Year 11 GCSE Exam Support Thread 2

[HSMMaCM]

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

Everything crossed for her today Tilly, really feel for you you both.

DD has her Japanese speaking exam today. Bit different to the French and German ones I understand as the teacher asks questions and it is supposed to flow like a conversation with no gaps. She had nearly an hour and a half of her tutor firing questions at her last night and was shattered at the end.

Good luck to your DDs for their speaking exams today Tilly and Sugar.

I hope your DD has a great time on her trip dingit, how long is she there for?

Thanks odd boots, 3 days and I miss her already

Thanks for all the good wishes - am hoping she goes for it today. And Good Luck to your DD SugarPlum!

Draylon, sympathies. My DS is the Y9 version.

I was just about to say that will be me and my ds in two years, but Tilly beat me to it. Lol at the airbourne pig division, I shall have to remember that one.
Even dd nags ds, telling him to work now, it will make the next years easier.

I was just about to say that will be me and my ds in two years, but Tilly beat me to it. Lol at the airbourne pig division, I shall have to remember that one.
Even dd nags ds, telling him to work now, it will make the next years easier.

DD doesn't seem to understand why I don't think she should have a sleepover every night of the easter holidays. I think she does have a plan to revise, but I'm not sure how much of it will happen. She will kick herself if she doesn't get her predicted grades. She is aiming for an A* in RS and childcare, even though she has no intention of a career in these areas, because she likes the teachers. I do worry about the impact this will have on maths, etc.

DD had yesterday off school.

She was so out of sorts on Wednesday (really unlike her) night that I suggested a day off. Getting up later and having a relaxed breakfast seemed to do her the world of good and she spent all day revising!

Last day of term today. Then straight off to DofE expedition. The bag of food/snacks would make a cardiac doctor despair . I hope it stays fine. I wouldn't fancy walking 20km a day for three days in the rain (even with a rucksack overflowing with crisps/blocks of jelly/Toffee Crisps).

DS has his Spanish oral so we spent last night going over it and over it and over it...and then over it again! I almost died of boredom.

word - could be a rough weekend, there's some high winds forecast for tomorrow - what part of the country is she traipsing over? The DoE recommendations for expedition food are almost the exact inverse of 'healthy eating', aren't they? - apart perhaps from nuts.

Tonight I should get to see The Box - DD's electronics project, which she's allowed to bring home as special dispensation so she can take it to her Arwright scholarship interview the week after next.

She told me yesterday that she's not going to make a revision timetable as such but that she has a Plan. She's writing down what she wants to read through, past papers to do and mark, then the idea is that from those (and mocks) she can see weaker areas and spend more time on them. I just sneaked a peek in her room, the Plan (3 sheets of A4, 4 subjects per sheet) isn't yet complete but what's there suggests that my role now is to provide sustenance, keep the dog quiet and let her get on with it. All rather gobsmacking, remembering the homework hell nights and total disorganisation of former years.

Had a call from DD earlier, very excited because she has done her French and Biology

SugarPlum and TWF, hope your DC's oral's went well too.

Tilly - Yay! What a relief for you all. In some ways, going through that sort of crisis of confidence but then facing up to it is good for them - proof to themselves they can deal with situations outside their comfort zone - but the going through is tough. for you and all round.

Fabulous Tilly

DD'S Japanese tutor told her she thinks she has an A* , if not then an A.

Errol you have made me smile about sustenance. My friend has triplets doing AS at the menu and was on a run to stock her freezer this morning in anticipation of Easter revision. That sounds like a sensible plan she has come up with.

Drayton, huge sympathies. Sneaking suspicion this will be me in 5 years with DS.

And another Yay! for Sugar's DD.

DD and The Box are safely home, together with her second rucksackful of books and folders.

Last of the 2nd lot of mocks done today, he's had maths and geography back and got B's so they are both improvements. We don't break up till next Thursday so not got the easter revision food problem yet, but am stocking up slowly on be cheese and hot cross buns, his snack of choice ! Hope the DOE weekends go ok dingit

I mentioned a revision timetable and got told not happening, so I'm going to suggest he downloads the apps mentioned above.. If your on holiday now enjoy and don't stress too much.

Glad they are both back safe and sound Errol. I would panic about lack of 2nd rucksack coming back with DD but if I look round the house I see books everywhere so figure it is fine .

Keep forgetting some of you are breaking up later. Auntpetunia 'not happening' is a favourite phrase of DD'S too.

SugarPlum, that's fantastic - what a talented girl she is!

AuntP that's good news - on the way up

Errol, what is The Box like?
Dingit, rather your DD than me And my DD nags/tells DS too!

I think I'd better ask DD what her snacks of choice will be!

That sounds like a good plan and very organised Errol, I hope the plan works out.

That is brilliant Tilly, well done to your DD.

Great news Sugar, another one with a clever DD.

My DS's revision is a little higgledy piggledy, partly because he is in school so much this holiday, almost every subject is holding an intervention class of some kind and the days he isn't he is at Cambridge University on a 3 day science masterclass. I feel bad pressing him to do more study on top so we are taking each day as it comes.

Well done on getting through all the various trials. Great to get some of these things over and done with. 'The Box' sounds intriguing.

The App. has set my dd French revision this morning. No school sessions for us so she will have to be quite self motivating this holiday. Prom dress shopping is this afternoon as a treat.

This morning over breakfast, we discussed English Language - the exam DD likes the least because she reckons it depends so much on exactly what the questions are. For instance whether the 'persuasive writing' happens to be a subject you know (or care) about. Also she dislikes figurative writing - she says she's a realist and so doesn't like metaphorical 'bullcrap' (unless it's humourous but she's no delusions of being a Sir Terry). Is there any way of 'revising' Eng. Lang?

Anyway, she's currently doing a maths past paper.

Also, there was a piece in this week's New Scientist about learning - some of it was quite interesting, about what strategies have actually been shown to work (and some traditional ones which apparently don't, though I'm not sure I agreed) - some of you might want to take a look if you can get hold of a copy.

Ds is going to stick to the school time table for the next two weeks, as if he were at school and revise each subject as if it were a revision lesson. Not sure what he's doing about evenings and weekends, I'll have to ask but today I think he is just having a rest.

Draylon how did your ds's mocks go? That was the thing that motivated my ds to really start buckling down. I think it was that he saw he could get really good results if he put the effort in.

faire I think that sounds like a top idea.

At least that way you can be sure you're not missing anything. The scatter gun approach is just a disaster waiting to happen.

DD has gone off on DofE. Mucho traumatica last night as her new sleeping bag was too big for the ruck sack. Why oh why did she not tell me earlier? So off she went with a child's one we had in the attic. She will freeze.

Still she has Super noodles and a Toffee Crisp to look forward to at dinner .

DS quickly packed his bag to check giving us time to sort out any probs before he goes on Tuesday.

That sounds like a reasonable way to do it, fairNuff, if that's what your DS feels comfortable with.

As to evenings and weekends - they need some downtime. The weather is nasty today so DD's not going to do her volunteering but she will next saturday, and I'm going to try to encourage her to do a bit of exercise and chill in the evenings (unless she really doesn't want to)

DD is having a day off (or maybe the whole weekend!) - we are off to see DGodD play hockey!

Errol, that is exactly what I am thinking would be a good plan for the evenings - will talk to her about it in the car They do still have 4 weeks after Easter, so don't want total burn out early!

TWF, hope your DD has lots of fleeces/socks, etc. Mind you if she is a titchy as DD, a child's one wouldn't be too bad!

She I'd small tilly and yes she took plenty of layers. I suspect the girls will all cuddle up in the tent too.

She's gone with a nice gang. All fit, hardy specimens. No whiners!