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Secondary education

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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:
TheSecondOfHerName · 19/09/2017 11:14

Some sixth forms don't fill up all of their places on results day, so it is possible to make a late application for the places that are left.

On the morning DS1 went to receive his GCSE results, there was a queue of more than 50 external applicants who had already collected their GCSE results from their own schools and were now waiting to apply for any remaining sixth form places.

drummersmum · 19/09/2017 11:38

DS' plan is to stay at his school. I believe his school encourages 3 A levels plus EPQ. They moved to linear long ago, but I think an extra language can be taken for 1 year or something at lower sixth. We have a information evening soon and hope to find out more then.

DS lit texts don't seem to coincide with anyone else's on this thread. He's doing Cambridge IGCSE for English. Anyone?

mmzz · 19/09/2017 11:43

DS is doing Romeo & Juliet, An Inspector Calls and Jekyll and Hyde. I think there's a wide range of books to choose from.
Personally, i think Macbeth is a much more interesting play than R&J, with much more that you can say about it, but DS's school does it in year 9.
So, much of what they do by way of options seems to be down to the teacher's interests and tastes - especially in History and in English.

LooseAtTheSeams · 19/09/2017 12:01

drummers not igcse but I'd love to know which texts they're doing. Is he enjoying them?
Hard Times is a good choice - possibly chosen by a teacher with strong views on Govian education reform!
DS1 has A Christmas Carol, Macbeth and An Inspector Calls plus poetry. Not sure which poetry but I'm hazarding a wild guess it's not the love and relationships one! Macbeth is good and I'm looking forward to the live screening in April.
I'm tutoring someone on Romeo and Juliet and have to say Romeo is the most irritating character. Another tutee was doing Merchant of Venice and Frankenstein, which are good choices.

drummersmum · 19/09/2017 12:06

Nice list your DS is doing, loose.
DS is doing Spies (Michael Frayn), A View from the Bridge (Arthur Miller) and the poetry anthology Songs for Ourselves.

mmzz · 19/09/2017 14:03

DS has got the Love and Relationships poetry, along with R&J to contend with. In history, he's doing a women's role in society theme.

Somehow, I don't think the school are especially concerned about the 15 year old boys in the class!

mmzz · 19/09/2017 14:12

My last post made me think - maybe the History and English teachers have a high % of girls in the class? So I checked: English is 50/50 and History is 2/3rds boys, with all-female teaching staff for both departments.

Allthebestnamesareused · 19/09/2017 14:27

DS doing Edexcel igse has Macbeth, An Inspector Calls, Poetry (there is varied list they cover!) and Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe (which I hadn't read but have now!)

It is 60/40 boy/girl mix at his school as it was historically a boys' school and there are two good girls schools in our town but no boys schools.

mmzz · 19/09/2017 17:09

For those who are completely ignorant about sixth form, this thread might be interesting

6th form open evening questions

Stickerrocks · 20/09/2017 20:31

Science mock update: 35/50 for physics, allegedly in the top 5% in the country. I'm not sure if I haven't heard the biology & chemistry marks yet because they haven't been given them or because they weren't as good! Anyone else?

Mmzz · 20/09/2017 20:42

Only levels. The school said they weren't giving raw scores. DS : 2 7s and 1 8.

He's not pleased but I'm hoping it makes him realise that just being amongst the better group in his class does not mean anything about how he compares to the rest of the country.

In the triple science class there were several U levels. The school advice 18 months ago was that only the most able would be permitted to do triple science.
I suspect that there will be several students who have just had a timely wake up call about how much they need to learn. DS included

Stickerrocks · 20/09/2017 22:12

That sounds encouraging though, as they still have 8 months to go. Our school is already running revision classes and drop in sessions 3 nights a week to help them get up to speed again on topics covered in year 9.

Allthebestnamesareused · 20/09/2017 22:16

So we've been to a 6th Form and Careers Meeting at DS school tonight for year 11s and they have to put forward their A level choices in November but could possibly change after mocks in January and then timetable allowing after actual gcse results! November!!!!

lljkk · 21/09/2017 06:15

DD is saying she'll choose A-levels = biology, chemistry, maths & English Lit. She is pleased that her mock science results (May 2017 sitting) seem good. I can't fathom why she wants English Lit, better her than me! I wish I could talk her into French, instead. She's sad about moving on & losing/see less of friends of last 5 yrs, but at least not deciding which college b/c of which friends go there, which is good. There is a taster day at nearest college, in October. X fingers she likes it b/c that one is very convenient compared to all other colleges.

Mmzz · 21/09/2017 07:20

DS doesn't know which way to go for A levels because that choice will give a general direction for university and then his future career. What he's torn between is what he is really good at: maths, and what he is really interested in: history.
If he plays to his strengths then he should do maths, further maths and physics but if he goes with what he enjoys then maths will just be another A level and he won't be in a good position to get a place at a good university for a maths related degree.

Stickerrocks · 21/09/2017 07:53

Taking maths keeps options such as accountancy open for the future. DD is planning to take maths, history & politics. Taking a subject like economics also bridges between the two. She's dropping further maths as it would only be relevant for her is she was set on taking maths at university & she can only take 3 subjects now.

WhatHaveIFound · 21/09/2017 08:12

DD in on/off about Maths A Level. It depends what day of the week it is and how her latest lesson is gone. Music & Geography are more certain.

Which leaves one more choice...

mmzz · 21/09/2017 09:26

The problem DS has with maths is that he finds it really boring. He gets 95%+ in every test without having to revise, and when he gets introduced to something new, he says it only takes a couple of minutes and then he understands it and can do it. In a class context, that means he spends a lot of time listening to the teacher re-explain something that he already knows and then practising it for hours.
Even the extension work is too easy.
So, he's good at maths but finds the repetition boring, whereas he's more like a 7 or 8 at History, and he has to put effort in, but he finds it interesting.
The complication is that knowing DS, he won't be happy at university or in working life unless he's good at what he does, and that points at maths.

mmzz · 21/09/2017 09:30

Economics is a good idea, except the City is the main employer for that, and its contracting. I think computing will be the growth industry of the future.

BlueBelle123 · 21/09/2017 09:30

For those that sat the science papers what board and level were they? DS's school are also going to do it but the board is Edexcel and it seems like they will be doing the foundation.

BTW I think your children's results sound fantastic effectively an A and A*, can't believe you say hes not pleased, I assume by that he is expecting 9's, can I just ask what sort of school it is. DS is at a typical comp so getting those sort of levels at this stage would be considered excellent!!

mmzz · 21/09/2017 09:33

@BlueBelle123 - he's at a comp, but a good one. The school think he'll get 9s in science, so I suppose that's the disappointment, as he was hoping for 8s at least.

BlueBelle123 · 21/09/2017 09:45

MMZZ that's interesting then, because if DS's school is also doing the same Edexcel exams then it makes you wonder how big their initial sample was when your son did his, ie he may have done better than he thinks as a small sample would be less accurate.

mmzz · 21/09/2017 10:16

That's true, @Bluebelle123 the sample size could have been too small to draw meaningful conclusions. Or it might be that the schools that took part had disproportionately high % of selective schools with a low take up by schools that typically get results below the national average which would skew the results.

I guess we'll find out next August. Smile Meantime, it doesn't do DS and his class any harm to realise that the universe is a bigger place than their classroom!

BlueBelle123 · 21/09/2017 10:18

Actually on reflection I don't think DS will be doing the year 10 papers, trouble is you get so little information from him all he said is that it would be externally marked by the exam board and I assumed it was the same as what others have already done!! In time no doubt I will eventually find out the full picture!

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