GCSEs 2018 (4 already)

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Following on from www.mumsnet.com/Talk/secondary/3152060-GCSEs-2018-3

@sosteneuto no, there was never a conversation about that. DS could have done the GCSE a couple of years ago, but I never suggested he should because it would mean taking A level early and then either taking a longish break from maths before going to university to study maths or going to university early, neither of which are desirable (I went to uni a year early so I have personal experience of why that's a bad idea).
Although it's been boring for DS, and at times it's been a challenge to stop him thinking that the subject itself is boring, I think chugging along in first gear to June 2018 was the least bad option.

I'm glad it's nearly over though.

Yes that's the bit I thought most interesting too loose. I was about to delete that post as its too long but I'll leave it on a bit longer.

Sostenueto interestingly, all my students find paper 1 harder. To be honest, if I had the power I’d scrap it and only make them do paper 2 and a presentation but that’s probably because I’m biased in favour of my students!
They spend a lot of time at school studying the literature specification anyway and develop their analytical skills there. I am not convinced a paper on an unseen piece of fiction that relies heavily on inference skills is a great test of English language competence at age 16.
I think your dgd can aim higher than a 6 but I also think 6 is a great result!

English language paper 1 harder, I should have said!

See your point mmzz, must be hard to keep interest up though. Isn't there any courses he could go on maths related? Dgd good at maths but not of the calibre of your ds. What about a uni course done at home?

Agree loose that old tiger of inference raises its head for my dgd. But positively speaking the extra one to one she been given recently on English language has helped immensely and she admits herself that she thinks her creative writing is getting better. She's so good at verbalising and its such a pity she can't get it down on paper because her ideas are really good. So fingers crossed because all I got after she sat the papers was OK when I asked her his she got on. Her mark for paper 2 was more than OK 1 mark off last years 8 ( still chuffed for her!)

@sandybayley good luck to your DD with the kangaroo. That's where DS1 was two years ago.
The UKMT was a real life saver for making DS realise that maths isn't all boring and that being good at it is generally considered to be a good thing (rather than an inconvenience for the teacher). It's made a huge difference. Without it, I think DS would have mentally given up on it by now

Sorry don't want to turn this into a long thing about DS and maths but just to answer your question @Sostenuto, DS was so turned off maths for a while that I wouldn't have been able to persuade him to do anything outside school. Also he has 9 other subjects, all of which have some challenge at least (English and geography have a LOT of challenge), so we've just let it go that he works in the other lessons, revises for those tests and uses maths for giving himself a mental break from work. It's worked ok as he's doing quite well in the other subjects too, and he probably wouldn't be able to do so well in them if he had to spend time for doing maths practice.

DD's school seem to concentrate on just the weaker subjects (apart from Maths where the HOM is determined not to let schools previous success decline). The HOY initially having a meeting with the student to look at what extra co-curricular activities are being done, there are quite a lot of girls who play sport at National level and the rowing team train most days so balance not easy.

What I have increasingly liked is it that they don't seem to be hot housing - when DD was really struggling with French she was calmly told a grade C was enough and then when she did well in mock she was asked where she wanted to pitch her final result. The head wrote an interesting blog when the new 1-9's were introduced stating that she had learned more from things that she failed at and about teaching children to handle expectations.

Dd's school Yr11's do not do UK Maths Challenge the school won't compromise the public exams (or will they let DC do further maths in yr 11)...however, if you have a child that is naturally gifted and will get the high grade in the GCSE I think its only fair that he/she should be given time to prepare properly. It seems odd mMZZ that the school continues to dish out basic homework in Maths - but I guess they are the experts - It may be that they have seen gifted kids fail on easy questions because they have been too laid back? Totally agree its good to have on CV (which he has achieved anyhow) although also understand that it would be awful mmzz if your DS didn't hit his conditional offer requirements so I guess it's getting the right balance.

DD seems to be going in the right direction ...she asked me to test her Chemistry last night ...hoping I can take a step back now (my worry has always been that I know she coasted and didn't focus in Yr 10 so revision is needed).

I most Uni's would rather see students sit GCSE's at the same time - it shows they can handle pressure rather than take exams a year early.

Get your point mmzz and am sure that you are doing what's best for ds

teenmum good point there and a proven one too. My dgd almost always gets the hardest questions in maths exams right. Where she loses marks is the stupid mistakes she makes in the easy questions. ( you only need to lose a few marks to drop from a 9 to an 8) Also she can ' overthink:' the easier ones because she's in hard question mode. Her teacher has said to the whole class repeatedly to not ignore the easy question revision. But top sets haven't done easy stuff for ages, their focus is always on the harder stuff. So a bit of a quandary really. Think noblegiraffe in last thread said something on the lines of answer easier questions right without touching harder ones and you could get a level 6. She's a maths teacher so think she may be right. so importance of easier questions must not be underestimated.

Sos Interesting reading but I cant understand why there doesn't seem to be a consistent approach by exam boards. DD sitting International GCSE 1-9 and there are only 2 papers yet its the Edexcel Board and a new syllabus started from 2016. Same for English she is only sitting one Eng Lang and one Eng Lit exam paper. All higher level.

Picking up the conversation about paper length from earlier, I had an interesting conversation yesterday with DB whose DS is taking the A GCSE equivalent exams in Scotland in about seven weeks time.
In Scotland, 20% of the overall score comes from a project completed during the year, not under exam conditions. I think they have to write an essay or something that gets sent of for marking.
DS thought this a superior system to linear exams as it means you don't pass or fail depending on whether you are ill on the day of the exams. However that isn't the English system, is it? Each GCSE is subdivided into two or three papers taken weeks apart.
Maybe that's a good argument for having 3 papers all by itself: if you are ill on exam day, then only 1/3rd of the exam is affected?

I do believe the linear system is the best system having heard and read threads about the amount of cheating done on coursework (one teacher on the live radio show stated she had helped a radio presenter cheat on their coursework - dictating the whole of the coursework for the student to write down 25% of the total exam). DD's English exam is 40% coursework but DD would rather it be all be linear exams - she feels its then a level playing field - no cheating - no external help.

I would prefer for DC's to take say 5/6 exams at the end of Yr 11 - English Maths and 4 subjects of their choice that they may wish to take to a further level - by all means teach the whole curricular but is it really necessary to pass exams in every subject? This way children can really enjoy learning the subjects without any pressure - it seems that children are being groomed to just pass exams.

The trouble is there are DC who thrive on coursework but go to pieces in exams. There are others that cope well with exams but aren't so good at coursework. It clearly didn't work very well having coursework because standards dropped. So how can we cater for all the DC? Well, we do have to have exams. We have to have a measure to judge our dcs abilities. But do we need so many exams? Every year they are being tested for this that and the other. From primary till age 18. Its too much in my opinion. I think Finland where they only sit one set of exams at age 18 a fantastic idea! The curriculum just teaches our children to pass exams. If there are no exams surely the curriculum will become much more expanded? More relevant to dcs lives they will lead. Yep, I really love me the idea of dropping exams till age 18....think we will emigrate

I think true entrepreneurs don't need the pieces of paper like Branson and Sugar...just strong work ethic and motivation

I think we are all mostly in agreement of less exams and yes. You don't need qualifications to succeed but there isn't many with that extraordinary drive and determination to succeed. If you have it then fantastic, if not, then qualifications only way to make it good. But even then its no guarantee to success. Its personality that dictates it all really if you think about it and lady luck as to what life throws at you.

It's true that the greatest entrepreneurs don't need exams to succeed, but also true that most of us are still employees. I've done both types of work and the one where you get to be a cough in a huge machine is infinitely easier ImHO. I got a big shock the first time my pc didn't work and I couldn't call IT support. Ditto when there was no legal dept to ask advice from.
Every entrepreneur starts or like that -having to be a jack of all trades- and it's hard I can't say I use much of the things I learned at school, but three skill of actually learning is something that I need to do every day just to move forward. All the exams did was test my ability to learn and the results gave my future employers a clue as to how well I could do their job.
Having been both an employer and an employee, I'd strongly advise any young person to leave with as many qualifications as you can, because having learned to work hard and learn will make your life a lot easier in the long run.
(I know I'm preaching to the converted!)

The academic qualifications matter in some fields, not all hence I would prefer to see a broad curriculum but exams in fewer subjects...I still believe we are not educating children but in some cases becoming an exam factory. I read an article on Oxbridge where they were encouraging schools to teach outside the classroom to enable students at an early age to develop a passion for a subject.

I'd like to think that hard work (and qualifications) pays off but I'm not exactly sure it does ...when you look at the kids leaving Uni who cannot get jobs...I would not be surprised if we go full circle back to the 70's where the children go into employment at 18 learn on the job and do far better than the children going to UNi with no work experience.

children go into employment at 18 learn on the job and do far better than the children going to UNi with no work experience.
I would not be surprised either. University degrees seem like nothing more than a money making scheme for universities in many cases.

What i was trying to say, was that teenagers should not console themselves that some of greatest entrepreneurs had a limited education (and therefore don't worry about putting in the effort at school) because its extremely difficult out there - to get a first job or to start a business - and anything you can do to give yourself a leg up will be worthwhile. Its not impossible to succeed despite doing badly at school, its just harder.

It's not impossible to succeed despite doing badly at school, it's just harder. Totally agree.

I emailed DS's physics teacher yesterday morning. She hasn't replied. Its only been 36 hours, but typically replies come same day. This teacher sometimes ignores emails, however. I think she is unique in that habit at the school, as the school is very hot on seeing things as a 3-way effort teachers/ students/ parents.

How long should I give it until I can chase, or better still ask the HoD who i'd have rather andressed my question to anyway (I only emailed the teacher out of politeness)?

Sorry for butting in on the issue of motivating talented mathematicians bored doing GCSE. My son did his one year early early and is now doing FSMQ Additional Maths (and Maths Challenge/Olympiad). But to keep up his interest he also embarked from 14 years old on Isaac Physics isaacphysics.org/ Whilst it is about physics (which actually he prefers) it also has a large maths components and is very much around problem solving. It is also free

Dgds school can take a while to answer emails as teachers get an awful lot of them and it can take a long time for them to read them all. They get emails from students as well as parents. We have found that ringing them or leaving a message with the school receptionist via phone the quickest way to get a response from the teachers. Even then it can take a couple of days.