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Secondary education

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Original poster

GCSEs 2018 (8) Dozens of DCs, 1 DH and Flashcards in the fridge

999 replies

mmzz · 16/05/2018 21:35

Previous thread

OP posts:
Teenmum60 · 17/05/2018 20:03

@AlwaysHiding Take care...Flowers

Sostenueto · 17/05/2018 20:05

Hope break and relaxation will help both of you alwayshiding Flowers

LooseAtTheSeams · 17/05/2018 20:09

Always wishing you a restful break Flowers.
My moment to shine was A levels. I am really hoping DS is the same!
Grin
It’s actually been a good week. DS isn’t stressed. RE and computer science are done. He’s had porridge for breakfast every day. The only issue is sustaining all these good intentions next week!
Very best of luck to dcs taking exams tomorrow.

Sostenueto · 17/05/2018 20:11

1968 when I took my O'levels. I took 4 and 5 cses. Got 2 cses at grade 1 (humsn biology and maths) which was equivalent to C grade O level. Took music art geography and English 0 levels.
Did A levels music art and English literature. So not academic but arty. In my day if you got a c you were euphoric in O levels. Hardly anyone I knew went to uni.

Sostenueto · 17/05/2018 20:12

These exams our dcs and dgc sitting are hardest since 1970 by the way.

Sostenueto · 17/05/2018 20:14

Now off to watch 'vera' note note and good luck to all with exams tomorrow Flowers

Oratory1 · 17/05/2018 20:17

Best wishes Always. And to any with exams tomorrow. Another here with O levels in 1977 (5 As 4 Bs) tho DS has set himself a challenge to beat my D in A level physics 😀

PickwickThePlockingDodo · 17/05/2018 20:19

French tomorrow plus it's not till the afternoon.
What exam board is that? AQA French writing is in the morning here.
Good luck to all DC Star

goodbyestranger · 17/05/2018 20:25

Yes, best wishes indeed to unwell DC.

French writing is in the morning here too.

I cancelled porridge for the summer Loose, at the end of March. We're on Weetos at the moment instead.

hmcAsWas · 17/05/2018 20:27

Bless you Always - hope you both feel a bit better soon

slinkyme · 17/05/2018 20:36

It's the Cambridge board for tomorrow afternoon. I am just going to double check the time (feeling paranoid that I may get it wrong)

sandybayley · 17/05/2018 20:39

@AlwaysHiding hope you manage to relax. By the time you're back we'll be at least 2 threads on. One of us will have to summarise for you.

hmcAsWas · 17/05/2018 20:39

With respect to there being fewer students who got 'A' grades back in the day, I think that was because there wasn't quite the work ethic (or was that just me?) that there is now... (and certainly not because they were more difficult, they just weren't)

My O levels were in 1984. Every student took maximum of 8 at my school. The only O level I applied myself to was Maths because I found it challenging - and after working through a LETTS do Maths O'Level work book I got a B. For my other subjects I crammed the night before and got B's for those too, except English Language where I got an A. These grades were considered good back then because it wasn' the norm to try quite so hard - this was pre the policy decision to expand further education and higher education.

I don't think it would be possible to get a grade 6 in todays GCSEs by cramming the night before

TheSecondOfHerName · 17/05/2018 20:40

Thinking of you and your DD AlwaysHiding hope you are both able to get some rest

Original poster
mmzz · 17/05/2018 20:41

I got 6As and 2Bs in 1983. I don't think that it was exceptional but I think 8As would have been. It must have been considered good though because I definitely felt I had proved myself and relaxed a bit the following year. A mistake which I am very keen not to let either of my DSs repeat!

OP posts:
KittiesInsane · 17/05/2018 20:45

Drama here tomorrow, and calm stoical dd has been in floods of angry tears about it, as her teacher had taken in their books to mark and neither marked nor returned them as he’d ‘run out of time and had to prioritise’.

Have been and retrieved her work. Now for the mysterious question of ‘whether it’s ok to include more than one scene in part c’. I’d better get onto the exam spec, I suppose, unless anyone here knows?

Original poster
mmzz · 17/05/2018 20:46

I didn't work like DS has been either, HMC. The way I remember it, our school finished teaching around the mocks and then every lesson was revision, so there wasn't so much to do at home. Thinking about the sciences and maths, I really don't think the curriculum was much different to now. There were more multiple choice papers though, and maybe that's easier??

OP posts:
Oratory1 · 17/05/2018 20:53

I worked hard and revised but only from Easter onwards. I don’t think we thought about exams at all until then and I don’t remember doing mocks or past papers and I never heard of a mark scheme or predicted grades for that matter.

EllenJanethickerknickers · 17/05/2018 20:54

Multi choice always seemed easy in history and geography, but in maths or physics all the options looked like possible answers and included all the 'silly mistake' answers, so you couldn't just make an educated guess. Much easier to mark, though! Wink

LooseAtTheSeams · 17/05/2018 20:54

goodbyestranger will investigate weetos!

EllenJanethickerknickers · 17/05/2018 20:57

Never saw a mark scheme. Mocks straight after Christmas and lots of past papers in my school. Predicted grades sort of, the report in Feb said something like, 'good O level pass,' so C or above but nothing more detailed. For the vast majority at my school CSEs and O levels were the school leaving exams.

Stickerrocks · 17/05/2018 21:26

snozzle Miss Matchett (We made her cry by pretending to smoke in class using talcum powder) & Mrs Telford for languages, Mr Reader (exceptionally good aim with a board rubber) and Mr Fisher as my head of year will ring a bell then. I assume you were royal blue & banana yellow too, not bottle green.

Stickerrocks · 17/05/2018 21:27

I volunteer to do the summary for always. I like doing the round up.

Teenmum60 · 17/05/2018 21:31

It's so nice to have a bit of normality here until next week.......

Good luck to the DC's with exams tomorrow...

Its definitely wine o'clock here!

Stickerrocks · 17/05/2018 21:33

DD has had an evening off as she has a hospital appointment & no exams tomorrow. I had a glass of wine before I played tennis. Not sure if that was the recommended order!