Parents of Year 11s - the end is in sight

[228agreenend]

Hello everyone, new thread for the final push.

We are done too, just A levels for dd1 to finish now

Well after all her other exams being OK/good/really good DD said that physics "was a shambles"....oh dear.

It is her least liked subject and the one she's probably struggled with most though despite loving the other sciences.

( it was iGCSE/Edexcel)

Congratulations to everyone who finished this week!
I am also looking forward to no more school uniform for DS :)

AQA physics here. Paper 2 was hard but paper three was ok. DD said it was the hardest paper she has done. One left to go. History on Tuesday.

Well Max, I am sincerely hoping my DS will get 12/13 A's and A*'s, but none taken, he is a freak . He won't pass German, but he will be pissed off with less than A's in his other subjects. All his mates are the same, but I think they have gravitated towards one another over the course of their school lives. Like a mini University Challenge Team....

Exit I'm sure your DD will have done better than she thinks, if she's been getting high grades in past papers.

DS is now watching South Park....

DD did 3 past papers over the last few days and got As, but feels that this exam was much harder.

Max my DS achieved exactly that 2 years ago. Which stresses DD no end. Not a freak but definitely a good all-rounder and a bit nerdy

I'm dreading what DS has to say about Physics when I pick him up later....he went to bed last night watching a youTube revision video...I wonder if it did him any good...!

Geography this afternoon and then it's all over.

He is going to a party tomorrow night and I will be celebrating the end of exams by going to see The Stone Roses.

Further to what someone posted up thread about their DC becoming a little unfit - yes this is DS. He usually does some form of football training 3 times a week but has done nothing for ages - he has put on weight (although that might also be due to the amount of Ben & Jerrys consumed during the revision/exam period). He said he is going to start running again and swimming to get himself match fit for the start of the new season.

We are all finished, DS had Physics 2 and 3 today (AQA) - which he said were pretty good (he reckons he was up all night revising, these were to him the most important exams, he has the potential to do well rather than adequately and he is doing physics A level (hopefully)). He does actually know what a good physics exam/test feels like - he regularly gets As and higher in physics, the only other subjects where he knows what A or better performance feels like are maths and music. So hopefully he isn't deluding himself (though he might be - his good mood might just stem from relief). DD had English A level today, she thought it was alright. She wouldn't go any further than that. She doesn't know what good feels like in relation to English papers because some of her highest marks/results have come from papers she felt were dreadful (although not exclusively) so she has decided - and I tend to agree - that she just can't tell. She should have done ok though. She doesn't react well to exam pressure - she often underperforms - but that's against a very very high non-exam baseline performance level, so even with the apparently inevitable drop caused by exam stress she still usually does ok in English. And DD2 texted from school to say that her final KS3 science assessment was a piece of piss (though to be honest I don't think she really knows what good looks like in science - she is definitely towards the adequate end of the range in science, it's not her strength at all but she is a hard worker and writes coherently which helps). Sadly the house won't go into immediate de-stress mode since next week is show week for DD2.

That's DD finished. She's exhausted and looks like she could sleep for a month. She says Physics was "really hard, with some really easy bits". 🍾

And we're finished!!
AQA Physics was apparently much harder than he'd expected - this is from the boy who is often top in his year at Physics, has never had less than an A* in it, and who plans not only an A level in it but a degree too!
However he said although it was hard, he thinks it went quite well, and the fact that "everyone else" is saying it was hard, bodes well for lower grade boundaries! I'll take his word for it.
Anyway, picked him up at 11:30, whizzed home for a quick change, and took him out for tapas in the sunshine just the two of us! Now he's chilling with his xBox, something he's not had chance to do for ages.
Good luck to all those who still have exams to go.
DS says everyone in his school has finished today, with the exception of those doing DT who now have a 10 day gap before their last exam on 27th!
See you all on results day?! Thanks for the support and best of luck to all. xxx

Finished! Can I have my life back now? Flapping Lad now very relieved and happy to have his confiscated laptop back. Am proud of how he has worked and although his results won't be amazing at least he has put some effort in. Feels a bit wierd washing uniform for the last time. A mountain of papers havegone into the recycling.

Oh Lord it sounds as though DS completely misjudged the physics exams. :(

DS seemed quite happy with physics. He liked the question about stars apparently.

Just further maths to go now.

Probably not Uhtred - I think some people get physics and others don't. DD has always struggled, but in Y9 had a fab teacher and really came on, then in Y10 had a shit teacher and struggled again, but for Y11 she has had another fab teacher (and gorgeous to boot!) and had really hoped that she had started to 'understand' the subject, but it will only have taken questions that were a bit outside her comfort zone to throw her completely.

AQA physics here. Paper 2 was hard but paper three was ok
Exact same words here, although she went over the paper 2 after taking P3 with teacher and she thinks she got 45 points which according to teacher is good, so hopefully she did ok.

Two Further Maths exams to go, but the heaviest of the pressure is now off her shoulder.

exit yeah, but if people who always get A* thought it was hard then DS who usually gets A is probably the one who misjudged it...even though the reason he doesn't get higher marks is his inability to expand enough on his answers (he just won't explain what he considers to be the bleeding obvious, he always uses two words where they want say 5 ...sigh) still, that trait will doubtless have surfaced in the exams and if he misjudged a couple of questions too and consequently thought they were easier than they actually were...that could be him sunk. :(

DD has two more, Business Studies on Monday and History on Tuesday.

We go on holiday at the end of July, she is now starting to think about what to do for the next few weeks before we go. She is planning on meeting up with friends for days out, she also has a Saturday job and is planning to get some extra weekday shifts.

What does everyone elses DCs have planned?

I'm glad I only have to go through this once.

I think I might refer those posters who want huge families to this thread. IMO parenting a teenager is much harder than parenting a primary aged child.

Thank you for support everyone and good luck to those with exams still to come.

1 more exam to go then we're done! Geography paper 3 was a bit funny DD said

kslatts - I believe DS is hoping to not get out of bed EVER AGAIN (except he will have to to go play his guitar at mass on sundays) - at least until we go away at the end of July (when he possibly plans to just swap his bed here for his bed in cornwall). He is also planning on finishing our BSG rewatch marathon and segueing straight into Da Vincis Demons (of which he has only seen series 3). And possibly re-reading A song of Ice and Fire. He would obviously LIKE to be reading the winds of winter but then wouldn't we all.

Nickname - god yes. This is the 4th consecutive year of public exams for us. I think (but am not certain) that DS will have at least 1 AS next year (and his BTech AS equivalent will end next summer but I guess that isn't examined). So next summer will be year 5. Then he will have his A2s. So, year 6. Then, in 2019 DD2 will have GCSEs, which will be the 7th year on the trot. 2020 will have no public exams but finals for DD1. 2021 will have DD2's A levels and DS's finals maybe if he goes to uni straight after college and does a 3 year course.

DS said he found Unit 2 OK but Unit 3 harder. Geography was "good".

Thank you all for putting up with my general waffle.

A massive good luck to all of your DC's.

As Arnold says "I'll be back" (on the results thread!!)

star
Is it aqa igcse geography?

No - he did Edexcel Geography.

I'm not what the difference in syllabus is between them.