Year 11 GCSE Exam Support Thread

[Littleham]

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.

I went with DD to her 'exam preparation evening' tonight - she reckoned it was a bit of a waste of time that she could better have spent actually revising. Mind maps and 'memory palace' type stuff... maybe some people find it useful but TBH seems like a bit of a distraction to me too. The bloke who did it has a website with various resources that maybe could be useful
www.timmilner.info/stuff/index.html though some of it was pretty obvious stuff. The points at which discussion (dissent from the girls, assent from the parents!) broke out throughout the room were firstly when he said that at this stage they need 9 hours sleep every night (mine gets about 8 which is I think not too bad) and secondly when he suggested pulling the wifi at 10pm - which we actually do but (as you may deduce from the time of this post) we do it selectively, DH set up the router somehow so DD gets cut off but we don't.

Thanks for that link Errol - it has some useful stuff on it.

If there was some magic way of getting DD to sleep properly every night, I would happily pay £££ for it. She wants to sleep, but can't get to sleep

DD got offered a place at the sixth form interview, as long as she meets the minimum requirements!

Can I ask again then if your child has dyspraxia and struggles to get enough words down but could answer the question verbally why don't they have a scribe, I know it takes a bit of getting used to and you need a scribe who has knowledge of the subject especially in the sciences. But DS has had a scribe since year 7 and he had one one his moks and that is why he's done so well. Is this not normal practice? I know in my primary schoolnwengavr scribes so I thought it was standard for people like DS with these problems.

ds1's mock exams are over this week - he's had 8 exams. He has 8 more Mon-Wed next week.

He had the result back for his music performance tasks mock (individual and group) and hasn't done as well as he'd hoped/expected. So he needs to work on that asap, as the real thing is very soon next month.

DD doesn't need a scribe as such, she needs a prompt saying 'tell me more about that' (which isn't allowed). If I do that she can expand OK, but somehow she can't do that for herself.

My dc's are in a similar setting. Comprehensive (only just above 40% contextual boundary cut off) / in the top sets. Sometimes the best teachers get put in the borderline sets. You are right to be nervous. These things might help (please ignore any things you don't feel apply to your son) -

• download past papers and get him to do them a number of times to identify weak areas.
• correct bad exam technique if you can / or find someone in the school to help.
• look at the syllabus and identify gaps that the school is not covering. For example one unit in a subject my dd is doing at A2 is not being taught, but is in the syllabus, so may come up in the exam paper. You can make a lot of noise at school about this, but it may come too late for your child. DD is now writing her own course notes to revise from to cover missing area.
• how does he learn? eg does he like writing information on cards or something else?
• the breaks are just as important as the revision (otherwise it won't go in). Rewards work wonders.
• if there are two adjacent sets (one with a strong teacher and one struggling) try to photocopy the notes from the other set. Or get your dc moved.
• is he getting to bed on time? spending too much time on the computer?
• above all, when the results come back, get unusually bad papers re-marked, as the marking is appalling. One exam my older dd did was re-marked and went up two grades, because exam markers had missed a page!

DD has given me her actual exam timetable today. Starts on May12th ... my DB is getting remarried on the 9th, guess I'll be going to that alone leaving DH to look after DD. Shame, would have been a nice chance for her to meet the extended family (we're geographically widespread) but I think she'll chain herself to her desk.

Most of it's quite spread out, one subject on a day except for two bad clash days: Electronics and Drama AM/Geography1 PM, and then Computing/German Reading/German Listening AM and Geography2 PM. So she reckons she'll drop a level on Geography. Could have been even worse - she was doing Additional Maths as a twighlight extra, which is a 'free standing qualification', whatever that means - but the exam was on the second of those days, which clashed for quite a few people (though not as badly!) so they're going to do Further Maths GCSE instead - the exams are after all the others and she says it's not as hard as the Additional Maths.

I've been looking at DD's exam timetable too.

The first 2 weeks before half term is OK. But the 2 weeks after half term looks very heavy. Luckily the only day she has 2 exams on same day is the very first one.

Scary isn't it? At first glance there is loads of revision time once exams start, but divide it by the number of exams and it's only about a day and a half per exam. I reckon that means everything needs to be well learned prior to first exam and just refreshing and fine details once they start. No idea how DD will manage that.

Hmm, DD claims hers isn't out yet and the Examinations officer said cut off date for entrance for Japanese was something like 6 Feb. Having read this has just made me email exams officer again to confirm she has entered DD for Japanese now I have someone to take the speaking exam with her as she didn't email back confirmation after I advised her of this. We are at the point where getting the 5 she needs is a bit dodgy so can't risk her not being entered.

DD has said her first is Geography. That first week of exams is DH'S birthday snd DS' s SATS week so will be busy. I am going to stock up on Rescue Remedy, a home pathic remedy called Aconite we all used for finals and some hypnotherapy downloads for her.

Brief arrived for her Photography course work which is 40% of final mark . Luckily it is right up her street.DD is saying she is going to ask to go down a set in English possibly with her old teacher as not getting it with one of her new teachers. Think that is sensible.

Maths tutor tomorrow, just hoping that goes ok.Not seeing anywhere near as much work from DD as I would like but biting my tongue at this stage as she won't be capable of sustaining a big concerted effort for long and want her to peak at right time.

I really hope things will be smoother sailing with DS when his time comes, exams don't phase him and he does well in them - though he will be the new GCSE'S so anything I have learned about them now will be out of the window no doubt.

Does anyone know how long it takes to mark the mock and send out results? DS had his mocks over the last two weeks and Friday night there were tears because he says he's failing and he doesn't care bout school anymore (which he obviously does or he wouldn't be crying!)

The suspense is killing me. I think hope he's done better than he thinks he has an he won't get too demotivated.

We were promised exam timetables on 22 January. Mock results on Tuesday.

Suggested that dd3 did some revision ( to space it out a bit, so it is not all before the exams). She came down later with a beautifully made origami flower, a length of perfect knitting and singing a new tune she had listened to.....

If you really need to know the exam dates now, they should all be published on the various boards' websites - the AQA ones are. But you need to know exactly which of the various papers are the appropriate ones.

Littleham- ??

Errol- I started to look up the dates then decided it was easier to wait for the form from school.

Littleham. DD is the same. Yesterday she drew pictures of the people in her friend group so when they aren't there, the pictures can go on the chair instead

If there was a GCSE in procrastination I have no doubt she would be an A* student.

I started looking up dates but am hazy on which boards she is doing and decided the same as HSM.

Reading that 'Get out of my life' book people recommend on here, very helpful.

According to our school's provisional timetable, here is DS1's diary for May/June (exam boards notified times and dates) - subject to change (esp that clash of dates on the 2nd June)

Edexcel RS short course 11 May 2015 08:45 to 10:15
AQA Biology 12 May 2015 13:30 to 15:00
AQA Chemistry 14 May 2015 08:45 to 10:15
AQA Geog 19 May 2015 15:30 to 16:30
AQA Physics 20 May 2015 13:30 to 15:00
AQA English Lit 22 May 2015 13:30 to 14:45
IGCSE Edexcel History 1 Jun 2015 08:45 to 10:15
AQA English Lang 2 Jun 2015 08:45 to 11:00
EDEXCEL RS short course 2 Jun 2015 08:45 to 10:15
IGCSE Edexcel German Listening 3 Jun 2015 08:45 to 09:35
IGCSE Edexcel German reading & writing 3 Jun 2015 09:35 to 11:05
AQA Geog 3 Jun 2015 13:30 to 14:30
Edexcel Maths non-calc 4 Jun 2015 08:45 to 11:30
OCT Classics 4 Jun 2015 13:30 to 14:30
AQA Biology 5 Jun 2015 13:30 to 15:00
Edexcel Maths Calc 8 Jun 2015 08:45 to 10:30
AQA Chemistry 9 Jun 2015 13:30 to 14:30
IGSE Edexcel History 10 Jun 2015 08:45 to 10:15
OCR Classics 12 Jun 2015 08:45 to 09:45
AQA Physics 12 Jun 2015 13:30 to 15:00

Phew!

Can I join please?

DS2 doing Mocks at the moment. Hasn't revised very much, says he'll do more 'for the real thing' .

Also have DS1 doing A levels this summer. I'm dreading the summer in fact!

Same Horsemad. We won't have a day without someone doing exams will we?

That is useful Ginand tonic, thanks for putting that up.

Welcome Horsemad. Huge sympathies tk you and Littleham having to deal with GCSE and A Level at the same time. One of my closest friends has this too this year, she is really stressed and I'm a bit worried about her. However other friend had it last year and seemed to sail through it. Her DS1 seemed to start as DS2 finished so she didn't seem to have them both doing them exactly the same time.

Ideally SugarPlum that would happen here too; DS2 would finish as DS1 starts. However, due to DS1 being foolish and not doing enough work last year, he now has re-sits in May!

Ds missed 2 days of mocks last week because he has the flu. One of his teachers actually called me at 07:20 on Friday to check he wasn't faking it I don't think he's able to go to school tomorrow either, he's still trying to cough up a lung and has razor throat. What would you all do?