GCSEs 2018 (2)

[Stickerrocks]

Pre-empting our 1000th post.

Are any of your DC doing GCSE PE and if so have they started the assessment/project and/or been assessed for their chosen sports yet? DS hasn't started any of it and I just wondered if this was normal or are the school cutting it a bit fine?

Its has both options double and triple science and also covers igcse too with more than one exam board...We have purchased Chemistry because DD seems to have lost her confidence a bit and it certainly boosted her yesterday....Probably looking to purchase one science each month Feb/Mar (Bio) Mar/April (Physics) and maybe all 3 for April to May...it certainly seems to cover whole syllabus and highlights weak areas.

DD not doing PE but I know they have started assessments because her friend is doing PE and they did one assessment in December.

Another Tassomai user here - DS had it for Biology and has asked if he can have it for all 3 sciences for the next few months.
He just likes the fact that it prompts him with questions.
I do think they feel overwhelmed by the volume of stuff to learn really when they open their files and books. Having it sent to them in bitesize chunks on their phones seems to lessen the impact/stress.

Having just gone on tassomai astounded at prices! £40 a month for 3 sciences? Really? I'll just sit and test my dgd out of revision books, it cost nothing g to do that! ( I'm a bit if a cheapskate)

Agree Pebbles574 - DD was using the App on her phone - I would get the occasional - I dont think we have done this yet and then she would realize they had covered it back in Yr 9 ....was pleased that it she had a weak section she would refer back to revision book too - we will see how she feels after mock exam today - but it did boost her confidence yesterday.

Yes - it certainly helped DS in his Biology - came out of his mock saying there were two questions he'd just done on Tassomai that morning. He was doing it in the car to and from school, so even that is 30 mins a day he otherwise wouldn't be revising.
I'm going for the marginal gains approach!

£40 a month does seem a lot at first, but some people are paying £40 an hour for tutoring around here so it's all relative I guess.

Teenmum - is your DD doing GCSEs over three years? Ours are too, and it does present a problem when they can't remember things from Year 9!

I test Ds too, but even though I did some of the sciences at university, I have forgotten almost all of it and I find that quite often i'm not sure if DS has given the right answer or not.
TBH I find it confusing because sometimes there will be a four mark question and DS will give the end of the answer but not spell out the blatantly obvious and i'm not sure if that means he will only get half the marks.
£40 is not a bargain (unless you are swapping out a tutor's fees for it) but maybe for the last couple of months before May, it could help cross the t's and dot the i's since it seems to be some sort of AI?

Yes Dd's sciences were all over 3 years - she has been consistent with Physics which she would like to do at A level - Biology has gradually improved and she should (cross fingers) get at least an A - Chemistry - a roller coaster because teacher has changed twice and she really rated the teacher she had last year who inspired her - forecast a B then up to A now back down to B (she did get an A* in end of yr 10 exams) - I actually think she's pretty good at Chemistry and just needs a boost but she said teacher is uninspiring (which I found to be true when I have met her) - so crossing fingers for good mocks.

It would be great if we could afford it, buy unfortunately we cant. Dgd turns 16 this week and we have to buy adult daily ticket for train till Easter at £8 a day. Cannot get discount only on termly tickets so will have to wait to next term . Her mum single parent on minimum wage so I will have to help and my new bed will have to wait. ( thank goodness nothing happens in my bed as its close to collapse)

My dgd sciences over 2 years and fast tracked I.e they only have lesson time for 2 GCSE and a lot of work expected to be done outside school in masses of homework and now the physics teacher says the last unit on space has to be self researched and just a few handouts yo help as there don't be sufficient time to cover it all b4 easter! They only pick top 60 to do triple because they are fast tracked. Music has been relegated to lessons outside S's school hours if you are doing GCSE. Ridiculous for those poor children doing it.

Is anyone else's DC doing the new AQA History GCSE (8145)? I have been stunned by the volume of material to learn, and there seem to be so few related resources. The teachers seem to be struggling to cover the course in time (only over two years, as it wasn't finalised before 2016.)

Sostenueto - there are other free resources which work in a similar way. Quizlet is good, so long as someone oversees which materials they choose to use. Sometimes schools will set up their own revision classes there. You can also hunt out other schools/teacher materials and save them. For an annual fee of £20 you can upgrade to Quizlet Plus which gives you some longer term learning options and metrics.

Ds is doing AQA History GCSE but i'm not sure if its the same sub-option that you specified. Agreed, there is a lot of material to be covered.

He's also doing Religious Studies and i was very surprised when i looked at the website and saw a suggested teaching schedule (from the exam board) that had the students still learning new stuff after Easter.

I was talking to a teacher friend of mine at another school and she said there's actually a teacher petition to AQA saying that the new syllabus is impossible and unworkable in the time and should be reduced from four modules to three

Cant help with History - DD doing IGCSE and I think they have nearly finished their syllabus now - I know a few of DD's friends are finding the RS course demanding ...I think this was one of the exams where they have swapped to GCSE.

Oddly enough Dd's school have only just opted to switch the lower set to Double Science - they have always done triple science throughout the school. I think set5 have been switched but all the girls have virtually covered the whole of the triple science before the recent swap - I think its just to try and maximize the higher grades to try and maintain the schools results - but DD's cohort are not performing as well as previous years academically - so should be interesting come August.

Thanks Pebbles will check out!

Talking to one of dgd friends from swimming who sat her exams last year. She was put in for triple science and ended up failing all but if she had done double she would have got them. She failed dismally on the 3rd paper of each science and only just passed other 2 in each science which bought her down to below a 3 which was a damn shame as she wanted to do sport science at local 6th form and needed at least double science award. Really felt for her as she worked hard and now has no idea what to do. Not a good idea to let all do triple as it really is a lot of work!

Sostenueto - can you tell me where you hot the info from that university admissions look at kids' GCSE results and not just their A level predictions? It's something I wonder/worry about. I find it hard to believe that they'd give them a lot of attention if the student was predicted good a levels ...?

I think they do look at gcse results to a certain extent because some schools over predict & some schools under predict A level results.

I'll have to ask dh as he sits on an admissions panel.

I didnt think they were doing numeric results in science last year - wasnt it still A - G - Surely triple science you pass or fail each exam - you do not have to pass them all ?

Kitnakaboodle I saw it on a Russell group uni site asking for not only a level grades but particular grades in GCSE for applications can't think which one at no but will get back yo you.

In triple you have to get certain mark overall and is unclassified under a certain figure. Bit like higher and foundation. If you got below a 3 in higher paper maths it was a fail but in foundation a pass. Same ( I think) applies in triple science. You might just scrap one paper but fail other 2. Maybe I'm wrong but I don't think so. In double you do 70% of each subject but triple in order to get 3 GCSEs you do 100% of each GCSE content. That 3rd paper last year was the extra work and hardest questions. This year I hear they are mixing it up in the papers though I really am not sure of that.

No you don't have to pass biology and chemistry and physics teenmum but you do have to gain certain marks for each GCSE to get that GCSE.