Yr 11 support thread - the scaffolding is holding up well

[pointythings]

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

dd is desperate for a job! The summer is filling up with stuff here and there so I don't know how it will work but she's definitely going to look - she's planning to work through y12 ... with no AS exams I think that's reasonable (and she needs to work for a year before uni so having some kind of work history will surely help getting something for that year).

She's been working reasonably well this week. Today she's done a couple of hours of history & a maths paper (& been out to our town food festival!). She's planning to do another hour of maths & a geography paper this evening. I most worried about maths still - she really needs to pick up marks of the next two papers - she's most worried about history (she likes ideas not details i.e. dates )

Her younger siblings are being mega annoying - I'm sending them off to their grandparents' for a couple of days respite!

That's a good point, sunshine. If she had been dossing not doing her school work I would feel very differently.

She also wants to spend her time working on her physical fitness (hypermobility problems) and making a start on the reading for A level English Lit...

In the ideal world I'd like DD to get a job, but she's away one weekend with friends, going to a festival, away 10 days for our main holiday and also camping. On top of this she wants to continue with music lessons. Also, the Sixth Form she's hoping to go to expect her to decide on her EPQ subject and to do some reading to do some reading in preparation in the summer.

Argued. With dd this evening, a lot of her work has been pretend work imo (she does this fucking stupid thing where she says she's done a paper & asks me to read through the mark scheme - all the time nodding & ticking a blank bloody question paper because she hadn't actually done it WTAF????) - she's 16 I'll encourage support facilitate mark listen to her ramble on test etc etc but surely I don't need to check she's done the work she decided to do. Crazy.

I'm hiding in the bath now. Dh can do bed time, can't even drink because I'm so bloody stressed I get an instant headache & rampant IBS. Nice.

This is the child with no plan B at all.

I haven't been very happy with the amount of revision DS. Has put in this week. After messing up his Eng Lit last week he was really down. We had a chat and I said he can still get his required grades for his preferred 6th form option but he would need to work hard this week. I thought that spending the time he would be st school normally - 6 hours- revising seemed fair, giving some down time for exercise etc but he's had a couple of days where he didn't get up til lunch time and a couple of days he went out with friends to play football/ gym but then getting something to eat meant that he was out of the house nearly all day, only leaving a couple of hours for revision in the evening.

Oh Laniakea I'm so sorry.

Same here apple But I do think it's really hard to keep up the momentum for so long. I did my GCSEs in 1989 and I don't remember the exams being so early, most of them were in June. I certainly wasn't half way through by half term!

Dd hasn't done much this week, some though. She's been mainly focussing on History, first paper is on Monday. Dh went over some History with her earlier this week. We went away yesterday overnight so she had a proper break. She's got all day tomorrow to tie up any loose ends.

Then - English Language - she's strong and you can't really revise. Music listening paper - again not much revision you can do.

DS has done a pretty good mix of revision and socialising. Into school 2 days for revision sessions, 2 days off ( one for his birthday) and the rest revising about 5 hrs a day. Tested him on genetics for Biology this evening - my head nearly exploded! History of warfare on Monday - he feels fairly confident about the content but wants to practise timing tomorrow. Then maths, English Lang, music listening and Biology rest of week - only one day with two exams thank goodness.

lani I feel your pain, my condition is apparently made worse by stress but it's really hard to manage. I don't feel stressed as such, more frustrated & disappointed for him.
Ds switched back on last night, wouldn't go to bed, cramming like mad. He's had a week & hes now going to go back into exams with a disturbed sleep pattern exhausted.
Also, I think a lot of parents are not aware of how little their dcs are actually revising. I met one of Ds friends mum yesterday who was singing his praises, concerned he'd been over doing the revision. He's actually been constantly on social media/ Xbox & hes not the only one. Ds hates that I want to see actual evidence of revision if he's working alone. I'll go in to see what question he's got to on past papers. I discovered that he was on question 40 but had sneakily missed out a number of questions a few pages back, just trying to make me believe he'd done more work than he had!

Sadly I am well aware of how little revision has been done here. I will await results with some apprehension.

Little going on here too. I also have one doing a levels with an unconditional offer. Talks good revision but when I took clean washing into his room yesterday there were no books out at all. I wonder if there has been any revision at all over half term. I offer to help/test etc but it gets rejected. Think he is on Netflix most of the time. Younger one obsessed with DoTa on line game. Sigh.

Well DD has just gone off to an RE - Philisophy revision session at her school, I'm hoping she will take a break this afternoon as we have friends coming over and we're going off to a local event in our village. But I suspect DD will stay home and revise. We're At the point now where she needs to get back to school and sit her next exam as she's getting v nervous again.

Ready I agree that a lot of them are pretending to revise, I already told DS that I know that is the done thing, I've done it also, but I just told him the only person this is affecting is him. I can only do so much.

DS is getting a summer job, he already had one in year 10 but dropped it for GCSEs, he's arrange 4 days a week from after the exams, 6-9pm (it is a fish and chips shop, he's taking phone orders, they feed him also though I am not sure if that's a positive).

Yes, think the next two weeks will fly by with so many exams still to do. I think they will get more into the swing of them than for those before half-term. For DS though, with exams for seven subjects still to 'nail' in his final week, there's certainly not going to be the relief countdown until he actually finishes on 16 June.

DS has a week of paid work experience lined up which we're hoping might lead to a part-time weekend job in the sixth form. We would have preferred him to find something for a bit more long-term to keep him gainfully occupied over the long summer but we have a couple of family holidays lined up which rather put paid to that.

Good luck to all DC with the remaining two-three weeks of exams - the end is in sight (although then we will all be on a countdown to results day, no doubt!).

Not suggesting anybody is having the wool pulled over their eyes btw, was more clutching on to the fact that Ds is not alone. It can be hard when faced with other mums proudly sharing how hard their dcs are working, I'd love to join in rather than telling them he's still in bed. However, I can honestly say I'm fully aware of every effort he HAS put in

DS had yesterday off studying as he worked part of the day (shop work Saturday afternoons only) and we had visitors.

I think a lot of kids are not doing what parents think they are. We are almost having to micromanage DS as I don't think he has the motivation or the skills to revise effectively otherwise if I am honest.

Of course other kids are going to the opposite extreme and working all the hours available.

The visitors woke him at 12 so say goodbye. He was like a zombie and reluctantly agreed I could wake him at 1. I think it will be met with resistance.

And of course now I'm worried about him needing th elsewhere but mucking up his sleep pattern. Economics only tomorrow but 6 other exams this week, so he really needs to get on with it again.

I think I will let him sleep until 10 tomorrow and then go in for the pre-exam revision session at 11ish. In theory he is still meant to be going in for lessons...

Wish me luck for the wake-up!!

A little worried at how little mention of English Language revision there has been. If one more person tells me you can't revise for it I will cry! You can and must!

How?

Sorry to make you cry. I suppose you can revise for English Language, and probably should if you struggle with the subject, but if you have been working in all your lessons, know the format of the paper, have been getting good marks and understand the mark scheme, there isn't much else you need to do. I certainly wouldn't have encouraged my son to revise for it as the incremental benefit of spending a couple of hours doing another paper would have been very small versus the incremental benefit of his spending two hours learning dates for history or his Latin prose translation.

dd isn't revising for it - they've done months of Eng lang, just exam stuff since Christmas, she's predicted a 9. I have zero expectation that she'll get that but I'd rather she got a 7 in that (or even a 6) & a 6 in maths for example that risk the maths mark by doing extra English.

She's got history, Eng lang, geography, maths & both higher biology papers this week.

I do have the opposite problem where DD works too hard. And I do think it's a problem, as I'm well aware other DCs will do equally well with half the amount of revision. But she does stop by 6/7pm, and we have been out most evenings (meals, cinema, table tennis, etc) so fingers crossed that her down time has been enough. She feels better revising so hard, so I am trying not to interfere.

No time really to get a proper job this summer. She has two different weeks of work experience, then a school concert tour of Eastern Europe, followed by our summer holiday which is over two weeks. She also has some trips planned with friends.

She is hoping to pick up some tutoring work in her A level subjects though. She is very strong in languages, and is going to look to tutor younger children in her own, and some other, schools. That should provide some money/independence over the next couple of years.

She hasn't really had a break (her choice) since revising over Christmas for her mocks, so I am loathe to push her to get any other type of paid work.

Good luck to all DCs tomorrow. History here.

DD has been revising for English language, but that is because her school has barely taught it. They have relied on the DCs teaching themselves (it's obvious apparently ). I spent a day last week going through the AQA spec with her and working out eg how to do a letter etc. I am impressed by Red. Wish all teachers were so committed.

Excellent revision cards from Pearson for English language. Already got them for my gdd who is in year 10 £8.99.