Yr 11 support thread - the scaffolding is holding up well

[pointythings]

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

anybody's DC done astronomy today?

This just popped up on my Facebook feed. It echoes the concerns so many of us have

www.tes.com/news/school-news/breaking-views/parenting-frontline-exam-reform-what-can-i-do-when-my-daughter-has-a

@Possum - wishing your DD a speedy recovery

Dd seems quite a lot better thanks everyone.

I think she is stressed and tired more than anything.

She's upset about the RS exam. Says she really messed a Question up. She had to write about a Christian who had campaigned for human rights and then a Muslim.

So she wrote about Martin Luther king, couldn't think of a Muslim person so wrote about the vicar of Baghdad even though she knew he was also a Christian. It was a six mark question but I've told her that she should be ok for half the question, so only three marks she's probably not got.

Does it sound like a bad mistake? No idea how many marks there are in total?

So sorry to hear about your dd Possum! Sending positive vibes and I hope she wakes up fresh.

DS had Computing this morning too and thought it was "not as hard as I was expecting" which I am hoping it translates into "I've done well".

We're struggling with motivation after half term too, but what I find amazing the most is how tired he is. He tells me exams make him feel really tired, tonight for example he fell asleep at 7 and I think he'll sleep through the night.

He's not going out or doing anything else so I find it puzzling.

Fleur - DD is also absolutely exhausted. She's been in bed early every night and also isn't doing anything else. I can only guess that the stress of the exams is taking it out of her, even though she is outwardly coping very well. I do feel for them all - half term seems to have just prolonged the agony rather than restored their energy.
We're gearing up for the Friday-from-hell - 5 exams in a row (Biology followed by a music and German clash), so hoping she doesn't crash before then.
Hugs to your DD Possum. Fingers crossed a good night's sleep will work wonders.

Just stay endlessly positive, even when DD starts to crack! Be extra super forgiving and patient when she gets stroppy and fed up towards the end. Keep her eyes on a long summer.

Possum, certainly sounds stress related, poor,poor dd. Really hope she's feeling better today & had a good nights sleep.
Ds really tired here too. I managed to get him out of bed yesterday at 9 with the lure of bfast out. My plan that he would then have the day for some essential maths revision totally backfired though as he went back to bed while I worked & didn't wake up until 3
I left him revising at 4.30 but when Dh came home at 6.30 he was on the Xbox. He was working when I went to bed at 10 though so will no doubt be exhausted for his exam today

Good luck to those taking maths today. Dd has a break until middle of next week now, then pretty full on to the finish.

Good luck to everyone with today's exams

DS (politically minded) has just headed of to Maths reminding himself to 'Be strong, be stable, even if the examiners have created a coalition of chaos of different topics in each question...' At least he left with a smile!

Firs 2 exam day tomorrow, with Biology & Music.

Possum fingers crossed that your dd feels better today, it's such a grind always moving on to the next paper.

dd slept a lot yesterday, she wan't looking well & I was quite worried - seemed much chirpier this morning so I hope it was just tiredness. Maths today, biology (B2 & B3) tomorrow - she really needs to cram tonight then has to start thinking about next week (history 2, chemistry & physics are the big ones).

Just back from early morning dash to buy a calculator" Where's yours?" "Lost it in year 7""What have you been using??????" "My phone"

Apparently there was a very interesting question about maths in AQA History.............

ds didn't bother taking a calculator into the computing exam even though they are allowed one. He said it wasn't necessary. Exasperated parent mode.

ha, I liked the "using mobile for calculator since year 7".

So dc1 not so bad then when he asked dc2 for her compass just this morning as "his compass wasn't working very well".

Whenever I have been able to I have been collecting him from school straight after the exam, and he has been having some afternoon naps.....

We have rather dropped off the wagon here. After the frenzied early start, DD only has 4 exams after half term so the momentum has well and truly stopped. It seems the more time there is to revise the less is happening because she is SO BORED. (Me too).

Maths today. The worst exam for her. It's iGCSE, so still marked in letters. She needs a 5/C to get into 6th form and I think I have worked out a C could mean the equivalent of a 4 or 5. i.e. she could get a low C (4) but it would still be a C? So OK for 6th form.

Right, that's enough maths for me...

Merry, it's the other way round for us - a phoney war before half term with very few exams, then a frenzied fortnight, then a final outlier. Everything is, oddly, more relaxed now it's much busier - no time to dwell, just onto the next thing - and both DS and I are less stressed.

He also probably cares more about the election than he does about his GCSEs. No wonder he's taking Politics A-level....

(Also, dd said yesterday it was a 'strange time' to be doing GCSEs with so much going on in the world. We are in Westminster, so I think everything is feeling quite close to home.)

possum, how's DD this morning. Tell her not to worry abut RE, there's going to be questions they don't know or can't think of an answer to, at least she had a go and putting something down gave her the chance of some marks.

Quad, I sympathcize, my DD has biology and music on Friday and another exam on top would be too much.

Good luck with the exams today. DD hasn't even revised for maths, as she's been putting her time into the biology and music exams tomorrow.

AQA maths "very very difficult"

How has ds managed to do mocks without a calculator, Bertrand?!?

No idea!

EdExcel Maths "Really, really hard."

Text from DD saying EdExel maths 'soooo hard'. Set 1 students crying and finding many questions impossible. DD is in set 2 so expected to be able to very little of it. I guess its harder for set 1 students to accept that they could do very little of the paper.