GCSEs 2018 (2)

[Stickerrocks]

Pre-empting our 1000th post.

Last mock today. Hooray.
Couldn't finish Latin verse paper yesterday because of lack of time. He thinks he may have lost six marks only because of that. Literally had to stop writing half way through the last question. I find this very discouraging because he knew the answer. Time is often a problem. He tends to write a lot, with a bad pen grip. Oh well.

You people are planning a lot of revision! We have to keep music going so there will be less revision in this household except during Easter break.

Bit of relief now mocks are over drummer! Hope music goes well, I was a musician but my dgd not interested at all in music.

DS is aiming for an 1 a night, which would include homework, although that's only ever about 2hrs a week!

He also does an awful lot of exercise runs, cycles and swims each week only one day when he does nothing and there is no way he would stop doing any of that so I think an hour is realistic and achievable.

Due to pick DD up at 12.45 today and then she only has French Oral at 9am on Monday and that's it for DD's mocks. She's back to work tomorrow (has not worked since end of November due to Mocks) and she starts helping out with Brownies on Thursday evenings - not ideal timing but needs voluntary work to complete Dofe. Will try and stick with 1hr revision and see how it goes ...she has a festival coming up (Piano) but low key - we may put her next grading back from May to August given that she just plays for leisure.

@Teenmum60 is your Dd doing bronze or silver DofE?

She's completed Bronze apart from voluntary work - was supposed to help out at junior school library but got distracted (lunchtimes) so didnt do the full 3 months - hence now she is due to help out at Brownies so she can get award signed off. She could have done Silver this year but we decided to leave it until next year because of exams. How did your DS get on at interview by the way?

DS2 has also finished his mocks.

204/240 in the three Maths papers, which he's happy with. He knows why he lost the marks and how to adjust his exam technique.
93% in the Latin language paper. Other marks not back yet.

Excellent results the secondofhername!

Thanks Sostenueto, he needs 60 points from his best eight grades in order to do the A-level subjects he wants, so he has been working very hard.

The interview went Ok, I think. He had to learn some stuff which went well and then talk about himself to see if he would be a good fit. We'll know whether he got in in about a fortnight's time.

DS got to within 200m of the building and decided that he really didn't want to go in, so he had to force himself onward, but he emerged smiling. So, even if he doesn't get a place (and i REALLY hope he does), he'll at least have benefited from the interview experience and the little bit of resilience he had to find to do it.

85% in maths ... that was a borderline 8/9 last year which is exceptionally good, particularly at this stage. well done!

Great Maths and Latin results secondofhername....not sure how I am feeling about DD's results coming back - although I know she has put in allot of effort which is all I can ask !

Well done to your DS for his resilience Mmzz and great that he came out smiling.

60 points across the best eight is very high isn't it, TheSecondofHername? Is that staying at the same school or going to a new one? Surely it's not a state school (sorry, very late to the thread and haven't read it all).

DD had all her mocks before Christmas which was much better than having them afterwards. The marks/ grades were given on a single sheet last week in the same way as the real thing and the projected grades adjusted but I've taken note of what some teachers on earlier threads said about the new grades and told DD these grades are to some extent a stab in the dusk and not to take a huge deal of notice of what they are.

Thesecondofhername in my dgds 6th form 39 points to do 3 A levels but 58 to do 4. A level 7 to do maths and at least a 6 for science subjects plus same in maths.

@TheSecondOfHerName How is the 60 points calculated? Is it 1 for a level 1 and 9 for a level 9?

Its a catholic comp.

Ours is mmzz

Also HAVE to have level 5 in English and maths ( no level 4s) and no resits accepted.

yours is what, Sostenueto? A catholic comp?

i think we may be speaking at cross purposes. I was wondering what the points related to?

Oh sorry mmzz entry to 6 the form top 8 GCSE grades a 9 given 9 points down to a 1 given 1.

How is the 60 points calculated? Is it 1 for a level 1 and 9 for a level 9?

Yes. To stay where he is, he needs 60 from the best eight grades. Specific subject requirements: an 8 in Maths, a 7 in Chemistry, a 6 in Physics and a 5 in English language or English literature.

Even n if you get the allotted points certain subjects ask that GCSE grades be certain grades depending on subjects I.e sociology/psychology don't even require a GCSE in that subject to do the ALevel but maths you need a level 7 in GCSE . sciences require a 6 in that subject plus a maths 6. Hope that's not too confusing. Im not well today ( that's my excuse and I'm sticking to it)

To get 60, you would need 4 8s and 4 7s. if you get a 9, then you can afford to have a 6. Wow! That is a lot ( and will exclude a lot of students from going there)!

I'm not surprised though that you'd need good grades in some subjects to do the A level. There's a lot of maths in science (for example) and any student who is challenged by re-arranging an equation or manipulating powers (indices), for example, would have a much more difficult time doing Chemistry or Physics.

Ditto History at Ds's school needs a good grade in English.

Hence why there was a lot of pressure on the mocks and even more on the real thing. If my dgd can get at least 2 9s it alleviates some pressure but that damn English!!!!

@Sostenueto TBH I am a little confused about how schools can genuinely indicate 8s and 9s (or any grade really) for mocks in any subjects other than maths and English this year. The reason why I write that is because to get an 8 or a 9, your exam score has to be in the top 5% or 2.5% compared with the rest of the country - approx 550,000 children.
Teachers only know for sure how the DC in their school compare with the rest of the school - maybe 200. They can make guestimates based on KS2 SATS results, and they can use their experience but to be able to finely grade that child A is in the top 50-26/1000 and child B is 25-1/1000 and therefore A is a 9 but B is a 8 seems a bit unrealistic without something to base it on.
Next year, the schools will have this year's GCSE papers, and the grade boundaries so they'll be able to calculate fairly accurately, but right now they haven't got much more to go on than a general impression that these DC are really good, but these DC seem to be a bit better.

I write this as someone who is really proud that DS averaged 8.25 in his mocks (yes, I worked it out!), but deep down I know its all a bit meaningless and TBH I know that if I'd tried reporting stats like that in my professional life, I'd have got the sack and deserved it because at best its silly and at worst it misleads the users of the info (i.e. the Dc and us parents).

I think we, and wrose our children, are being set up for a fall in August.