Year 11 GCSE Exam Support Thread 2

[HSMMaCM]

New thread ..... (DD not sure about the prom dress she has bought!!!!)

Good to see you QOD

Wow, 14 subjects with 3 already under her belt - your dd is a bright girl!
Mine's "only" doing 11 (I think - maybe 12?) - and I thought that was a lot

It's insane. She took 3 early, ad did most of her year and then the whole government stating you have to continue to learn Maths meant that as she'd got her Maths Gcse "out of the way " she still had to be taught it but as she got an A had to take Further Maths ffs. So even harder
Her single sex grammar was in the top 25 in the country for results ...but they are excellent at teaching to achieve many good gcse but as I said, not so great at A
It's ridiculous to do so many
The previous year did them ALL early and either re took or started AS early!

Wow, that's a lot. DD's is also a high rated gs but they do 11 as standard, have never gone in for this doing some early. FM is an optional extra (think Latin too but she was completely uninterested in that). They were allowed to do the after school fm classes with no pressure to do the exam if they didn't want to which I thought was sensible. And because it is an extra it can be used as her DofE skill so it's probably saved her time!
She did her last written German ca today so think she's just got to finalise her computing but when I asked her about it (just showing an interest) she snapped that I was nagging.

14! Gosh. I work ( part time) at Oxbridge and we never look for oodles of GCSEs. It's always quality over quantity.

DD is taking 10 and DS who is in an absurdly selective school has taken two already and will do 9 this Summet ( though admittedly an AS alongside).

With all the extra curricular stuff they do it's more than enough.

Oh Errol, fancy asking, how could you - naughty bench for you

Hi QOD, that does sound like an incredibly heavy workload, is she bearing up ok?

I've just been checking when DD's bus pass runs out. Conveniently it's after study leave starts so I'll be on taxi duty for a month until exams end.

errol taking GCSEs early should only ever be done in the pupils interests INVHO for exams they will easily get an A* and could use the space in their timetable to study further or begin a new subject.

It should not be about schools collecting GCSEs like stamps!

WordFactory, thanks for writing that, DD has taken 2 early and is doing 12 this year, we are trying to persuade the school to let her drop one.

She will still have 13 which seems an awful lot.

DS's school do only 9 or 10.

yes, WF, one of the early ones was in her mother tongue, which gave her an A* in Year 8 without attending any lessons.
The other one was Latin in Year 10, it was an extra one.

word - ITA. Ok for a few maths prodigies and the like but otherwise it seems misguided especially if it leaves kids with a void in a subject between the GCSEs and 6th form. So on that basis perhaps QODs school is not being unreasonable about the FM as presumably the ones who did maths last year are able students.

Some students at DD's school did maths a year early, but the maths dept made it quite clear that if an A* wasn't a dead cert , they wouldn't take it early, as they could use year 11 to raise their grade otherwise.

And the ones that took it are doing FM this year.

DS's school don't allow early entry for maths nor do they offer further maths but do let them do the Level 3 certificate in algebra alongside GCSE if they are more able.

It is interesting to see how different schools do it.

She's fine, she was doing 15 but has been allowed to drop on as was predicted barely scraping a C ... PE haha. That made her really happy!

The school gets 100% C to A* and that's all they care about

QOD, that's even worse than my DC's school - DD was originally doing 15 in total (14 plus an extra), but dropped one and the extra one, so 13 but she took 2 last year, so "only" 11 this year.
I am surprised at a GS having them take so many - I thought they preferred them to study less, but in more depth so that they are better prepared for their A'levels?

Completely agree, Word and others. Sadly that was/is the culture at most comps. Hopefully with the new rules, it will change.

DD has gone off to do her Art prep day...

Oh it's a big fucking bug bear of mine!

I'm involved in the widening participation scheme and I get so frustrated when perfectly good candidates have had their chances scuppered by early/too numerous/badly chosen GCSEs .

In other news, it seems I may have got the project I was angling for in LA, but will have to go out again to finalise things. Am hoping they don't want me bang in the middle of exams.

DD only doing 8 GCSEs plus an ICT thing, and that seems to be plenty for her.

I need to buy her some inexpensive treats to randomly give out over the next 6 weeks when she starts flagging. Any suggestions? Also I'll probably need equivalents for her 10yo sister who is already feeling neglected so ideas for her too would be appreciated.

WF my feelings exactly on the Latin in Year 10, they had one lesson a week for 4 years and then they expect them to do a brilliant GCSE in it. She got a B.

T&T we have accumulated a number of "keep going" treats, some expensive, some cheap. We got tickets for a concert (in half term), a few nice pens, a T-shirt, some funny socks, etc. We buy sweet treats regularly just for her.

I think we wil just use them to randomly cheer her up and distract her a bit. She made an A3 countdown calendar with the remaining days and exams in, it is really almost upon us, isn't it?

T&T I am watching for ideas! Are you thinking non - edible treats?
DD would like dry shampoo (also v useful!) and spray deodorant (I only buy roll-on)
Will look 9ut for other ideas
Have ordered her a new maths set and black pens as requested!

Yes it is very close!

I didn't think of little treats, just food ( trust me). I did ask her if she wanted to do something nice over the bank holiday for a couple of hours and got my head bitten off.
She did a 7km run last night and came back in a slightly better mood. Sometimes she likes to curl up on the sofa and watch a movie. Friday night is her night off and she sees her boyfriend.

We've also started to make a Things To Do list for after the exams.

Films we've been meaning to watch, books to read/listen to, places to go etc.

I don't suppose mine will want to do anything with us on the bank holiday monday, but she's going to see a film with her friends after school this friday which I'm really pleased about. Living at a distance from the school she doesn't really socialise enough.

Eleven GCSE's here (but has already sat English Lang. at beginning of year 10 / got an A). Just English Lit to go, which she dislikes. Also doing Advanced Maths alongside GCSE Maths, but she really likes it. Are your schools really doing Further Maths or do you all mean advanced maths?

No Latin at their school although they have always wanted to try it. Older sister has managed to incorporate starter Latin into her degree choice, so it nice that universities are thinking about added extras.

Hi QOD - fifteen GCSE's must be a nightmare!

Double checked with both girls about stress levels after reading the sad story on here and they both said they feel fine at the moment.

Our treats are - ice cream, DVD's, friends coming over on May Day (going to May Day Fayre), start of study leave party, meal with grandparents and the biggy...a trip away with friends at the end of exams.

Littleham, dd is doing additional Maths. I know, confusing, isn't it. I I got screamed at for putting Further maths on her college application.
I think dd is looking forward to reading books for pleasure afterwards too.
I'm not sure how much time she will want to spend with me, but she's coming on our 16 day family holiday

You mentioned getting a new maths set and some black pens bigTillyMint

• dd has asked for pens - black I think? And I guess she should check she has a maths set (ruler etc.), pencils (esp for art?), rubber, calculator ....

Anything else I need to check/remember We are usually pretty bad at all this stuff but I don't want dd to have any last minute melt-downs about stuff she needs Good you mentioned it Tilly. We have art on Friday - that's so near - how did that happen!

Oh yes, apparently they need transparent pencil cases only
Do people use a kind of clear document wallet?
Perhaps she can get something suitable in the school shop?