GCSEs 2018 (2)

[Stickerrocks]

Pre-empting our 1000th post.

DS2's school used the sample paper from the exam board website for the mock exam in one subject. Quite a few of the students had downloaded it at home and worked through it as part of their revision; DS2 hadn't. So his mock result will be low, but it won't affect his eventual grade.

Actually I think I should clarify my post in that the mock was their year 10 mock and it was actually the teacher who told them.

DD sat her mocks before Christmas and the results are trickling through. There is definitely room for improvement but the basics are there.

DD now has a packed programme and no time to do extra work because she is involved in 3 theatre productions;

one for GCSE Drama, secondly the school show, and the third one is a national competition for Yr 11 students.

So there are rehearsals every night and no chance at all of going to any catch-up/revision classes. Sigh. They will all be finished by March, but even so.

WHY is there a drama competition for Yr 11s? FGS do it in year10!!!

@Thesecond I think you're referring to the edexcel year 10 science exam last April? As far as I remember, edexcel said it wouldn't calculate grade boundaries for them because the sample (of students who took the exam) was scewed.

Actually DS did a physics and chemistry edexcel exam style paper last September which was sent off to the board, maybe it was this, don't think they were ever told the results.

DD got her results from the September exams. She got straight 8s, but then dropped her biology & chemistry to 6s in her mocks. I keep repeating "The only results which cou t are 9n 23 August" like a broken record.

Been to see Darkest Hour this evening. Shame DD is only doing pre & post WW2 for history. Great film.

@mmzz and @looseattheseams - her target grades were As all through yr7 to yr9 and then changed to 7s with these new system. I think her mocks were pared down sample papers but the maths and English were last year's actual papers. Interestingly the science dept have said the triple science sample paper seems harder than previous years.

DD has a new french teacher as well as theirs left at Christmas - same happened last Christmas as well....... New one seems to have a plan to get them through it with 30 yrs experience.

School is an academy and does a lot of on the job teacher training, so lots of turnover of staff.

How long to 12th May and first exam......😂

Third of the way through mocks here. Going exactly as predicted: English, History and French positive; Biology less so.

I hear loud galumphing upstairs, which is hopefully a sign he’s on his way down to do some work.

In other news, his summer timetable is now up on the school website. It is all nicely spread out, except for a triple clash on one morning!!!

Stickerrocks interesting your DD got her results (fab by the way), as I only asked DS last week about it

I so agree that the only results that matter are those in August and provided they get enough for the next stage then that's all that really matters also...........but do they listen to us, there are certain subjects that DS really wants to get 9's in and if he doesn't then he will be soo disappointed, which I find ridulous!

No more results here but was worth doing music audition as teacher was impressed and has offered DS use of some whizzy software to help with his gcse compositions. This help is very much needed!

Bluebelle I could have been your son. I took maths and English O levels early, absolutely certain of getting an A for maths. I didn't. I got A for English instead. I was devastated. Of course, you didn't get marks or remarks or grade boundaries in those days, so I had no 8dea what happened. I spent the next few years proving my maths talent and accepting at the same time that nothing is guaranteed in an exam room. I now teach for professional exams and get anomoloues with every set of results, from unexpected failures to top in the world prizes.

Sorry my question should've been grade boundaries FOR mocks, not from mocks. Phone! But thanks for answers. I think every school will use a different system, as DS did not sit any papers in y10 and they mostly do IGCSEs.
loose that's cool and I'm still sniffing possible music a-level?
DS is at jd all day, so no revision today. And traviata I'm totally with you, DS has a school musical with three performances (rehearsals all half-term, so no revision), two music competitions, five concerts... Everything will be over before Easter (except another music comp during the hols) but it does make one a bit nervous. Just remember they need the mental space. It's probably better for them to get involved than not, even during exams. The brain's a funny thing and it doesn't always work best the more hours you make it study.

Stickerrocks I have told DS that he is at a very average comp and so doing well against his peers will not necessarily translate to competing with the rest of the country!!

The trouble is the school predicted 9's so children now think that that is what they should be getting and plenty will be very disappointed on results day when they don't get them.

Snap. Our school predicted 8+s based on year 6 SATS and year 7 CATS. Ridiculous given the number of unknowns in these things.

(Apologies for my constant typos. I always fire these things off on a Galaxy and don't check what my fat fingers have hit before I post!)

luckily DS is a pretty laid back character so his working hard for these 9's is an hour a day.....he actually said he wished he was doing the old system as then he wouldn't of had to start revising until Easter!

DD had 1.5 hours of extra English today - was up ready for it and buzzing when came home as the session was very good. There about 30 kids that they want to move up from expected grade 7/8 to 8/9 and they have a six week programme for them on a Saturday.

I have stressed more than once that GCSE's are a stepping stone to the next level but to aim for a minimum of pass in each subject.

Sounds like a lot more studying going on elsewhere than here, but maybe that is because of Mocks, which DD did in December. Had a quick chat today about it, as don't want to nag, but need to see some evidence of something going on. She has bought herself a 'how to pass your GCSE's book' and little and often is the message she has taken so far.

Gotta let her just get on with it!!

I'm wondering whether I can get away with not taking DS2 to the A-level options evening.

Arguments for attending:
As courtesy to the school, who've taken the trouble to put it on.
So DS2 doesn't miss out on this rite of passage.

Arguments against attending:
Difficult for either DH or I to get there due to work commitments.
DS2 already 100% knows what A-levels he wants to do.
I've been to several options evenings in the past and did not learn anything new from any of them.

Well just found out dgd was just 1 mark short in maths for a 9 and 2 marks short of an 8 in biology mocks. Grttrr! Oh so close and yet so far.!

drummers I suspect he hasn't ruled it out!

Sostenueto the grade boundaries for mocks are estimates, so not exact.

@Thesecond we feel like this with DS2 all the time. Generally, I try to go but it's hard to feign interest when I was at the same thing two years ago and have spent the last two years living the reality.
Solution:
Go to the evening if your son is bothered. Otherwise get him to decide it's not worth the bother. Else he'll feel aggrieved that you weren't interested in his milestones.

mmzz I asked DS2 and he's about as keen to attend the options evening as I am, so that's answered that question.

Monday night is GCSE options for DD Year 9. And it all starts again...

At the moment, her only definite option is PE because they get a really cool hoodie... Oh, and Latin because last year's trip to Pompeii looked really cool.

Me too, Kingscotestaff, except DS2 doesn't need to submit his Asian form for another few weeks.

DS2 wants to do exactly the same GCSEs as DS1. That's a bit unusual, isn't it? DS2 is very competitive when it comes to DS1, I'm guessing he's going to be trying to get better results in 2020.
I can't say that I'm looking forward to it. On the upside, we won't have to buy any new textbooks or study guides.

Just wondering, do any of you receive school reports that have words and opinions on them, rather than just a set of coloured dots? That's all I have ever had from the secondary school.