Year 11 GCSE exam support thread 3 - the exam weeks

[HSMMaCM]

New thread for those of us starting the exams.

Keep calm everyone.

Ds said spanish was 'terrible' and even those really good at it found it hard. But he also said he thinks he found enough 'clues' to answer the questions and didn't have a blind guess at any of them.

it's not about resources, it's about teachers being willing to give up their own time to get the best results out of the students

Lynette I think it's more about teachers being forced to give up their own time to get the best results for the the school. This is why all those threads about teachers having lots of holidays are a joke.

Some of them must be in school from 7am til 7pm and still have to mark and plan. Poor things.

But, yes, it's good for our children to have them available so much. Although I must admit, ds hasn't chose to go any revision classes, whereas dd went to a lot, so maybe it depends on the individual and if how they prefer to study.

DD said the Spanish was terrible and that the whole group were guessing the answers. At least she was with her besties and so didn't get upset

9 down!

I agree, it is fantastic of the teachers to give up their time to do the revision classes and still do a normal week's teaching. But sadly, I don't think it's entirely out of choice.

Another vote for Spanish being difficult from dds boyfriend.
She has come through the door hyper, PE went ok, and they had a visit from an Imperial College student who is studying Aeronautical Engineering. She had a long chat with him, apparently he got a C for English language! He approved of her A level choices, he got in with A*A B.

Offering a Friday evening for those with DC who had Spanish.

Secretly thankful DS1's school didn't insist on a language, as it would have been Spanish

Had a moment this morning when DS1 asked me for the revision book for Never Let Me Go....saying if I order it on Amazon Prime he will have it by tomorrow and can read it by Monday....there doesn't seem to be such a book in existence and it's a bit bloody late now anyway DS has an excellent English teacher so I'm sure everything he needs to know has been covered in class.

Oh dear lots of you saying your DC have reported back about the Spanish being tough.

I am waiting for DD to call home which I expect she will do some time this evening.

She has usually called me about this time of day all week but I am hoping she has popped into town after school to let off some steam and get away from revision for a while.

She is at boarding school and on study leave. Sadly we live too far away for her come home at weekends anymore so she has to stay in.

She has a good work ethic but finding study leave a bit dull because they all study in their own rooms mostly and because some days they have different exams etc her friends are not always free when she is. They have a lovely garden behind the boarding house and she did say her house mistress had let them sit out there to revise earlier in the week when the weather was good.

I have given her strict instructions to get out of school tomorrow evening as they usually have a Saturday evening trip to pizza hut, bowling and cinema (or similar). Last night she said she hadn't put her name down for the cinema trip and now didn't know if there were spaces,so also waiting for news on that front.

English Lit is DDs next exam on Monday.

Seems like almost everybody has English Lit on Monday!

Here we have an A in course work, and a U in mocks.

I shall be at Mass this weekend doing my best praying

Lyn Similar to you with DD.

Hi everyone (Yes, I'm back again. sorry!!)
I did my Spanish today (AQA) and I can say it really was hard. But the usual grade boundaries are around 25/35 for an A* and this exam was hard! I think it was as hard as the beginning of the A level exams.
I think the grade boundaries will be low (hopeful) but it was a difficult exam all around. The reading used words such as "kin" and obscure sports that not many people would know in spanish such as "horseriding" (which does link to equine but it's still difficult to remember).
I'm quietly confident in the low grade boundaries. Everyone found it challenging so there is hope.

DH said all the exam boards do the same subjects at the same time otherwise there would be too many clashes, Lynette.

Thanks RainBearr

Think all the spanish exans must have been hard DS did edexcel igcse and thought the reading/writing was horrible but thought the listening was ok, seen peple complaing the standard edexcel gcse was hardand the also the cie igcse. Not good for spanish students allround!

Also, for AQA spanish the coursework/CA are worth 60% of the grade so if those marks are good you have a pretty decent cushion.
AIDS and all sorts of strange things were mentioned

DD is not on study leave, so during today's lessons they have eaten croissants (French), made a poster (pshe), played memory games (drama), revised chemistry (biology) and generally faffed around. Not sure whether my emoticon should be or .

Yes, Rainbearr, DD is hoping her CA marks will pull her through!

How did people find the Sociology exam?

DD was happier with the second paper of AQA Sociology yesterday. One of her favourite topics came up.

yes, my DD found second paper easier. teacher thought first paper was hard

No exams here today and none until I think English lit on Monday.
One of my mine said he did not know how to revise. I said it's taken you a long time to realise that and everyone has to work out best what works for them. I suppose it's hard to revise for English but you might have thought he'd thought about how to revise before being mid way through GCSEs.

Spanish listening was awful here too..... Although reading not too bad. English lit and RE Monday, and a very sore arm anticipated from a day of writing!

DD called earlier. She said the Spanish Listening was horrendous too.

Rain great to have you here posting your views. Keep going, you're doing great. We want to hear all about how you get on x

Sympathy to everyone with DC'S ss sitting Spanish and fingers crossed for low grade boundaries.

So glad it is the weekend, long week and DD looked shattered by the end (aand so do I ). Very glad SATS are over as hadn'thadn't realised it was such a thing now, wasn't like that when DD did them.

DD gutted about Spanish. It was her first one and it's knocked her confidence. It's comforting to hear that others found it hard too. I'm hoping it doesn't demotivated her but everything I say seems pretty useless.
Any ideas or shall I just hit the

Oh Spud, sorry to hear that. Please tell her what all our DC are saying - DD said the fact that the rest of the students, including the cleverest one and the teacher were all saying it was really hard helped her no end to know it wasn't just her.

Checking in from hospital this morning. DD2 was sent here yesterday after her optician's appointment. The optician spotted swelling behind her eyes that is pressing on her optic nerve. We are waiting for ward rounds this morning to find out more.

Thank god she went for the Opticians appointment Woollyback!Good luck and try and stay calm .
Dd is a straight A* student and also said the Spanish listening was really hard with lots of guesswork in the listening.I think she got similar answers to Fairenuff though ( also wants to be a vet).Though there was something in involving ' lavar ( to wash) ' that she had to guess.
Spud,the Spanish was the worst exam by far for dd.As everyone has said the grade boundaries will be low for this exam.So tell your daughter to forget it now its over.