Year 11 GCSE Exam Support Thread 2

[HSMMaCM]

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

Ugh. Dd is in a stinking mood this morning. I swear she slams the front door so hard, that one day the house will just crumble and fall down behind her. My teeth are still rattling from the impact.

Phew. Apparently drama went well.

That's good HSM - is that her drama finished or does she still have write ups to do?

HSM, that's a relief!

DD text me to say she had forgotten her lunch. I said that's OK - use your fob. She had forgotten that too. Thankfully her brother is there to save her from starvation with his fob! I think I will need to check everything with her every day of the exams!

Drama is finished for now. She's still planning to do drama a level!

Got to go and pick her up to take her to dance competition now, then she's got French in the morning at school and her ballet exam on Sunday. Why does it all happen at once !

DS2's last day today! DH's 50th birthday also. I remember working out how old we'd be when they were 18 and 16 - never thought about the stresses of GCSEs and A Levels in the same year!!
Never entered my head, lol!

Haha horsemad. My parents realised their mistake with o levels, a levels and a final degree exam all in the same year :).

DS back from English exam. He said he was glad that I'd encouraged him to do 200 past papers as the format was exactly the same as the last 199 .

So that's it. No more English. Am going to recycle a lot of paperwork!

Oh Dingit I am sorry about the ICT I like HSM's DD's bag, I could do with that. Glad the Drama went ok and is over.

WF glad the English went well. Your DS's comment made me and I have a vision of you in a huge stack of paper.

Happy birthday to Mr Horsemad. DH has his Monday so I need to sort things.

Draylon I am worried about Education and will be very very upset if Gove returns as there is a rumour he will. Hopefully it is just a rumour but I can't get over how someone can make so many changes in such a short time without evaluating the effect of a change. I have 7 more years of education with DS to navigate I worked out.

All quiet on the DD front. She was supposed to go to Philosophy and Ethics revision classes Friday but stuck with her usual timetable as wanted to do Maths and Japanese. The Philsosphy teacher was not happy apparently. But no meltdowns so that is good - think she is happier now photography and English Language done.

About to drop DD to school for a revision session with her mate.

Was quite but last night when she was showing me revision apps on her phone! So maybe wasting slightly less time on it than I thought!

Could I ask you lovely people about predicted grades? Received a predicted grades report just this morning ( I'm assuming the last one!), and with a couple of exceptions, all her grades have slid back a little. There's nothing that can be done now, but it has rattled dd a little. Do you think it's done for that last little 'kick up the arse'. To be honest, after the week she's had, it was the last thing she needed.
Had a phone call from head of ICT at 7.30 last night, trying to blame the whole thing on his predecessor! Apparently our email was sent in error, dd has indeed completed her coursework. The problem is she now has no confidence in taking the exam. When I asked him if he thought her capable, his reply was, I dunno, I'm not her teacher! Words failed me!

My experience with predicted grades with my older two (one at university, one in year 13) was that the predicted grades for their GCSE were quite accurate. DD1's results matched the predictions and DD2 exceeded her predictions, but she absolutely slaved her guts out.

DD3 (current year 11) is more like dd1 so I'm expecting the predicted grades to be about right (possibly with an odd slip up for a nasty paper). It might be lower though because they are having to learn two years worth of work.

with the ICT situation dingit.

Dingit, no idea - thankfully we haven't had any of that predicted grades crap since before the mocks. How is that helpful at this late stage?

And the ICT fiasco is completely Your poor DD. When is the exam? Can you/do you know anyone who could gee her up a bit with a bit of revision? It'd be such a shame for all that coursework to go to waste.
FWIW, I think GCSE ICT teaching/organisation is a shambles and the course/GCSE is a waste of space (they do the full GCSE at the DC's school) but if she has got this far...

Littleham, if DD gets her predicted grades she/we will be ecstatically happy

Hope she does get them Tilly. As the system is tinkered with every single year by politicians nobody ever really knows for sure how it will pan out.

I keep thinking that I'll know what to expect for my younger children and then they go and change it again.

Dingit that is awful, sorry your DD has that to contend with.

DD'S grades have been in a downwards trajectory did the last year according to the reports. I hope we don'tdon't get another report now.

Agree with how it all keeps changing. I'm not going to be dealing with letter grades with DS, he'll get number ones.

Dingit that's awful. We had your ICT situation with statistics last year. Half the class failed and a member of staff was sacked. Thankfully it has meant DD's class has the best maths teacher this year, desperately trying to rescue them from 2 years of bad teaching.

We haven't had predicted grades since last term. DD's had slipped a bit, but we know reasons for that.

Thanks for all your comments, you can't help but worry, can you.
The ICT exam is on Wednesday. One of dds friends parents stormed into school on Friday afternoon, and I can't say I blame them.

so glad everyone's drama and English seemed to go ok. DS did his performance segment of drama yesterday and mid morning I got a text "done the drama thing, it was cool" very laid back. But when he came home he was jumping about as he'd been told he got the highest score in the class. Top of tier 1, and the examiner wants to use his monologue as his example of the standard he expects for future years. Apparently this is well cool, and he only needs 20 marks on the written to get an A*.

He's been to school today for science and rs, oh my god it's Monday. I need to get my head sorted, couldn't be a worse time for me as having big problems in work with a parent and the head not backing me, so don't feel I'm giving him enough attention or worrying that he's worrying about me and not working when he should.

The last weekend before exams start is upon us, and DD is out most of today rehearsing with orchestra and playing in a concert. She left at 8.30, came back 1, out at 3 again and will be back at 9.30

She's still very relaxed, I'm still not, but putting on a brave face.

RS on Monday, French L&R on Tuesday. At least her least favourite subjects are out of the way then.

Aunt P that all sounds very stressful, but your DS sounds like Drama has given him a great boost, and hopefully Monday will go just as well. It's now nice just ticking them off the timetable, then I can get my dd back and enjoy summer.
Dd is stressed today as next door are having a very loud party. It's kids with a bouncy castle and loud music, unfortunately the adults will continue partying into the small hours

Advanced foundation ballet tomorrow, Ra Monday (DD's favourite) and French Tuesday (her least favourite).

Well done to your DS on his drama AuntP! Sorry to hear about your work dramas though. I have considerable experience of difficult parents if I can offer any words of wisdom or a shoulder to cry on?

DD is at the library revising with mates apparently. And the mini - drama of DS complaining of heart palpitations seems to be over at least for the moment, after a visit to a+e.

My dd went out to music club this morning as well Coffee. Probably a good idea to have a bit of a break.

I was slightly at her being glued to her phone, but on closer questioning she has joined a network of friends and they are testing each other with exam questions. At least it is connected to the exams next week - just hope it helps. She seems to think it is more effective than a pen and a past paper. What do you all think?

No weekend classes at school.