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

[Milliways]

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

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?

[kangers]

He has been fine so far- but maybe not after 9:15 in morning when sees his bect primary school friends in an absolute state- its catching. A terrible situation- very sporty TWIN, diagnosed 14 weeks ago; died from infection last Friday. Shockingly quick. If he gets very morbid I will contact school. Students at actual school very badly affected already.

[balia]

Kangers - you can ask the school to write to the exam board, explaining the situation and asking them to take it into account as they mark his exams. Don't know if it will actually do any good but no harm in trying?

[jgbmum]

Erm, has anyone seen the piece in todays Times by Giles Coren and GCSE AQA English? Is he allowed to say this?

[balia]

Isn't he the restaurant critic? Link? What does he say?

[jgbmum]

Sorry can't link, but on pg 24 he says that an article he wrote might be appearing in the AQA GCSE syllabus on Monday or Weds next week.

[balia]

Oh, right - could he possibly be talking about the new Specification B anthology for AS level? It's called 'Food Glorious Food' so would be more likely...if it is the GCSE it's a bit naughty of him.

[jgbmum]

Its to do with being vegetarian, and is definitely the GCSE, the article can be found here
There are no guarantees but I guess it's worth a read in case it does come up

[t0lk13n]

Our son is starting his on Monday. Have been through this once with our eldest son but as he is disabled, there was no pressure...we just wanted him to do the best he could. Our youngest son, has a career in the RAF in mind, so he is revising as he has a goal in mind. Good luck to all children sitting GCSEs and A Level examinations. As a mam and a teacher, I know how hard the majority of children work. :O

[balia]

jgbmum if that is true, that's terrible - it will clearly give those students whose parents read the Times an enormous advantage. If this is the text on the paper I will certainly be complaining - what an absolute little tit this man must be.

[kangers]

DS seems OK. Playing final match of under 17s today. Got through tthe funeral. (It was traumatic but beautifully done and the friends of the student who died all spoke- so proud of my DS that he kept it together) But he spent all day with the brother of the student who died, got quite merry at the wake last night- playing football all morning- and so done little revision for English Language GCSE AQA A Tier F tomorrow. Any tips or websites anyone can recommend for useful last minute revision? Cannot ask for special consideration- not really enough- just a setback.

[kangers]

Not AQA B so food article no help.

[kangers]

BUM any ideas??? please

[Milliways]

Sorry Kangers - no inspiration here. DS has just been working through loads of past papers (He is OCR, not AQA so that article of no help here either).

Hope they all get a good nights sleep!

[mumblechum1]

DS is doing AQA and says they've already been given that veggie article as some sort of pre-exam practice thingy, so it won't be coming up next week.

[Tortu]

Yep, just to confirm that that article will definitely not be appearing in tomorrow's exam. If anybody leaks something on the exam, there are several back-up papers which would be used and I seem to vaguely remember one from Coren a few years ago. Maybe this is what he's referring to?

In terms of what they can do in order to prepare for tomorrow's exam: very little at this stage. It is the 'aquired skills' exam, based essentially on all the skills they have gained right the way up from Primary school. Section a is a comprehension paper which asks a set of very formulaic questions. Students need to be careful to pay attention to the amount of marks available for each one and not get carried away. The biggest problem for the paper as a whole is students running out of time by spending too long on section a, or not reading the question properly. They should ensure that they do exactly what is asked and I mean, EXACTLY.

In section b, students should 'carefully craft' their work. Remember that quality is required, not quantity. The majority of A* students actually write less than the B grade students. Again, read the requirements of the question very carefully and ensure that they are addressing the assessment criteria of their chosen writing triplet properly (they should know what that means).

Good luck!

[kangers]

thanks Tortu- will show that to DS in the morning- I think he is asleep now. Been asking about another word for 'word choice' I keep saying selection but he thinks its something more technical.

[emmspemms]

Can I book a seat in the bar too please?
It's my first trip on the GCSE train ( they were O levels in my day)
I have a Son doing GCSE , first one ( biology ) Thursday .
Took English language and science 1 last year and managed to scrape a C in each.
Taking Eng Lit,
Maths
Welsh
Science 2
DT
ICT
History
Geography
Apparently doing a a lot of revision , first day of study leave tomorrow. He wants to do well and go back to 6th form , trying to be supportive , just worrying about him being at home and emptying the food cupboards as growing boys seem to do .
PS mines a glass of White ......

[Terrificteens]

Count me in too
Ds taking Eng Lang
Eng lit
maths
further maths
chemistry
biology
physics
applied science
drama
music
geography
ICT
german
phew!!!!!!!

Good luck to all taking Enlish tomorrow!

[kangers]

lol- agree TSC!! But son not straigtening hair!!!

[mumblechum1]

Tortu, thanks for that! I showed it to ds this morning before he left for his exam.

He's worryingly relaxed about it all unlike me

[Milliways]

Hello to the new Mums on board :)

DS coped ok today, he said that's 2 down 23 to go!

[Milliways]

here as I'm sure we all had English today!

Updated passenger list, as we are still growing here. (ANyone heard from Pixie lateley?)

A2363 (DS1)
Alice15 (DD1)
aVinddallusions (DD)
Balia (DD)
Beamur (DSD)
Emmspemms (DS)
FeelingOld (DD)
frantic51 (DD2)
Frogs (DD1)
Frumpyinthefrost (DS2)
Greenshadow (DS2)
Happyinherts (DS)
Herbietea (DS)
ijustwanttobeme (DD)
Kangers (DS1)
lateSeptember1964 (DS2)
Loshad (DS2)Magnolia74 (DD1)
Merrylegs (DS)
Megmog2000 (DS)
Milliways (DS)
Mumblechum (DS)
NotaMopsa (DD)
Parred (DS2)
PaulaYatesbiggestfan (DD)
PixieOnALeaf (DD)
SpringLamb (DS)
TheCarrotCake (DS)
Terrificteens (DS)
t0lk13n (DS)

[t0lk13n]

One down guys!!!

[Terrificteens]

Hmmm, not sure how it went today.
DS said that he was concentrating so hard on ticking off various linguistic devices - triplets etc - that he felt that he lost out on flow and style in his writing.
Anyone know how marks are awarded? Does this sound disasterous or might it actually lead to decent grades?