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Original poster

GCSEs 2018 (5 & a puppy, but no kittens)

999 replies

Stickerrocks · 22/03/2018 22:48

Here we go again.

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/secondary/3177476-GCSEs-2018-4-already

OP posts:
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12
Oddsocks15 · 04/04/2018 10:14

Teen - My DD has two interviews for 6th form, one for the school she currently attends and one for back up school.

It was expected that parents went with their DC for school she currently attends. When they say interview, seems that term is used in the loosest way possible. It was more of a “tick box” exercise, it lasted 5 minutes, no questions asked about her subject choices, briefly mentioned her good attendance and behaviour. Told DD how wonderful the 6th form is and where they are in the rankings and was she aware of that!?

For the back up school, DD went in on her own, no questions asked about subject choices just why she had chosen the school.

LooseAtTheSeams · 04/04/2018 10:15

Teen sounds like the kind of thing DS would come up with!
Actually, all that really matters is what's on his results slip in August. I'm sure all the final decisions are made then, anyway! I will query it but just in a mildly curious way!

Teenmum60 · 04/04/2018 10:29

I'm just hoping that they don't pursue the question given that she was asked to submit reasons why she wanted to take the A levels she has chosen at application time.... I'm not sure whether the backup school gets oversubscribed ...its small at 120 girls although part of a consortium of 3 schools....she's an external candidate but it looks like they are interviewing about 10... We purchased lovely jacket/trousers/blouse so she will look very smart!

I am so looking forward to NO packed lunches and time off from washing PE kit (hoodie cannot be dried in tumble dryer because they shrink and take ages to dry)

HesMyLobster · 04/04/2018 11:01

Stick very good news for your DM, hope she has a speedy and comfortable recovery from her surgery.

Sost so glad you're allowed to go home. Just take it easy and put your feet up!

Kick your poor DD, that sounds really worrying - hopefully the B12 injections will help, but it must be such a difficult time for her, and you Thanks

Mmzz I have a night owl DH who works late then wakes me up when he comes to bed too! Drives me mad!

DD has been doing approx 5 hours a day in between work and family visits etc.
She has her birthday party tomorrow night though so I can't see much being done after today.
Her birthday is a few weeks away and we decided it would be too close to exams for a party so we arranged it for this week instead.
I am regretting that decision slightly as there has been far too much time spent trying on outfits via FaceTime with her friends etc! At least it's given her something to look forward to this week though.

HesMyLobster · 04/04/2018 11:04

Jufus my DD is a dancer too and always struggles during holidays when there are no classes - she's so much calmer after a good class!

HesMyLobster · 04/04/2018 11:06

Loose that sounds to me like an admin mix up - I would definitely query why he's down for support not EPQ if he had decent mocks etc.

Oratory1 · 04/04/2018 11:20

I sympathise Kick, sometimes difficult at this stage to distinguish between physical illness, general teen hormone/exam stress/teenage life issues, and real low mood/depression. Hope the treatment helps and as a minimum at least provides more energy to deal with the other stuff.

DS upped his timetable to 5 hours a day after all the discussion going around in the press and a pep talk form his sister. In reality he s probably doing 3 to 4 and dyslexia is making 'learning stuff' a slow process with not much going in each session. But that's still much more than he's ever done before and if he keeps it up it would be great.

JufusMum · 04/04/2018 11:35

Lobster - we are lucky we don't really have school holidays off, just one week at Xmas and one at Easter, she was exhausted last night after a six hour session with a visiting teacher from London - the best in the business - she was a little starstruck especially as I paid for her to have a private lesson with him.

What type of dance does your DD do?

EllenJanethickerknickers · 04/04/2018 11:39

DS3 has gone into school for a music GCSE revision day. His school are offering various revision sessions throughout the holiday, mostly 10-3 which is really good of the teachers as it's in their own time. Today's music session clashes with Chinese but DS3 is quite glad to miss that one, probably his least favourite subject.

LooseAtTheSeams · 04/04/2018 11:59

Lobster I agree - Also I hope there isn't a worried parent wondering where their support vanished to!
Have just been out to stock up on food as the locusts seem to descend from their bedrooms and polish everything off!

mmzz · 04/04/2018 12:06

@Oratory1 I don't know if I've said this to you before, but get your DS to try Seneca Learning for the next time he wants to do a specific sub-topic in a science, or maybe History. It specialises in optimising how the memory works, and there's not much reading in it, which is why i think it would be good for someone with slow processing speeds.

(I looked at their Instagram feed yesterday and I can see they are a very new business - only started a month ago - so I think I should buy shares given how much promotion I am doing for them! I am impressed with it though and I do think it could be good for your DS).

Oratory1 · 04/04/2018 12:16

Thanks again I will have a look. I wish I had got Tassomai because that may have worked for him too - but probably a bit late now - or do you think it could help may be just for biology at this late stage. What does seem to be working is practising papers. DD2 swore by it as the best way to revise and I was never sure how she managed when I never saw her doing any actual old fashioned learning of the material - but ds says it’s helping him too. Also helping him build some stamina by getting used to full papers and the timing. I think some of his time issues weren’t just speed of writing but the time he took reading the instructions and working out what was expected - I think it will make a huge difference going in knowing exactly what he is expected to do.

mmzz · 04/04/2018 12:20

Tassomai is supposed to be extremely good. I haven't heard one bad thing about it. It is never too late (but the sooner , the better).

I didn't get it because its expensive, but I will if DS is struggling with any of the sciences by the time this holiday is over.

HesMyLobster · 04/04/2018 13:04

We bought the Tassomai full programme for DD2 over a year ago and it's been brilliant, she's gone from predicted 4s and 5s in science to predicted 7s and 8s (and even now plans to do science A levels!)

We heard about it too late for DD1 two years ago, but paid for the 3 month crammer type course at about this stage and it really helped her. (She was predicted AAB in triple and ended up getting full ums in almost every exam!)

HesMyLobster · 04/04/2018 13:05

I've just had a look to try and link to the 3 month crammer but it looks like they don't do it anymore.

I would still recommend it, even if just for a month - it was the best thing we found by far for science revision.

HesMyLobster · 04/04/2018 13:13

Jufus that sounds brilliant!
DD competes solo and part of her troupe in all disciplines except ballet. She still does ballet classes but realised a few years ago that she's not a "natural" ballerina!
Contemporary is definitely her "thing" but she's a strong tapper too.
What about your DD? Sounds like she must be at a good school with that calibre of guest teacher?!

KickBishopBrennanUpTheArse · 04/04/2018 14:11

How does tassomai work? How long per day do you think it would take at this stage? Is it realistic to try to do all three? Dd is getting 5/6 in mocks but would like to bring them up to a safe 6 /poss 7s.

She's doing daily duolingo on her phone and finding it really useful. It fits into her day and she likes the challenge. I think a similar thing for science would be perfect. At this stage it's going to cost £90 for 2 months and I think it might be worth it.

Would love to know how others found it.

AlexanderHamilton · 04/04/2018 14:18

DD started Tassomai in February & to keep on trackshe has to do around 20-40 mins per day.

drummersmum · 04/04/2018 14:35

We've just started Biology Tassomai to bring in some diversity into biology revision. DS has found it too easy and repetitive except that there is a question every five or six which he finds useful and a challenging. For me, the problem is that they ask you a question you answered right again too soon after you gave the correct answer instead of waiting longer to bring it up again. That's OK with the things you got wrong but not with the things you got right which should wait several days to reappear. Just my opinion. The other problem is some of the answers are just there for a laugh, such as "HD-ready tomatoes". DS finds that a waste of time. I called them and they explained they can't up the level, so you really have to complete up to 15% before it gets more challenging. We'll keep it up for a month or so but IMO it should not substitute real revision or take time out from real revision, as the actual papers are not multiple choice and like DS says, he has never seen a Tassomai type question in an actual paper. That said, it's a clever program and it's of some help. Just my personal experience.

stickerrocks have not had a chance to wish you mum a speedy recovery Flowers

JufusMum · 04/04/2018 14:55

Lobster DD does Disco Freestyle primarily (competitive), yes the fake tans and rhinestones! - she also does ballet, rock n roll and contemporary (we call it Slowdance in the DF world).
The teacher is the guy who is considered the No.1 Disco Freestyle teacher in the UK - he's had countless UK champions.

Teenmum60 · 04/04/2018 15:06

I asked DD about both and she stated that she feels that Tassomai consolidates your knowledge because it is repetitive (I cant find the very long paper that DD's school sent out 12 months ago but it states that you really begin to remember facts if you have studied them at least 4 times)...like drummer stated it asks questions 3 times in quick succession and then will ask again later too... (which can be annoying if you are just topping up) DD felt that Seneca strays away from the IGCSE syllabus (she feels they may have copied GCSE and not understood the difference between the two), its still useful and worth using because its free.

Oratory1 · 04/04/2018 15:10

Hmm thanks Drummersmum that's what I was wondering about tassomai. I was worried at this stage he's spend time answering stuff he knew when from doing the papers there are clearly chunks of the course he understands and 'gets' and other sections he needs to work on. Probably would have been good had we got it before Christmas.

Oddsocks15 · 04/04/2018 15:22

DD’s school pays for subscription to Tassomai, hardest part has been getting DD to use it. School recommend it.

Glad to hear you are the mend sost and your DM stickerrocks

Meanwhile I’ve promised to make some cakes with DD later Cake sneaky revision reward

KickBishopBrennanUpTheArse · 04/04/2018 15:25

Thanks all. I've decided to risk £45 and see how it goes. While I appreciate it's not a substitute for real revision there's not a lot of that going on here for science. She's managing to do the "fun" subjects (maths, computer science and geography) and the ones she is at risk of failing (English) so science is falling through the gap.

I'll report back.

She's just had her first b12 injection. It was painful apparently. Sad

TheSecondOfHerName · 04/04/2018 16:07

DS1 used Tassomai for 6 weeks before his GCSEs. He did about 60 hours and managed to cover 50% of the course.

Pros:

  • It's active revision and in my opinion it is more useful than reading a revision guide or watching a YouTube video.
  • The questions are tailored to their specification
  • The software shows them whether they are covering enough questions each day

Cons:

  • In order to complete the course, they need to do several thousand questions. The courses DS1 was doing (CIE iGCSE) would have needed 60 hours per subject (180 hours for all three sciences) in order to be completed. Because he only started 6 weeks before the exams, the daily target soon became very difficult to meet, which was demoralising. The owner/founder noticed this, emailed us and adjusted the target, but towards the end, DS1 would have had to do 10 hours of Tassomai a day to keep on track.
  • Tassomai doesn't practise the skills they'll be using in the actual paper, so they'll need to do practice papers as well.