GCSEs 2012 support thread

[Kez100]

Here we go........hold on tight!

Well done Miss Cardibach and everyone else who has finished. Lucky I don't live near Cymru or I would have nipped around and helped you out with that Bellini!

One of my daughter's friends (from a difficult background) decided today she wouldn't sit Maths paper 2, so just didn't go in. It is such a sad situation when you see cases like this - simply wasted opportunities. At least she has a grade, albeit low, from the early sitting in November when she did both papers because she was actually in school on those days, so it wasn't so easy to avoid.

Ahhh, no, scrub that!

Turns out she said she wasn't going to go to my DD but in the end the school turned up on her home doorstep when she didn't register a half hour before the exam start and she was given a lift in!

Well done your DD's school, Kez! It's great when kids are supported like that.
You would be welcome to some Bellini, too.
I'll keep an eye on this thread for now, but I'll definitely need support before the results day!

DD did Edexcel Unit 2 non calc paper today. I sent her a text with the following message: Was it A) Good fine B) Fine C) OMG we never learnt that fine and D) Just pay for the resit now mum fine. DD text back A - so relief here.

Lol, magenta. It's amazing how one word can mean so much!

We don't finish til next Wed. But it is the same day as my DS gets his degree result . And the same day my elder DD gets her year 1 uni mark. So I've reserved my Bellini for then :)

I'm back. It seems ages since DD did an exam!

She's had AQA Geography paper 1 today. All about rivers & volcanos I understand. She seems to be reasonably happy with it.

Study leave and homework widen the divide for youngsters who don't have interested and supportive parents. It's a stupid system.

DS's Geography was on coasts today and apparently quite tricky. Only time will tell I suppose!

Yes, AQA Geography here today. My daughter has really revised heart and soul for this, and was really dispirited when she got home, said there were alot of questions which needed map reading skills which she said had not been covered in the course........ a good rest needed now before three back to back exams on Monday, it is going to be hard to get her motivated, but will have a go.... then it is nearly all over and we can all calm down....!

Has anyone else got chemistry tomorrow afternoon? Dd having a last minute panic here. Then geography and maths paper 3 and physics next week - I keep having to recheck the timetable when I see others have done those subjects already to be sure she hasn't missed one.

Krakatoa East of Java - Volcano
Durdle Door Dorset - Coastal Arch

Geography O level examples 1981!

Oh, wouldn't Gove would be so proud of me!

My Geography teacher had 3 lessons a week. A double and a single. In the double lesson we got into the classroom and he had already written on the whole board (do you remember them as they rolled around, making it a sort of double size black board). We just wrote everything down and when we got to the end he wiped stuff off and carried on. That was it - every double lesson.

Then, in the single lesson, he would test us on that and everything we had done in earlier weeks. Literally question after question and the occasional explanation. Every other explanation/understanding we had to get from the comprehension of the stuff we had written down. We never left the classroom or even stood up once!

I went to a dire Comprehensive School with poor results but this teacher was considered wonderful and managed 100% A-C at 'O' level with this Gove-loving regurgitation technique. I got a B, and can probably reel a lot of it off still, but I have hated Geography with a passion ever since!

DS's got history tomorrow morning followed by chemistry in the afternoon. Only 8 left after tomorrow, however he has got three on wednesday which is just ridiculous IMO.

that sounds bad bringback. even tomorrow with two biggish subjects is quite tough, I hope they go well.

I like it magenta!

bringback that sounds tough, good luck to DS.

Kez, that sounds horribly boring and enough to put anyone off geography for life.

History today and that's it finished. All 10 GCSEs and 1 AS done and dusted. Roll on August as I know she'll be worrying till the results come through. Good luck to all the Dcs.

Aaargh, disaster area in history! DD read the wrong timings on the board and didn't answer the last 12 mark question and had to rush the 7 marker she was on when she got the 5 minute warning. Had to happen sometime I suppose!

DS said he thought he was running out of time for last question on the history this morning. He gets 10% extra time but it was still panic stations at the end.

It's annoying to lose marks for bad timing. I told her not to worry, it happens and she might still get an A. Unfortunately I think the grade boundaries are on the high side for OCR history. Luckily not one of her A level choices - she would defo need A or A*.

Bruffin my younger DD is dyslexic and will be suffering from the reintroduction of all linear exams by the time she does them. Well done to your son for finishing, it is incredibly difficult for them.

DD said she and her friends all found the History (B unit 2 AQA) really hard - she has had some revision sessions with her history teacher this week and was told she was very well prepared for it.

She got a C in her unit 1 exam last year (which she really wasn't ready for) and A in her course work- hoping for a B overall- she needs a Humanity at B to go to one of her preferred VIth forms.

One more exam next Tuesday then the hell is over!

Also reporting on History. Ds said it was difficult to get finished in time although he just did. Ds is doing AS history so is hoping he did well.

Cardi, must be nice to be past the finish line

DS was doing Wjec History which today was German History, he resat Russian History last week.
Beingfluffy I can't really decide whether module or linear are better for him. He is good at remembering facts (when he is interested ) and analyzing, but not very good at organizing what he needs to put down on paper

Chemistry this afternoon was fine.
Judging by the comments on here on communication from our DCs "fine" is the answer to everything
Monday is a heavy day with Geography and Statistics. Stats is one of the longer exams as it's just the one paper.
The science ones all seem to be 3 shorter papers, so although linear rather than modular they are in identifiable chunks.
DS1 would have been fine with all linear, whereas DS2 currently in year 9 would definitely have done better at modular. They are the wrong way round.

dd also had timing problems with chemistry this afternoon. She was checking through the paper in the last 5 mins & found she'd turned over two pages and missed a whole double side on rust. She managed to rush something down before the time was up though (thankfully it wasn't long answer questions) but didn't have time to think the answers through properly (or probably read the questions properly either) - she thinks the paper was 'fine' even so.

Beingfluffy your poor dd - it's so much worse with essays.

Yes, 'fine' here too. Or 'fine except for one bit'.

DS3 not finished until the 27th June - and started on 14th May. With very few days without an exam.

I feel very sorry for them all - it seems so dragged out.