GCSEs 2018 (3)

[mmzz]

Following on from:
www.mumsnet.com/Talk/secondary/3113917-GCSEs-2018-2

mmzz I think its nerves just because he is not outwardly showing that he is nervous doesn't mean that he isn't especially as he is clearly putting an awful lot of pressure on himself to beat his brother, its a case of wanting it too badly and so careless errors will creep in.

Also for your DS2 its incredibly difficult to follow a very academic DB that in itself can put a lot of pressure on him, some DC just give up as they know they can't compete, its a shame but so many DC judge themselves against their siblings.

Just a thought but could it be the opposite is he too relaxed and over confident. My ds loses marks from silly mistakes and not answering the question incontrast to his more focused sisters who concentrate on picking up every mark they can. He is bright and know s lots of stuff but doesn’t apply it to the questions

mmzz It sounds like your Ds's are very different maybe you need to ask DS2 why he doesnt do so well in exams and why he makes silly mistakes ? Perhaps he doesnt want to look like the class geek and finds it easier to do well in exams (enough to get into top set) rather than execl at this point in time given he is in yr9. Maybe he does it to get some attention from you too...its hard to know unless you ask the question.

Gamer - Its pointless comparing two systems the UK system is what it is (this change over is difficult) ...I do find it odd that your DS is doing foundation if he got a 5 in Maths mock though. I guess if he is not showing his ability in class then I its difficult for the school to know what level he is working at

The problem us gamer that if your son is not achieving higher in class then the teachers don’t know he will cram at the end & be OK.

If a child is a borderline Grade 5 then often it’s better for them to do the Foundation Paper where they will be answer most of the questions than to do the incredibly difficult Higher Paper & risk failing completely.

I have asked him many times and he just shrugs and says he doesn't know. His body language says he doesn't much care either. He seems to think that as long as he's not at the bottom of the class, then all is fine.
Except when he looks at DS1 and then it's all talk about DS1's year "is dumb" and how DS2 is going to beat DS1. DS1 rarely says these things but he is just as competitive in his own way. (Heaven help us if DS2 gets a girlfriend first!)
DS1 is hard to beat but DS2 is similar in ability so he should be better half the time.
Ds2 is just a mixture of contradictions.
Anyway, I've just told him what I would never say to DS1: if you don't do well in your exams through not putting in the effort then you will have me tutoring youin year 10 which will not be fun, and you'll wish that you'd just taken the easy route of making the effort this weekend. (I felt bad afterwards though Ds2 just seemed to think I was being unreasonable).

Mmzz It's so difficult because most parents want their children to reach their full potential in whatever they choose to do..perhaps he will change when he moves into yr10/11.

I'm actually taking responsible parent hat off and leaving it up to dd now...l'll help when requested and provide lit's of support....but I need to see some self motivation from dd now. I witnessed the sad situation of a 15 yr old girl running away from home this week...staying out all night in the cold and arriving on her friends doorstep 50 miles away at 7am the next morning which makes me realise how vulnerable teens are...Sent shivers down my spine...

Why did she run away?

@Gamer schools adopt common use words and give them a whole new meaning. Good doesn't necessarily mean the dictionary definition of good, just as years ago schools that were classified as "satisfactory" were far from satisfactory.

They used to call a "C" a "good pass", even though it was the bare minimum to make it worth mentioning. Now, 4 & 5 are the equivalent of the old "C" and they are respectively called "a standard pass" and a "strong pass".

The teacher was just using last year's terminology.

I'm sorry your son isn't doing the higher papers but I don't know how you can be sure that he has enough knowledge and skill to get the high grades when he, presumably, has only ever been taught the material relevant to the foundation papers?

Hi, someone mentioned on here a good revision guide for ocr computer science / if it was one of you still here could you let me know which one you recommend, there are a few around thank you !

Thanks for the reply @mmzz.

His school calls a 5 a "stong pass"

I'm sure he could attain higher grades Its just a matter of having him crack the book. He's in the top set classes but he's put all the "boring" work on the backburner as he's more interested in graphic design, animation and film production and that takes up his hours outside of study time. Its frustrating. He studies an hour a day during the week and 2 hours weekends PLUS 5 hours during breaks and holidays with the higher revision guides, but if he is not supervised closely he will stare into space dreaming up concepts for his design stuff and get no work done. He's got a busy mind full of his own "important" ideas rather than understanding the practicality of education. We have on multiple occasions, in Math, English and Science, been told he was on the brink of failing, but after spending 2 weeks one on one tutoring with my husband went on to get the highest mark in the class. My husband, thankfully, is very strict and has high expectations being the product of a boarding school childhood, but he often works out of the country. I'm a little more lax as I have chronic pain and often I am sleeping or trying to catch up on all the things I can't get done in the day. When we went into the meeting for English, his teacher pointed out he's not very good at handing in homework....I swung my head around and stared at him. "How can you do homework EVERY DAY and NOT do your set homework?!?!" He tried to make an excuse but I just told him to save it for his Dad. From now until his finals he has after school with his teacher: Monday Spanish revision, Tuesday English, Wednesday Math, Thursday: Science, Friday: IDD and Saturday: Sociology. Plus his home study time, 3 more one on one's with dad, and he's doing Science and Math revision with Tassomai. Should he need more than that, he can scale back his creative time, which he wont like and will very quickly start showing massive improvement to regain.

A big part of our determination to push his teachers to give him the higher test is that coming from different countries it is not normal to cap a child's potential. I can not think of a single reason this would be good for any child, particularly when the teacher recognizes the ability and decides not to push the child but play it safe instead. Had she bothered to speak to us, she would have known we will put everything we can into his education.

Sorry, that's really long. Its not actually that complex, I such a waffler.

Yes, I agree with that @AlexanderHamilton and I take issue with this as well. Why on EARTH do we not have parent conferences at the beginning of the year so that we can set out our commitment to his success? I am shocked at how very little contact I've had with his teachers. Its really irritating to come in and be told he's failing when there have been months and months of time to give a call or pop an email and give us a heads up? My kid isn't even allowed to play video games over 2 hours a week and he has to earn that! We are trying our hardest to focus him, but the lack of communication, and unfortunately our lack of understanding of what NORMAL is in the UK has been a huge handicap.

There will be a cut-off date for enrollment to take the GCSE papers and it will be quite soon, it=f it has not already passed. if you google the exam board (edexcel, ocr, aqa etc) and GCSE 2018 key dates, you will find the final date quite easily. This is your target - once this date has gone you will not be able to get your on enrolled for the exam you want.
You need to get the school to change its mind, which will not be easy. Or find a different examination centre.

The foundation and higher papers differ because some students aren't up to dong the questions on the harder papers. They can master basic skills but not the more advanced ones. So they sit the foundation papers to show they have learned the basics. It is thought that it would be unair to make them sit an exam where they couldn't even begin to understand half the questions.

Afternoon! Nearly end of half term here and DD done next to no revision, apart from a 2 hour history lesson yesterday at school and a 1.5 hr physics class today! Not nagging though, as she was weepy last weekend. Seen her counsellor this week and we are getting her iron levels checked, as she is tired all the time. Doesn't eat properly and doesn't do vegetables, but has promised to try better! Fine line between eating too little and eating too much, so going to get her involved in food shopping and planning of meals, to try to get her to eat better. She did go to town with friends on Tuesday and seems a bit brighter now. Came with me to a friends on Wednesday who has a dog, so she was happy messing with him for an hour or so.

Teenmum my DD is 16 in a weeks time and not planned anything. I will ask her if she wants to go out to town and get food with her friends, paid for by me, and see what she says. She has 2 good friends and a couple of others and all seem really good girls, so don't have to worry about Queen Bee types - she is def not one of those! Girls can be horrible at times.

More mocks in March here, so she will have to up her revision a bit!

oddsocks - we had similar with dd and she went on the pill about 8 months ago and the difference was noticeable within 8 weeks, so I would get that sorted asap. Similar feelings here from DD - she always seems to play second fiddle to her younger brother who plays football and is being ferried around the place for that, taking up 5 hours at a time, while she is left at home with either me, her dad or her gran. She feels she cant ask to do things that may need her taking somewhere as it will impact of her brother, so doesn't ask. You forget they are adult in size and clever, but still young in thoughts. she was told in no uncertain terms that her needs are equal to her brothers, and sometimes she needs to be put first!

DD was asked if she wanted to go to her aunties in London with a friend after her exams, but she didn't fancy that. Offer was then if her and I went down on our own, and she seemed keen on that, so we are planning a trip for 2 nights at end of June. Just need the cheap train tickets as the family and friends railcard isn't any good as she will be over 16, so not a child anymore!!

These prom dresses are fab. Will find a piccie of DD's to add to the thread!

mmzz - I dont know ... I think its probably a combination of things - Its just such a worry that there seems to be so much pressure on children from their peers/school/parents ...(I would have said that the girls relationship with her mum was very strong- mum incredibly supportive (girl very talented) and mum probably equipped more than most mums to deal with emotional support of a child).

User - My Dd is using the CGP OCR Revision Guide plus Exam Practice workbook with the two CGP Practice papers which are in a brown envelope.

The prom dress - silver one in background shows it full length, but she has it in navy

androbbob - not sure whether the 16-25 railcards give a discount too?

Love the dress ...

Entry date for Exams is 21/2 but tier can be altered a bit after I think

Androbbob

Delurking to post this from the railcard site:

If your little one turns 16 before your 1-year Family & Friends Railcard runs out, they can still travel at the discounted child fare for as long as the card is still valid.

Sorry for the accidental grins

Do the kids have to do anything about their exam entries or do their schools just complete all the paperwork for them? DD says she knows nothing about entries.

Gamer can you motivate DS by reminding him that most colleges will require a minimum of 5 GCSEs at grade 4 or above to get a place on a course?

We renewed our railcard days before DD turns 16 after spotting this in the small print.

Androbbob suggested to DD a few weeks ago that maybe she should go on the pill and she tore me to shreds! Since her meltdown she has asked for me to make an appointment with Dr.

She went ice skating today and I cleaned her bedroom while she was out so can now see the carpet! Her spirits have lifted but she has mocks when she goes back to school....

Love the dress

Haven’t read whole thread so apologies if this has been asked already.

How much revision are your year 11s doing?

Also, regarding train fares, when they turn 16 they become adults. However, you can get a three month season ticket the day before they turn 16.