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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

DS thinks he can teach himself to pass an exam in a week. AIBU to think he is wrong?

755 replies

user1494154933 · 07/05/2017 13:45

This is going to sound ridiculous and I wasn't going to post, as you'll probably call me stupid Blush or irresponsible, etc.

My son is now 18. He isn't a 'genius' or anything like that. He did ok at GCSEs but didn't try hard at all. I used to try my best to get him to revise for him exams, he refused to and said it was pointless and exams don't help etc. which is ridiculous because as much as I do agree it's about memory, you clearly do need to know, anyway, he did ok and got accepted into sixth form, he decided not to go and got a part time job but did a part time photography course in the evening (he is still doing that).

I don't really know how it came about but I think I brought it up about how his exams were important and does he agree now he has matured and he was saying how he doesn't agree because exams aren't showing how intelligent you are, etc. and anyone can do them if they learn the exam technique. Last year (around december) he was telling me how he was going to prove it, he booked himself into the Maths AS exams for this summer (last year you can do these ones I believe). He hasn't learnt anything yet Hmm and I keep bringing it up (he spent £150 odd pounds for the exams (private candidate) and will sit them at his college he goes to part time) and he is telling me 'to wait and see'. He says when he has a week until the exam he will start learning the technique of it? I could slightly understand if a different subject, but he seems to think for Maths it works the best. I really don't understand his whole thinking behind this, but can't wait to be like WTF when he doesn't pass...

AIBU to think this is just stupid and not possible?

OP posts:
ZilphasHatpin · 14/05/2017 14:38

And I don't want his point to be proved!

Really? We couldn't tell Grin

ZilphasHatpin · 14/05/2017 14:39

How depressing it must be to live in a world where no-one should try and do something extremely difficult and unlikely to succeed because of the jealousy of those who can't.

ZilphasHatpin · 14/05/2017 14:41

We shouldnt have gone to the moon because most people could never do it.

annandale · 14/05/2017 14:44

To be fair Zilphas, if I'd signed up to go to the moon and my fellow pilot said 'I started training for this a week ago!! Go me!!' I'd back out of the trip Grin

robinia · 14/05/2017 14:46

Because B grade Brian didn't even do a week's revision. Just got a B based on attending about 5% of maths classes over two years.

dynevoran · 14/05/2017 14:51

I have a very strong maths brain. Got As for both a level maths and further maths (in 2001 before the a* grade this was the highest grade) and did a maths degree at a Russell group University. I could have done this because it was just the way my brain worked. Until I got to university everything I was taught I just felt "yes of course that's obvious why are we being taught it" but I fully understand this is very unusual and if he got a B at gcse he obviously doesn't have a natural affinity I'd be surprised if he actually could do the same.

ZilphasHatpin · 14/05/2017 14:58

if I'd signed up to go to the moon and my fellow pilot said 'I started training for this a week ago!! Go me!!' I'd back out of the trip grin

Grin but would you rather he succeeded or failed either way?

noblegiraffe · 14/05/2017 15:08

Really? We couldn't tell

Then why did you ask 'are you saying you hope he fails' if it was that obvious?

I think if you were a crack team of astronauts that had been preparing for a moon-shot with meticulous planning and hard work, then along came some unfit, uneducated guy who said 'I've knocked up a rocket in my back garden and I'm going to try for the moon on the same day as you' then you'd be hoping he didn't get off the ground too. Because otherwise it makes a mockery of your hard work.

PandaG · 14/05/2017 15:18

Just discussed this thread with DS, who sits his maths AS this month. He was quite amused at the thought of having any chance of passing with so little preparation. However he did say he sat an electronics AS paper for fun the other day (having done no electronics since GCSE last year, but he is doing physics, chemistry and further maths a levels, and has done engineering education scheme this year, so some crossover perhaps), and he got a b in the paper! I hope he doesn't wish he'd spent the hour and a half he spent taking the paper revising for the AS's he is actually taking!!

ZilphasHatpin · 14/05/2017 15:57

Grin noble you're very funny. Of course a self built rocket aiming for the moon is comparable to an AS exam. Hmm

Then why did you ask 'are you saying you hope he fails' if it was that obvious?

You will see that I asked if you hoped he failed before you answered the question Wink

noblegiraffe · 14/05/2017 16:04

You're the one who brought up going to the moon on a thread about AS exams!

As for my position, I thought it would have been obvious before you asked...

msrisotto · 14/05/2017 16:05

When's the exam?

noblegiraffe · 14/05/2017 16:06

Wednesday. Then another a week later, then half term, then the final exam (date depending on which module taken)

ZilphasHatpin · 14/05/2017 16:14

Actually it wasn't obvious that you hoped he would fail! It was obvious you thought he would, not that you hoped he would. Perhaps that is my naïveté in thinking no-one would be as mean as to hope for that regardless of whether they agreed with his method. Do you hope the students in your classes fail when they don't study exactly as you say they should?

Frazzled2207 · 14/05/2017 16:29

On the one hand I wish him the best of luck on the other I hope he learns a good lesson.

Frazzled2207 · 14/05/2017 16:30

Btw my ex boyfriend was arrogant like this, got through gcses then just about scraped through a-levels and degree with absolute minimal effort. Tbf to him though his arrogance has helped career-wise and last I heard of him he was doing pretty well.

itssquidstella · 14/05/2017 16:35

I got an A in AS History without attending any lessons. I read the text book intensively in the week before the exams. I was naturally good at essay writing and widely-read, though.

I had a look at an AS Maths paper the other day (I'm a teacher and someone left it in the classroom). I couldn't even do the first question, and I got an A at GCSE.

Very interested to see how OP's son gets on!

noblegiraffe · 14/05/2017 16:39

Do you hope the students in your classes fail when they don't study exactly as you say they should?

If a student in my class fails, then the quality of my teaching is judged. If this student fails, then the quality of the qualification that I teach will be judged. The vested interests are different in each scenario meaning that I can hold different positions on each.

TeenAndTween · 14/05/2017 17:02

I've just had a quick look at a C1 paper. I can't believe I used to be able to do all that stuff! (Have a maths degree). (I can do the first questions but the later stuff looks more hard than I want to try).

Will noble be allowed to comment on here about the DS's maths mock paper on Tuesday?

ZilphasHatpin · 14/05/2017 17:11

If a student in my class fails, then the quality of my teaching is judged.

Which isn't an answer to the question, "Do you hope the students in your classes fail when they don't study exactly as you say they should?"

Will noble be allowed to comment on here about the DS's maths mock paper on Tuesday?

I'm not sure it's actually a good idea to have someone mark a paper of a student they have publicly stated they hope fails.

noblegiraffe · 14/05/2017 17:18

Er, it should be obvious from what I said that I don't hope that students in my class fail. It creates a huge workload for me when kids are failing, for a start.

Are you suggesting I wouldn't mark the paper in a professional manner? Hmm

ZilphasHatpin · 14/05/2017 17:31

I'm suspecting you wouldn't. You're clearly biased towards him failing. And no it wasn't obvious, because you didn't answer the question.

noblegiraffe · 14/05/2017 17:37

I post quite a lot about maths education on MN, Zilpha, it would rather damage my credibility if I went and marked a maths paper deliberately incorrectly.

Happy to have someone double-check the marking if there is any suspicion.

ZilphasHatpin · 14/05/2017 17:43

That's good. You can't really be surprised by my suspicion though given your posts on this thread.

GnomeDePlume · 14/05/2017 17:49

I will be honest and say that I hope he doesn't pass. If he does pass it will be pure luck that the things he has managed to memorise turn up on the papers in a way he recognises them. This downgrades the achievement of those students who will have learned the syllabus thoroughly.