GCSE '18s (20) - half term beckons!

[mmmz]

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/further_education/3355907-gcse-18s-19-new-beginnings

marycontraryquite practice papers are invaluable but you can get them for free from the exam boards and the teachers give them too (sometimes charging photocopy costs onto parents).

DS didn't really have time to do any extra papers, tbh. Except for science. Maybe if he had started earlier...?

Before you buy things, check what the school arranges. They often get bulk buying discounts, sign your DS up for subscription services etc.

For science, DS got the CGP revision guides, plus the question and answer books. He used them a lot, until I signed him up to Tassomai (April)

That's just my experience... if anyone else would liek to answer mary, i'd be grateful not to be setting myself up as giving the definitive answers

Just to chip in my two pennyworth - for us the CGP revision guides (science, maths and computer science) were invaluable particularly as DS struggled with note taking and he could at least use them to check he'd covered everything even if not in great detail. This summary level of information in small bytes suited him too (dyslexic) whereas textbooks and school notes/handouts tended to have lots of nice to have interesting anecdotes and he struggled to find the bare facts you needed to learn within that - the revision guides were great for him to do revision cards from and for me to test him from - basically if you knew everything in the revision guide you knew you should be ok.

For the sciences and maths its all about practise so we did buy the separate practise question books with answers nearer the time. It was quite expensive but it was practise that got DS s grades up from predicted 5/6 s to 7/8s. But you can go on to the exam board websites and print off past papers and answers. Clearly there are limited numbers due to the new specs. but some schools create their own or have subscriptions to web sites that create additional papers.

Thanks oratory, that's really useful too.

DDs were pretty much 'bang on'. One was a grade higher (maths) and one was a grade lower (art).
She was give lots of practice papers by the school and pretty much the last 5 weeks of school 'lessons' were dedicated to practice, exam technique, and tests.
Her revision strategy was to summarise. So one chapter down to 4 pages of notes. Then summarise again to 2 pages and then 1 and finally down to key card which had a few key words on. She would then try to recall everything based on the key words and check her memory against the text book chapter.
She also made mind maps for all her subjects.
...seemed to work for her.

I'm not adding anything useful here to the academic side of things. However, I am feeling a little bit happy today. Finished work a lot earlier than usual and went to IKEA all by myself. Bought youngest a new mattress, new bookshelf and new chest of drawers. She's just had all the junk in her room, and after 4 years I decided it was a bit unfair. Have spent the evening going through her room with her and have put out 5 bags of crap. Have to work on Saturday but OH has promised me he will put the furniture together. Happy days!

I dutifully bought DS2 the CGP revision guides and workbooks for several of his subjects. He took one look at them, said he didn't like them (not enough detail and didn't like the layout) and never opened them again. Thankfully I've been able to sell them.

Good point thefirst - I bought ds one of the revision guides then when he said he liked the format, brought the other subjects. But then he was going for minimum detail possible.

I may have said before but every one of DS grades were above predicted and most above target, with some being two or even three grades above. I put that down to his particular situation (unblocking the impact if spld very late in the day), hard work and practise (which he hadn’t put in before year 11), one to one help from his physics teacher and his sister which worked better than general lessons, and his school generally predicting low (some of his marks were similar to mocks and tests but the grade given much higher as school overestimated where grade boundaries would be). Whatever the reason it was a nice surprise - one of my best memories was the two of us sitting in the car outside the school and we couldn’t stop laughing about his English grade it was so ridiculous.

All seems a long time ago but and new challenges to face !!

Another thought for those humanities dc interested in philosophy and politics (thinking of Alex maybe), DD2 is doing philosophy, religion and ethics. Some religion or theology courses are based on traditional bible study but others are focused on the impact of philosophy and religion in the world today and are very current. They also allow a mix of philosophy politics and ethics (DD2 didn’t want to do straight philosophy or politics but this seemed to fit the bill and four weeks in is looking promising)

Hunkydory Egham is Royal Holloway - it has a lovely main building that looks like Hogwarts!

I did enjoy Durham today. It was definitely smaller & quieter than I anticipated.

My own university choices were limited by distance, as Exeter was the closest university to home and was still over 2 hours away. Anything above Birmingham was impossible logistics wise. Meanwhile DD's uncles have a collection of degrees with the professor having done York, Sheffield & now he pontificates in Scotland. Another has merely done Cambridge, Japan, Durham, more Japan, Oxford and a couple of London post grads. We also have a collection from Wales & Guildford. Poor old DD is spoilt for choice with a ban on London (too expensive) being the only limit. She was originally going to apply for law, spoke to her uncle and now fancies PPE/ history & politics.

Oratory I think that would interest DD too, but the moment I suggest anything it's out of the question

Ha Ha I know the feeling. Although often I suggest something and it gets rubbished but it will then resurfaced later as her suggestion 😂

Thanks HunkyDory. It’s the IR one day Debate Chamber masterclass that I’ve booked for DS. May look at booking the summer school too. DD loved the one she did (English Lit).

Glad you liked Durham Sticker. What did your DD think of it? Worth bearing in mind that Newcastle is only 20 minutes away on the train if they tire of the (limited) nightlife in Durham!

marycontrary I’ve just asked DS what worked for him re gcse revision. His immediate answer was ‘past papers and going through them carefully afterwards’. He did use Tassomai but now claims that it didn’t help much (it did!) but he found it very annoying, particularly towards the end, and I’m sure that’s colouring his view. His other pearls of wisdom were

• read the books more than once and know them well for English Lit (he says it’s surprising how few of his classmates did this)
• pay attention and engage in class/with homework/for topic tests in content-heavy subjects like History/Geography/RS so that you understand as much as possible. He’s another dyslexic though, so can’t rely on his short-term memory for last-minute cramming.

Well done Veiled. Seems to be a time for sorting !!!

On our way back from Physics at KCL now. DD1 is fast asleep on my shoulder. It feels like when she was a toddler ... except she just spent the afternoon in a university physics department. How ever did that happen?!

Her verdict - she definitely doesn't want to study in a big city (too noisy and overwhelming) but the physics was awesome. And we enjoyed a nice pizza afterwards. And her little sister went to Hamleys with DH and had her mind well and truly blown by the teddy bears
A constructive afternoon all round!

DS2 really enjoyed the Debate Chamber summer school he went to.

Well we got back from Birmingham today but the hospital not the university. But for anyone considering Birmingham Uni what a lovely environment, so different from when I used to sing in a choir there 20 years ago. So easy to get to on the train to University Station.

And for anyone with sporty or dsncy kids, if they ever get injured or have problems the QE Sports Medicine dept is a fantastic little known about NHS clinic for serious dancers and sportspeople. I’m so glad we pushed for a referral.

AH how is your DD's ankle?

Well it’s very long and complicated - they were so thorough but the main upshot is that yes she has some challenges due to the construction of her feet and yes she has had some injuries but they have healed. However her continuing problems are not necessarily due to weakness just in her ankle but due to overcompensating in other parts of her body such as calves & hips whilst she was injured. Hopefully highly targeted physio excercises should be able to address most issues.