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

That's so true - and a sub topic that you are a master of might not come up at all! I did say to DS that if he had time go back and add some more info around the question - at least they you're showing you know something!

Just seen this... omg, dd is desperate to see Hadestown, thank you for the heads up!

This is what i was xhatting to DD about this morning. With all other subjects, so many aspects are tested that you can get away with not mastering everthing. And whilst you are guaranteed each subject to come up as there are 4 papers, there are only a few questions so it's easy to go completely blank if it's a topic you dont master enough.

We have history too. Edexcel Elizabethan and Cold War. History (and Art) has been the biggest time stealer. The content is mammoth. My DD says she can study it forever and still not feel she knows it well unlike other subjects. It was her favourite but now she’s has second thoughts about taking it for A-levels. She’s good at essay subjects but the sheer content has put her off.

This is what I don't like about history GCSEs, it's all so disjointed. The children learn to analyse and think like historians, but I do think history should be taught in a linear way, ending with the 20th century for GCSEs.

History Reddit thread: History Megathread : r/GCSE

Nothing on there yet but I will check and report in! I didn't realise the edexcel exam was 110 minutes long

DD has AQA history this morning, Elizabethan England and History of Medicine. She is the most nervous I've seen her so far. She sobbed and sobbed at bed time. I am going to be refreshing Reddit for the next couple of hours to see what the topics were...

@whereonthestair so funny you have put your DS off law by having a career in it. My eldest is not interested, my youngest is. There are so many different types of law you can practise, so many ways to practise, being a lawyer can look very different. I probably wouldn't advise a large corporate private practice if your DS has a strong sense of justice though @getwiththeprogram 😅

That's it isn't it, as we get older flexibility is one of the most valued things when we're working. I'm working today but apart from specific meeting times / deadlines, I can do the actual work / output at times that suit. As long as I do them..

Good luck to all our hardworking YP, past the half way point..

Hope exams go well today.
DD has the day off was nice no stress last night.
English tomorrow worst subject but will be fine for grade to move forward.
Good luck to all kids sitting on the fence between grades for tomorrow.

I loved history and continued with it through until university but I don't remember doing anywhere near as many topics in the mid 90s for GCSE. The only topic I remember was the world wars - I assume we did more than that but can't remember what. I certainly don't think we did four large topics. DD has had Germany, Cold war, Migration & Normans. Apart from Normans which felt a bit lighter (possibly because of overlap with migration) they have all seemed huge. They were still learning new content up until a couple of weeks ago! The tricky bits of revision are over for us after today as DD finds science a comparative breeze to revise compared to history etc. The finish line seems in sight now!

Yes I’m a solicitor. It suits me and I’ve had a good career, but DS thinks I spend my life talking and working all hours. I don’t, I have a lot of flexibility but I was working after helping DS last night so didn’t finish until after 10. That sounds rubbish until I also say well I stopped at 4 for that help.

DS was quite stressed this morning which is unlike him. I think the half term break wasn’t long enough to deal with the exhaustion. It’s easy to forget if students have extra time for exams in reality they need the same extra time to revise but the days don’t get any longer. DS decided sleep more important than going to a school revision session at 7.45 today. Very wise!

Oh my gosh when it’s laid out like that you realise how much they’ve had to learn, poor kids!
This is the only morning that DS left the house looking resigned to his fate. He’s not hugely academic but so far has been confident he knew enough about what would come up in the exam papers. Not today! At least at 10:30 he can draw a line under history GCSE 😬

Good luck historians!! My son nervous we’ve been up since 5.30am. Come on Edexcel nice questions please 🙏

Bit off thread but why no law? Are you a solicitor by any chance? x

History today here too, again. Ws one last week and 3rd History next week. History and Art have been the most work - content for sure

@getwiththeprogram @Ifonlyoneday

Yep I do similar - it's probably more for us than them but either way - it helps!

AQA History here this morning - Elizabethan England, and Britain: migration empires and the people c790 to the present day. So just a small topic!

Dd was quite cheerful after both maths (edexcel iGCSE maths higher) & geography yesterday (she ran out of time, which she has form for in geography). I think quite a lot of that was general euphoria that both are finished now. IGCSE only has two papers for maths.

English language on Friday (it’s her poetry/prose anthology & creative writing paper), she hasn’t thought about English for weeks & after a half term of physics, maths & computer science getting back to it will be painful. I’m relishing a day of not driving to the exam centre.

She was really down after the second com sci paper on Monday, it’s her strong paper in her strong subject & she was so disappointed by how it went. After tomorrow the end is truly in sight though - biology & chemistry paper 2s next week & physics the week after.

With hindsight I wish she’d done fewer subjects (we’re doing it from home), she was fixed on what she wanted to do but most home ed students don’t do 8 in one go - it’s exhausting, stressful & expensive. And I’ll be doing it again (for the last time 🙏) with DC#4 next year.

DS is another history/English person - he is not STEM at all. DS13 is the polar opposite.

We also have Cold War history today - he wants a Cuban missile crisis question. Henry VIII is the other topic and I reminded him it’s 50/50 on the marks so don’t go on about war for too long

Also French writing which seems to not even be on his radar

I do a daft think where when the exam is just about to start I wish them a nice exam paper, clearly the paper has already been written publicised months ago and my wishing will have no impact, however I do it for each exam in some superstitious way. 😂

My son has also had one or two exams daily with no break except half term - his options were history, geography, PE, French. The benefits - no double exams first two weeks while they were settling in to it. But drawbacks, horrible half term packed with history and geography revision when his business / RE mates were on the golf course. Yesterday was hard, today hard (history and French) but then single exam days only until the end now

This is my DS too, history he just knows. But law is not for him as that’s what I do and I have put him off for life. I think he’s heading for politics, the civil service, charity or something like that.

He reported maths as tricky and he didn’t finish the end of the paper. He also said one question used a diagram neither he nor his father who teaches uni maths had ever heard of. Oh well.

Geog on the other hand he found ok and referred to many current economic factors just from listening to the news….

today is history and french reading. But he’ll still have another 8 papers to go. I am envious of those where the numbers are reducing and there are gaps and keep wondering what options they were as the timetable for DS only broke for half term.

we haven’t heard back from
school about the application for special consideration due to the breakdown in the computer which was our failure of access needs. Will chase that up tomorrow

AQA history today on Cold War - Praying for a question on the Berlin Blockade 🤣

@fruitypancake id second law or similar. The patience to wade through texts and info and interpret it is a real skill. I work in a related field.

Sounds like the Laurus trust near me where all the Yr9 do Spanish GCSE. They do daily lessons for ages then sit it in Yr9. They get great results which obv is great but I’d go back to the point that in my day it was factored in how many o levels you did in one year. If my DC could do some early and cram for them for weeks it would be very different from 11 in one go