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Secondary education

Connect with other parents whose children are starting secondary school on this forum.

Original poster

Sign in here if your child is in Yr11 - taking GCSE's this Summer.

527 replies

Milliways · 18/01/2011 18:48

Hi
Apologies if this has been done this year, but I found a similar thread very supportive when DD started the exam treadmill (not at Uni) and we are about to start again with DS.

Milliboy is 15, late Summer baby so cannot get a job until the end of the Summer hols, when they will have all gone. Good news is - this gives him more revision time Grin

He is at a boys selective Grammar school, so the pressure is on to achieve. He also wants to aim for a decent Uni so understands that good GCSE grades are vital.

Still doesn't make the whole process any easier for him or me :)

Who else has boarded the 2011 Exam Express?

OP posts:
Loshad · 06/06/2011 22:59

Ds2 found edexcel maths hard today - he should be an A* candidate, and still said it was hard, and much harder than any of the past papers. At least they are all in the same boat

lateSeptember1964 · 06/06/2011 23:16

Another one saying Edexcel was hard. If this is a true reflection surely the grade boundaries will be lower.

Yellowstone · 06/06/2011 23:27

aliena DD1 did an A2 paper against the background of a (bad) singing lesson because one of the admin staff had botched the organisation of the rooms. The whole set got special consideration when the deputy head found out and spoke to the exam board.

I couldn't do any GCSE maths paper any more, let alone today's Edexcel by the sound of it, let alone against a background of builders. I'd get really heavy about the noise if I had a DC fighting against pneumatic drills even though on the whole I don't like too free use of special consideration etc.

funnylady · 07/06/2011 07:01

Hi, Sitting here worrying as son said maths paper yesterday was the hardest ever. He said it was worded really 'wierdly' and didn't really have the first couple of 'settling in' questions. All his friends said the same and were comparing answers here last night which is unheard of as normally exams done then forgotton. To add to it he'd had the flu over the weekend so all in all an awful time. Also said the practice papers were nothing like the exam. Btw it was Edexcel higher tier too.

jgbmum · 07/06/2011 07:32

Not sure if this is helpful, but somebody has posted the answers on the student room to the Edxecel paper. Link is here

I'm not sure whether or not to show this to DS,

aliena it would be interesting to know more about the complaint your friend's school is putting forward, if you get any more info, please would you share with the rest of us?

Merrylegs · 07/06/2011 09:45

Wow, thank you jgbmum. DS says he doesn't actually want to look! (But says bookmark it just in case!) He said the second to last question was the most difficult. He wants to do Maths A level, so if he thought it was hard, I think it really was.

mindgone · 07/06/2011 14:59

Hello! I just read all the comments about maths yesterday and panicked! But my DS says he did AQA and it was quite easy! (always sounds worrying when they say that!!)

Cupawoman · 07/06/2011 16:00

DS says (OCR) physics paper was fine today. He knows for sure he messed one question up (never a good idea to compare answers once it's all over!) but felt the rest of it was OK.

balia · 07/06/2011 17:37

DD seems happy about History, the particular section she felt confident about came up, so fingers crossed. She was never particularly fussed about History, it was the best of the option block but she's had a great teacher who really got her into it.

And she's finished her Science now, which she hates, so is really pleased and now preparing for her Maths and Statistics. She does have another History paper but it feels like we are nearly there!

aliena · 07/06/2011 17:46

hi jgbmum, I don't have much information on the complaint that my friend's school have made to Edexcel other than it was because the paper was "too difficult" whatever that means. The school apparently spoke to Edexcel yesterday after the exam and then followed it up with a more formal complaint in writing. This is all my friend said. Sorry not to be more helpful.

My DD feels that no amount of revision would have made this paper any easier to do. She is dreading the calc paper on Friday.

Original poster
Milliways · 07/06/2011 19:42

DS thought History went well, & Biology was hard. Day off tomorrow :)

OP posts:
Loshad · 07/06/2011 20:35

Ds did chemistry and and english paper today - much happier than with yesterday's maths - 2 days off for him now. Ds1 finished his AS's today as well so feel like we are getting through them

emmspemms · 07/06/2011 20:42

History was OK . Finished 5 mins before times up and is complaining he has a blister from all the writing !
Day off ( from exams , not revision!)

Yellowstone · 07/06/2011 22:35

Milliways DS thought History went OK and Biology was hard. Day off tomorrow :)

jgbmum · 08/06/2011 08:35

DS has a quiet day today but is still in school as they don't get study leave until they start their A2s in Y13. (so at least I know he will get some revision done)

aliena - thanks for the update, it will be interesting to see how it pans out. DSs maths teacher agreed it was a difficult paper - he said he thought last year's was too easy, and wonders if Edexcel over-compensated this year. Anyhow, he certainly agreed it was one of the most difficult he had seen.

Original poster
Milliways · 08/06/2011 18:00

Good luck for tomorrow everyone.

DS has Latin am, RE pm followed by an Ad.Maths revision class - Looong day.

Yellowstone - does your DS have those as well? Grin

OP posts:
Cupawoman · 08/06/2011 18:26

Yes, good luck everyone. DS has Astronomy (2 hour paper) and Maths on Friday morning.

balia · 08/06/2011 21:26

DD doesn't have any more exams now until next week - but is still going in to school and got a scare today as she had a message to say the external moderator had been in and found fault with a number of IT submissions. Seems very nitpicky stuff to me - apparently one of the 'issues' raised was that in the very first unit they did, back in year ten, one of the 'boxes' they had to tick was 'can recieve and open an attachment on an email'. The evidence in the file was a copy of the email and a copy of the attachment (because you can't get a a copy if you haven't opened it) but this was not good enough, they had to have a screen shot of the dialogue box that displays as you open the attachment! seems very odd as two years later, DD has done A grade IT work, but there you are. Unfortunately, the IT teacher is off on Paternity leave, but bless him, he has been in to help and has emailed DD instructions on what to do.

And despite all that, she also today volunteered an hour of her time to peer-mentor a year 10 student in a program the school runs, and is doing the same tomorrow and Friday. She came home very sympathetic to her teachers!

Loshad · 08/06/2011 21:34

yes i lied yesterday - DS2 has RS and chemistry tomorrow afternoon!! - one after the other and will miss the school bus home.

Yellowstone · 09/06/2011 00:20

No Milli, some ICT thing tomorrow and maths on Fri, so we've diverged.

He's got too many gaps for the moment, it's inducing a false sense of calm. Too much X-Box again and Friends and Simpsons then a bit of maths then supper then Facebook and The Apprentice of course.

Next sister up has A level history on Friday as well so on that front the tension is beginning to rise..

emmspemms · 09/06/2011 19:38

Welsh listening today , then he and friends spent a lot of time in town , late breakfast in BHS, sitting in the comfy seats in Debenhams , and then trying to go in every single lift in town!
Well at least they spent the time wisely .
Maths tomorrow , then ICT and Welsh on Monday , at the same time , he said " oh good, I can't do Welsh " I think it's been rescheduled and he will be in isolation , but he hasn't told me the details yet , I feel a phone call to the school coming on .

t0lk13n · 09/06/2011 20:11

Our Welsh teacher, in the school I teach in,said it was one of the hardest exams in 10 years! My son said it didn`t go well...that might be because he did no revision as he hates Welsh!

emmspemms · 09/06/2011 20:17

Hated here too , think his ambition is to fail it as spectacularly as possible .

Original poster
Milliways · 09/06/2011 21:38

Good day today for DS - he now only has 9 papers left, so into single figures at last Grin

OP posts:
t0lk13n · 09/06/2011 21:42

Emms...know the feeling! So do 95% of pupils in my school!