Parents of Year 11's - in the midst of exams!

[OhYouBadBadKitten]

roll up roll up, for our new support thread for all parents of year 11 kids. Whether your kids work hard or not, what ever their goals (or not!) this is our place to de-stress :)

Biology this afternoon.

Noticed that some tiny spots have appeared on her forehead today

(she had very bad acne sorted by roaccutane a year ago)

CIE Biology was okay today according to DS - so that's one subject completely finished. He does enjoy Biology, but happily threw all his past papers and notes in the bin when he came home. He's keeping the revision guide as it might be useful for the IB.
ICT theory tomorrow.
Hope all exams went well today :)

LOL at the open book idea thesecond. Would recommend a calculator though, much to dds surprise she did need to use one in her Core biology last year.
The trouble is thesecond that Science that was still at the research stage when we did our degrees is fairly old hat now.

Oh no TheSecond! Surely he was teasing you?

Nyama, stress is a cruel thing for sure. poor love, I hope they vanish quickly.

I won't be able to chat to dd til tonight as I'm working when she gets home - real working, not this pretend stuff! I wish they were allowed phones in school at this point! First French paper over (they are very short aren't they!) Hope the listening one is actually audible! (are they on cd or digitallike a podcast?)

Friend of ds's asked if they could use google in the ICT practical exam?
er - no. Apparently she had used google during the mock!

yeah, thats a good point BOP - although predicted grades weren't needed for sixth form, they do need certain actual grades to get in, so if they were a bit borderline and didnt know which side of the grade boundary they were looking at, they wouldn't know to apply.

please someone kick me off here!

blimey shanghai!!

DD seemed quite calm when I dropped her at school. I think I am more nervous.

She too needed predicted grades for sixth form, but then the offer is for Bs and Cs so there really is no pressure on her, but she feels that she has worked so hard and that if she doesn't get good results it will all have been for nothing and also make her worry about her own abilities.

She does say that lots of people keep telling her that in a few years time GCSEs will seem so insignificant. Yeah, roll on A level stress

"There is one question that I wouldn't have known at A-level and didn't study until undergraduate biochemistry class."

Funny you should say that TheSecond, I was just saying yesterday that DD is learning French stuff that I definitely didn't do till A level. So much for dumbing down

The worst bit is picking them up - dd was telling me about her RS exam questions and I was thinking 'oh god she didn't say this that and the other' argh

French and Biology for DS today. He seems pretty calm so I'm trying to keep my worries to myself. He's not a sharer and hasn't asked for any revision help so I can only trust that he's getting on with it.He did well in the mocks so he seems to know what he's doing.

Two more exams this week (Chemistry and Astronomy), then a heavy load next week with exams every day.

Astronomy! How cool is that?!

DD has been using gojimo for revision. Has anyone else's DC used it? I hadn't heard of it but she swears by it.

Here all pupils from Y7 are aware of their target grades, they are used for performance measures in every report. They change to GCSE grades in Y10/11. One of DS's friends is bright and hard working and had her targets revised upwards early in the year. She then dipped a bit and found herself in the "aspire" class (or whatever they call it) because she was predicted A rather than her new target of A. I don't know how they teach a class of borderline pupils all together, D/C mixed with A/A but she didn't think that it was helping her at all. I did ask DS how he avoided AspireMFL as his target was an A and his predicted has remained a solid C from Y7 but he has no clue. I think they must have realised that their so called target bore no relation to what he was capable of.

TheSecond oops. Finding out three hours ahead of the exam is still far better than working it out while you're queuing to go in.

I was invigilating this morning (not French as dd1 is in it!) and the French invigilators had cassette recorders, I was expecting digital , possibly it had a usb slot in it but I doubt they made cassette /usb

What's it like being an invigilator? I keep seeing adverts on the school website and I've thought about it but never got further than looking at the person spec.

Basically staying alert is the main thing. I set out, make announcements, sometimes read/scribe, watch teenagers work for an hour or two and then tidy up. I mainly read 1:1 so that depends on who I'm reading for but even that takes more concentration as you need to be aware of not giving clues to answers, quite odd at times especially for physics/maths as you can't read symbols!

Hi everyone!

Can I re join in? I think I made a few comments early on but just been lurking the last year!
Also quite glad that not everyone is A/A* on here - quite refreshing as I thought all MN kids were all superstars

My DD is doing Biology today, she came downstairs last night announcing she has finished studying and that Biology is done! . lets hope the results reflect this confidence....she wants to do it for A levels so we shall see.

We have graduation outfit sorted something to look forward to - end of next week.
Prom is end of June after exams.

I also had a year 6 boy who has just finished SATS so I have been hitting the wine and feeling quite overwhelmed with it all. The pressure is tough for all of us - we know what this means to their future.

DD has decided she wants tomorrow at home to study - I am fine with it and will take her to the park for lunch although weather looks like rain.

Hope you are all holding it together, I find I am trying to be organised re dinners and healthy snacks - just like the toddler days!

DD didn't like the igcse French listening biology this afternoon.

dd created a teachers account on quizlet and has been challenging groups of friends to compete against each other

welcome maxtrue!

You are right, its been a long time since dd has been so well fed and watered.

I'd like to have a go at invigilating. Might look into it next year.

oh dear Fantasy. French listening can be a pig.

oh blimey, just saw - cassettes?? Some of the younger teachers won't even know what to do with those. How weird.

"What's it like being an invigilator?"

I suggest you try and find the Armstrong and Miller invigilation sketch online

That will help relieve some stress and lighten the mood.

do some schools have a year 11 graduation as well? I'm glad that DD's school doesn't.

Exit DD has been using Gojimo. It is better for some subjects than others.

thanks!!

Dd had IGCSE French listening this morning - texted me to say it was really hard. It's her strongest subject - has been predicted A* since Yr7 - so hope she's not feeling too bad. Also thought that if she's found it tricky, what level was it pitched at??!!

Biology this afternoon, thanks to the Tassomai recommendations she feels she's covered the syllabus.

Good luck to everyone