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

[Stickerrocks]

Here we go again.

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

Predictions are such guesswork this year. I work in a school and their English lang and lit results last year seemed very random. Pupils who they would have confidently predicted A* for both came out with 5 for one and 9 for the other in 2 cases and quite a few 6s for lit. Maths was a bit more stable, as you'd expect. I do wonder how more subjective subjects like history and RE will fare?

Yup - we're really wondering what it would need to get a 4 in RS. DS would probably get somewhere around 50% but would that be enough for a pass ?

Christopher Ecclestone in Macbeth tonight at the pics. Most of DD'S English set were there, so we left her with a chum and bucket of popcorn whilst we caught up with friends a few rows in front. Looking forward to Rory Kinnear & Anne-marie Duff next month (but DD is fed up with Macbeth now, as that will be the 3rd live performance she's seen). Personally, I'm quite enjoying them. I think it's revision by osmosis.

Macbeth tonight was ACE. I took my y8 DD and she was focussed throughout. (But only about 20 people in the whole screening.)

The witches were particularly eerie (and wearing DD's PJs.)

They are doing a screening to schools or something on 26th April.

It made a change for a Shakespeare screening not to be full of Silver Screen members. I did like the thought of Vivien Leigh's anatomy being painted on her frock.

I preferred Tara Fitzgerald as Lady M, but I thoroughly enjoyed it tonight. It is strange how 2 people can play the same character so differently.

Wasn’t it brilliant? DS and chum had a long discussion about the theme of inheritance over Wagamamas!

Well, turns out yesterday fog ALL day but we still went for a jaunt anyway! Had a laugh on the beach trying to find each other, but it didn't rain. Can't believe its spring more like autumn. Rosy cheeks and smiles and jokes my dgd is almost herself again. Little pleasures will ease the stress for her.
Glad interview went well teen
Glad play was enjoyed
Keep it up all it will soon be over and all will be well

Sostenueto that day out sounds just what the doctor ordered.......glad it didn't rain........I think I am actually getting webbed feet!!

Glad to hear the play was enjoyed by all, DS saw it about 18months ago and it clearly had a lasting effect as he felt he didn't need to see it again

Sounds like a really fun day Sostenueto! DS1 had some chill time yesterday then went back to physics revision followed by hours on the computer.
Computer science revision and the opticians today - exciting, eh!
Tomorrow is a full-on science revision/art prep day. I'm hoping it'll be productive.
Great to hear about the play - we're going next month to the NT live screening.

We have a get together today so no revision for DS, although I think he'd prefer revision

As a lot of your DC seem to also be doing CS can I ask are the past/specimen papers your DC are doing from the exam board website or have you got some from another source....given previous discussions on here about the subject I am getting worried that DS has covered all of the syllabus or certainly not to the required depth.....his teacher reels out the same few questions for Y10 & Y11 mocks and again in a recent class test!!

It is a much needed day off for DS1 too. I'm glad of the break from it too, tbh.

When did the MFL curriculum get politicised? It goes..
all about you... unchanged since studying languages at school started
places, holidays... ditto
school ... ditto
Plans for the future... new, but still relevant
Sports, music... I definitely learned "discotheque"
The biggest environmental threat to the planet, protecting natural resources, world problems.... what???!

What's more useful on a future trip to France? Ordering in a restaurant, checking into a hotel and asking for something in a shop, or being able to discuss global warming?

BlueBelle123 I'm glad to hear that my DC aren't the only ones who have some reservations about the fun found in spending time with extended families!

Hi BlueBelle like you the teacher has one specimen paper from the website which he has given the DC to do 10 times over or variations from it - so DS says he keeps just being given the same questions for homework and has given up bothering. He has now given them past papers from the old spec to try over the holidays but there are chunks on those that are not in the new spec and different style questions so its confusing.

We have got the CGP white question and answer book and also the CGP sets of specimen papers (next day delivery from Amazon) but they are not perfect as there were some topics included for both the Physics one and the computing one that are not in the new spec ie DS came across a topic he hadn't done and checked with the teacher who said its not on the new exam (although not sure whether I have more faith in the teacher or CGP at this stage :):)). At least he is doing questions though and hopefully learning something as he goes along.

We're going out Saturday afternoon and DD1 home from uni for the weekend taking the whole day off. Whatever happens in August he has worked very hard (for him) and with little prompting and with good nature so that's a real bonus. He won't get the marks he deserves but hopefully he has now learnt how to work which will stand him in good stead next year

Hi, I just bought the Letts Maths one from amazon. He has the cgp ones too.

My son finds Maths tough and is dyslexic so finds the problem solving ones tough, even the “easier” topics like ratio and percentage are very wordy.

I’m struggling to find English papers beyond the specimen ones as he does the OCR syllabus and there doesn't appear to be much available for that.

Bluebelle - DD has just used the CGP practice set A and B as per Oratory - she has not yet finished syllabus (they spent a whole term Sep/Dec on NEA)....No practice questions or papers given out in class as yet.

MMzz - My thoughts exactly on MFL: I actually raised this with the French tutor because I felt that the French teacher was turning the lessons into a political debate about the environment/drugs etc but apparently this is what happens with MFL at higher levels where you can have debates about various topics.

Sounds like Macbeth was good ...and glad you had a chill out day yesterday Sost.

Yes we re struggling with English past papers too but having said that there are only a few questions on each paper so fairly straightforward to ‘make some up’.

Oratory - have you looked at TES - www.tes.com/teaching-resources/gcse-exam-revision?utm_campaign=RES-4996&utm_content=gcse-exam-hub-jan-18&utm_source=tes-site&utm_medium=Sponsored-search

I thought the video's from this science teacher (free science) was quite good but DD not doing AQa...the Chemistry IGCSE web page also good.

freesciencelessons.co.uk/

chemistryatdulwich.wikispaces.com/IGCSE+Chemistry

Thank you that's really kind. I'll have a look. As you know DS really struggles with learning by rote and memory so any way of getting knowledge in is helpful. We had a breakthrough with physics where he couldn't learn the equations - now he just makes sure he understand the theory and remembers the relationship between the different elements rather than trying to learn abstract letters and numbers.

We use my gcse science which my son seems to prefer as he likes listening rather than reading (dyslexic) there are example questions and marking schemes for each topic. Only £25. He’s then doing past papers on top as he needs to practise knowledge by which topic is being asked iykwim!!!

hello! Been lurking... not posting much. Your DCs seem pretty sorted and working. History here taking most of the holidays revision. There is sooooo much! Thankfully he finally started with the sciences and says he still remembers most of it from the mocks... So all that Christmas work didn't go wasted.
Back to school next mid-week straight into music practicals solo and ensemble, and French oral
loose how's second composition going? DS discovered our Sibelius doesn't allow for cross staff beaming (cheap version) so he's had to go into school to work on their Sibelius - bless the school and the music teachers, they opened a few days and will be there to help the music students.
Hamilton on Monday night

DD is preferring to learn online (videos/material) rather than textbook now ..probably why Tassomai etc works...I am hoping that she can finish Biology within 2/3 weeks so I can cancel Biology and then purchase Physics ..

Drummersmum - Enjoy Hamilton - DD wants to see the show again ...we have Phantom next week for her birthday :-)

Ah teen what a nice Bday treat for your DD. Hamilton is my Bday treat too!

The big (unexpected) challenge for DS this holiday has come from RS i.e. the "easy" subject, the one that no one gives you any kudos for doing well in. (Or am I wrong about that?)

The non-religious version seems to be about ethics with no incorrect opinion. However, the Catholic one is the densest thing I've ever seen. Just lots and lots of facts (which are really just a viewpoint but need to be presented as facts), and strange Latin names and everything needing backed up with a quote from either the bible, the Pope, Vatican 2 or the catechism.

I tried to help DS (who is really struggling with the enormity of the task of learning it) but none of it made any sense. So, I think that's one GCSE that will have to be traded away rather than let it swamp revision for the others.

How many GCSEs are your children all doing? We’re doing 9 here (counting Eng Lit and Lang separately) but 10 subjects as he’s doing the combined Science trilogy. Feels like a lot of subjects but it’s one less than the standard amount his year do.