GCSEs 2018

[DoNotBringLulu]

Hi all, I am sure many of us with dc going into year 11 this year are trepidatious about teachers and pupils thrown in at the deep end due to the new GCSEs.

There is one thing I can do which I hope will help my ds (even though he thinks I'm mad!), which is to get hold of this year's GCSE English Language and English Literature papers, read the books and work through the paper myself - I studied English Lit at university over 20 years ago. I will know for myself after I've done this how difficult the exam papers are at least - I'm not sure who I can ask to mark it for me though!

Can anybody tell me how challenging the Maths and English papers were for their dc? I understand these were the two subjects introduced with the new format.

its not about posing problems in a more challenging way, its about teaching something new that's exactly what I mean! So we agree DS is very fortunate to be in a school where they do exactly that. Maybe the solution is to get rid of GCSEs altogether [drops that and runs to hide]

drummers no need to hide! The need for GCSEs gets questioned quite often!
DS1’s school rejigged the maths. Originally they regarded the top two sets as same ability and they were taught the same stuff. This year they’ve changed it. Set 1 are doing additional maths and topics from the A level syllabus. Set 2 is focused on gcse and not add maths. DS1 is very happy because he likes the new topics and some of those moved down or across to set 2 are also pretty delighted! So it can be done.

mmzz - well, words ARE visual, but a page of text isn't very memorable. His reading /comprehension/processing and writing skills are below average but his visual cognition is well above average, so he is brilliant at 3D design for example and can remember things presented using pictures, colours, shapes etc so much better than text.
He gets extra time across the board, because there isn't a single GCSE which doesn't require a fair amount of reading/writing.

Of course, bright kids can be quite dim sometimes. DS1 got it into his head he was expected to be able to do A level maths topics after one quick demo. Went from love maths to can’t do it in one day. Luckily he spoke to his teacher who explained she was just showing it to them - he is relieved now and a bit sheepish! But mainly relieved.
We have one more sixth form to look at and then just the open evening for his current school. The main thing is not forgetting the different deadlines for forms!

First sixth form open afternoon done.

How many will you look at Second? We’ve seen two, one more new one due on Tuesday then existing school next month. That’s quite enough!
Is anyone else’s dcs finding physics challenging at the moment? DS1 is enthusiastic about maths and science on the whole but says he’s finding physics really hard compared to chemistry and biology. Of course, this could be a sign he needs to put more work in!

2 back-ups plus existing school.

DD says her whole class is feeling lost in Science generally, not just Physics. I think the volume of info is such that the class just has to go too fast (top set Combined Science).

My DD is finding science a bit overwhelming at the moment too. I think partly down to teaching (or lack of ) Her class had a supply teacher for chemistry last week and she says she learnt more in those 2 lessons than she has the rest of the term.

Regarding the sciences, as they are the first year doing the new spec, I imagine grade boundaries will just be a lot lower, especially if the same amount will get the same grades as I believe that's what happened with maths last year.......fingers crossed!

DS2 is feeling confident in Physics (which works out well seeing as he wants to study it at university) but got below 50% in last week's geography topic test. This is a subject in which he is meant to be aiming for a grade 8. This evening he told me he's planning to "put some extra work in on that topic". I should bloody hope so.

Second it happens! good wake-up call!
Not too sure what's going on with physics but will get DS to check his books at half term just in case there are some important gaps! Otherwise, he seems to be keeping on top of things.

My DS is a definite grade 9 in spin doctoring of his test results!!

Had an interesting talk to DS this morning on the question of science, he's doing triple and agrees there's an awful lot of content, he says he understands the concepts but his concern is whether he will be able to remember everything! He also said that a lot are struggling and according to him they would be better of doing combined instead of triple - which was interesting as in year 9 there was a meeting for parents at the school regarding science and on speaking to head of science he felt everyone should be doing combined unless they were a real high flyer!
Did your schools also give similar advice?

Science good here - it's French causing the stress! Again its about quantity of stuff to just learn and remember. However STEM subjects definitely dd's thing, languages not so much.

(She's also in a class of 6 doing French and is definitely the weakest - I have pointed out that bottom of the group for a subject only picked by those who really like it isn't such a big deal . . . )

Turns out Physics is favourite science here, results usually in the nineties so we're not worried... For us it's the sheer amount of workload that's making life hell because of extracurricular life clashing with it. But it's his choice. He has started cousework for music and history. Hours of sleep are being sacrificed and I don't like it!

Geography mock next Monday - this will be interesting! Two emails from school - one about that and the other reminding us of all the music coursework. I think that’s more or less on schedule.
Drummers oh no, coursework on top! I hope he isn’t too tired at the weekend but I know it’s very full on.
Teenagers do seem to be on a different body clock!

DS's first music composition is due in tomorrow!
He has been playing it, fiddling with bits, playing it again, changing other bits ALL EVENING. It does sound ok though (don't want to be disloyal...)

GCSE drama performance was last week, though DD has no idea re marking etc.

She's now mid way through her GCSE Computer Science timed assessment. She says it seems to be going okay. Some tricky bits but she is working through them methodically.

Timescales for DD's music compositions:

No 1: started February 2017, dragged on all summer, is "almost finished Mum", final final date is 1 December 2017.

No 2: will start 2 December 2017 and finish 3 December 2017. Or so I am told by DD

Traviata that is exactly like DS1! To be fair he’s ‘started’ composition number 2 but not sure how far he’s got...he’ll have to rein in the perfectionist tendencies! There’s a sort of dress rehearsal for the performance stuff next week.
Another open evening last night, which I missed because I was at work, but apparently it was heaving and they got paired up with someone who wanted to see slightly different things. DS1 liked it though.

DS has 2 subjects with coursework, CS which is carried out in lessons and PE.
PE is a bit worrying as already lost one teacher, which I don't think was a great loss as according to DS a lot of people complained about her but the new teacher never seems to be there! so when this coursework will be done is anyone's guess......at least DS doesn't seem to be worried about the situation

This thread makes me feel stressed just because none of this pressure seems to exist in our house and that in itself worries me!

Dd is so laid back about it all. Very little evidence of homework and definitely nothing beyond that.

Parent's evening next week will be interesting but she's at quite a low performing school so they usually think she's wonderful just for turning up with a pen in her bag!

I'm torn between trying to encourage her to do more and celebrating the fact she's not a ball of stress!

We did 2 sixth form open days on Saturday. Both big city Catholic colleges. She loved them both and can't wait to leave her small town school.

DS took 3 with coursework. He isn’t stressed and it does seem to be under control, although I get a bit twitchy about it! It does slightly ease the crazy exam burden in the summer, so it’s a bit of a mixed bag really.

We don't have our first sixth form open evening until December, the one at her current school is next week but she has absolutely no intention of staying there.
German is a nightmare, new teacher who is apparently useless and can't control the class, found a four page letter in DD's bag that she is composing to HOY to complain about her!
Science so much better than last year, gone from a 3 to a 7 in Biology in first half term, amazing what a change of teacher can do.
Drama performance done thankfully as the group she was working with just couldn't be bothered, she has decided next two performances will be monologues.
Getting her head down with loads of revision off her own back, just hope the results reflect her effort.
(Low-performing, pretty much on it's knees rural tiny comp, threatened with closure - don't think it will be long).