GCSE Support Thread 2013

[wolvesarerunning]

I've been waiting for someone to start this (was on the 2012 thread last year and am unlucky enough to have dc 18 months apart in consecutive school years!) Please join me to support and share the angst with only four weeks to go now to the first written exam.

Or ds even ...

Can I join too? It's nice to have some company on this stressful journey for my dd and I. We had all kinds of ructions in the house over the weekend, blowing up out of no where, but obviously out of stress. Poor thing came down with a heavy cold too just to make matters worse. But nothing now until early next week so some calm is restored. Soup and the Sims seems to be helping today. She does not seem to have done much for her English Lang and Lit with AQA. Lit she says is about poems. Anyone know of any good resources for these? Many thanks.

No exams today , but DD had Textiles and Welsh yesterday .

She's a little worried now , as the last question on the Welsh paper asked for their opinions on the relevance of the Welsh language , and she told them what she thinks

Oops .

RS and Spanish tomorrow.. DD had AQA Biology B3 the other day. Muttered darkly about tadpoles but thinks she's done ok. This generally means she's buggered it right up ( I refer back to the great P2 debacle and we only talk of the second maths exam in hushed tones now)

DD has RE tomorrow as well. She us revising tonight, but this is a really low priority subject for us, and to be honest, we don't really care about the outcome.

English Lang tomorrow, and then next week is the week from hell, with Chemistry and English Lit on Monday followed by lots of others...

Had a lovely afternoon, re-reading Wuthering Heights and making lots of notes on big bits of paper on 'destructive love' and similar..

really enjoyed myself, much to dd1 disgust! Apparently the only book marginally worse than WH is Jane Eyre.... This is from a girl who's only really read Angus Thongs and Snogging before

DD1 has 7 next week. 2 chem, 2 physics, 2 eng lit, and music listening. And I'm away in Sweden for work for the whole week (it's qte possibly for the best, mind you ).

Spanish foundation paper

Food and Nutrition today

DD 'finished' school today - just exams and a few revision sessions now. Spanish tomorrow.

Seems reasonably cheerful, i'm just staying out of it.

She says she is going to dye her hair green on Monday. Is there any chance school will send her home from exams?? Should I ring them and ask? Would hate to waste all that education!

DS took final mandarin chinese paper yesterday. In the final section (write 150 characters in chinese) his favourite topic came up - talk about an activity you do. Almost feel sorry for the examiner having to read 150 characters on why I am so brilliant at football!

Just RE today, and lots next week.

DD having mild anxiety dreams - in one, she bumped into her French teacher in a cafe who told her all the answers in section 1 should have been given in French, not English, and she had 2 minutes to change them, and in another she couldn't zip up her prom dress and the rain ruined her hair . And one boy had organized a fanfare for his arrival at prom, but wasn't even wearing a suit!

Which was the biggest disaster, though? The French debacle or the not even wearing a suit?

It is possible that DD1 is slightly more focussed, right now, on seeing Show of Hands at the weekend, the dr who finale, and her little shop of horrors rehearsa tomorrow (she's playing Audrey 2), than on next weeks exams. I'm not convinced the 3 exam free days this week have been an entirely Good Thing. Oh well.

Probably not being able to do up the prom dress, I think - the French thing can't have been too traumatic because the dream changed to the cash point not being able to dispense cash and so compensating her with lots more cash! So she must be feeling optimistic at some level

I can now completely imagine that the next Big Thing for proms will be to hire yourself a fanfare for your arrival!

I think the exam free days this week have probably been a good thing, you know - I'm quite glad it's gathering pace fairly slowly, and in dd's case with the stuff she's happier with. Bit more worried about Physics when it comes...

End of Wk1 thank god. she's had an exam every day this week; 4 next week and 4 after halfterm. and then that's it

Citizenship today. apparently any doofus can pass that - I suspect a certain element of over-confidence myself.

Her last 2 are maths, which, coincidentally is absolutely her worst subject. hope to god they dont get study leave and are instead force-fed maths every available opportunity til then.

for the weekend everyone?

How wonderful to only have 8 exams left. Poor Dd1 has 19 to go! Madness.

19, that's insane! I tried to count ours up on the thing that's on the fridge, but I can't work out dd's complex system of highlights for the one's she's doing and not doing or thought she was doing but isn't....

Boschy I think your dd is probably right about Citizenship

dd gets study leave from 24th May - leaver's assembly then finish at 11.30, and after that only goes in for exams and sessions she chooses.

I said this morning it was sort of sad parents don't get to go to Leaver's assembly, as it's kind of been a journey for us too etc - dd1 looked horrified and dd2 suggested that I should go to prom with her instead .

Getting my spray tan and my fanfare booked - wouldn't that be fun, darling! Mummy-daughter prom night mwah ha ha...

Nit 24 in total. That's what you get with terminal exams (although they did one physics module last summer, and the music composition paper was a couple of weeks ago, that wasn't a CA though, it was a properly moderated and invigilated exam - but it has to be staggered because of resource requirements.

I did 10 O levels under the old system back in the dark ages and yes, some of the subjects had multiple papers (Music, French, Latin, Maths, for sure) but none of the English subjects had more than one. Nor did history. Or RE. So I don't think I could have even approached the number of exams Dd1 is sitting. Athough some of ours were much longer, true. When you then consider the CAs - I think for some subjects the content might be 'easier' now (French, maths, physics) but the process is way way more onerous. I do not envy these kids at all.

Dd1 has been on study leave since last Friday but apart from the day she went back to the hospital, she has been going in and will continue to do so. Because (a) it adds structure to her day (b) there are a revision sessions for some subjects (c) we've paid for the bus dammit! ;)

They didn't have a leavers' assembly, but basically nobody is leaving. I believe they have a big hoopla certificate giving day in the autumn but I suspect I will be away (it's a rare autumnal week for me not to be away) so ill probably miss it. :(

actually I miscounted, I think she's got only 7 left after today? but they seem to be over more weeks than I thought? oh I dunno, she has the same confusing fridge thingy as nits DD obv!!
19 more, oh god russians you poor thing. I am hoping there will not be study leave, I'm guarding my privacy for as long as I can

We have seven next week (in four days!), then only 2 after half term. So I think she will have a little relax on Thursday night.... Monday is hellish - the long English Lit paper, followed by Chemistry, with Maths paper two following on Tuesday morning!

Year 9 that's early, is she half Spanish? Yes DD1 bit disappointed with Spanish today. Definitely not half Spanish here .