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

[mmzz]

New thread for GCSEs 2018

Some fantastic results on here! Very talented children indeed.
DS also has Christmas Carol (NOT boring - be glad it wasn't Great Expectations) Macbeth and Inspector Calls. Power and Conflict for the anthology.
As for A level choices, he put down maths, comp sci, psychology (and biology at preferred school) but I suspect this is going to change!

Panettone - DS1 is doing Ad Maths FSMQ - you're right it is a lettered exam (top mark A). I think Further Maths is a GCSE.

In his school (v selective) there are 8 sets and only the top 3 do Ad Maths. He got a 9 in his mock for Maths GCSE but a C in the Ad Maths.

I think he will do better in the Ad Maths in June as they hadn't completed the syllabus but it is definitely hard! He's planning on doing Maths A Level (plus Physics, Chemistry and History).

Well done to all DCs who are cracking on. DD is studying Psychology, Sociology and Philosophy & Ethics. Can't wait to get out of that hell hole!

I did a degree in maths and the three things I learned to do were:-

1. Sanity check - make sure the end result vaguely fits with the question (which involves re-reading the question at the end of answering it). this catches the largest number of errors.

2. Mark in the margin/ write question number down with a circle round it on a spare piece of paper, if you are unsure of the answer you put down. Often it becomes obvious how to answer the question when you go back at the end of the paper.

3. If you've done everything else, use the remaining time to go back looking for the mistakes (as opposed to checking everything is correct). You know they are lurking somewhere, so find them and fix them! It's just a mindset difference, but it usually results in finding the transposed numbers or the cube that you read as a square.

and I suppose 4) NEVER LEAVE AN EXAM EARLY!

I get so frustrated with DS when he does 4).

DS is also a bit of a maths whizz (got a medal in the intermediate olympiad) but still make mistakes in the GCSE papers. I think part of it is because he is so messy and also does so much in his head he makes silly mistakes; he says that it is because some of the GCSE stuff is so easy and boring he doesn't really think and that leads to silly errors. No matter how good they are I think they all make silly mistakes

He had his German oral yesterday and wasn't happy about how it went because "the teacher asked him ridiculous questions!" He was planning on seeing her today and telling her in no uncertain terms that it was her fault he had done badly , but fortunately by this morning he had calmed down!

DS2 is doing the Level 2 certificate in Further Maths (AQA) it has letter grades which go up to A^. DS2 needs to get an A* (and 8 in Maths GCSE) for his first choice sixth form.

www.aqa.org.uk/subjects/mathematics/aqa-certificate/further-mathematics-8360

mmzz those tips are very sensible.

They can't call it an iGCSE because CIE own the trademark.

Great results all round - don’t think you really need to worry about English whatsfortea. Feeling a bit more out of place on this thread but I ll stuck with it as your a supportive bunch :) :)

DS is deciding whether to take further maths which is an Aqa gcse but still with letters and also an A^ above an a star. Different to the FSMQ add maths which is a free standing maths qualification - I think it’s meant to bridge the gap between gcse and a level.
He hasn’t done any work in further maths as he doesn’t want to risk slipping back in the ‘normal’ gcse which has only just started to come good. But I think he ll do a couple of papers and if he gets over 50 % he may give it a shot as the grade boundaries are low (unless I’m mistaken) and it’s after all his other exams. And a b or even a c wouldn’t look out of place amongst his other grades. I may have got all this wrong though. He also makes slips in calculations - very dyslexic so puts the wrong number in the calculator and transcribes numbers wrongly and also reads words incorrectly - even so far as muddles up multiply and divide etc The difference lately is he s managing the harder questions so is completing the whole paper which is a big step forward.

Good luck to all starting already and hope the dc holding up

Sorry cross post on the maths

Good advice mmzz - if ds has lots of time spare for checking he’s also does some of the questions again on spare paper as if he just checks what’s there he doesn’t see the errors

I just spoke to Tassomai and they lowered DS's target to 30% due to the late start.

TBH, I've no idea of what a 30% target means. 30% of what?

Oratory don't worry I'll keep you company - the way I look at it is that DS is working hard that's all I can ask he gets what he gets, no point fretting over something we have no control over

DS1 did the AQA further maths level 2 and got an A^ 4 years ago. My understanding is that it's not as hard as add maths FSMQ, but very useful as a bridge between the old, easier GCSE and A level maths. His school no longer offer it as the new GCSE has so much more content.

Thanks for the welcome and well done to all those dc with amazing coursework results. It must be such a boost to go into the written papers knowing that you've got a solid start.

I think I'm most worried for ds about the OCR Computer studies. Like everyone else we're in the same boat of having very few practice papers to go through. And of course there was the debacle with the NEA being culled after having spent lots of time on it!

Anyway.....I wonder what your thoughts are on how the scrapping of the NEA will affect grade boundaries? I was pondering this and think it means they may be lower....where do you think the 5/6/7 boundaries will fall (maximum of 160 marks across 2 papers)? I've asked DS's teacher but he wouldn't even try to guess!

Thanks Bluebelle yes working hard and (currently anyway) relatively calm, happy and establishing doom good friendships via revision the collective torture of these gcse s so counting my blessings. I do accept though that some of you will be wanting to keep pushing to ensure your dc meet their considerable potential

Doom !! That was meant to be some - hoping predictive text isn’t trying to tell me something !

EllenJane very belated well done to your DS1 on the A^

Does anyone know how A^ is pronounced?

Hello. I'm new.

I've been lurking for a bit. DS1 is in year 11 and I am (internally) stressing the hell out about GCSEs. I'm lucky in that he is hard-working and open to extra help (DH for physics, me for English, and tutor for maths). But, that said, he's still a more-or-less averagely-achieving kid, with a skew towards Computer Science (8?) and Maths (7?).

He wants to do CS, Maths, and Physics at A-level and my biggest fear is that he won't get in to sixth form. He needs to get his Physics up to a 6 (from a 5) and, ideally, pass one of the Englishes (both 3 in mocks). He doesn't have a plan B. He wants to go to uni and learn how to code computer games (felt like a kiddy idea when he said it several years ago, but it has stuck!)

Anyway, good luck to all your DC, and hello.

Hi everythingisginger I have one in Y9 who wants to do Computing. For him, the Maths might be the sticking point. His Maths isn't bad, but I'm not sure it's strong enough to get through Maths A-level.

Thanks.

Yeah, I've been told that the maths A-level is hard. I'm hoping DS can get through it without a tutor, but I suspect not.

TheSecond you pronounce it 'A hat' apparently, according to DS1's maths teacher.

DD1 called it A star with distinction (she got one 2 years ago) I like A hat though!
Tbh when it comes to uni applications etc there is no option for it, so she's ended up writing it as just plain old A*

DD2 had her French oral this morning.
I was so worried about her, she was practising at breakfast and shaking so much she could barely hold her spoon ( not that she ate a lot )
It was first thing, 8:30 am, (thank goodness so she didn't have to stress all day) and she had to go into school early for it.
She has just finally replied to my anxious texts to say it went well and she's really pleased with it.
Phew!

French is one of her A level choices, along with Psychology and Biology. (She's hoping to do a psychology degree and eventually be an educational psychologist)

It's a shame she's not considering drama, it's certainly one of her strongest subjects, but she'll keep it up as an extra curricular at least.

My DD who did the further maths 2 years ago called it A star with distinction!

DD's final paper is the FSMQ Additional Maths paper from OCR. Anyone know what the range of grades given is?

My Niece also got the A^ two years ago and referred to it has an A* Distinction.

HesMyLobster - Well done to your Dd with the French Oral - Dd has her French Oral at 8.30am on Monday and I'm also glad its first thing too ..at the moment she's fairly laid back saying she's going to treat it as if she was going in for a chat with French teacher ..I have a feeling things may change come Monday (but hope not).

Superdoodle - DD's CS teacher doesn't know either which way the grades could go - when I spoke to him at parents evening he stated that it could be two grades either way from the mocks - so DD could have a 9 or a 5...He judged 85% to be a 7 in mocks...

Oratory1 - I'm with you - crossing fingers that DD gets the results she needs to go onto the next stage ..she's working fairly hard....and a lot more focused than I have seen her..