Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. A phone that grows with your child.

Meet the Other Phone.
A phone that grows with your child.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
Secondary education

Connect with other parents whose children are starting secondary school on this forum.

Original poster

GCSEs 2018

998 replies

DoNotBringLulu · 12/08/2017 16:19

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.

OP posts:
hertsandessex · 06/09/2017 15:55

I lost track but last year in year 11 my daughter seem to have mock every month or two :) It was an ongoing process to get them used to exams way before syllabus was finished and some of the grades early on were awful so wouldn't worry too much. In several subjects she went from D in mocks to A*.

Stickerrocks · 06/09/2017 16:03

I think they were told before the holidays, but they all forgot to share the news with their parents! Straight into revision classes after school now though.

mmzz · 06/09/2017 18:01

When do they get those science exams back? The ones that were sent to the exam board for marking just after easter. (every school had to do them - yes??)

mmzz · 06/09/2017 18:03

I've just googled the answer to my own question: 14th September 2017
qualifications.pearson.com/en/qualifications/edexcel-gcses/sciences-2016/free-year-10-exams-in-2017.html

drummersmum · 06/09/2017 18:28

What mmzz? I haven't heard of any science exams sent to any board. DS is mostly doing IGCSEs maybe that's why?

Sadik · 06/09/2017 18:48

DD seems to get it easy - no exams here until the 1st week in December.

She gets to meet her new English teacher tomorrow (previous teacher retired at the end of last yr). Strangely she's never been taught by or even met her in all her time in the school to date - and had to ask around to find out where the classroom was!

drummersmum · 06/09/2017 18:52

Mocks are after xmas here.

mmzz · 06/09/2017 18:59

@drummersmum edexcel offered an exam to all science students in year 10. It is a one-off because our Dc will be the first to sit the new science GCSE. The papers have been marked by the exam board and are being returned o the schools next week.

Not all schools chose to participate, even amongst those that do edexcel science. At Ds's school they were made out to be a big deal, requiring a lot of preparation over the easter holidays a few months ago

drummersmum · 06/09/2017 19:13

Thanks mmzz

Littledrummergirl · 06/09/2017 19:22

Hi all, I have ds2 starting yr11 and ds1 in yr13 I will need plenty of Gin to get me through I think.
We haven't even looked at sixth form with ds2 yet, still trying to get through university open days with ds1. I must get him to find out about open days.

He went back properly today and has already done his homework, so I think he gets the importance of this year. It's a case of keeping him motivated.

KingscoteStaff · 06/09/2017 22:16

DS has mocks straight after Christmas hols - that's going to be a jolly time!

1st deadline is Music composition 1 - due in in TWO WEEKS TIME!!!

Stickerrocks · 06/09/2017 22:31

Rumour has it that 20% was the average mark on the science papers. DD has been told that her school will get the results on 14th then give them out after they've had enough time to prepare their response!

drummersmum · 06/09/2017 22:43

kingscote DS compositions are due in March...
Apparently only two of his subjects will be graded 1-9. The rest remain as letters. I'm happy with that.

BlueBelle123 · 07/09/2017 07:26

stickerrocks were the science exams on the whole syllabus or just what they have covered so far? as that would make a huge difference, as I presume they haven't finished the syllabus already! Anyway best of luck to your DD.

At DS school the end of year 10 exams were just on what had been covered that year.....but how accurate to the new exams is anyone's guessWink

Mmzz · 07/09/2017 09:51

I can answer that, if it helps?
The science exam was on a subset of the double science topics from the first two terms. So, not everything from the full double science Gcse curriculum and not even everything from the first two terms.

Ds1 is doing triple science but students like him just did the double science exam in April too.

20% is very low. But how can you know that when the information hasn't been published yet and the teachers don't have access to any secret data?

Stickerrocks · 07/09/2017 17:53

I have no access to anything, which is why I said "Rumour has it". The results are going to be meaningless anyway. They were simply useful practice for the kids and a benchmarking exercise for the exam board.

mmzz · 07/09/2017 18:27

Sorry I didn't mean to challenge you. I was just wondering how the rumour could be true?

Sadik · 08/09/2017 08:18

Well, dd had her new English teacher for the first time yesterday, & she's deeply unimpressed. They've now been switched from studying To Kill a Mockingbird over to To Mice And Men ("But I liked it. And I've Thought about it. And I've made Notes on All of it. And now I've got to THROW MY BOOK AWAY" - further questioning reveals that the book in question is her jotter pad, rather than the schools copy of TKAM.)

I'm putting money on the teacher switching them from Merchant of Venice to Romeo & Juliet as well & have put in a pre-emptive sally as to what an excellent and interesting play R&J is. . .

BlueBelle123 · 08/09/2017 11:25

If the previous teacher had already covered TKAM last year then it does seem odd to change now - I guess you have to hope that this teacher is absolutely fantastic at teaching Of Mice & Men and so everyone is guaranteed to pass!Smile

DS is doing Macbeth and an inspector calls, unfortunately I don't think he has been diligently making notes outside of school!

DS seems to think that most people won't be trying very hard their Y11 mocks, as apparently the novelty of mocks wore off with doing that in Y10Confused - make sense of that if you can!!!

Sadik · 08/09/2017 11:53

Because they did the language GCSEs in yr 10 they only started the books at the end of the summer term, & I think a lot of the class hadnt got through TKAM. shame for dd tho as she's vastly better at reading / analysing than physical writing, so the longer & more complex the text the better for her.

KingscoteStaff · 08/09/2017 16:06

Does anyone know if there is a production of Macbeth coming up this Autumn? Anywhere up to 2 hours from London? I'd just like DS to see it 'properly' rather than base his ideas on either his Year 5 production or some dodgy film.

mmzz · 08/09/2017 17:19

www.ents24.com/walton-events/walton-playhouse/macbeth/5123690 macbeth - walton on thames - 1st week of November

Stickerrocks · 09/09/2017 22:29

mmzz Smile

KingscoteStaff · 12/09/2017 19:38

And RSC have just announced their new production with Christopher Eccleston! Have to go all the way to Stratford, but worth it!

Not sure when it opens - I think before Christmas.

Cherryburn · 12/09/2017 19:47

According to What's On Stage it opens on March 13th and will be broadcast live in cinemas on April 11th. Just in time for revision!