Yr 11 support thread - the scaffolding is holding up well

[pointythings]

Because we need a new thread now that things are really hotting up!

Happy birthday to your ds namechange at least it's during half term week!

I've seen markschemes in maths that allow for a misunderstanding of the question and give marks for the work that was completed. It's not in the exam board's interest to give 0 marks to all candidates who answered about Mr instead of Mrs B, and if, as seems, a significant minority of students misread the question then I think allowances will be made.

"She said the invigilators are all external and there is absolutely nothing they can do about a mistake on the paper. They are there to supervise the exam and ensure no-one is cheating and that is all."

So what would happen if there was a blank page or something? There must be some contingency plan?

I've just been talking to a teacher about mistakes in exams (not particularly the Mr/Mrs B one). She said, although, they'll lose marks if they haven't answered the question correctly, they can still pick up some marks on their understanding/quotes etc. She reckoned the new graded exams are "b......y hard" hard and pushing the limits.

DD had intended to revise for an hour last night and a little earlier and hasn't done - I think she's on complete wind down though, she was out last night, spent all morning on her ipad and is out with friends again now.

Definitely fleur! In fact I wouldn't be surprised if they are all Xbox friends
We were in town for dinner last night & one of the local schools was celebrating leaving school, another had a prom. There were a lot of giddy totally hammered teenagers.
Ds has a number of parties lined up once the exams finish, incl. prom. Although I'm excited for him it's all quite new for us. Really not looking forward to drunkenness & I really, really can't deal with vomiting.
Perhaps we'll sail through unscathed perhaps I'll be looking back fondly on revision & Xbox arguments

one so sorry for your dd, really hard for them to get it in perspective but she can only put it behind her & think forward.
Happy bday to your Ds namechange

My heart goes out to you and your DD onesimplemistake Our DCs are under so much pressure and it's so hard to keep everything in perspective, but she will definitely have picked up some points for her essay. Not much comfort now, I know, but hopefully AQA will take into account that the question wasn't well-worded, since so many kids made the same mistake as your DD.

Thank you readyforsunshine. Yes we have to move onwards. She was not planning to take English for A-level so it is not critical in that respect.

Thanks Café. Can only hope for some sympathy from AQA to allow them some marks at least. From what I can tell I think the question was one which the students expected for Mr B - he is a more substantial character and Mrs B a more minor one. So I do think their brains just saw what they expected to see if you know what I mean. Especially when under stress and tired etc. Apparently there was the word "her" in one of the bullet points but DD said she had only read quickly over the bullet points which are sort of standard stuff. (Yes lesson learned there as well).
Also related to that, from what I can tell from the grapevine there is a second cohort of students who launched into an essay on Mr B and unlike DD, they stopped at some point to check they had covered the bullet points and then discovered their mistake and had to then try and turn their essay around in a panic.
So I do think it was an easy mistake to make and whilst DD and the others who have made this error have had to learn a hard lesson, it is something the exam boards should learn from as well.

Regarding the Mr and Mrs B question in AQA, my DS told me he initially read it as Mr, thought of loads of quotes etc, but realised before he started writing, thankfully. Hopefully the exam boards will give some credit. Hope everyone has a relatively relaxed weekend, before attempting to get the kids working again during half term.

When I marked Lit it was always positive marking where you credited anything worthy of merit so any comparisons with Mrs B, comments on context and structural references might well gain marks.
We always recommend pupils highlight the key words in the question to avoid this sort of mistake, it is so easily done in the panic of the exam, one of my pupils planned a response for Squealer and then realised the question was about Snowball and he is one of my grade 9 hopes!

My DS studied Lord of the Flies, so no mistaking Ralph, Jack, Piggy etc. How hard would it be for AQA to ask questions about Arthur Birling, Sheila Birling etc - especially as there are 4 Birling characters in AIC? Then again, OCR managed to mix up the Capulets and Montagues - all the boards seriously need to have a word with themselves.

It is a shame the exam board didn't use Mrs B's first name.

It sounds like a huge number of students made the same mistake onesimplemistake so hopefully AQA will make allowances.

I think if they had asked about Sybil Birling some would have answered about Sheila especially as she is known as Mrs Birling throughout the play.

I see what you mean. Too many characters that a nervous student could mix up.

I meant Sybil has a word with myself!

I think my DS answered on Mr B, but I am not going to ask, what's the point of worrying now.

It may well be he has worked it out for himself, which might account for the vile mood he is in.

Funnily enough he scathingly dismissed my suggestion that he should spend 5 minutes reading the questions and HIGHLIGHT the key points before starting to write. Maybe he will learn one day.

DD says she knows at least 3 people who wrote about Mr B. Their teacher suggested would still be possible to get marks for some of the assessment objectives (AOs). It must be so hard to discover you made a mistake when you've worked so hard. I often reflect on how much more pressure is on them than when I took them.

My ds hasn't done any revision today only a maths paper he's too tired just hanging out in the house had a footy match and that's it for today.
Tomorrow he sed he's going to do some science and English language letter writing practice which he's done about 7 times practice makes it perfect then he has tutor on Monday for science. Tuesday till Friday he has 3 hours of school each day for 4 subject's he has left that's 8 more exams 16th of June over.
When do all ur lots children's exam end and how many are they taking?

Ds has done 8 out of 23, finishing 3 subjects completely. Finishes on 21st .

Good luck to ur ds in his exams hope he gets the grades that u all are hoping for all the best

Thanks, yours too!

DS also finishes on 16th of June. Has completed only 2 subjects so far 7 more papers to do.

my ds also finishes 16th June but unfortunately the A Levels for dd carry on for another two weeks after. Seems like forever.

DS has taken 19 exams (22 if you count his orals and his assessed Drama practical) and has only 6 to go. He's completed 6 out of his 11 so far. He is taking it easy this weekend with Revision Lite but says he will start again properly on Monday.