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Secondary education

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Original poster

Countdown to exam results. Anyone else feeling anxious?

645 replies

jellybrain · 30/07/2013 11:11

Waiting for DS1's Gcses results on 22nd of August. He did really well last year but, all the talk of moving grade boundaries has got me worried. Fingers are very tightly crossed for maths as this is the subject he struggles with most.

OP posts:
RussiansOnTheSpree · 13/08/2013 17:26

God, my typing Blush

Ah well - unless Gove is posting here under a pseudonym it's nobody here's fault, the debacle about to unfold. But it is terribly worrying. And I don't even drink!

MrsWeasley · 13/08/2013 17:26

Herons of course, the more Wine the better! Smile

TheOriginalSteamingNit · 13/08/2013 17:44

How do you mean 'pretending to have done', though, Russians?

To be honest, I think we probably all feel in one way or another that our dc might lose out: like many, my dd had a combination of modular and final exams, but I think I would just do my own head in trying to second guess the ways in which that might count for or against her in the time between now and next Thursday. I don't think Boschy meant to sound 'alright jack' at all; rather, I read her post as 'thankful for small mercies', which really there's no harm in being.

My dd seems fairly unstressed so far, but given than I dreamed last night that my kitchen was full of mice and both my children's hair was crawling with nits and then I went to collect my GCSE results but they were all in code which I had to ring a number to find out, I think my own anxiety is growing!

NewFairy · 13/08/2013 17:51

Russians, isn't your daughter in Y10? So if the results are not as you/she hoped, can she not resit them in y11? Or does her school do the A level syllabus over 3 years?

NewFairy · 13/08/2013 17:53

Also, can I join in the waiting for A2 results here. DS2 needs 3 A grades for his course.

MissMarplesBloomers · 13/08/2013 18:20

This where we sign up then? Grin

A2's this Thursday......GCSE's next Thursday.

I shall be on Valium by then I think. Confused

MissMarplesBloomers · 13/08/2013 18:21

Psstt MNHQ can we have a gin emoticon...pretty please....just for this fortnight?

LetsFaceTheMusicAndDance · 13/08/2013 18:43

Awaiting AS and A2 results. DSs are very calm. My nerves are like a string bag of runny shite.

And I so so so want DS1 to go to his first choice as his insurance choice was a moment where I had to bite my tongue hard.

magentadreamer · 13/08/2013 18:45

Awaiting GCSE results here. I am hoping and praying that DD has pulled the magic C grade in English Language. She resat the exam modules in Jan. Grade boundaries weren't given only marks. Unless they really gerry mander the grade boundaries she has a high C grade in the reading paper ( she got 38/40) and we have our fingers crossed that 30/40 is at least a D grade. With CA's ranging from what her teacher thinks should be mainly B's we are hopeful. I dont think I will be getting much sleep next Wednesday night.

MrsWeasley · 13/08/2013 18:45

MissMarples I like your style. Wink

hoochymama1 · 13/08/2013 19:23

Love the thread. Ds 2 has A2's on Thursday, Ds 3 has Gcse's week after. Arggghh! What have I done to deserve this ? Hmm

GreenShadow · 13/08/2013 20:04

Awaiting A2 here as well. It's very marginal as to whether he'll get the grades he needs for his first choice university so it's everything crossed for Thursday.

glaurung · 13/08/2013 20:08

It's my fourth and last summer results day, and my most relaxed one yet (thanks to an unconditional offer and plenty of other distractions at the moment). I do sympathise with the anxious though - it is worrying especially when so much rides on some of the results or when exams didn't go quite to plan. As far as possible though do try NOT to get too hung up on what may or may not happen as far as overall pass levels or any modular unfairnesses may lie, as these things are not easy to predict and may well not pan out the way you think. Wait and see, and then moan if warranted when we have the full picture would be my advice. Modules taken as late as possible usually benefit the sitter due to increased maturity and this will go some way to counter any harsher marking that may or may not be applied this time, schools that choose the fully terminal GCSE route usually get very high results, and my guess is that this trend will still hold this year (obviously I may be wrong, but it's really not worth worrying about until we know for sure).

littlemisswise · 13/08/2013 20:09

We're awaiting DS1's A2 results on Thurs and DS2's GCSE results on 22nd.

DS1 is predicted to do very, very well. He has this week, however, decided that Uni is not on the cards this year. Maybe he will change his mind, maybe not, I am not overly bothered as long as he is happy.

DS2 was on course for A*s and As in all 3 sciences and maths (don't panic, no gaming went on, he only sat each module the once!) but now we have no clue what with the fiasco Gove has created again. He does deserve them though, he has worked his bloody socks off and wants to do science A levels. He already has 3 As in the bag from last year, so the pressure is off a teensy bit.

CinnamonAddict · 13/08/2013 20:14

Good luck to you all!
My own dc are a few years away from GCSE but I am nervously awaiting A2 results of my (what looks like last ever) Year 13 class.
Maybe as usual I am more on edge than they are Grin

heronsfly · 13/08/2013 20:24

I think glaurung has made some very good points, have a large Wine
because we haven't got a gin emotion yet

jellybeans · 13/08/2013 20:26

I'm anxious, DD has AS on Thurs (they did some early in year 11) and GCSE next week. I really hope she has done herself justice. Good luck all.

circular · 13/08/2013 21:24

Agree, some great points from glaurung, a true voice of experience.

DD told me that some of her friends (different school) got GCSE English results TODAY? guessing that's IGCSE?

Shootingatpigeons · 13/08/2013 21:57

I agree with glauring in some ways but not in others. Yes we can't know how it is going to pan out in the next days /weeks but we are living in uncertain times, a Gove inspired dystopia, so much more unfair than when my DD1 sat her exams (Year 4 at uni). The goalposts have moved but no one knows or understands how or where. There is no justice in it, just depends on exam board and subject. I do think we have to be prepared to be there for our DCs and to understand if they are on the receiving end of the unfairness. It might be a lower mark than predicted for not working hard enough or mucking up the paper, but it might be rubbish marking, and it might be politicking.

Good thing is unis have cottoned on, and they face more difficult times too. So whereas one dropped grade would have meant a gap year and retakes for DD1's peers, there was no margin for error, the playing field is a little more in favour of our DCs.

Just trying to keep believing what I keep telling DD2, it's done now, worrying won't get you anywhere, Thursday is just when you find out, no point worrying.....Wine Wine Wine

MissMarplesBloomers · 13/08/2013 22:16

LetsFaceTheMUsic With you on the tongue biting thing. DD1's insurance choice isn't bad but being one near my old home town that used to have a shite reputation I am biased agin it even if it has improved. Grin

MrsWeasley Why thank you Wink

hooch & littlemiss (& others ) I think we need a specially padded cell thread for us double result parents!!

NewFairy · 13/08/2013 22:35

Oh yes, good luck, that was me 2 years ago. We had to get an A2paper priority re-marked, the result came back, with the improved grade on the same day as DS2s GCSE results, which took the focus off him.

So this year, is definitely DS2s day.

boschy · 13/08/2013 22:40

havent read back all the way, but russians I am really sorry if you think I was insensitive on p.3 because I really really didnt mean to be.

Fact is my DD is pretty much well below average all round academically, and is also dyslexic, but she works twice as hard as anyone else I know. Any good result she gets, under whatever system, is cause for celebration in my book.

I dont like the new Govian world, where we all study latin in groups of 3 and take terminal exams where we regurgitate facts like vomit on a page.

will now go and re-read the rest of the thread.

Theas18 · 13/08/2013 22:41

Nearly here.... argh!

Sparing an extra thought for those poor misguided parents who thought , when their kids were small , that a 2yr age gap was nice...

(fortuitously we have 3 school years between our 3 so apart from DD1 uni finals and DS A2s there are no clashes, it could tip a parent into a barrel of wine!)

boschy · 13/08/2013 22:47

"But for a parent to come on the anxious thread and be all boasty about her kids's successful gaming of the system seems a bit much to me. But then, I'm an anxious parent of a child who did all terminal exams. But since this is the anxious thread, I didn't expect people to come in here being all boasty and 'I'm alright Jack'."

russians I do really have to take issue with this comment you made to me! I am not in the least bit boasty about my kid, as you will see above.

She is at the school she is at. Their job, apart from helping turn her into a rounded adult suitable for the world of further education or work, is to provide the education she needs. It is a sec mod in a selective grammar area.

I could not be LESS boasty about either of my DD's academic achievements.

boschy · 13/08/2013 22:54

anyway, last night I dreamt we went to get the results, and instead of grades they gave smiley faces - big grin for a good one, sad downturned smile for a poor one, along with various qualify symbols, like little angels or devils. in my dream DD1 had a massive tantrum at me because I didnt understand the faces...