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.

Done cold war here too. Does anyone have to give in History coursework essay early December?

DS is doing history but there's no coursework, is your DC doing igcses?

Yes bluebelle you're right, it's the igcse. I wasn't aware of the coursework element difference.

DS3 is 6 hours in to his 20 hour computing coursework. His teacher has sensibly called a temporary halt to it until the decision is made. He's quite sanguine about it. We chatted about it last night after I saw it mentioned on a thread on here and he was relieved he'd only done 6 hours. That's more than 2 weeks though.

History mock today, Chinese tomorrow (his worst subject.) He's got his grade 5 flute on Thursday, will be glad to get that over with. Christmas concert next week during last week of mocks. Blimey, it's all go!

So sorry for anyone affected by this computing sudden unknown...

Ellen - Dd has almost finished hers, by end of week it's done. Ofqual have recommended that although they don't want it to count towards any grade, that all students will have to complete the task in full.

Hate the uncertainty and how unfair it is on the children. Dd is pretty relaxed about it at the moment. Her teacher had spoken to them and reassured them that it all worthwhile work anyway, and fortunately an area that she's loved doing.

DS2 is performing in school music concerts tomorrow evening and the evening after, then will start rehearsing for school carol concert. Hopefully that will distract him from the Computer Science NEA uncertainty.

mmzz I meant more work for the GCSE to cover not sure what it is though, parents evening next week when all will become clear. Ds went on a trip to Berlin last year great background for the Weimar Republic and Cold War.

School music concerts seem to clash a bit with final week of mocks but DS1 already feels he's rehearsed enough! Not quite the same case with revision...At least it's a day of art today and a chance to get some coursework finished.
Have decided to block the computer fiasco from my mind at moment!
Good luck to the dcs doing music exams during the mocks!

Another one here who’s just got back from a concert to revise for a maths block test tomorrow...
Differentiation, surds, graphical transformations... nothing I can help with, so I’m making helpful toast.

DD will have her further maths exam on 19 June, then a couple of days off before their final assembly which she needs to organise with the head boy. Their prom is a week later, with 6th form taster days slotting in between. Bought her prom dress this evening. That's it, no more school after 29 June. I'm treating her to a cruise outside of school holidays. All the age 15-17 places sold out months ago, so she should have plenty of company. Then she's hoping to get a place on NCS before results day.

Olivers I've just read back through the posts and spotted yours. This must be such a dreadful time for both of you. Some of my own students are motivated by the thought of doing it all because their friend or family member hasn't had the opportunity and they want to do their best for them. Others, understandibly, simply want to hide under a duvet. GCSEs are not the be all and end all of being 15 or 16, especially when you have some much other stuff to deal with at the same time. Maybe your DS's HE background will be the thing that drives him forward as he can focus on what interests him whilst he is down rather than being stuck in an endless cycle of tests and revision with people who don't understand what he is facing. Best wishes.

@KingscoteStaff your Dc is doing differentiation (i.e. Calculus) at GCSE??

Thank you Stickerrocks . Ds's issue is that all his motivation has gone.
I am trying to explain that if he can just get his maths and English (even if it is an D or even a E grade) and a couple more GCSEs (which I know he is perfectly capable of) he can reduce his course from 3 years to 2 years.

Then last night he was having a wobble over which career he should be heading in.

mmzz my DS has also done differentiation.

Ds's maths teacher proceeds at a snail's pace. I was thinking that there wasn't much material left (or surely he'd go a bit faster?) but calculus and - yesterday's example - completing the square have not been touched on yet although both require a fair bit of practice. So now I'm wondering if there is a problem in Ds's top set maths class?

If they are doing differentiation, and they also doing the reverse process: integration?

Ds's maths teacher practically does a new topic every lesson.....I suspect they are behind.

All of the sciences are hoping to finish the syllabus at Easter, all said there will be very little time for revision!

He's doing IGCSE, though - will that syllabus be different?

I was curious, so googled the iGCSE curriculum. I think this is the correct document:
www.cambridgeinternational.org/images/203719-2017-2019-syllabus.pdf

The list of subjects is on page 5, and then the detail later. I won't pretend that I read the whole thing (!) but calculus isn't in the summary list:
All candidates will study the following topics:
1 Number
2 Algebra and graphs
3 Geometry
4 Mensuration
5 Co-ordinate geometry
6 Trigonometry
7 Matrices and transformations
8 Probability
9 Statistics

Maybe your DS is doing some other maths qualification too? Or the school is teaching beyond the GCSE content? Or (equally likely) I'm simply looking at the wrong thing?

DS is doing Edexcel IGCSE and calculus is definitely in the Higher Tier syllabus.

DS is doing AQA and was told calculus (differentiation but not integration though I could be wrong) is one of the topics brought down from AS into the new GCSE

There's more than one iGCSE? I didn't know that.

Edexcel IGCSE here. It seems exactly the same as the O level syllabus I did in the ‘80s.
I didn’t understand it then, either...

Oliver What does he want to do at college? From conversations on here, colleges seem to have much looser entry requirements than staying on at school in a 6th form. He should be able to get a place with 5 GCSEs including maths & English with a minimum of grade 4s. Would you be able to contact the admissions team at his chosen college to highlight his exceptional circumstances?

If he has only recently lost his best friend, his motivation will have disappeared, but that's bound to be part of the grieving process. Take baby steps and keep focusing on what he can achieve on a good day rather than what he hasn't achieved on a bad day. Every little bit that goes in is positive.

DD is also doing the IGCSE Edexcel...they are having an extra lesson after school each week which seems to be working well with DD...just going through past papers which are marked ...she's definitely upped her game and getting some high scores now... Feeling allot happier that she is attending clinics and I'm not having to prompt her! She was not allowed to drop French (yet), the feeling was that she has ability but had lost her confidence so now gets clinic on Monday lunch and Oral work on Thursday lunch. Next review after mocks in January.