@Monkey2001
I mentioned those things to DD. She has definitely struggled with completing exams in subjects with lots of writing previously e.g. English, but it's never really been an issue with Maths. She agreed this one was tight and said she only just finished. Apparently, she thought she'd finished in decent time but when she was going back through her answers realised she'd missed the final part of several questions (this is where my worrying increases! She's confident she answered all of the questions in the end though).
She also said they only very recently covered parametric equations and wonders if it's a new addition to the syllabus. They were taught it after another maths teacher came into their class and asked their teacher if they were supposed to be doing it, she answered that she hadn't thought so or intended to, he told her he thought they should, so they did! So they were lucky in that respect. I wonder if she's right about it being a recent addition and that's why it wasn't in your DS' textbook. I hope it hasn't thrown him too much. DD didn't answer a whole 20-mark question on her first English Language paper, of which there are only 2, but feels the second went much better. There are another two maths papers to go, so lots of scope for him to do well overall, and as had been discussed the grade boundaries are generally quite low in Maths aren't they. I've been really surprised by that when DD has looked at previous years, but it clearly just shows how hard Maths is.
@Volterra DD and I agree that those doing FM are likely to be at an advantage. You get better at Maths by doing Maths don't you, and DD has probably spent 20 hours a week doing Maths for the past 2 years (10 hours in school plus homework/revision). She definitely hadn't covered all of the Maths content in year 12 though. In fact, they finished the FM content before the Maths. Like anything I suppose, schools will approach it how they see best.
There are only 3 students in DD's year doing FM, so that has been another advantage for them, along with the excellent teacher. Actually, he was one of the reasons DD chose to move to this sixth form (her secondary school did have a sixth form), she'd met him at an extra-curricular event and then again at the open evening, he is very experienced but also very enthusiastic, it wasn't guaranteed she'd get him but luckily she's had him for both years of FM. From what DD says the quality of all of the Maths teaching she's had in the sixth form has been excellent, she definitely wouldn't say the same for psychology and English, but maybe that's just because she finds Maths easier to grasp.
There are so many variables aren't there? DD has found the mechanics elements of FM hardest, whereas the other 2 students who are also doing physics have found it easier because there's a lot of overlap.
I just asked her about calculators on her way out of the door, she has 2, one scientific calculator that she uses for most things, and one graphing calculator that she only uses for graphing. Both were loaned from the school.
Good luck for today everyone!