GCSE 2018 no. 6: stress, struggles and success (hopefully) *Title Edited by MNHQ*

[mmzz]

New thread for GCSEs 2018

Bluebelle123 - I'm with you on this - I think it's me that will suffer the stress...DD seemingly totally laid back and went out to the country park yesterday taking photos...although she told me she did 1 hour of virtually continuous French conversation with the tutor in the morning (which is truly amazing given that 4 months ago she was really struggling and had requested dropping it).

teen wouldn't it be great if we could all just suffer the stress on their behalf, leaving them all totally chilled to sit the exams

DS was supposed to be getting the geography resource info today.......

Geez loose I hope that doesn't mean loss of sleep...

Bluebelle123 - I think that actually may happen with my DD...although things may change this week when she gets her moderated coursework results back ...there surely must be a better way to handle exams so our DC's don't get so stressed.

Good luck again to everyone taking orals...DD's isn't until next week..

Loose - hmmm not s great email to get on a Sunday night...surely they could have sent it out on the Friday to at least give more warning.

Teenmum60 - there is a better way, and everyone who has ever done an exam knows it, but no one ever does it: it is start putting things into long term memory at the start of the course, not near the end when the exams are looming.
Easy to say, impossible to find the motivation to do.

Bluebelle - hope your DS is ok.

Place marking. DD still doesn't know when her German speaking is! But she got into Champs yesterday in Slowdance at her competition (highest possible grade to attain) so she's buzzing today!

Well done MiniJufus!
I'm not going to lose sleep over art at this stage and DS doesn't seem unduly perturbed, but I have emailed asking/grovelling for an extension to Monday and explaining the work he plans to do.
If they say no we'll have to concoct plan B...!

Update: art department very happy to give extension! Phew!

JufusMum the exam boards publish dates between which the German orals have to be conducted. It is a 5 week period starting in April sometime and ending in May sometime. Basically, this not knowing when it will be can't go on forever. The school will have to tell your DD soon to give her a chance to prepare.

DS had his French oral this morning. He texted me a few minutes ago to say it went well.

He spent most of Saturday and all of Sunday revising for it (plus quite a few hours memorising the presentation and questions over Easter). Last night, he became too tired to take in anything more, and requested that we wake him early this morning so he could do another hour before school. Finally, he had reached that point where there's nothing you want to do more than prepare for an exam! I am hoping he will remember that feeling and use it to make it easier to drag himself to his desk.

Anyway, 1 paper down, and another 20-something to go.

Good luck to everyone else's DC who is doing their speaking test this week.

mmzz sounds good!
loose yay for extension and mum's intervention and congrats to miniJufus...

Well done to your DD Jufus...

My parents are coming to stay tomorrow till Saturday . Just had stressful half an hour phone chat with my mum trying to explain why DS can't be distracted and the importance of gcses. All she can say is he does too much. This all came about because they wanted to take him out to dinner and it's not a good idea this week and he's really behind and having music rehearsals on top. When they come home everything turns upside down. I am so stressed about them coming

Its massive thank you to Tassomai ..DD just got top marks in class on past paper 2 of Biology exam they sat last week 89%...she has worked really hard (covered 65% in 16 days)...very proud just need DD to do the same in 6 weeks time!

That sounds tricky, brainmelt.

Well done teenmum's DD.

Good luck with all MFL exams just done or coming up.

We're off out to eat tonight for my birthday. Shame DS1 is back at uni but his first 2nd year exam is tomorrow. DS3 has done half of today's revision so far, a bit more to do before we go out. He's already completed his music assessments, though, so can afford to take a bit of time off.

Brainmelt - Could you maybe ask them to come at HT when DS could spend a little time with them?

Happy Birthday EllenJane

Well done for getting extension Loose...

Nice to see some bits of good news.

On reflection I wish I'd got tassomai. By the time I considered it I thought it would have been too late but it seems it can be of benefit even in the last couple of months and I think would have suited DS. Too late now though. Great result teen. Anyone any ideas what the grade boundaries might be for the sciences (AQA). DS struggling to get much above 50% in some papers - he should be getting a lot more but can't seem to apply his knowledge to the questions and also his knowledge if quite superficial (dyslexic with poor short term memory for retaining the detail and not enough time spent on it). Having said that he would be ok with 5s in bio and chem and 6 in physics but no idea what % he would need to get there.

Good luck to all those already started or about to start. Nothing until the 19th here.

Some good news though - in that my dyslexic, shy , sport loathing teen can't wait to get back to school tomorrow - they must be doing something right !!

Is it too late to try tassomai?

Oratory I think it's worth getting Tassomai even now just for a month, it really does seem to make a difference.

Jufus congratulations to your DD on the dancing! My DD had a very successful competition yesterday too, and there was freestyle there (I loved watching it!) which is unusual for the comps we usually do. how funny if it was the same one?!

It was a 14 hour day for DD though, so not much revision done yesterday.
She did practise her French for the 2 hour journey each way.
Her oral exam is on Thursday.

Happy Birthday EllenJane, hope you have a lovely meal.

I think it's a difficult call to know whether its worth it although DD only started 16 days ago...DD finds it easy to use and it has really boosted her confidence getting today's results just at the right moment - she even got a better mark than QBee who had the cheek to ask whether DD should be taking Biology at A Level a few weeks ago...(in fairness she has also done a few past papers too). I have topped up with Chem and Physics today which just cost me £10 till 5/5 when I will pay £45....based on the fact that she will have a full weeks exam leave before exams start, so the opportunity to do a few hours each day and she can choose her own quizzes based on weaknesses.

Just need some good DT coursework marks tomorrow now ...

Oratory1 - enjoying school is so important!

Happy birthday Ellenjane!
Lobster congratulations!
Brainmelt I hope things go more calmly than you fear. Would it help if your DS spoke to them - or would they try to distract him?

I've signed DS up to Tassomai tonight following poor mock results. Ditching Seneca for the sciences as of tonight.

It does look good. I like the way it knows when the exam dates are and shows progress towards the date.

DS doing Tassomai for Bio & Chem only. He started in Feb and has done 20-30 minutes a day for 60 out of 77 days (just checked his usage figures!) and has done 70% of the course, if that's any help in terms of time required.
The last few past papers he's done he's been getting 85-90%, considerably up on his mocks. He has done some 'traditional' revision on top, covering areas where he knew his knowledge was weak, but not that much.
I think it works really well for him because he's dyslexic and spending hours pouring over books, and even writing notes, doesn't mean that the detail will be successfully committed to memory. He's great on the 'bigger picture' of subjects but less good on the minutiae. The little and often thing, repitition, and it being interactive on a screen, has really helped.

MMZZ - You may find he will whizz through it (may also find it initially boring)- there are some stupid incorrect answers (Beef Wellington) crops up a lot...but the idea is that the students are asked the same questions about four/five times during the course so the answers should be easy to recall during an exam.