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Secondary education

Connect with other parents whose children are starting secondary school on this forum.

Original poster

Year 11 GCSE Exam Support Thread

967 replies

Littleham · 23/11/2014 12:17

Is anyone else fed up with GCSE's and the stress they create? Thought I would start a support thread for the following few months. Mocks start next week at my dd3's school.

OP posts:
fresh · 14/01/2015 19:01

fourarms thanks, will trawl! Smile

TeenAndTween · 14/01/2015 19:06

Well, DD has taken 4 mocks so far.
Not going well. I'm estimating from what she has said:
C/D - predicted A
C/D - predicted C
D/E - predicted C
C/D - predicted B
Sadly this is not down to lack of work on her behalf. I just think some predictions are way off. Maybe I'll be pleasantly surprised. (Please).

stay Is your DC really going to be allowed to drop a subject?

fluffling · 14/01/2015 22:25

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

bigTillyMint · 15/01/2015 07:09

Teen, I feel for your DD. But there is no way of knowing the grades until they have been marked, so fingers crossed.

DD is rabbit-in-the-headlights again. Not sleeping well (worries) and then wasted over an hour after school waiting to speak to her teacher who was busy with others, came out having sorted nothing and in no mood to do anything else. Mocks in 3 1/2 weeksConfused

TeenAndTween · 15/01/2015 07:58

fluffling Unfortunately I said not due to lack of work. Sad
She is working hard. Recently had diagnosis of dyspraxia, confirming my view. She just has to put a lot of effort in to get half decent results.

Luckily her CAs have gone well which in some subjects will compensate for iffy exams, and her maths is good enough, thanks to a live-in-24-hour-a-day maths tutor.

TheWoollybacksWife · 15/01/2015 08:01

DD2 has her 6th form interview today. She wants to change schools as her current school only offers 1 subject out of the 4 she wants to do.

She has no 'Plan B' though. She's as stubborn determined as DH so 15 years of experience with her has taught me to ask her to do something once, maybe twice and then be there for the fall-out if it happens. Not good for my nerves and definitely not good for my control freak tendencies. All should be well on the basis of her last report - she's on target for everything but I'm one of nature's worriers.

TheWoollybacksWife · 15/01/2015 08:10

Teen I hope the rest of the results are closer to what you expect Flowers It's bloody heartbreaking when they put in the work and things still don't go their way.

ErrolTheDragon · 15/01/2015 08:31

Teen - people who are doom and gloom after they've done an exam IME often turn out to have done a lot better than they expected. Hope your DD is one of those.

ErrolTheDragon · 15/01/2015 08:40

Good luck to woolyback's DD. What subjects is she wanting to do?

Mine was bit worried yesterday - assembly was about their 6th form taster day, and included information that some A levels were no longer being offered ... she was stuck for 3 hours on the bus (big accident due to ice blocked the road) and missed it and her pals knew that some tech option(s) had been axed but not sure which. Anyway, when she got home and could check the website it looks like the one she wants to do (Systems and Control) is still available. whew.

TheWoollybacksWife · 15/01/2015 09:35

Errol a couple of Art subjects, Media and English Lit. They are all her 'best' subjects or follow on from them but it is still nerve wracking. Between GCSEs and DD1's university finals I just want to spend June on a deserted island with just my knitting for company.

stayathomegardener · 15/01/2015 11:24

Hi Teen, yes school will be fine with her dropping subjects but she already has a track record of taking herself off to the library or art rooms in frees as she has never taken a language and is the only one to be doing one science so I guess they are confident she won't be disruptive or demanding.
Amazingly flexible head.I also suspect they would consider league tables Wink

English results today....teacher emailed last night to say all her hard work has paid of but no hint of grade,so hoping it is a C. She was an E at the end of year 10.

bigTillyMint · 15/01/2015 13:06

Woollyback (I am one too) can I join you with my knitting?!
DD also has a sixth form interview. Tonight!

Teen, DD dropped drama at the end of last year. Result as she now does extra maths in those periods!

Fingers crossed for your DD gardener.

Cerisier · 15/01/2015 13:30

DD2 is in the middle of mocks now. She completely messed up the timings on the history paper today, getting all carried away with Germany and having to scamper through everything else. It is all a big learning curve.

She is convinced this is incredibly stressful and the real thing will be fine as she will be better prepared and will have more time between exams.

I am biting my tongue but thinking ha ha ha ha just you wait.

SugarPlumTree · 15/01/2015 16:42

One miserable teen here ad they got the sheet with all the Mock results on and it was clearly sobering. She was only one in her friend group not to get 5 C ' s. One of her friend's was complaining about not getting A* and she said she wanted to punch him (just a wee bit hormonal Hmm)

A friend said today that the SENCO who is helping her son resist Maths GCSE has said that it is changing next year and will be harder. She said this before ism and I was quite proud that by 9.30 I had sorted a Maths tutor.

TheWoollybacksWife · 15/01/2015 16:47

Tilly all welcome Grin I'll bring the Wine if you bring the nibbles?

She has been offered a conditional place for 6th form so is very happy.

bigTillyMint · 15/01/2015 18:14

Crisps and chocolate in large quantities! That's good Woollyback. Feeling a bit nervous about DD's interview later.

Sorry to hear that SugarPlum. But good that you have sorted a Maths tutor.

homework · 15/01/2015 19:38

Teen sorry to hear that she seems to have been predicted high grades then . My ds is also dyspraxic and asd and had only been predicteded c grades and at present is getting a combination of c and d grades , so hoping that he can get to the c for his subjects , then move on . He also works really hard for his grades , and is fully aware that he's not an a grade student but works a lot harder than some of his friends who are .

Your daughter will at least know the value of having to work hard to get there , so will have benefit more long term and for her future

fluffling · 15/01/2015 19:40

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

auntpetunia · 15/01/2015 19:50

I agree, teen. Get onto the senco and make sure that your Dd is down to get all the extra time/access to a scribe etc that she is now entitled to with the diagnosis. DS is dyspraxic and dyslexic and has varying amounts of extra time access to a scribe for some tests and computer for others. Fortunately our senco is v pro active and has been since year 7 so it's a well oiled machine for his exams now, and it's showing in his results, he was also predicted all Cs but has As and Bs.

TeenAndTween · 15/01/2015 19:59

She is already allowed a laptop.

Since we got the report (only last month) I have asked she be re-assessed for extra time. Not expecting to get it, and tbh not sure it will help as she finishes early as she doesn't write in enough detail.

We've chatted tonight and she says blue paper helps so I'll get her to see the SENCO to discuss that.

She is also being allowed to stand up and stretch in exams (she's in a concessions room due to laptop) which she says is helpful for the longer ones.

homework · 15/01/2015 20:53

Teen get her teachers to work on this area with her now , my son does this , so his English / history / geography teachers are all now saying he needs to write as many points a as question has marks and to explain each point with phases/ details to back them up. This is working for some of the longer worded questions , so he knows that he has to give at least four points in and eight marked question to get towards half the marks .

It's hard cause they also tend to lose the extra marks for spelling / punctuation / grammar before they even started sometimes.

You definitely need to get her assessed for whatever additional support she finds helpful , school need to put her forward for this and sure dates for these exams where January sometime so ask tomorrow , both in email form and telephone recording what said , which you can also place in your email.

bigTillyMint · 15/01/2015 20:57

homework, that's basic exam technique! Do the teachers not do that anyway?
I feel bad that those DC with added difficulties haven't been particularly well supportedSad

SugarPlumTree · 15/01/2015 22:29

DD is another who has dyspraxia and doesn't write enough.

homework · 15/01/2015 22:38

Yes I know this is exam technique , but it's only recently that he's had the ability to actually do this , as previously he only write one line answers , as couldn't get what they wanted from the question .
Especially the longer questions that are looking for detail in answer , but also looking for the points . He could answer this verbally to you but not be able to do same answer onto paper as unable to get it from his head down onto paper .
So that he learning to check that he has point and detail rather than just continue with loads of details on the one point , which is what he use to do . So she getting him into a routine of doing one point then one detail about that point , then stopping and doing another point rather than writing more details about the same point . Which is what he use to do .
Where as if he was telling you the answer he seems to be more aware that he's repeating details to a point , I don't fully understand how and why he does this .
So thought May teen daughter could do the same thing , although every child is different and he is being given additional time , which helps as takes him time to process what he's read , then he also has tendencies to mistake what the question is asking for .

stayathomegardener · 15/01/2015 23:21

Thank you bigtillymint.
Maths C
Geog B
Biology B
PE C
And amazingly a B in English
Art and Drama still to come but should be B/C

DD so pleased and surprised.
I still have concerns regarding final exams as she can totally misread or misinterpret questions but it is still brilliant.