Year 11 GCSE exam support thread 3 - the exam weeks

[HSMMaCM]

New thread for those of us starting the exams.

Keep calm everyone.

DD did Curley's wife too! She did one on inequality for AIC, which is her thing as she is also studying Sociology. She was basically happy, not sure some quotes were strong enough, and one paragraph was a bit below par... but this is one of her best subjects. She came home for a pit stop before RE.

DS thinks English wasn't too bad, certainly not as bad as he anticipated. He was pretty pleased with the OMAM and AIC questions. Thank God that one's over. He hated AIC with a passion. The next one he's dreading is the poetry paper. He is not a fan...

DD did an extract about the bunk house from OMAM.

She said it was a bit of shock because it was the same piece from the mock ( and she didn't like it that time around).

But she went with it because her teacher has advised time and time again to go for the extract not the essay questions.

DS does IGCSE so different texts to most folk. He said it was fine. There's always an unseen paper with a poem on it to discuss and he said it was 'something I could understand at least' .

Latin tomorrow.

"something I could understand at least" - always a good start with poetry I find

DD does IGCSE English too TWF. I thought the unseen is on Friday, but I may be completely wrong! DH says DD sounded OK afterwards, but I have no idea which questions she did.

Maybe a different board tilly?

DS had two papers today.
First was the poems and short stories studied in class.
Second was unseen ( choice of poem or prose).
Friday is the drama they've studied in class ( Merchant of Venice).

DD answered both the questions in English Lit...
Dyslexic and can't structure She knows it is one OR the other!
Had major brain fog, possible due to the tablets she is having to take.
Now feels sick and has Drama and Geography tomorrow

Aghhhh worked so had for that too.

DS said all 3 English papers went well! Seemingly the unseen passage was right up his street so he's happy today.

Latin tomorrow then Greek on Wednesday along with Physics. Quite a bit of vocab revision tonight I would think!

Wow, Greek? Modern or Ancient?

DD was happy with English Lit questions. Physics next.

Oh, that's rough, stayathome. I suppose if they answer two if they're meant to do one then they get credited with whichever gets the better marks so hopefully not as bad as she may fear.

DD did the Curley's wife and Burlington questions, she was quite pleased by those - she'd thought Burlington was due to come up. She decided to come home rather than stay at school to revise, not sure what she's doing now. Geography I hope, as there's so much of that with all the case studies - I don't remember having to do nearly so much for O-level. Drama apparently it's perfectly OK to make things up e.g talk about rehearsal techniques they didn't actually use, so hopefully she can wing that so long as she can still write - 2hrs electronics AM, then sequestered until geography PM and then drama after that (1hr30 each). Thank goodness physics isn't till the afternoon on wednesday.

CoffeeBeanie, it is Ancient Greek. He's good with the classics but really struggles with modern languages. He was having a melt down about the Spanish oral exam. Never wanted to do a modern language but a MFL was compulsory. Hey ho! That's just the way it is! He was miffed at the time as he would rather have taken geography instead.

I know all about the paper from DD - it was "okay"

Woolly! You have one resilient daughter there!

I got 'fine' as my comment HSMM. Maybe she will give more information later but I won't hold out any hope.

What a shame stayathome. Brain fog is a pain. I hope her spirits improve before next exams. It is all so gruelling.

Well done to all those dcs forging on despite facing personal challenges, they are all fab. No point dwelling on it if they are unhappy, you never know really they can pick up points for all sorts of things, spelling even.

Ds had English Lit today and said it was easy. That always worries me too There's no pleasing some people is there. Anyway, no exams tomorrow but two on Wednesday, business and physics.

Really impressed with Woolly's DD.

DD was ok coming out then went home and said she felt rough which seems to be a pattern. Recovers pretty quickly though and now revising Geography. I'm trying to organise myself now she is on study leave a am dropping off/picking up.

Ds has hideous hayfever. We have 'the finest meds available to humanity' but they still make him feel pants! However having assisted with LPs and i have a sister who has them as she has Benign Intercranial Hypertension.i think! .... Wooly's dd is well impressive. I shall be v glad when these exams are done! Xx

TWF, it must be a different board - anthology and unseen text is Friday apparently.

Physics next on Wed, which DD is dreading. So glad I didn't choose it at O'level!

Well done Woolleys DD!

DS said English lit was "alright". And he used the highlighter pen! [proud]. He was in no rush to get to school..nearly missed the bus! I knew he'd left the house late, so drove down to the bus stop, ready to hold the bus but didn't need to. DS said this evening "It wouldn't matter if I'd missed the bus. Like, no one's going to die if I don't have a GCSE in English Lit."

Ds said English was really good. He was happy with the poetry paper as well, English has always been a good subject despite the dyspraxia and dyslexia , he's now got his head buried in a geography book and roundly cursing the "fecking useless teacher" for huge chunks missing from his course notes. But he's got revision books and notes from a friend who did it last year and got an A.

Love it, Lynette!

DS had English lit today and said everyone found it hard. It's Edexl iGCSE
And that's it. One paper.

Had they done CAs as well, Soupy? Or don't they do that with iGCSEs. Having just one paper is ok for things like electronics or drama where 60% is from the CAs, but having everything depending on one exam is horrible. I had that with my O-levels - I'm sure most subjects were two papers, but eng lit was just one and I had period woes - well, at least your DS won't have had that!

Haha Lynette. DD absolutely did NOT need highlighters, but I put some on the table this morning and three were missing by the time she left.