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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:
Ontopofthesunset · 01/04/2017 11:31

I am expecting revision every day we are at home. He has a rough timetable with four subjects on every day and he's also doing Tassomai which is factual science revision. He hasn't mapped out what he will do in each session nor how long the session will last, so some sessions are longer than others (30 minutes to an hour). He also doesn't have a fixed idea of when he'll start or finish, which frustrates me as I'd like him to do 2 hours in the morning, say, and 2 in the afternoon, and have the evening free, but in fact he's doing 2 -3 hours spread out between 11 am and 11 pm which makes it all rather unsatisfactory.

What I don't think he's done is work out how long everything will take but frankly I'm grateful he's doing anything so don't want to propose that he spends time on that as it will be a distraction. I think he'll realise what he needs to step up and what he needs to do less of.

Laniakea · 01/04/2017 11:38

Ontop dd is doing 30mins of tassomai & 30 mins of French (she can't stand more than half an hour at a time) then 2-3 other subjects.

Today she's done an hour of an Eng language paper & half an hour of French. She'll do tassomai & an hour of maths this evening but also needs to spend a couple of hours working on the creative writing portfolio (which needs to be in on Friday). First she's going shopping though!

Ontopofthesunset · 01/04/2017 11:39

Ah, DS is still in the shower!

Giraffesaretootall · 01/04/2017 12:35

Thanks. We have sort of agreed 3 hours a day with weekends off which I fear is not enough. He is very reluctant though so that was quite an achievement.

I hadn't thought about gcse revision courses though, will look into them. Are many others doing them?

LIZS · 01/04/2017 12:45

Dd is "tidying" her bedroom .

teddygirlonce · 01/04/2017 13:14

We have GCSEs and KS2 SATs going on back-to-back, with lots of revision for both simultaneously.

DS seems to be doing the 'slowly but surely' approach to revision. He started at Feb half-term but TBQH until now, there have been controlled assessments, tests etc... to distract him. His school is running an Eng Lang. booster day during the Easter hols - and he's doing lunchtime and after-school sessions in his (comparatively) weaker subjects too.

It wasn't like this when I was at school. The micro-management of revision by schools and some parents nowadays is possibly why the number of DCs achieving super-impressive GCSEs seems to be so much more prevalent than I was at school (even at a high achieving grammar school only a handful of girls would get over 5As - and there was only one in all the time I was there who managed to get 11As).

Laniakea · 01/04/2017 13:22

Yup we were just let out from school at Easter & left to our own devices. They all had to take in revision timetables for Easter to be checked by their form teachers & if deemed unsatisfactory sent to have a chat with the head!

Dd sends me a list of what she's planning to do each day - apart from tassomai which I can check I have no idea whether she is actually doing what she says though ...

Draylon · 01/04/2017 16:36

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

errorofjudgement · 01/04/2017 18:21

Regarding simultaneous exams, one of my friends has triplets - imagine 3 the same age to chivvy through the exams at each stage. And one year, my next door neighbour memorably had the oldest taking A levels, 2nd DC taking GCSEs, the third had Y9 KS3 exams, and the youngest was in his final year at primary and KS2 tests!

MABS · 02/04/2017 11:06

my ds aged 16 is so laid back, he will fall over. I am ready to kill re lack of revision :(

BlackDoglet · 02/04/2017 13:28

My dd is trying to convince me that spending time applying fake tan will make her feel better as she'll look better, ergo she'll revise better...

errorofjudgement · 02/04/2017 14:22

😂 BlackDoglet love the logic!
Well DD has made a big effort this weekend though it has cost me a small fortune in raspberries and strawberries - her preferred healthy snack (though only after eating all the chocolate and crisps she could find)!

errorofjudgement · 02/04/2017 14:27

I posted a while ago re the triple science modules only starting after Feb half term, as a result DD chose to drop to double rather than be learning new work for 3 GCSEs right up to the exams. Well, chatting to a couple of Mums and their DDs and it seems nearly half the triple science group has dropped to double (25/60). I'm so cross with the school, I feel they owe students and parents an apology for messing this up so badly. Lots of these students would've been predicted top grades in triple, now that opportunity is gone.

Ontopofthesunset · 02/04/2017 18:55

That's terrible, error. It seems a really odd way to teach it too as the triple science modules are not extra subjects, they're just a few more details added to each of the modules (well, in my son's case, at least.) So it's not like different topics, it's just a couple more things about, say, genetics or electromagnetism. You'd think they'd teach the whole topic at the same time.

errorofjudgement · 02/04/2017 19:16

I don't know the detail of what's extra from double to triple, but the physics teacher was very clear it would take right up to the exams starting to cover the work.
I think I'm particularly cross as DD dropped from 11 to 10 GCSEs at the start of Y11, mainly because that particular vocational GCSE wasn't being taught very well, but also so that DD could focus on keeping up to date with her other work without getting stressed or giving up the dance and drama extra-curricula classes she takes.
Now she's dropped to double, she needs to do well in all 9. She was predicted and working at A/A in the triple, & A in the dropped GCSE (Dance), by contrast she will be lucky to get a C in her Spanish. But she kept Spanish as being a better (more academic) GCSE than Dance, and of course it's part of the Ebac.

pointythings · 02/04/2017 19:37

DD1 will be expected at school as normal right up to the exams; however, all homework is now revision. Together with her (scarily precise and comprehensive) revision timetable, she will definitely get enough time in. She will be completing all her revision homework (3+ hours a day's worth) during the first week of the Easter break and will be doing no revision at all during our week away in Holland during the second week. I've put my foot down about this, she needs the break. Then she can hit it hard as she likes when she goes back. She's a burnout risk, so I have a different set of problems to those who have reluctant revisers.

Draylon · 02/04/2017 22:18

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

Laniakea · 03/04/2017 07:51

No dd's triple science option takes up three blocks so 6 hours a week. My nieces triple is squashed into a double block (4 hours) but they do GCSEs over three years rather than two. All are AQA so modules 1/2/3 for each science and 9 exams plus the ISAs (they did 2 or 3 for each science) .... it is a big chunk of timetable. They all end up doing 10 subjects overall.

AtiaoftheJulii · 03/04/2017 08:12

they're just a few more details added to each of the modules (well, in my son's case, at least.) So it's not like different topics, it's just a couple more things about, say, genetics or electromagnetism.

Definitely NOT like this for OCR Gateway which is what ds is doing. They have six modules for each separate science, all different.

At his school everyone does triple science so no timetabling choices.

At dd2's school they realised in September of y11 that they weren't even 50% of the way through the triple science syllabi - cue panic - and laid on twice weekly after school lectures and loads of holiday revision. Dd2 did well, but it was a massive fuck up.

Dd3 is now in y9 at that school - they've started the science gcse course, will finish core this year, additional next year and then decide who's going on to do triple, and who's going to get a year's revision.

Ontopofthesunset · 03/04/2017 09:03

Sorry to give incorrect information. I assumed other science boards had a similar structure. For my son's triple (Edexcel IGCSE) the double award is a 2 hour paper and the for the triple there's another hour long paper but all the topics are the same, there is just more detail in each topic. You can see it in the CGP revision guides as the triple parts of each subject are in bold in each chapter.

Laniakea · 03/04/2017 09:03

The two triple science sets started B3/C3/P3 in September & finished them in the last couple of weeks (with time out for ISAs). They are just doing revision & mock lessons now so it feels relatively calm & well organised. The double sets did the core exams at the end of year 10 & have done the '2' modules for additional this year. Not sure if/when they finished.

Dd has one more lesson this week (geography) then everything is finished. They finished English really early & have been doing revision lessons for what seems like ages.

Laniakea · 03/04/2017 09:07

Ah AQA is the same as OCR with completely separate & new modules for triple (a third more content) & it is the more hard(er) science stuff in the modules 3s.

Gnome134 · 03/04/2017 16:39

Regarding length of time spent revising over Easter my DS is planning on doing 4 hours a day, plus Tassomai and Mathswatch for 15/ 20 minutes. Trying to balance having a break with getting on with it!

PossumInAPearTree · 03/04/2017 16:49

Omg. Home from work and Dd has actually been revising. Says she did 3 hours and I do believe her because she's not bothered about saying she hasn't done any if she hasn't! Hoping she pulls her finger out now.

errorofjudgement · 03/04/2017 16:54

It's interesting to hear how schools structure things differently. DD is taking AQA double science, they were not allowed to take core papers in Y10, its 6x 1hr papers all at the end of Y11. I am guessing it's an addition 3x 1 hr papers for the students still taking triple.
Ontopofthesunset - is the iGCSE double award just 1 2hr paper?