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Secondary education

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Original poster

Y13 support thread, anyone?

700 replies

cardibach · 06/04/2014 19:20

I remember our GCSE one 2 years ago. It was a haven! I hesitate to start this as I'm not totally confident of wanting to post DDs results in the end, but I'll cross that bridge when I come to it.
So, how's the revision going? What are the tricky subjects for anyone's DC?
DD is revising steadily, but then she always does and has had some disastrous module results, so not filled with massive confidence. Biology is her issue - she knows and understands it but can't seem to give the examiner what they are looking for. We've had papers back and her tutor says she hasn't answered anything incorrectly, just hasn't said precisely what the examiner wants. Seems so unfair.

I'm stressing. Anyone else?

OP posts:
Original poster
cardibach · 15/04/2014 15:19

Sounds good, bruffin! Have been in tough with DD a couple of times and mentioned revision. Have no clear idea how much she is doing at her dad's. I'll have to get a bit draconian when she comes home, I think.

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BackforGood · 15/04/2014 15:31

ds has some wonderful teachers - he's been in school both yesterday and today for some help with revision sessions - over and above Thanks

FantaSea · 15/04/2014 16:01

whatsinaname01 DD is hungry all the time too! I think it is the extra energy she is using.

As I said upthread, no revision sessions at all at school - I think they would be useful not just for the work, but also for a bit of moral support. DD gets a bit bogged down being away from her friends for days on end.

whatsinaname01 · 15/04/2014 17:44

FantaSea My 2 haven't got any revision sessions at school/college either.

My DS is having to re-take quite a few AS modules as well as doing A2. He missed approx 8 weeks of college at AS due to a burst appendix, so as a result his grades were not as good as they should have been. The college agreed he could re-take the year, the day before he was due back after summer hol's they rang to say they'd changed their mind Shock. He then had no choice but to continue to A2. We were not happy but tried to be positive and hired a tutor to help. So fingers crossed it all works out,it's a hell of alot of work and he is very stressed Sad. Lots of Cake for him andWine for me

Dd doing GCSE's seems to be doing ok at the moment but is so bored of revision.

Roll on the end of June when can all relax ( for a while anyway)

Original poster
cardibach · 15/04/2014 17:55

whatsinaname that is bonkers! What are the college on? Surely it would have been in everyone's interests for him to repeat and get better results? Very stressful. DD is resitting one AS unit and that's bad enough. Still, the lovely Gove is doing away with modules anyway, so we are lucky I suppose (although I'm in Wales where Gove has no power, thank God).

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Cerisier · 15/04/2014 17:58

I was on the thread two years ago too. Can't believe it is nearly all over and DD will be leaving school in a few weeks. She is working hard; subjects are maths, bio and geog.

All is calm here at the moment. She had a little wobble a few days ago but since that has been ok. I don't envy her the stress of it all for one second.

There haven't been any revision sessions at school, but the school library is open and lots of students are using it and others are working in classrooms.

FantaSea · 15/04/2014 17:59

whatsinaname01 sorry to hear about your DS being so ill, that must have been awful for him, and for you. My DD is resitting quite a few AS modules as well as doing A2 and it is very hard. There is so much to do and she is very stressed. I think, with hindsight, that it would have been better for her to re-start year 12 but she chose to go into year 13 and do the resits, and the advice we got from the school was that this was perfectly manageable. What subjects is your DS doing?

whatsinaname01 · 15/04/2014 18:07

Hi cardibach

After a lot of digging we found out it was the finance dept that said no. His grades, they decided, were not bad enough to re-take the year even though everyone else at the college agreed he should. They would not change their minds and told us if we couldn't accept that to move him to a different college!! He didn't want to leave all of his friends. We even offered to pay and thay still said no.

I wish Gove would try some of these "easy" A levels himself. It's so not fair on the kids to keep changing/moving the goal posts

whatsinaname01 · 15/04/2014 18:15

FantaSea

That's good to know. He's doing Maths, Physics and Chemistry.

I keep having to remind myself that in the scheme of things not to get to stressed about the exams as we are lucky he survived his appendicitis. We nearly lost him as he was showing signs of organ failure due to massive infection.
Sorry that's getting heavy....he's just been through a tough time and i want this to go well for him so he can go to his Uni of choice Smile

FantaSea · 15/04/2014 18:37

whatsinaname01 I can understand why you feel like that Flowers What board is your DS doing for Maths? DD is doing Edexcel and is finding it very hard.

How many hours a day are everyone's DC revising? DD has friends who claim to work for about 8 or 9 hours every day and this is stressing her out now. That sounds like a lot to me though Hmm

whatsinaname01 · 15/04/2014 18:55

Thank you FantaSea. He is doing the same board. It is very tough.

Revision - mine are doing 4/5 hrs a day and having more time off at the weekend. As far as I know re other RL friends that's about average.
I don't want them to burn out before the exams. I think maybe your DD friends are trying to impress.

FantaSea · 15/04/2014 20:00

whatsinaname01 the edexcel maths is hard. DD is doing decision maths as one of the applied units and it is so difficult - she had a bit of a breakthrough though last week and found some really good videos on youtube where a teacher explains stuff really slowly so that has helped a lot.

DD is doing about 4 hours a day and I think that is about right for her at this stage. I suspect some of her friends are exaggerating a bit too!

Original poster
cardibach · 15/04/2014 21:01

I want DD to do about 4 hours a day - seems reasonable - and perhaps 2 after school when the holidays finish. She isn't doing that much at the moment though.

OP posts:
prettydaisies · 15/04/2014 21:46

DD's aim is two hours per day. Some days she has done more and other days less. She's only just back from the cathedral (she's a chorister) and is now working on a charity event for after exams. She's getting very excited though because she's just been offered two raffle prizes from local businesses.
Revision seems to fit in round other things!

whatsinaname01 · 15/04/2014 23:40

FantaSea. DS is doing Mechanics, he was advised not to take decision.
DD's Maths teacher has said the same to her as she is considering it for A level, do statistics instead.
I know that doesn't help your DD but it's strange they've advised against it.
I'm glad for her that she has found some help, a way of understanding. Could she ask her teachers for more help? Do they run drop in sessions?

FantaSea · 16/04/2014 08:50

whatsinaname01 DD did mechanics last year as part of the AS (which didn't go well) and is doing Statistics S1 (much better) this year for the A2. She is doing the Decision as an extra module in the hope that she can get more on it than the Mechanics and so that will go 'in place of' the Mechanics. We will see - I hope it will be worth the extra work. She gets some lunchtime help with the Decision as many of them are taking it and find it hard.

whatsinaname01 · 16/04/2014 10:26

FantaSea It's really hard knowing the best way to help them, A levels are such a massive jump up from GCSE. Could she talk to a teacher about some one on one help? Alternatively could you get a couple of sessions with a tutor? Look on website "personal tutors", we used this site and tutor has been brill. I know it's not long to exams but it could give her the boost she needs/ wants

bruffin · 16/04/2014 10:40

Ds school hss open door policy for maths A level students. They re allowed into any classroom where maths teacher is and sit quietly until teacher can talk to them or go to staff room and say teacher has asked to see them etc.
Its very good as long as student makes use of it. Ds dug himself a huge hole at AS because he wouldnt ask for help. Thankfully he turned it around. We got a tutor for him to see for about 8 sessions. He would do a paper then talk to her about it.. It got his confidence back. He is taking further maths so has to do decision,mechanics and statistics.

BackforGood · 16/04/2014 10:48

So far this holiday (this is the first week of holiday in our LA) ds has been in school for 5 or 6 hours, so getting support and focussing on doing work rather than what he does at home, which is thinks he is revising, but also has several other screens open at the same time, + phone, and actually spend most of his time communicating with his friends.
However, that will only last for these 4 days and then he's away on camp Friday - Monday, then I very much suspect, not a lot will happen during the second week of the holidays. So, if you average that out, it will probably only come in as about 1-2hrs a day.
He's got a lot of catching up to do, so I suspect this won't be enough - but he won't accept this from me Sad

FantaSea · 16/04/2014 12:54

whatsinaname01 thank you for the website - I will have a look at that. I think it would help to get her confidence back, like bruffin says.

Hairylegs47 · 16/04/2014 13:09

Hi all,
I have DS4 doing his IB exams in May and DD2 her IGCSEs in May and June. My home is fast becoming a war zone 'Have you studied yet? How long for! What subjects?' I've had enough already!
Glad this thread has started.
How does everyone else cope? You'd think I'd be an old hand by now wouldn't you.

FantaSea · 16/04/2014 14:46

Hairylegs I cope by trying not to talk to DD about revision all the time (very difficult), reminding myself that they are her exams and not mine (very difficult), doing things out of the house like gardening so I am not in the battle zone all the time (quite difficult as I work from home so have to be inside a lot of the time), trying to find things we can do together that is completely separate from revising like watching television together, and making lots of cups of tea for her and me, and eating a lot Smile . What strategies did you have for exam time with your older DC?

Hairylegs47 · 16/04/2014 16:41

I'm ashamed to say it, I was very 'I love you, it trust you to revise, just do your best'. Out of the 4 older ones, only DC2 did well.
Because I realised this, I'm too slow I know, I turned into THAT mum. 'Only an A for your test? Why not A?' 'Next time, only an A will do'. I think it paid off for him -DS4 - the lowest grade for his IGCSEs was B.
My older kids told me I was being hard on DS4, so I pointed out that the way I did it for them obviously didn't work. 75% failure rate.
I still feel like a real harridan. They leave the house at 6 am, get to school by 7.30, walk back through the door at 4 pm, then I'm on their backs.

whatsinaname01 · 16/04/2014 17:53

Hi Hairylegs I think we all feel like you - that we are constantly nagging. Trouble is we know what a big deal it is and they can sometimes (on purpose me thinks!) be slow on the uptake. Hopefully we'll all still be sane by the end of it.
What are your older ones up to now? Did their results hold them back?

Lancelottie · 16/04/2014 18:16

That's a bit rough on the older ones, isn't it, hairy? Of my four sibs, we had one who got mostly C grades, one (apparently at random) a range from A to U grades, one all A, one mostly A/B. Frankly I doubt that any amount of pushing would have changed this except to make us very, very annoyed.

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