Thread 33 - Lovely Jubbly Jubilee Break, then back 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. Possibly a move to Parent of Adult Children Board in future?
previous thread

Just heard from DS, Econs was good but he ran out of time towards the end and rushed it. I'm so angry now that he was never given that extra time by school.

Apparently law was good although the questions could have been nicer. And he surprised himself by actually finishing the paper with 5 minutes to spare - that's a first!

In preparation for Thursdays exam, he's spent the rest of the day with his gf 🤷

So sorry to hear the tragic news @ealingwestmum and @Decorhate
News like that really puts things into perspective.

I hope all those under the weather and finding things tough start to feel better soon too.

DS said biology today was ok. He has pure maths tomorrow. DD got through GCSE economics and has tomorrow off, then Eng Lit and physics on Wednesday. This is the tough week for both of them, it gets much easier after Friday. I am helping with GCSE physics past papers but once that's done I hope to be dismissed from my revision assistant role.

This made me laugh, Zebra, DH is the same..

he can’t perform DIY without a handmaiden

@mummyinbeds Well done to DS for finishing on time. I'm so glad DS doesn't have a gf so we can avoid this distraction.

@singingstones You're so good helping with revision. I wouldn't know which way up to hold the book if DS tasked me with assisting in Physics.. I remember we did GCSE french together (mocks) it was hilarious. I couldn't pronounce anything properly, so he didn't quite know what question I was asking, then when he answered, I didn't know whether he was right or wrong. Of course, he insisted each time he was right. Thankfully we both concluded I was adding no value to his french and packed it in .

No maths GCSE tomorrow, singing?
Paper 2 here, and A level English lit paper 1.

That made me chuckle, Shimy!

We've had a bit if a meltdown here today. DD appears to have been working consistently for weeks, but today was the day when she decided she knows nothing for any of the 3 exams this week, she hasn't done enough work and has just been sitting in her room doing nothing.
I'm pretty certain that this isn't the case.
I think it was brought on by her psych teacher posting examples of a type of essay question they've never covered in class and she got really panicked.
I tried to calm her down and help with some biology testing, but it was like a foreign language!! Can't wait for these to be over.

Good luck to those with exams tomorrow.

@Shimy 😂 I must admit that physics is not my strongest suit but most of the time I just have to sit with the mark scheme and say right or wrong! Sometimes she just wants company I think. We are usually joined by a cat or two which also helps.

DD's school does maths in November Also so thankfully all done. There is additional maths as an option for those who want to do A level so she has that to come but it's just one (long) paper and not till the last day. After this week she just has that plus 2 x history and 1 x French to come. And most importantly Harry Styles at Wembley!

Well done to all that sat exams today! ⭐️
DD found AH overall okay and is hoping her answers to some questions will give the examiner a ‘warm fuzzy feeling’ - if only to mitigate against the tricky extended essay ones 😂
Latin paper on the other hand was nasty af- in her opinion.
@mummyinbeds DDs boyfriend ( LDR) is coming up for a couple of days before her next exam on Friday.
That’s what she wants and I think it will do her good to have some ‘downtime’ from ‘slogging alone’ in revision.

We were both wetting ourselves laughing. I'll never forget that particular revision. DS started laughing as soon as I started reading out the question..then the silence that ensued after he had answered it...the bit where I'm meant to say 'right' or 'wrong'.

@singingstones I think it's very sensible to have the marking scheme with you and ideally in English .

@Seeline What is the point of the teacher showing an essay to the class this late in the day? just going to cause unnecessary anxiety. For what it's worth, DS said exactly the same thing over the weekend, 'I know nothing!' one just has to keep reassuring them that they can do it and that they know a lot more than they think.

@ProggyMat The gf is here now and apparently I'm taking her to school in the morning (with DD) Perhaps she's helping him revise for the politics exam 🙄 (I'm thinking probably not but she is at least in DD's yr12 politics class so you never know)

@mummyinbeds - if he’s happy that’s all you can ask- pillow talk?

DD was happy with her English exam today, she said it was much better than paper one. If she'd had more time she would have written more for one of the questions but still managed a decent answer she thinks. And that's the end of English.

She's feeling pretty laid back about the rest of her exams, apart from maybe the FM Mechanics paper, I hope that's a good thing.

Well done to all of the others who had exams today, it sounds like generally they all went quite well, and good luck for those with exams tomorrow! DD has Maths tomorrow afternoon.

DD said GCSE Latin was "fine" but didn't get anything more out of her. It's probably her weakest subject (= with English) so good to get another paper out of the way

Sounds like today was positive for everyone! So annoying about the extra time @Shimy . Maybe something to revisit at uni?

About extra time in exams. It's not something that I'd ever considered before the discussions on here. DS never finishes exams (until today) His year 3/4 teacher said he needed to work faster, especially in tests. He was grouped with the year above (mixed year groups) so wasn't struggling with content.
He has been told to work quicker all through school but I've never really questioned why and nobody has ever offered any help.

What triggers an assessment for extra time? And is it too late to delve into this at 18? (Obviously too late for A levels)

There's standard tests that a school/uni can run, mummy. Things like processing and writing speed - a student needs to score either very low in one, or low in more than one (I can't remember the exact requirements and I think they've tightened recently).
Definitely worth looking into for FE.

@crazycrofter He’s applied for DSA so hope this might help with requesting extra time at uni.

Sorry to read your news @ealingwestmum and hope that the next few weeks are ok for you all. And the tragic news from @Decorhate too: beyond imagining what that family must be going through.

Ds has psychology tomorrow (should be fine) and dd has maths gcse (could be awful!) - I’m escaping to the office for the day!

@Isthisjustnormal what board is that, as dd has Psychology on Wednesday? 😬 I think!

Ds has GCSE maths tomorrow too and has just gone to bed - watching Star Wars seemed to be more important than revision or sleep 😩

Good luck to all those with papers tomorrow.

Sociology this afternoon for DS.

Film exams GCSE and A Level all done and dusted which is very early!

Eek: sorry @crazycrofter - you’re right! He’s got maths today and psych tomorrow!!

Phew @Isthisjustnormal ! As she’s still asleep, that’s a relief!