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

[mmzz]

Previous thread

DS reported that CIE went well too. One of the poems that he loves (and which we discussed yesterday afternoon) came up, so that was good. He liked the novel question too. His school don't take the coursework option for either English Lit or Lang, not sure why. I do know the grade boundaries for the coursework modules are insanely high though, so maybe it's that.

hmc your post re onomatopoeia made me laugh. DS says he mangled enjambment; the mind boggles frankly!

I think the choice of board is also down to support that the exam board gives to teachers and I think there again this may change depending on the subject...AQA exams seem to ask straightforward questions whereas last year Edexcel tended to give wordier questions which confused some of the DC.

There was a table on the net about the exam success and compared GCSE exam boards to A Level success - but I can't remember what the link was and this again varied per subject.

mmzz that's good then as dgd was spouting off at the weekend about how Juliet was so obedient to her family and about how meeting Romeo made her much more stronger so she became more confident when dealing with her father/parents. She was looking up alternative words to obedient. So she will have enough knowledge to answer that OK.

Thanks, it's very interesting. By the time DD2 does hers next year I'll be an expert. Poor DD1 being my guinea pig.
:)

I think maybe dgd might get a good mark for English lit providing the 2nd paper doesn't throw up ' tissue' cos even I have difficulty with that poem!

I won't hear from DS till he is home at 4 today so will be on tenterhooks. I will grill him on the way to his interview!

I hope everyone's DCs had an ok day.

I hope I Wanna Be Yours comes up on poetry paper 2 because Dd & her classmates have spent so much time ridiculing it they know it inside our.

Oratory - my ds did igcse Edexcel- Purple Shoes , Hide and Seek and Things Fall Apart novel. Says he banged out a 9!! let's see on 23/8!

So now 2 x CIE igcse Biology and geography OCR gcse this n thanks to clashing boards!

Trying to catch up with the thread. I found my DS sitting downstairs in the dark last night saying he couldn't sleep. not sure if it was worry about exams or not...

I know that he's not worried about English Lit as he decided not to spend too much time on it as it's not relevant to future plans. But he does want to do Geography at A Level, so hoping that things are going well right now. Can't believe they have to do 3 papers for it!

I've put so many bookmarks on this thread because it moves so fast! I'm really hoping poetry is a kind paper. Dgd would be so pleased with a 6!

loose would really appreciate your thoughts on AQA English lit paper 1 Frankenstein and Romeo and Juliet when you get time please.

dogzdinner its because there's no coursework anymore. Paper 3 is the field trips they did and geographical methods, graphs and all that milarky.

Well I had an almost full sickbag in car this morning dogzdinner we always know when its an English test/assessment/exam.

Don't worry digzdinner your ds will do brilliant!

dogzdinner sorry!

ds2 came home and told me everything he had written (Okay dictated, asa he is scribed) and it all sounded rather brilliant, he clearly enjoys talking and talking and talking. He came up with something very original about Banquo as well, I was most impressed. Christmas Carol was a bit more murky, as it was the one section we had paid least attention to the language etc, however at least he knew the rest of the book back to front as I had read it to him last night for two hours..Again he gave what to me was a rather insightful answer about Fear in Scrooge. The Asperger's Mind triumphs!! or maybe just Ds2 triumphs.

Poetry may be more difficult. Last time I looked at one of the poems with him (actually I interfere very little and leave it to the school as I think they have the expert way of encouraging him) he seemed to have missed the point entirely. But maybe that is just me being annoying.

he is now revising Physics with a home schooled friend who is also taking Physics tomorrow (at a private centre)

I suggested binning all the Xmas Carol and Macbeth material and he said he thought it might be bad luck until the results come in.

His school don't take the coursework option for either English Lit or Lang, not sure why
Same here cherry No coursework for English but yes for History.

no coursework here for anything except Drama and Textiles (dd). It has been a blessed blessed relief I can tell you. Dd of course had some spanish speaking which I suppose is a courseworky type aspect as she had to prepare it and learn it by heart.

Doing coursework with ds1 or in fact NOT doing coursework when the expectation seemed to be, please please go over this with your child (and your child refuses input) was a low point. And so much work for the school. Exams seems a thousand times fairer especially when there are sometimes 3 papers to balance things out.

Feedback on Aqa geography paper 1 time was tight. Dgd said she had 5 minutes left for last question, a 3 marker. Answered all questions but no time to check answers. Says her hand hurting. Said that the booklet weighed a bit! Did her best. Not sure about a 9 though. It was difficult but not bad at all.

Hi for the AQA English this morning does anyone know if the grade boundaries are set for the whole paper, or are there different grade boundaries for the different texts? is feedback seems to be that Macbeth was very hard and Pride & Prejudice much easier. Is this addressed by the grade boundary system?

Quick reply as quick break from teaching but all the papers are marked and total marks from both literature papers are added up before the grade boundaries can be set.

@hardheadedwoman the exam boards don't quote different grade boundaries for different options, so I don't think they differentiate by text.
However, if it is the regular away GCSE you are talking about, then your child would have done both a Shakespearean play and a 19th century text, so it wouldn't be a question of evening out the marks anyway as they are added together.
There were a choice of Shakespearean plays and a choice of 19 c. novels, so whether it's easy or challenging is the luck of the draw. Eg it sounds as though those who had Macbeth had a tough question, bit not so much those who had Romeo and Juliet.

Thank yo v much Loose

I think in the past the Igcse option was taken up by selective schools (both indy and grammar) because it was considered more academically rigorous (less coursework, more linear and challenging). But now with the introduction of the new GCSES I don't think there's any difference really!!

And thank you mmzz- v useful