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

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New thread for GCSEs 2018

DD has already done her first paper (the Paper 1 History drama ). Yes it is a leap and I can see why your ds would be reluctant to drop it - it feels very cavalier just deciding not to take it...but I think its the right plan for dd in the circumstances

It reminds me of the hesitation we had at the beginning of Y10 when we told dd's head teacher that dd wouldn't be doing an MFL because she is dyslexic and finds MFLs impossible. It was the right call though

adrinkofwater did he try asking the teacher, or searching online? It is massively time consuming but given that the school will have hundreds do it over the years, maybe the head of department has thought to get one of the teachers compile a definitive list??

adrinkifwater I'd second the search online - Teachit is a good resource and some of the stuff can be downloaded for free.

hmc - I wouldn't worry at all about dropping it (DS dropped DT). 9 gcse s is plenty - even 8 is enough. And you have a good humanity in there. You will save not only revision time but the time and stress of the actual exam too.

Strategic choosing of subjects: don't forget that if they want to apply to university, the UCAS form has to include the GCSE grade from every subject they sat.

Thanks Oratory1 - its good to get the reassurance that we have not made a bad move

drink - not sure whether this website is any good...thankfully we don't have any real Eng Lit quotes to remember...
www.memrise.com/course/1372767/jekyll-and-hyde-key-quotes/

If they don't turn up to the exam, it's still listed in their results (X or U) so it's best to speak to the exams officer as soon as possible and ask if it's possible to be withdrawn with short notice.

TheSecond - good point. Probably more reason not to do RS since after no preparation the best case scenario would be a pass 4. Happier for that not to go on future applications

Ah didn't see your second post TheSecond - I will call school

I'd definitely drop it and I don't think it'll make any difference to anything as she has History in there.

DS dropped his MFL very late in the day (about 2 weeks ago). His dyslexia made it virtually impossible for him and the amount of time he'd have had to devote to it (at the expense of other subjects) to get anywhere near a pass just wasn't worth it.

We thought long and hard about it because no MFL is a 'gap' really. But RS...really not a problem.

Cherryburn - dd was / is the same with MFL, a total non starter. Its actually a bit of a myth that it is required by most universities - very few specify MFL

heres my old thread on it and the advice received

It won't cause any problems if you drop it. It's compulsory at dcs' school and as they're ok with essays I'm not too concerned but it does add to the revision workload!
(DS isn't doing an MFL at school. He's doing one outside school and we decided he'd take the exam next year as he has too many exams as it is!)

hmm interesting re timing of withdrawal. DS was told he could pull out of further maths right up to the day of the exam. May be I need to check that out as I know all results do have to go on UCAS form.

Oratory1 I think that's correct, they can withdraw with v.short notice, but they need to let the exams officer know.

In some schools the parents will be asked for the exam entry fee if their child withdraws late.

Anyone have any initial problems with Tassomai - I have registered my dd and paid for the 3 science subjects but on her dashboard it is showing as 'no courses registered if you think this is a mistake contact [email protected]'. I have emailed them.

Did this happen to any of you when first signing up? Wondering if its a glitch as the "if you think this is a mistake" almost sounds like they are expecting it to happen?

hmc re MFL being required by universities, your thread was one of the things I read when we were considering DS dropping it! Very helpful.

Re Tassomai, we signed up in Feb and I have a very vague memory of getting a similar message. If I did it must have righted itself because I've never contacted them. Maybe there's just a lag on the system? Hope you get it sorted.

Needing a bit of a handhold. The realisation has finally hit that he’s not really properly prepared. Fuck (sorry!) Despite best efforts (him and mine!) I don’t think his revision has really been as effective as it should.

He’s got a tutor to help with chemistry and Biology and I’m helping with Physics and Maths. My husband giving a hand with English Lit.

I’ve looked through some of the past papers he’s been doing and he’s left chunks out, not really checked the answers methodically. He’s been so chilled up to now and despite the fact he’s been told a hundred times I don’t think he’s really understood the importance of the marking scheme/hitting the points/attention to detail.

Panicking a bit now!

Plan is to get him to do flash cards for Biology and Geography 1 - he can do these over the next couple of days - then we’ll keep testing him on the content whilst helping him with the longer style questions. He’s got an insane amount of English Lit quotes to learn too.

Any advice or support would be most welcome!

Hi Rosie and welcome I think it depends what your dc is aiming for. There is a lot of stuff to cover and my ds can’t learn or retain it all and can’t apply it to the questions. But I am coming to realise the huge difference/range between a star answers (his non dyslexic sisters were producing) and what you need for a pass - if that makes sense. And as previous posters have said it’s a lot easier to get half marks on all the questions than full marks on some. So DS is spreading his efforts to try and make sure he can pick up some marks on all topics rather than trying to retain the minute detail he would if he had more time or if he was going for top marks. For eg he is not doing chemistry for a level and should pass ok so is not bothering with some of the harder things you just gave to learn by rote.

My problem is that with the new gcse s we don’t really know what a ‘pass’ answer looks like and nor do his teachers so at this stage we ll just keep plugging away.

I am marking his practise questions/past papers for him then we go through them with revision cards to hand and he noted things he left out or needs to learn and handy tips on answering the questikn - not ideal but uses less of his time

Thanks Oratory. He’s just been in tears with it all.

I think you’re right, marking past papers and making lists of the weaker topics is the way to go. He’s just in such a negative frame of mind he’s not even trying huge chunks of the paper then getting so cross when we go over them.

Hi we re not just making list of weaker topics for him to look at later as there s not much time - but actually doing crib cards from the Mark scheme answer - noting down the stuff he got wrong or left out - unless it’s highlighted a whole topic he doesn’t know at all.

He will know more than he thinks.

Is anyone’s DC doing the new Edexcel IGCSE Theology and Philosopy as their RS?

despite the fact he’s been told a hundred times I don’t think he’s really understood the importance of the marking scheme/hitting the points/attention to detail

DS2 finds this hard. He knows the material, but doesn't always use the key words they're looking for. If your son is doing AQA sciences, there's a list of 'command words' on their website which shows what each type of question is looking for.