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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:
Horsemad · 01/02/2015 17:54

DS2 got his results, mainly As and Bs with a couple of Cs. He has said he'll do more revision before the actual exams. I hope so as one of his Cs was in one of his A level subjects.

Horsemad · 01/02/2015 17:57

Lynette, I'm Angry on your and your DS's behalf. He really needs to take English, can't imagine what the school are thinking.

LynetteScavo · 01/02/2015 18:45

Just to clarify - DS would still take English, but not English Literature. DS was told a low mark wouldn't look good on his certificate.

I'm not sure anyone ever checked my certificates, and if they did, by then he would have A'levels anyway. Hopefully.

bigTillyMint · 01/02/2015 18:48

I have never had to show my certificates to anyone, AFAICRConfused

TeenAndTween · 01/02/2015 18:57

I had to show my certificates when we adopted!

I also get the feeling that these days sometimes you are asked to state all GCSE results so you can't 'forget' about fails. (Though that might only be for university entry??? does anyone know??).

bigTillyMint · 01/02/2015 19:22

T&T, that is absolutely bonkers! How can your GCSE grades matter when you are adopting?!

TeenAndTween · 01/02/2015 19:29

Tilly I think it was about proving we were who we said we were and we were honest people not lying about stuff. (Though thinking further, it is possible they just asked for the degree certificates.). Anyway my parents had to dig a load of stuff out of their filing cabinets so we could show them!

HSMMaCM · 01/02/2015 20:59

I had to show all my certificates when becoming an early years teacher.

ErrolTheDragon · 01/02/2015 22:20

GCSE maths and english are required for teaching, aren't they, so I guess that would be the sort of case where they might be wanted. But presumably so long as you had the grades in the relevant subjects they wouldn't care if there was a bad grade in an irrelevant one on there too?

Lynette - the school should be supporting him, not just suggesting he cops out. It sounds like you understand well how he might be feeling - did you ever find strategies that helped you that you can share with him?

Sorry about your mother, SugarPlum Flowers.

bigTillyMint · 02/02/2015 07:08

I am a teacher, but I don't remember ever having to show them! Perhaps I did - my memory isn't up to much these daysGrin

Yes, sorry about your DM SugarPlum.

Ginandtonictime · 05/02/2015 18:35

Are any of you guys planning on going away on holiday before May this year?

We did have plans for Feb half term which have come to nothing - not really bothered as still trying to financially settle down after christmas. But what about Easter? Its a long break - but when they get back its only two weeks of school before it all kicks off ... it would be lovely to have something nice to look forward to ... but its also valuable study time ...

thoughts?

LynetteScavo · 05/02/2015 18:47

DS will be going in to school over Feb half term (see previous post about generally bad results in the mocks throughout his year) and I think there is a revision program over Easter, which we have to pay for, but he will be doing.

So, basically no, we won't be going anywhere, unless it's over the Easter weekend.

I do plan to have a really nice summer after exams and before results come out because once the results are out I may be weeping

Original poster
Littleham · 05/02/2015 19:05

Not going away. Sad Thought I might break up the revision with a nice day trip, otherwise we will all go mad. One offer holder day for my sixth form daughter over half term.

DD3's finished her music performances and nearly done her two compositions now. She has a provisional exam timetable which has a three way clash, so she will have to be locked in a room after the second exam until she can sit the third exam!

OP posts:
ErrolTheDragon · 05/02/2015 19:26

We're not going away till summer (but we've got a good holiday and DD's summer camp booked). DD is on the page of working during the hols, with maybe the odd day off. The school is running some revision sessions in the Easter hols, she's planning to do some of those.

Yesterday she did the Arkwright engineering scholarship exam - rather a different sort of thing as nothing particular to learn, had to come up with 3 designs for a squirrel-proof birdfeeder and a more detailed one for an ice-cream dispenser. However she learned one thing applicable to exams in general - fearing dehydration she drank too much beforehand so was crossing her legs throughout. Grin

TeenAndTween · 05/02/2015 19:40

We're going away 4 days over the Easter weekend, but otherwise we want/need to be around for school revision sessions and also rehearsing for Drama performance exam straight after Easter break.

Horsemad · 05/02/2015 19:46

We've got about a week between DS1 arriving home from a trip to South Africa and A levels coming out where all 4 of us will be in one place at the same time, so might try and book a few days in Norfolk.
We will not be going anywhere when A level results are due in case we have a catastrophe on our hands and he's in clearing! Hmm

TheWoollybacksWife · 05/02/2015 19:56

DD2 is halfway through her mocks now. The ones that she was dreading have turned out OK but she had a bit of a bad time with her favourite/best subject (Graphics).

We are planning a weekend at the seaside over Easter to celebrate DD1's 21st birthday Otherwise it's nose to the grindstone until May in my dreams

bigTillyMint · 06/02/2015 08:53

We are away at half-term (worked out perfectly as DD has mocks next week) but then not at all till the summer holidays as she was adamant she wanted to be at home to revise/panic.

She is in major panic-mode with her mocks next weekSad

ErrolTheDragon · 06/02/2015 12:18

I suppose at least they'll be out of the way and she might be able to relax a bit during half-term, Tilly. I'm sort of glad my DDs school doesn't do them till afterwards, but then again I can't help feeling a break would be good.

bigTillyMint · 06/02/2015 15:08

Yes, that's what I am hoping. She has found it very difficult juggling homework/coursework/CA's and revision. Surely it will be a bit easier by the actual GCSE's?

ErrolTheDragon · 06/02/2015 15:42

Yes - some of the CAs are a lot of work. I don't think my DD has had a lot of homework set other than those recently. Oh, there was something she was meant to do for citizenship - some sort of 'presentation' that the teacher wanted them to memorize but DD's firm line was that (a) its not a GCSE subject; (b) they're actually only meant to get h/w for GCSE subjects; (c) she had a German speaking CA and a drama CA to learn - so she was just going to read it. I tend to agree - citizenship is a good idea but making it into a chore and a burden on top of everything else isn't terribly constructive.

bigTillyMint · 06/02/2015 17:27

They have to do Citizenship for GCSE a my DCs school - that was what some of the CAs were!

ErrolTheDragon · 06/02/2015 20:14

They used to have to do it at DD's (half award) - she was so glad that they decided not to in her year.

SugarPlumTree · 07/02/2015 14:59

We haven't booked anything as yet this year but I was thinking about a night away over Easter to break things up a bit. School run revision sessions over Easter Holidays so those will keep her busy.

Maths still going badly, F again in another test. I had a call from English teacher and reception on my phone was poor. I thought she had said she was one of the teachers from the English department, turns out she was the other, both start with same letter. Put my foot in it a bit and had to dig myself out of a bit of a hole !

CrazyTights · 08/02/2015 20:17

What A level would you put with psychology, philosophy and biology? DS has ruled out chemistry because he's heard that it is the hardest A level there is and is already finding the GCSE hard, ditto he's finding Physics hard.
He wants to do zoology at university.