Thread 32 - Corona Cohort 'May' the Mumsnet force be with them for their venture to exams

[OrangeCinnamonCroissant]

This is a thread for supporting all young people post GCSEs 2020, regardless of their educational setting. It is respectfully requested that all are supportive and helpful to each other. If you want to start a debate, e.g state vs private, please don't within this thread. Please also be sensitive when responding to threads about grades.

Some of us have been here since first thread back in yr10, some will be new. Everyone has been friendly and helpful in the past. Everyone is welcome. It is hoped this will continue.

Our DS/DD may go down various paths (such as employment, apprenticeships, higher ed) We have decided for anyone interested they will most likely find us within the Further Ed board.

Previous Thread 31

CONGRATULATIONS ZEBRACAT !

@mummabear74 that sounds really tough, for you and DD. I hope you have people supporting you in supporting her. I echo what the others have said, her wellbeing is far more important than exam results and there will always be other opportunities. I hope your DD finds the therapy helpful.

Glad to hear you DS is getting some relief with his skin now @Cantonet

DD slept well but didn't manage much breakfast, a combination of nerves and perfectly timed period pain. She's just left for school, a good 15 minutes earlier than normal (it's a 20-25 minute walk). I feel a bit sick for her to be honest.

Good luck today everyone and their DC!

Hand hold to @mummabear74 Obviously she won't take any notice of anything you say right now, but it really doesn't matter in the long run if the exams go badly this year, she can do another year at school/college, the rest of her life doesn't get affected other than a delay, which is really not a big deal. This year have more reason than any other to justify a less than smooth path through exams. As others have said, protecting mental health is the most important thing.

Is there an adult she respects who could take her out for a meal or something and help her to understand that she could pull out of exams now if they are making her ill? Or see them as a set of mocks if they don't go well and something to build on in resits? It is that horrible self perpetuating cycle that stress about the outcome can cause the poor outcome.

@Cantonet hope your DS gets his meds sorted, it is so tough to deal with these extra stresses.

Good luck to those sitting exams today !🍀
DDs has number two at 1.30.
💐for those experiencing difficult circumstances.

Good luck today everyone. DS is full of snot, I'm not sure if it's a cold or hayfever - no signs of itching but he says his nose feels really dry which mine usually does with the early tree pollens (before turning into streaming nose and eyes and mad itching for the grass), he got a nosebleed last night which I don't ever recall him having before, ever!

Oh blimey Just, what a time to have your first nosebleed!

DD was complaining yesterday that the invigilator was "so smug about everything". Not sure how the silent smugness manifested itself but I am assuming that French didn't go as well as she had hoped. The pressure on them is ridiculous given that they have no experience of this. We can only try to get them through in one piece and see what happens next.

Good luck to all today’s examinees .
Commiserations to those suffering from various ailments. My eyes are dry and itchy today, so I’m wondering if pollen is high.

mummabear, we have had a similarly tough time with DD. She has already written herself off, spends every day in tears at some point, has panic attacks etc but refuses help and if we try to tell her that she doesn’t have to take the exams, she just shouts that we don’t know what we’re talking about.
Its exhausting, isn’t it? I hope you can find ways to take care of your own MH and things start to improve soon. X

Hang in there Mumma. And to all of you dealing with fluctuating stress and MH challenges with DC.

Big whoop for today's exams. We're one more day closer to them finishing :)

I can vouch for pollen being high today, still majority tree pollen, and the rain will not have helped much, more added to distribution.

@singingstones French! Yesterday! DS didn't have French yesterday. Should I be panicking 😱

@mummabear74 sorry to hear your DD is going though MH battles too 💐

GCSE @mummyinbeds if that helps?!

Thanks @singingstones Panic over 😂🤣

Well I've just had a text from DD and she sounds pretty happy with how psychology went this morning, she said there was one 8 mark question about OCD that she struggled with but the rest went well. I hope everyone else is feeling positive about it too.

1 down 11 to go!

DD seemed pretty happy with psychology too (AQA). Bit annoyed with the essays as they all seemed to be more like 2 part questions rather than essays, but generally happy. Seemed to have stuck pretty much to the advanced info too. One down.....

I'm a bit late to say good luck to those in exams today. I hope they all did well. Ds2 doesn't have his first until Thursday (history) he says he's revising when he's in his room. I hope he is. But I don't check, I have to just trust him. Ds1 came home for the weekend. All his university stuff is finished. Just 2 online exams. He is returning to his uni house today and will do the online exams from there. He has been bored here. I think the reality is hitting home that university is almost over. He has really enjoyed his 3 years, though a lot was spent at home and online. Many of his friends are hoping to do masters as they've missed so much. Seems weird that ds1 will come home and ds2 will be preparing to leave.

Ds said pyschology went well. "Felt good". That's about as much as I get.

Dd didn’t finish Psychology- she always has timing issues. She missed out 7 marks out of 96. Hopefully that won’t scupper her chances of an A.

I don't like the fact they can't wear a watch.Timing is crucial. I always looked at my watch in accounting exams. I know the reason now. I just don't like it.

Apparently all watches go in a box. They are put at the side. But many beep on the hour. Apparently (ds) most students like this a lot.

Plus these millennial snowflakes .... exams are only 2 hours. Barely an essay. Mine were 3. So they'll only get one watch beep.

Thinking of all the DC who are struggling at the moment it is a tough time for them all after everything they have gone through the last 2 years.

Fingers crossed for everyone who had exams today. Hope they have all done well 🤞🏽DS has his first exam tomorrow Further Maths. Will just be glad when the first one is over to be honest.

Just messaged ds1 to see how his exam went. He said it was ok & went fine. He attempted everything, but there was a few tricky questions. I asked him about the OCD one and he's just responded 'how do you know about that question? '😂

Did your DD have extra time @ Crazycrofter?
Even with extra time Ds often doesn't finish.

@Cantonet no she doesn’t, we tried to push for her to get assessed but the SENCO was reluctant. To be honest, she probably wouldn’t be quite slow enough.

Ds gets 25% extra time and tends to finish Maths and Science exams, he just about got to the end of Business last week, but English, History and RS he’s nowhere near!

DD said pyschology went really well. Was surprised there were 3 x 16 markers but answered everything (thanks to extra time), even though was a bit rushed at the end. Liked being in the small room, in fact as GCSEs going on at same time and other small room already full with people having extra time, or typing etc, they decided to put her whole class in this room together so it felt just like a classroom which she liked. Typical mess up with seat numbers though - she went to sit down at the seat number she had been given and it was for a completely different exam - seems they hadn't reissued the new numbers. Also DD didn't know where to get the info re candidate number - she had to ask (it said exam number on her paper rather than candidate number) but at least all that didn't phase her and she knows for next time.

1 down 9 to go. Next exam Thursday PM (PE).
Good luck all

A random question about A Level subjects - ds struggles with slow reading and slow processing plus distractibility. So history exams are hard and he doesn’t finish even with extra time. But he’s very good at history…

Trying to figure out which subjects would be best at A Level given the above and given that he’s decided against Maths or the 3 sciences! Is Business better than economics in terms of reading material in the exam and number of long essays?

@crazycrofter is it worth considering BTECs - don't they have a much higher coursework element? I think most universities accept them, Bristol does. EPQ would also be good for someone good at the subject but not at exams.

DS pretty happy with today’s psychology exam too. English Language tomorrow then a break until after half term