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.

DD's mocks start on Wednesday and she has done absolutely nothing in terms of revision. She says that none of her friends are revising and that she knows it all anyway. I'd be pleased for her to fail the lot and then hopefully be jolted into action for the real thing, but she has just been offered an academic scholarship and if she does badly in the mocks, her predicted grades will be revised and that will be the end of the scholarship. It's a crazy situation, I'm far more stressed than she is. She doesn't give a damn and won't listen to a word I say. I'm not sleeping at night and feel very run down.

Well, my DD's CA went really well apparently.

Apart from the fact she only wrote 75% of the permitted word limit.

And that in her first go through she wrote less than half

Maybe not so well after all

mocks start for ds1 next week but he has a "real" french exam on Thursday.
After spending 5 years coasting through school he has now realised he might actually have to do some work now as he wants to do 4 Alevels and his school keep saying "your mock results play a big part in the decision making for 6th form"

So now he is revising like mad. Which is amusing to dd who is in year 12 now and worked hard, steadily throughout yr 11. She keeps saying to him- did you not realise you had GCSEs this year?

Fingers crossed for your DD TAT. They can redo them, can't they? I think DD has a French one coming up. And a Biology ISA.

TAB, that gives me hope for DS when he gets to Y11!

Hi all. DS1 has gone into revision overdrive. I have never seen so many notes.

Also he seems to think that during the mocks they only have to go in for exams. That's not normal is it? Not for mocks? He's having a larf because he goes to school 12 miles away. On the bus.

I think they are still full-time for the mocks at DD's school. But I may be wrong! Glad to hear he is revising - it's all good news!

It's full time for mocks here. Mind you, they dont get study leave for the "real" exams anyway, they are full time until the first exam starts.
I remember last year dd had revision sessions at lunch, after school and in half term as well.

bigTillymint my D's has never revised for an exam in his life. But it seems to have clicked that if he wants to stay in 6th form he had better pull his finger out :)

I have emailed the school and asked if DS1 has misunderstood.

YY to the revising. Blimey. He has written reams. Of course that doesn't mean it's actually gone into his brain mind....

If he thinks I will be doing a 24 mile round trip so that he can come home an hour earlier, go in an hour later or whatever it ain't going to happen.

DS says he doesn't need to revise, he'll be fine even though his last progress check that came home predicted D's and E's, with the odd C.

We have agreed that he will do the mocks (first week of December) his way, and if it goes tits up then I step in... I never realised how stressful it would be!

Hope it gets less stressful for you fairymuff!

I asked why the mocks were so early (before the syllabus has been taught) & dd3 said that a lot of the teachers wanted them later, so will be doing more tests in February (but not for all subjects). Anyhow, the ones yesterday were 'FINE' which is probably all the information I will get!

OMG OMG OMG. Just had a reply from school. They only have to go into school when they have a mock exam! How on earth is that going to work when we live 12 miles from school?

I have asked the above question in my reply but not in those words.

Sparkling, how annoying. Hopefully his exam timetable will be 2 a day!

Yy I need to see his timetable. The reply was that there are quiet study areas for the pupils to revise etc if they come on the bus and aren't able to come and go as such. I guess I may do a couple of trips if it fits in with my stuff but TBF I think staying at school studying would be way better.

Over 60% of the school get in by bus so he won't be the only one.

Also his maths teacher said there will be no new topics after Christmas, it's all consolidation apparently.

We're doing OK here after a few very hectic weeks. DS1 had an Italian student staying for 3 days the week before 1/2 term, then he was away with Explorers for most of 1/2 term, then we've had 4 6th form open evenings - one thing after another.

He's just given up being a Young Leader with Cubs and is dropping Explorers after Xmas. He won't drop his extra-curricular music though as he wants to take music next year. He'll fit in his sport around everything else as he prefers to do solo bike rides or go to boot camp in our village, activities which are easy to do when you've got time, rather than be committed to a club sport.

He's really hoping they don't pile the HW on over the Xmas hols when he's meant to be revising.

He's working hard and I'm proud of him, just hope he can keep it going.

Oh and it was last year when DS realised that despite knowing he's as intelligent as GirlA (who he's been at school with since Reception), she was starting to get better results because she was revising and studying.

Luckily he didn't have that epiphany too late!

Unfortunately it is quite common Sparklingbrook. The studious ones go to the library and study and others wander round town / go to the chip shop. I had a long talk with my kids about what they should and shouldn't do....ok to walk into town for a brain break / treat with friends, but only for a short time and then study!

Also be warned, study leave at comprehensives often starts quite early and they only have to be in school for the exams. So there is either a long boring day at school and taking the school bus....or a complete palaver for you being a taxi service.

Mmmm, Littleham. I need to look at my diary and his timetable and get the highlighter pen out by the sound of it. Both in December and next Summer.

There a a handful of his mates that live within walking distance but don't want him lolling about at their houses.

Oh crikey, I hadn't factored in all the part time days. We are a 40 min bus journey away with a dodgy timetable, but there are a few other parents in my village with children in the same year so hopefully we'll be able to share lifts.

We did mocks a couple of weeks back and ds actually did put in a fair amount of work , awaiting results .
There doing some controlled assessments at the moment that has got him really stressed and he's not coping with it all very well , school ran and said he's been hitting himself during these when he's struggled with the answer , we all getting very worried about it .
He is a hard working child but and best he can get will be c grades , and that's with a lot of hard work .
We also looked at sixth form colleges , one was a complete no , he just wouldn't have settled or fitted in there , second we both liked , course will suit him , needs to get c grades to get on it though , and has a lot of travelling involved , this is btech , still waiting date to go look at third , and fourth is his own schools sixth form .
So any ideas how to help reduce the stress levels , I would really appreciate , as not only him that be done in by end of this process.

Homework How awful for you all that he is getting so stressed.

Maybe you could ring the school (tutor / H of Y) and explain how stressed he is getting and ask them to try to take some pressure off him / perhaps get a bit of help? Worth a try!

It is also much more important to work in short bursts with loads of brain breaks and treats bribes. We have worked out that someone will be doing major exams in our house until 2019...

Just checking in.

Very different experience with dd1, than it was with ds 3 years ago

Littleham school informed me about the hitting mainly his head , but she said that it's not little slaps but full on blows , managed to find him a counsellor and he's aware of these issues .

I don't actually attend the appointments with him , but sit outside and hang around waiting for them to finish , did ask once about this and counsellor said that he isn't actually aware that he's doing this at the time , his anxiety and stress are that high that he's not actually comprehending or processing that he doing this . So is much more distressing for people watching him .

As the pressure increased he seems to be getting more anxious . School seem to be just as concerned as I am , but onto know how to manage it any more than allowing him to do assessments in short bursts , but they feel he's going to run out of time to get the work done.

It's so sad that there's nothing out there for kids who not most academic but work hard , all jobs these days want gcse at grade c and above . When I left school you could get job if you worked hard enough and showed you could graft . Even jobs that you once didn't need qualifications for you do these days .

Is there something practical that he is really interested in? I have a friend whose daughter was not academic and she was a bit despairing at one point. Anyhow, her dd loved cooking, so she looked for cookery courses and eventually trained as a chef. Has a job she loves now.

How many subjects is he doing at GCSE?