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Secondary education

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Original poster

Science GCSEs level 1 start this week!

190 replies

OrmIrian · 10/01/2012 13:03

I'm hyperventilating on behalf of DS1.... who had one wobble the day before he went back to school but is now irritatingly calm. I am dragging him kicking and screaming through his revision books. We have had lots of eye-rolling, tutting, surreptitious looking at the laptop, attempts to distract me with the Flight of Conchord DVDs.... but we've finished Biology! Hurrah! Exam on Thursday

Just chemistry and physics now..... Hmm

It's a bloody nightmare. I avoided science as much as possible at school and just scraped a C in biology. At least it makes DS feel better - he does at least know more than me.

Anyone else ?

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Hullygully · 19/01/2012 12:17

Funnily enough I sadi the very same thing to a friend the other night whose dd wants to be a copper. Her dd is bright and funny, but just completely uninterested in academics.

GetOrfMoiiLand · 19/01/2012 12:23

Her first preference is police, I think it is going to be enormously competitive to get a place as a copper at 18, but dd does a lot of volunteer work anyway, and is going to apply to become a special when she is 18. The public services course is supposed to assist with this, however I think it is a load of bollocks for thickos.

Or she wants to go into the RAF/army, as a rank (not at all interested in being an officer) and work in some kind of PT/military police capacity. No academic qualifications required for this at all.

I know it sounds absolute gubbins but I am really upset by this. It is becoming a real bone of contention. I wanted her to go to university, get a good degree, do it that way, and if she wanted to go in the forces go in as an officer at least. I know it is her life, and her choice, and we are getting at loggerheads about it and she said yesterday that just because I am academic etc I should't expect her to be. Which of course is true, but I also think that because something is hard you shouldn't just give up and take the easier choice. I think by not taking A levels she is really restricting her choices in case she changes her mind in the future. I have said why not do A levels and then do the BTEC afterwards, there is no hurry. But she is adamant that the A level work is too hard, she is struggling to get the grades at GCSE, and she has had enough of academic and exam work, and just wants to do practical stuff.

GetOrfMoiiLand · 19/01/2012 12:28

I am sorry, that bollocks for thicko is completely unnecessary and horrible thing to say Blush.

I just don't want her to do a BTEC.

I am going to have to shut my face and learn that it is not my life and not my choice, aren't I?

We always get on so well, this is the first major row about something impirtant that we have had since she is a teen. She shouted at me last night, she is supposed to come along to the particle accelerator facility where I work (there is a family day next week) and she shouted that she wasn;t going to come, as I would be such a disapointment to her that she wasn't going to be a fucking physicist. That's not the case at all - I just really want her to have the most of the opportunities as she can, and not decide that she wants a degree when she is in her 20s, and have to bloody well struggle like I have. I can just see doors clanging shut.

She went to bed in a strop, I went and gave her a cuddle and we were all fine this morning, and I will have a talk later, I want her to know that I love her and will always be proud of her whatever she does, and that I just want thebest for her.

I am sorry - hijacking the thread.

Hullygully · 19/01/2012 12:49

Oh Getorf, it IS really hard.

BUT if she is really set on it and you fight her, you will both be miserable. If you back her up, she may well surprise you, feel the pressure is off, and make different choices. Or she may make them later in life. I really do think that if a child has made their mind up re a path and it is a GOOD path, it's probs better to support them.

Being a copper has loads of possibilities and opportunites, dunnit?

Original poster
OrmIrian · 19/01/2012 13:11

I sympathise getorf. I surprised myself by being totally chilled about DS1 not wanting to go to university. I just know him well enough to know that at this point in his life he would do bugger all and waste 3 or 4 years of his life and a lot of money.

But DD is so different. Really hard-working, dedicated, top sets for everything. She had decided on a career and how to get there and all of a sudden she started talking about being an animator or a show jumper (FFS!). I was taken aback at how easily I slipped into angry Mater Familias role and tried to lay down the law Blush And she's only 12....

It's frustrating when you see them doing things that experience tells you won't do them any good. I can see I am going to have a very sore lip for the next 10 years or so

But you know that you can't tell them what to do. And IME most things work out in the end.

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Original poster
OrmIrian · 19/01/2012 13:12

But I think I've put her off the idea of being a stable girl....

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GetOrfMoiiLand · 19/01/2012 13:24

I know, you are both right. I am going to have to keep my mouth shut. Thing is the last thing I want her to feel is that she has in some way disappointed me. That is the last thing on my mind - she is very different from me, and despite not being academic like me, she is by far more rounded than I ever was, she has heaps of friends whereas I am rather misanprothic, she plays about 4 sports, does charity work, is on the school council, she is a really brilliant girl and I am so proud of her.

I just need to back the hell off. The thing is I know from personal experience you can make dodgy choices as a teen (like me, leaving school at 16, having a baby at 17) and that it is not the end of the world, far from it. I just don't want dd to do it the bloody hard way.

I think though deep down she is right - she is so fraught with these exams, the work is so much harder at A level, it would be two more years of stress and anxiety.

Thanks for your advice. Bloody teens. Grin

GetOrfMoiiLand · 19/01/2012 13:25

Stable girl and animator! DD wanted to be a chef when she was 14! Thank god she changed her mind.

Hullygully · 19/01/2012 14:28

my dd (13) wants to be a builder.

Hullygully · 19/01/2012 14:39

It is so hard tho. Because I want them to aim high, I always tell them they have to get As, poor ol ds this morning was saying, "So, do you think, are there any subjects in which I don't have to get As? What if I got an A?"

Dd would just flip me the finger.

Hullygully · 19/01/2012 14:45

Anyone heard about maths?

Hullygully · 20/01/2012 10:25

Physics.

Got a text: "The exam went finsih."

So that's clear.

Maths hard, apparently.

I'm talking to myself, aren't I? And where's that Pat?

GetOrfMoiiLand · 20/01/2012 10:33

That exam went finish Grin

I got a text from dd this morning 'I have had a problem with the bike' and then she ignired all calls and texts which meant I spent half an hour in a flurry of panic thinking she had fallen off her moped.

She texted back eventually 'sorry mum I just stalled it' Hmm

Original poster
OrmIrian · 20/01/2012 10:37

I am guessing the 'finsih' isn't a teenage slang word for 'brilliantly'?

I had forgotten about the exam actually. Bad mummy! DS1 seemed quite confident last night and was able to answer most of the questions at the back of the revision book. Fingers crossed.

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Hullygully · 20/01/2012 10:43

Looking forward to the weekend - no exams next week! Hurrah!

Polgara2 · 20/01/2012 10:53

Well that went badly apparently Sad

TheWave · 20/01/2012 10:57

Have been lurking these past weeks as DD1 doing triple science as well. Thought revision went well, tho a bit last minute but it seems exam content was not all as expected. :( Was amused to hear others panicking about petrol questions in chem earlier in the week as this was her worry as well. Just heard from text that physics "mucked upp". Oh dear. Await further news. Others mucked upp physics as well?

Original poster
OrmIrian · 20/01/2012 11:04

Oh nooooo! Bugger. I was quite hopeful about this one too.

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HattiFattner · 20/01/2012 11:04

ooooh no doubt I shall hear how "dreadful" it was when she comes home. Lazy scroat didnt really revise too much though as physics is one of those subjects she "just gets......". I think her A in mocks did help boost confidence, maybe too much. Hopefully not heading for a fall. No phones allowed at school, so cannot even call her to ask. She comes home full of woe and sadness and beats herself up about it....and then pulls an A out of the bag.

snazzymum · 20/01/2012 14:55

oh dear received text from DD1 (year 10 physics) "exam was awful, felt ill and want to cry" that sounds pretty ominous Sad

Hullygully · 20/01/2012 14:57

take heart snazzy, for chemistry I got a text that said "Horribly badly" and by the time he had got home it had changed to "Not great."

snazzymum · 20/01/2012 15:00

thanks hully, hopefully she is being a tad dramatic, she puts far too much pressure on herself.

HattiFattner · 20/01/2012 15:45

DD came home and said "it was alright actually". phew. She was more upset about her art mark and critique than her GCSE!

Now a weekend off - hoorah!

Hullygully · 20/01/2012 15:47

ds puts a lot of pressure on himself.

Dd is the opposite, she says a breezy, "Yeah it was good." and then gets a bad mark...

Original poster
OrmIrian · 20/01/2012 16:00

DS said it was OK. Easy in fact, but then went on to say 'I couldn't do all of them....' Confused

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