guide .. he says the YouTube posted above is Economics 😂

Further maths - there is a definitely a problem when consistently grade nine students are all saying how bad it was. The problem is when brilliant students are questioning their a-level choices because of this.There's a petition already that you can sign that hopefully will gain traction like the unfair maths Alevel exam that was in the news: https://www.change.org/p/review-the-june-8th-further-maths-exam

@mylifeisexams do you know any good videos to watch … I can’t seem to see many. Dd has done hardly any revision.

Dd was annoyed with biology yesterday (edexcel iGCSE higher). There are 6 or 7 questions and every year they are taken from the same 8 topics. Biology paper 1 was eons ago & she didn’t have the time to go over everything again so she focussed on the 10 most likely to come up.

Sod’s Law said they decided to change it up this year - it wasn’t a disaster she answered at least one of the 5 mark questions really badly.

Gearing up for chemistry on Friday, then physics on Monday. She’s got an unmissable family thing on Saturday so that will be a day off. She’s so close to the end now it’s really hard to stay motivated.

DS said that biology paper 2 was his worst so far compared to all the others (iGCSE AQA). Biology very much his least favourite science so he’s glad to get it over with. Further maths on the other hand he was very happy with.

He has an exam free day today which is just as well as zero revision has been done for tomorrow’s DT exam so far. He got a good NEA mark so I think is a bit blasé about the exam. Will have to see what happens tomorrow.

My biggest concern this week is Maths. OCR have given 2 much harder than usual papers. I really hope this weeks is kinder.

@FoxandDuck does she have past papers to look at? Definitely get her friend's results, or even an example off t'internet. The examiner won't care whose results they are and she doesn't need to know them off by heart, just the broad methods and conclusions.

DS said he got the kitten question wrong yesterday. He was also most put out because apparently the question said that brown cats were worthless (obviously for the purposes of the question!). Ironically, we have two brown cats and one white one.