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

I agree that they should all sit the same exam, multiple versions seems bonkers. One board should get sciences, another humanities, another languages etc.

I can't believe there is going to be a train strike in the middle of exams - our poor kids! As if there isn't enough stress, and the days the trains are running in between will be a mess too. Just awful.

DD doing Geography this afternoon. Be nice to have one subject finished, then Bio tomorrow. It's Chemistry that's doing her head in, with the first one on Monday. Fingers crossed for everyone.

I've just joined Wiwikau due to you lot. I'm very glad none of mine did the Sociology exam yesterday. It sounded an absolute stinker.
Psychology A level paper 2 here in the morning & Biology GCSE in the afternoon .

How long did your funding take to come back after the DSA request?
Ours was sent in on the 5th of May following a completed assessment & I've heard nothing yet. I'm presuming us parents will receive the information not our teens?

Good luck today everyone!

Good luck to all with exams today.
Ds1 has psychology 2. Its am rather than pm. He says he much prefers the morning exams and dislikes the afternoon exams because then you are more stressed all day waiting for it, exhausted in the evening.

He has a cold. He is sneezing and quite unwell. This is not good.

Oh Oblomov I feel for your DS. Hope Day Nurse can help so it's not too bad for him.

I can never find anything on WIWIKAU...looked for the exam threads but failed...not sure I should read them anyway. DD, sensibly, has announced that she's is avoiding all social media stuff around exams. Says it will only stress her more. She's looked pretty awful the last week, but has perked up today. Hopefully she'll feel better now its all started properly.

Dd is also unwell @Oblomov22 😬 Started with a sore throat and headache yesterday and no better today, but covid negative. She’s got 3 exams this week so not a good one to be ill.

Hope Psychology/Geography/other exams go well today. Ds has Eng Lit GCSE. I woke him from his nap last night, but I don’t think he did much revision and then he couldn’t sleep til 3 😬 I drove him in to his exam, but his priority in the car was to master a new way of doing his tie, following a YouTube video! No idea why this was so important… He then spent 5 minutes listening to quotes from Jekyll and Hyde. Apparently it’s fine as he only wants a 5!

Get well soon all those feeling poorly. My eyes are horribly itchy today, so I think the rain has upped the pollen count - might be worth those with stuffy noses taking an antihistamine, just in case.

The rail strikes sound like an utter nightmare. Very thankful that we don’t rely on public transport for school or work. I hope DCs affected by it can find a workable solution that doesn’t increase their stress load.

I hope everyone feeling ill feels better very soon. Agree with an antihistamine.
Have contacted college to see if we can pick DS’s things up from accommodation on day of final exam so can bring him and everything back in one trip . DH can hopefully take the day off.

Honestly, I know DS may not be the most representative student , but he didn't find the sociology exam as traumatic as some (notably parents on WIWIKAU) are saying. It seems anyone who knows their stuff could improvise a bit .

I think there is a lot of misapprehension - including amongst teachers- about what exactly the advanced information means.

I think maybe this is where their lack of doing public exams shows a bit, they haven’t developed their skills of blagability if you see what I mean. It takes a bit of practice to look at a question in a proper exam (as opposed to a mock ), think wtf then improvise and come up with something to back it up. Comes more naturally to some than others.

Agreed, I always preferred the ones where you had to adapt a bit/blag.

The rail strikes are happening on the day of DD’s last exam, so I’ll have to drive her in. Fortunately ds hasn’t got an exam that day as we only have one car. He usually gets the bus but I don’t trust them for exam period.

Is anyone's dc doing Core Maths this morning?

Just noticed Mummyinbeds DD is doing Core Maths. I hope they find it okay, quite nervous for DS as he self studied for it.

I think sometimes the advanced information can lead them astray. DD had a clash yesterday, but even if she could have found out info about what was on the paper, she wouldn't have wanted to know. She said it would just make her panic. I thought that was very sensible.

I'm catching up with the thread from back to front and just noticed I caused a bit of a panic by saying DS has politics today sorry guys, I meant Thursday. He has Core Maths and Geography today.

DD is doing core maths this afternoon. AQA is scheduled for PM but assume as your DD is doing Geography (also PM) then they have moved her Core Maths to AM instead. Does she have to be in isolation between?

Sorry @Shimy I meant your DS!

I agree with Piggy. They are making out that sociology was totally awful. Ds said it was a bit of a stinker. But he did his best.

Yes I know they don't have exam experience, but they need to learn to stick with something, to grow a pair a bollocks.
If a topic came up I knew little about, I would still try. I wouldn't walk out, I would sit there trying to write something, anything, for the whole 2 hours. You might gain a few marks. I wouldn't leave. What good does that do. You don't gain any marks then, do you?

And even if it is, totally shit, only for you, no one else . Its only 1 of 3 papers. And walking out and writing nothing isn't going to help is it. Some of the wiwkau was extremist. I know we have to be sympathetic, but I hope I have taught ds1 that even if its really shit, most things in life are recoverable from. Talk to someone, don't think suicide is the only option.

@Heifer DS did his Core Maths this morning so should be in the isolation room as we speak. I really feel for him because he complained that means he won't be able to do any last minute revision as he has no access to a computer/phone. Have you heard from your DD about how the Core maths went?

@Heifer I'm not reading properly, cos your DD clearly hasn't sat Core Maths yet!

Hope it went well for him @Shimy DD is lucky in that there are no clashes so no need for isolation room.

I'm guessing some will have finished Pyschology by now but DD has extra time so won't be finished yet. I've asked her to text me. Will report back later when I get home this afternoon... (fingers crossed for all)

Totally agree @Oblomov22 I'm hoping that should the worst happen DD will cope with it and be able to move onto the next exam...

@Heifer @Shimy apparently today is the easier core maths paper. Next week is the horrible one ( from DD who doesn't actually like maths but thought it would help her other subjects)

I think DS was quite enjoying exam season but the maths paper has really knocked the stuffing out of him and he's dreading the rest - expecting the second papers for each subject to be harder than the first ones. He is ploughing on with physics revision for Friday though after taking the evening off yesterday.

DD has had Eng Lit this morning and physics this afternoon and was a bag of nerves going in.

Not long to go now... once we get past Friday he has two papers left and she has four.

Thanks @Heifer . Hope she found it okay too.

@Oblomov22 Perhaps it depends on each school. I remember when ds1 did the awful Maths paper in 2019 and everyone was saying lots of stuff came out that they hadn't been taught and some things you couldn't possibly know unless you had done Further Maths
DS1 who's as lazy as sin said very sheepishly, it was tough, but everything that came out in the exam, they had been taught, absolutely everything and was really surprised at the claims. It made me think maybe some schools had taught more rigorously.

@mummyinbeds Oh i see! didn't know that. DS is doing it for similar reasons to your DD. Hoping it will help him generally including when he starts uni.