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Secondary education

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Original poster

Year 11 GCSE countdown. Revision angst begins.

999 replies

Fastenurseatbelts · 01/04/2014 13:55

Ok. DS1 has broken up for Easter and we now have to all accept that this is it. He has been doing dribs and drabs since mocks in February and an hour- ish in the evenings of stuff set by teachers.

Nowhere near what I remember doing for my o'levels a million miles ago. Friends tell me their kids are doing nothing yet. Not sure I believe them though!

Waiting for reality to kick in with him but he still seems to be treating it all like an end of topic test in class!

What's happening in your house? Are you staying well out of it or like me walking round waving a CGP guide 24/7!!!!!

OP posts:
MissScatterbrain · 13/05/2014 09:19

Have been advised not to burn books in case of resits.

yourlittlesecret · 13/05/2014 09:24

MissScatterbrain Fair point but not too risky for French.
A resit is only really a possibility if the child did badly in English or Maths or was taking exams early.
DS is in Year 11 and taking all sciences and maths at A level, he has all A* on the CAs and wouldn't resit French even if the worst happened Grin.

Dontwanttobeyourmonkeywench · 13/05/2014 09:55

Chuckling at the catharsis of burning hated subjects. DS can't wait to do it with his history books. He's sitting all sciences for A levels so he's pretty chilled about the other subjects because all he'll need for the Uni course he wants to do is a decent pass in MFL. I'm glad that the science exams are towards the end because I don't think I could cope with him being stressed out atm.

spongeypop · 13/05/2014 10:15

I was fighting back the tears on the way to drop DD off this morning. It seems like just yesterday I was taking her for her first day at school :(

MrsMaturin · 13/05/2014 13:17

AAAAAAAAAAAARGH!

Dd texted to say she finished biology but was annoyed. The daft child didn't give anymore details so i am going out of my mind worrying! Have googled and the consensus on the student room is that this was a tough paper, harder than the past papers. AAAAAAAAAAAAAARGH!

MorvahRising · 13/05/2014 13:23

Oh bugger, was it? Now on tenterhooks for DS's return . . .

sidneypie · 13/05/2014 13:33

Now I'm worried - just had a text from DD1 saying it was easy. That the B3 paper (which is supposed to be the hardest) was easier than the B2. Now I'm worried she's missed something. I'll be glad when all this is over :/

Bouncingbeans · 13/05/2014 13:34

Ah glad I have found this thread!

DD home from Biology - Unit 2 AQA was a horror apparently, she said it was trick questions and a lot off syllabus but she has now eaten and had a break and is talking positively about grade boundaries being lowered if everyone else struggled.

She needs to start thinking about chemistry now but head too full of Biology, just tried to stop her googling to try to find out what she should have put as answers as no point now, what is done is done! (easier for me to say though..)

sausagedog12 · 13/05/2014 13:38

My DS texted to say B2 easy, B3 harder than normal. Geography later then Chemistry Thursday.

spongeypop · 13/05/2014 13:51

My DD said B2 was hard and B3 was easy.

All the girls said B2 was hard

MissScatterbrain · 13/05/2014 13:54

B1 here (think its a different exam board). Today's Geo paper is the sustainable decision making one.

No news yet but that's normal.

LeapingOverTheWall · 13/05/2014 13:59

all I got was a text saying "exams went ok" for the biology. Hopefully she managed the dictating to a scribe thing without too many issues.

MrsMaturin · 13/05/2014 14:41

I am actually close to tears. I can't believe how stressful this is! Much worse than doing the ruddy exams yourself!

hellsbells99 · 13/05/2014 14:57

MrsMaturin - speaking from experience (I have a DD in year 12 too!), then as long as they get what they need for 6th form and their A level choices, their GCSEs won't really matter again unless they choose to do something like medicine

nostress · 13/05/2014 15:21

Now I'm worried! DS texted to say Biology 2 AQA was 'annoying' and the answers were in question which makes me worried that he didn't understand. He's also realised he wrote meiosis instead of mitosis. I think this might be the trick question? It was what cell division in an embryo? Because they've learnt meiosis is to do with reproduction/gametes and an embryos is the next stage (but grows with mitosis). The 6 mark question was diffusion which I think is good compared to some of the previous 6 markers! He's not home yet but I'm not going to discuss it with him anymore as there's nothing he can do now! Roll on chemistry!

bruffin · 13/05/2014 15:26

DD said Biology went "terrible"

MorvahRising · 13/05/2014 15:38

DS happy with biology - says that a lot of his friends had forgotten about detritivores (I had never heard of one!) but as it was only a two mark question it shouldn't be a problem.

He was pretty pleased with the geography too. I am really hoping this isn't misplaced optimism! At least it was tropical storms which he had revised ad nauseam.

Our next one is chemistry too on Thursday, and also RE.

MrsMaturin · 13/05/2014 15:40

I know this going to sound very first world problem but in this house anything less than a* in biology is going to be considered (by dd NOT me) to be a disaster and as she possibly wants to apply to oxford for biomedical sciences...........I have come home and dived in to a cornetto for comfort!

hellsbells99 · 13/05/2014 15:40

DD has just arrived home after doing Biology 2 & 3 and Geography - said they were all very very hard!
Now eating cake and drinking milkshake before moving on to more revision. I think it has given her a very nasty wake-up call. I really wish she had done modular exams so the wake-up call would have been a year ago....... Wink

MrsMaturin · 13/05/2014 15:42

Oh dear :(

EatSleepRaveRepeat · 13/05/2014 15:52

DD weakest subject is science by far!! She is not home yet and hearing Biology 2 was hard is stressing me out. She is only taking double :/

Hope Geography went better!

MissScatterbrain · 13/05/2014 15:54

Had a text to say both Geo and Biology B1 went well

nostress · 13/05/2014 16:07

Mrs and anyone else worrying about As tell your DCs not to worry as you can drop as many as 15 points and still get an A. DONT panic! : )

Bouncingbeans · 13/05/2014 16:12

Science not my DD's strongpoint either and she definitely will not be taking any sciences at A level, but she really wants to get above a C, would be happy with B, ecstatic with an A! She tries hard in class and has put a lot of hours in at home but think she struggles where she needs to develop a concept, if that makes sense?

She learns the facts, the bullet points, the ideas but can get thrown if a question is worded in a way to make them show that they have a real understanding, rather than quoting from textbooks, so I expect she would find certain questions difficult that others wouldnt.

Her Biology teacher in particular has very much focussed on the brightest students and she said they are the only ones with their hands up all the time, so she has self-taught quite a bit at her own pace rather than look stupid in class (her words!). She is full of admiration for people that just 'get it'!

She was borderline for triple science and really wanted to do it, but with hindsight it probably wasnt the right choice for her as she would have been better with double, especially if it meant some modules already completed in year 10.

Roll on 13th June, we can then forget about it all until 21st August...

EatSleepRaveRepeat · 13/05/2014 16:16

DD is home said she is more confident with the biology paper than the Geography and she is predicted A* geog and a C in science! I agree roll on June 13th