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

[mmzz]

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That World's End pub in Edinburgh is famous for another reason these days. It was the pub that two teenage girls went on a night out to in the late 70s, met two men in and their bodies were found the next day. It was a huge murder hunt in Scotland at the time and as far as I remember it was one of those ones that was only proven decades later when DNA testing arrived.
The name of the pub seemed prophetic. It's still going though

Dd just left, very anxious, worried the questions will be about the obscure characters to catch them out. They have The Tempest and Jekyll and Hyde for their set texts.
I'm nervous for them, it's so stressful.

kitties

kitties
DD would probably prefer that question as likes biology. Is hoping to do it at A level.

DS too busy thinking about physics and maths revision this afternoon for my liking. Only needs a pass English but so much capacity for it all to go wrong. He gets muddled on timing - has no idea of Time passing and confused with clocks (it’s another dyslexia thing) And could easily mind blank completely etc etc so I did need some focus this morning 😡. I ll be relived when it’s 11 30 and just hear it’s been safely negotiated.

Though mention of Manchester memorial does bring some perspective.

Oratory1 - is it all clocks, or just analogue ones?

Would it be a reasonable adjustment to put a digital countdown timer on the desks of those who need more than whatever is generally provided in the exam hall? I can understand a nervousness of using phones for this, but surely the school could run to a couple of kitchen timers set to go off when time + 25% is up.

It's Edexcel IGCSE mmzz. It's examined in a single 3 hour paper. So at least Geography will be done after today.

That's so much better to get it over with in one go. DD has Edexcel GCSE Geography, which is 3 x 90min papers spread out over 3 weeks, which is a bit overkill, I think.

I admire dcs with dyslexia because I know from teaching that they have to work harder than everyone else and it's tiring to deal with. English must be like climbing a mountain, especially under exam pressure.

He has both types of clock in the exam room (IT room for typing) but just gets confused. Gets confused with numbers too as well as letters - hence struggled with maths in early years and only just beginning to excel now. Also confused days/months etc - used to amuse us by asking things like 'is it yesterday tomorrow'. Most people associated dyslexia with reading and spelling but for some it affects so many things.

Doesn't help when then exam starts at 8.50 !!

Probably should have thought of asking for some sort of prompt - but hopefully he'll be fine.

@Cherryburn @KittiesInsane - do pleased you've heard of My Antonia. DS1 says the best bit is when someone nearly gets eaten by wolves. He'd like a question about the wolves, other than that had has not much to say.

Thanks Loose - when he gets over tired his brain just won't work at all. He does seem to have built some stamina by doing full practise papers since easter though and so far holding up ok, We are helped by a relatively kind timetable too.

Its dyscalculia too then?

Oratory1 - Hope the exam goes well for your DS...what did he carry forward from his coursework? ...DD is sitting on a secure 7 from coursework at the moment (based on last years boundary) she tends to be better at exams - but will be pleased if she maintains the 7. Also relieved at kind timetable - it looks like it pays off for schools to use the same exam board when it comes to IGCSE's.

just generally addled brain I think :):):)

Seriously it could well be but I don't think we would have done anything differently if that had been diagnosed. He had maths learning support for a bit at the start of secondary school anyway which helped with some of the basics.

Thanks Teenmum. Yes DS has very good course work - has good ideas so can perform well with time to think and get the ideas out and also time to correct and add in things. So we're hopeful if he just misses the pass the coursework will bring it up. I used to do much better in exams and hated coursework but for DS its been a real help.

Best of luck to all dc today. We are all sounding increasingly fraught as the exam season kicks in.

Dd has the same thing with clocks Oratory - she can manage analogue clocks now, but remans confused by the 24 hour clock when it hits the 13.00, 14.00 etc and translating that to 1pm, 2pm etc. Similar to your ds with months of the year - took her ages when younger to recite months of the year, September and October did not exist for her . I hope that your ds pulls it off for the Eng lit paper. Bit concerned about my dd because she said, rather ominously, that she felt unwell when I dropped her off. Hoping she isn't sickening for something

Interesting re fewer subjects Wonderwine - dd's peers are doing 11 but she is doing 9 (dropped her MFL at start of year 9 and RS just prior to the exams), and tbh if I had thought about it I might have been tempted to drop Chemistry too. She finds Biology and physics fine. Ds in Y9 is at a grammar school and they are doing 10.

Well especially good luck to him today. It takes a lot of determination to get through these exams anyway, but when you have to do it as well as deal with lots of things from the dyslexia family, it is especially hard and especially commendable.

There is a bug going around here. DS2 is off school with it today. I've just been round disinfecting taps and door handles before Ds1 catches it.

Thanks all and hope the sicknesses are kept at bay (until half term at least)

Hopefully half term will slow down the spread of any viruses.

Looking forward to reading #AqaEnglishLit and #AqaGeography on Twitter later.

All credit to your DS Oratory, it sounds like he's had to work twice as hard, I really hope the questions go his way and he does well - rooting for him today.

My DD2 has mild dyslexia, and I've seen how much of a challenge these exams have been for her.

She was in school at 7:45 this morning for a pre - exam final revision session.

They'll be almost finished now - I'm clock watching so I can text her to ask how it went.

. . . and to look on Twitter for the #AqaEnglishLit comments!

I've just been looking on twitter. Nothing yet for aqa eng lit.
twitter.com/hashtag/aqaenglishliterature

I guess the exam is only just ending for anyone who started at 9?