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Original poster

Year 11 support thread

999 replies

pasanda · 10/02/2017 09:37

I can't find a new thread, moving on from the old full one, so I thought I would create one (please tell me if I'm wrong!)

Last night ds stayed up till 4.30am doing his biology coursework Shock

This time the tsunami affect didn't work and he left it far too late to do a reasonable job. Which is a bloody shame because he wants to do biology A level and he has done so well in his other controlled assessments.

I wait with bated breath to find out his mark

Oh well, thank God for half term!!

OP posts:
Fozzleyplum · 17/05/2017 12:05

DS had the Darwin question. They had been taught as part of the syllabus, that Darwin was ridiculed/reviled because he suggested that humans and apes had a common ancestor. It's on p 125 of the AQA textbook, along with the same cartoon which appeared on the exam paper. The grumbling on social media is just because AQA usually asks one slightly unusual question, but this was an easy mark for anyone who'd covered the syllabus.

SeekEveryEveryKnownHidingPlace · 17/05/2017 12:12

Absolutely Fozzley! I'm not sure what on earth the fuss is about.

Laniakea · 17/05/2017 12:27

she's loved doing it catslife - she texted after the exam to say that she'd enjoyed the prompts she choice the piece of music one & her experience of the course. No expectations about the final grade it has just been fun :)

I think the monkey question was is just the usual twitter fuss about nothing - it is in the spec & it was only one mark anyway!

t875 · 17/05/2017 12:44

My dd has had nerves in her mocks English she walked out. So I'm praying she is comfortable to stay in the exams. That's what I'm nervous about.
But there's no point in me fortune telling but it's not easy!!! She seems calm right now!! Good luck to everyone dc!!

NotHotDogMum · 17/05/2017 12:54

m.youtube.com/watch?v=JDjFQhauhec

catslife · 17/05/2017 13:10

I think they have a choice of questions Laniakea wonder if they chose the same one. I won't find out how she found the paper until much later on. dd has an exam clash on her timetable with creative writing and another AS level subject, so no communication will be possible until she's completed both papers. Her mobile phone is up in her bedroom just to be on the safe side.

Laniakea · 17/05/2017 13:33

I think when you have an academically able child who is cocky to the point of complacency and is more than happy to settle for barely good enough with minimal effort you are allowed to secretly pull your hair out while acknowledging that you are limited in what you can actually do about it!

(I've just had dh ranting at me to "drill into dd that she needs to be less cocky & gung ho & actually take care not to throw away easy marks" ... yeah right if only it were that easy, maybe he should try!?)

GiraffeorOcelot · 17/05/2017 13:37

I can see the point about it not always being helpful to see what others thought of exams but somehow I can't help but be interested.

Despite me saying that I was glad there was no study leave here, I have ended up calling DS in as sick today as he convinced me he would work better at home. To be fair on him he has worked solidly since 9am with only a short break until lunch. 😲😲knowing my DS this is really a shocker!!

Laniakea · 17/05/2017 13:40

(what I actually did was tell him now is not the time to be drilling anything into her, sympathetic encouragement is all I'm going for)

Original poster
pasanda · 17/05/2017 14:22

Giraffe - my ds has decided to go in today (had the last 2 days off - pretend sick). I think we have to trust what they think and want at this late stage. Good on him for working since 9am.

I am trying to do some work for my job which I never have to do and haven't been to school/Uni since 1996! I am finding settling down to do it SO hard, am procrastinating hugely and spending loads of time on MN! It's only 5 reflective scenarios FGS, let alone 9 GCSEs, and it's SOOOOOOOOO boring.

I now have more sympathy for DS Grin Grin

Laniakea - I agree with your stance for what it's worth!

OP posts:
t875 · 17/05/2017 14:24

Our dd just keeps saying it's all in hand - I know what I'm doing so I feel redundant with it all. But I still jump in here and there and gee her up to revise when she gets too side tracked.

ifonly4 · 17/05/2017 14:43

I think most schools will find there are a lot of Year 11s suddenly going down with bugs, sickness, headaches and being off. My D wasn't in on Monday along with quite a lot of others!

I've been told if they want study leave and have good reason to stay at home, ie distractions at school so more will get done at home/ tension/other issues, the school have to put it down as study leave which is basically authorised absence. Does anyone know if this is correct? I think I'd happily let my DD stay at home as I know she would work and get so much more done in the day.

t875 · 17/05/2017 14:47

My dd is on study leave at home and I think it's working really well for her to focus. Also to have breaks when needed. I would ask the school and see what they say. Good luck!

Fleurdelise · 17/05/2017 14:56

I think there is a normal understanding that all of us here find a way to vent our anxiety and in fact this isn't how we behave in front of our dcs. I for one certainly didn't shine a bright light into DS's face questioning his answers on each question, in fact asked about 2-3 questions in a natural conversation if he's seen the craze on twitter about Darwin drawn as a monkey, I laughed that it is typically him to tell me he found French higher easier than expected and biology harder than expected when the whole world seems to have found it the other way around and that's that.

This is I believe a topic to vent and show our real fear and support each other, voice stuff we cannot voice in front of the dcs at home, that doesn't mean we need to be made guilty about our feelings. Some of the posts are very judgemental, or maybe I interpreted them the wrong way.

Laniakea I agree, DS will do the bare minimum even though his prediction were a string of As including 9 in maths. He will probably get a couple of As if he's lucky and while I accepted this and I am keeping calm in front of him that doesn't mean I am not entitled to feel frustrated.

BertrandRussell · 17/05/2017 15:03

The Darwin question was interesting. Ds's group of friends weren't thrown by it, but a lot of them were outraged in a typically "it's not fair!" teenage way because it wasn't a proper science question!!!!! And I do suspect that some of the lower ability kids might have found it hard because anything even slightly left field can easily throw them off course. Anyway, it was only one mark. Anyone else's talked about the biomass question? That really divided ds's lot.....

Laniakea · 17/05/2017 15:13

today dd has had a two hour exam & done one chemistry past paper (an hour) showing pretty much zero interest in the correct answers. It's 3pm, she's said she might do another paper at 4. That's it, the day before an exam which is actually pretty important to her. She's having a rest now.

I'm on mn because I don't want to nag & yell at her, she's heard it all before, she says all the right stuff & it amounts to not an awful lot. If there's some magic way of not feeling sad/irritated/frustrated I'd be happy to hear about it (not to mention how to remember all her good points - not least resilience - while letting the cocky little shit act roll over me)! I'm not looking forward to August, I think she's going to be disappointed & embarrassed. It's a hard lesson.

Laniakea · 17/05/2017 15:19

the only other question dd has mentioned specifically was the ethics of cytoplasm one ... I'm sure that her answer isn't part of the mark scheme (dd's reasoning - ethics = someone's opinion = people have all sorts of stupid opinions = therefore no matter how stupid someone might think it & it is a legitimate answer on an ethics Q) ... hopefully that was only one mark too.

Fleurdelise · 17/05/2017 15:21

The biomass question is the one DS got wrong (that he knows for sure he did, not that he thinks he got all the other questions right), and is annoyed about it.

catslife · 17/05/2017 15:21

dd has arrived back home after Creative writing AS (2 hours) and Health and Social Care AS (1.5 hours). Looks as if she also did the experience of creative writing question Laniakea but also chose the one on Graffiti. She is taking an art and design subject for one of her other A levels so that may be more up her street.

Laniakea · 17/05/2017 15:22

ethics of cytoplasm transfer that should say.

Sigh.

(I don't want to ask about the biomass as I expect she'll have done something stupid)

Laniakea · 17/05/2017 15:40

the biomass one - all of the top set said 2500, everyone else said 5000 (dd isn't in the top set)

t875 · 17/05/2017 15:54

Dd was fine and seemed pretty confident about the RE exam so fingers crossed.
One down!

Fleurdelise · 17/05/2017 16:08

Apparently the answer was 5000? At least that's what Twitter says, I don't know what DS answered, I just know he said he got it wrong. I assume 2500 as he is top set lol

pointythings · 17/05/2017 16:19

I'm definitely not quizzing DD1 about the details and am happy with 'fine' as a response - she's naturally quite anxious anyway.

And she's been going in to school as normal despite the fact that she has an actual cold and is streaming, coughing and really not that well at all...

ifonly4 · 17/05/2017 16:27

DD said RE went really well for her, she feels she put forward some good arguments and managed to get relevant quotes across. She mentioned OCR have changed the marking scheme on the paper, but that didn't throw her.

GCP Chemistry tomorrow

Fleurdelise, I agree we are all going through the same thing and most of us on here are here to air our concerns, support eachother and maybe just even chat about the exams, not be judgemental. Even after 16 years we can still get things wrong, we're human.

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