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

[mmzz]

New thread for GCSEs 2018

Sost my daughter has had the same problem with her art department not being ready! They even lost her book last eeek and told her if she didn’t find it she’d get a 0 Following a prompt phone call from me it magically appeared again. Dd picked up art halfway through yr10 and also took photography so it’s been a nightmare!!! Good luck to you dgd and anyone else taking exams this week!

Good luck to everyone doing exams today ...it sounds like Art has been a nightmare with every school...I think DD's school Art exams were yesterday and today.

DD had a good day yesterday but I don't think she's in the blinkered revision zone (although she probably did 7hrs). I cant work out whether it's good or bad ...she's still fairly chilled (although gets if I talk too much about exams. The plan is to get outdoors for a couple of hours at lunch today so she can do some photography just to have a bit of fun.

Sost - good that you can get some rest and take a step back ..I think once the DC;s start exams it will be easier (hopefully).

Sostenueto that sounds like a brilliant start to the day for you and pup!
I’m off to the gym for the first time in ages and not thinking about the pile of work waiting for me when I get back!

Thanks for the birthday wishes - my football team played last night and avoided relegation from the premiership so it was a good day.

Good luck to all dc doing English language and Art today. My dd has English language this pm and is quite relaxed about it (which is unnerving me). Cherryburn - I am sure after your ds' mistiming in his practice paper yesterday he will be properly on the ball with it today. During mocks my dd answered a question beautifully - on the wrong paragraph

After reading all the comments regarding Art departments I have resolved to get dd's Art teacher a gift! She was on the ball and arranged extra studio days in the October half term, Christmas holidays and Easter holidays and was an expert at nagging, hence all students were ready for their final pieces. Sympathies for those dc who have had a more chaotic experience - not good.

Today is a working from home day for me, so I switched on Radio 4 only to hear a feature on dealing with GCSE stress as a parent. I can't escape!

I honestly think that the post exam period will be more stressful than the exams themselves. DD obviously has school leaving day & prom, followed by college taster days, a cruise, NCS and somehow fitting in work. There are a few (expensive) concert tickets she has set her heart on and she needs to find a way of paying for them.

DD has English this afternoon. She is dyslexic but so long as she tries her best she can be proud of herself. If she does as well as her mocks she will be fine.

We have DD doing GCSEs and DS2 and DS3 taking A2s this summer so it will be stressful at times I'm sure.

Good luck to everyone's DC taking exams.

Truffle that's a lot of exams! definitely agree that doing your best is the main thing and I think marks tend to go up from mocks so your dd should be fine!
I don't want to be too hard on DS's art teacher - she had DS to contend with and once he'd gone off the deep end it was hard to get him going again! I think what he finally submitted was good but it's entirely his own fault if there isn't enough of it.

DD's summer fairly full...We are hoping to get away for a week to Corfu straight after the last exam...then she has Prom, work experience, sixth form induction days, weekend conference, cruise with dad, 3-week NCS, party on results day...then maybe a midweek trip away before its back to school!

She partly completed a chemistry past paper yesterday with encouraging results (weakest science) - again probably thanks to Tassomai - still on target to finish all courses -

I think teachers work really hard on the coursework/practical subjects to guide the DC's - it's just difficult for some DC's to work to target dates...DD's ethos is "I can do that tomorrow". I'm certainly going to keep a watchful eye over DD's DT coursework in the first 6 months of her A Level..but I know I work in the same chaotic way sometimes burning the midnight candle to get work done... I guess bad habits pass on :-(

Teenmum I'm just the same!

Me too!

Just dropped DS at the station. He's quite nervous again but not as bad as for History last week. I always feel a bit weepy when I wave him off! Feels like I'm sending him into the lion's den! Obviously don't show/tell him that or he'd be

Good luck to all with exams today.

With Ds2 coming up on the rails, starting his GCSE courses now, I asked DS1 what he would do differently if he could turn the clock back two years?
He replied that he'd make sure to understand every topic before he moved on to the next.
Very sensible, but I'm astounded that he managed to hide under the radar and get away with not doing that. (I had no idea that he didn't get it , and his teachers didn't either. He managed to hide it through end of topic tests, end of year 10 exams and mocks.)

I always feel a bit weepy when I wave him off! Feels like I'm sending him into the lion's den! Obviously don't show/tell him that or he'd be hmm

Aw Cherry I just said good-bye at the door and felt the same. He was also quite philosophical today, saying how his whole education years had been geared to this, how all his life he'd heard his cousins and other people sitting these exams, and now here he was. He was up in the night, pondering. Made me want to hug him, which I duly did

mmzz - Oddly enough this is what I said to DD over the weekend: If you don't understand any topics you are covering in your A-levels shout out immediately and I would rather get a tutor for a session at that time ...than let it get to the exam time. I was so anti tutor before we used the French tutor and I have completely changed my view ...although I would still never consider tutoring DD to get into any school - just to address mental blocks or to aid confidence.

Just wondered what everyone was doing with exam leave? DD just concentrating on next weeks subjects except for French(Com Sci/Chem/Bio)...then we have four days before the following week's exams.

I know what everyone means about the end of an era. I was with Ds1 at the weekend when the light changed, or there was an expression on his face, or something else happened and just for a second, I could see the little boy he used to be looking at me. Then it was gone again and I was left staring after him, wondering how those days all ended without me even noticing?!

He was also quite philosophical today, saying how his whole education years had been geared to this, how all his life he'd heard his cousins and other people sitting these exams, and now here he was. He was up in the night, pondering. Made me want to hug him, which I duly did

@brainmelt that is so wise beyond his years. And adorable. I wish I could get DS2 to be that philosophical about it. He seems to think his life will be over if he doesn't get all 8s and 9s and he is not predicted all 8s and 9s. never has been, so I don't know where this sudden perfectionism has sprung from.

Well now you're all really setting me off!

DS said to me in the morning before his first exam last week 'I can't believe I'm going to sit an actual GCSE. I don't feel old enough'. And I looked at him, and his 6'5" frame, and I thought 'no, you're still my little boy'

You soppy lot!

I may have mentioned to DS3 that these exams are the culmination of 12 years at school when I was trying to get him to take revision a bit more seriously.

He's my last to take them, thank goodness. It does seem such a lot of pressure on such young people. It was ever thus, though.

Sorry to break the spell, but who will be the first to get a panic stricken message saying DC forgot to leave everything outside/the invigilator found a random revision card etc? DD doesn't have any pockets in her uniform & I'm still convinced she will do something daft (she has never broken a school rule in her life, except for rolling up her skirt waistband).

6' 5" Cherryburn!

DD is predicted 9 in every subject and irritatingly one of the teachers put her grades up on the whiteboard by mistake last week, so the entire class saw them. I don't expect her to get all 9s or even mostly 9s and perhaps not even any 9s and I have repeatedly told her there's huge margin for error this year and that she shouldn't think about predictions at all. It would be far better for teachers to predict 8/9 I'd have thought, rather than one or the other. Anyhow, not great that the class saw a handful of the students' individual predictions.

stickerrocks don't! I've just had an email from school reminding us all that mobile phones must not be taken into the exam room.
Mobile phone is going to stay home for three weeks!
Email also indicates no study leave but probably some flexibility after half term! They are still running extra revision session!
YoungBrainmelt is very profound. And rather moving... I hope he returns in a buoyant mood after a good exam!

DS tells me that all watches have to be left on the invigilator's desk before the exam.

DD left her mobile at home during exams.
I seriously considered stitching up her blazer pockets too (but didn't).

The watches thing seems a faff, but in these days of smart watches I can see why. I think banning non-analogue watches from schools is the way to go.

Loving all the mother/son emotions ...

Stickerrocks - DD asked me what would happen if a pupil stood on desk shouting out answers in an exam yesterday - whether everyone would be penalised .

DS1 has had another growth spurt (6ft 1) and is bursting out of his clothes. He's taken to wearing DH t-shirts which is really freaky - I think it's DH when I enter the room and it's not.

I'm feeling the pressure to be nice mother and not do anything harsh at the moment. I bought loads of his favourite pens yesterday and am meal planning around his favourite foods this week. The online delivery tonight appears to be all his favourite foods, can't imagine how that happened 😉