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Original poster

GCSE Support Thread 2013

681 replies

wolvesarerunning · 18/04/2013 16:33

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.

OP posts:
creamteas · 19/05/2013 18:14

Tension mounting again here, before Chem tomorrow. Have sent her out to the shop to buy chocolate Grin. Partly so she has something nice, but I'm also hoping the walk on her own will reduce the chance of a full meltdown and partly so I get some peace as well

This is DD's best subject, but that seems to have made it worse rather than better.

mumslife · 19/05/2013 20:31

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mumslife · 19/05/2013 20:40

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TheOriginalSteamingNit · 19/05/2013 22:23

Yes, chemistry and eng lit here tomorrow too... I think she has mice and men and inspector calls down, and have been testing on halogens this evening!

Good luck to all of them!

mindgone · 20/05/2013 00:40

Eng lit and chem here too! To kill a Mockingbird and The Crucible though. A full on day, good luck all :-)

Movingtimes · 20/05/2013 00:59

Have been testing on chem too. V amusing as I have no idea what I am actually asking. Am Eng teacher though so have been a bit more use for tomorrow's Eng Lit as I can mark her past exam paper questions.
Hope all goes well for everyone's DC tomorrow.

EllieArroway · 20/05/2013 04:31

English Lit for my DS here too - spent all day yesterday going through Of Mice & Men & An Inspector Calls. Feel like I could almost sit the exam myself!

Good luck to everyone :)

prettydaisies · 20/05/2013 07:40

English lit and chemistry here too. Hope it all goes well for all of them.

beachyhead · 20/05/2013 07:55

English lit and chemistry, but we have Tennyson poems, Wuthering Heights and Julius Caesar Hmm luckily I did WH for A level and still had all the quotes and cross references written in it!

Tennyson has been very dreary though.

MrsBartlet · 20/05/2013 09:53

Dd really panicking now and I am tyring to keep her calm whilst panicking inside! She seems very unprepared for some of the exams she is doing this week even though she has been revising since Easter and really has put in a lot of hours.

We are all wishing this week was over. She has 8 papers this week alone and then 8 papers to go, spread out over the next 3 1/2 weeks - ridiculous scheduling!

To make things worse I have a really sore throat so I am trying to keep my distance from her to stop her catching it!

yegodsandlittlefishes · 20/05/2013 13:58

I'm in a similar boat to raspberrylemonpavlova with eldest DC in y10 and sitting most GCSEs next year. So far she is maintaining really good grades in the subjects most important to her, but at a significant cost to her stress levels. Just had the school report which just piles on the pressure with all the things she must do in order to justify their predicted grades. Don't know what to say to encourage her, she seems to have everything in hand but also seems to watch a lot of TV!

mrsrhodgilbert · 20/05/2013 14:09

Eng lit went well apparently. The right questions came up for her. Should be home from chemistry in a short while then two days before more eng lit and physics. This morning I saw real nerves for the first time and I was a little relieved to be honest. Last week she seemed very cool.

mumslife · 20/05/2013 15:08

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Casey · 20/05/2013 16:30

Ds1 has come home pleased with all three exams; C2 and C3 AQA and English Lit (WJEC)

AmazingDisgrace · 20/05/2013 17:48

DD not so happy with Eng Lit ( Wjec) but thought Chem C3 ( AQA) was quite easy

holdencatcher · 20/05/2013 17:58

I sat AQA Chemistry unit 3 this afternoon and I agree with AmazingDisgrace's DD - it was a pretty easy paper. I did AQA English Lit (Exploring Modern Texts) this morning as well. It seemed okay, although a few people in my classes said they struggled.

webwiz · 20/05/2013 18:06

DS seems to have spent the day alternating between revising and then bickering with everyone that has ever annoyed him over the yearHmm. I think the teachers must be fed up with dealing with a fractious year 11.

prettydaisies · 20/05/2013 18:48

DS liked both his exams today - English lit and chemistry. However Lit was 2 and 1/4 hours so he had a lot of writing, but that's it for English. Maths tomorrow and biology later in the week.
Today, for the first time, both mine were in the exam hall at the same time as I have DD doing AS levels!

creamteas · 20/05/2013 18:48

DD says chemistry was ok. I'm going to give up asking soon, and just rely on MN for a more in depth assessment Grin.

Revising tonight for RE tomorrow.

RussiansOnTheSpree · 20/05/2013 19:16

Cream - yeah, ok is all I ever get, too. I tried to explain to DD1 that when I'm thousands of miles away (is it thousands of miles, Sweden? Maybe only hundreds) then it's a bit difficult for me to use the SCIENCE of DEDUCTION to work out her body language, but she cares not! She seemed more concerned to talk about this music programme she's applied for anyway. And Star Trek. Oh well. Apparently my suggested questions for of mice and men (this book was quoted extensively in season 3 of lost. Explain why Jack is a twat) and An inspector calls (Tom Baker once starred in this play. Explain why Pertwee was a better Doctor) didn't come up! I can't help feeling the examiners missed a trick. Oh well.

beachyhead · 20/05/2013 19:21

Oh dear, we really didn't think Chemistry was easy.. Uh oh:( but English Lit was ok...

Maths tomorrow, German Wednesday and biology and more English on Thursday.. Almost done hereGrin
(Only ICT and DT after half term, hoorah)

Could the sun come out then, please!!!

creamteas · 20/05/2013 19:24

Russian I know where you are coming from. With DD, the ASD means that there are very clues at all, no tone of voice or body language.

DD has three emotional states: ok, agitated and meltdown Hmm. I know I should be happy that we are staying in the ok mode, but a bit more insight would be helpful Grin

RussiansOnTheSpree · 20/05/2013 19:48

Cream - it's hard isn't it. Dd1 hasn't had any dyspraxia melt downs THAT I KNOW OF. But I'm on the verge myself!

creamteas · 20/05/2013 20:22

Russians I'm with you there. What difficulties does the dyspraxia cause your DD? Does she struggle with time, memory and organisation?

I was much more laid-back about DS1 & DS2 than with DD.

DS1 is academically minded and put in the work, and I was confident that he would do just fine (which he did). DS2 was not academic, but only needed 4 Cs to get into college. I was fairly confident that he could make this (too confident really, as he only just made it!).

But with DD, there is no telling how things will pan out. She should easily achieve As in the sciences and Maths, and has a good chance of a B in geography. English and French are more of a worry (although if she doesn't get French it doesn't matter). RE we have written off to focus on the others.

But the ASD can so easily through a spanner in, as she can struggle to interpret questions.

She also doesn't seem to have any real sense about how things went, so August will be a complete surprise!!.

RussiansOnTheSpree · 20/05/2013 20:33

Time and organisation. And the whole writing thing, obviously that's exacerbated by her injured hand. She is word processing lots of exams but you can't do that for all of them. My real worry is that she can get into a right tizz and then all bets are off. She has an amazing memory, but if she gets flustered she could easily just collapse physically and mentally. But she often thrives in exam settings if nothing flusters her (external factors - unlikely to be thrown by questions). She puts pressure on herself too. But that's so often the case with even non SEN affected high achievers, isn't it. I've always told her she has to suck it up because, really, she does. At least she knows I know exactly what she's going through, being dyspraxic myself. I just tell her that she needs to focus on all the positive strokes she has going for her, and hope for the best.