GCSEs 2018 (9) Will we get to half term, for never was a story of more woe than this of Juliet and who is Banquo

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Thread 8

DS was planning to answer back to front to tackle the tricky questions with a fresh mind. Good or not? Opinions? mmzz? Why am I even anxious about Maths he is dropping it this year. Stop being silly, me.

Thankfully this isn't a big one for us. Sixth form college has asked for a 6 in maths to study psychology A level but in reality I think they would accept a 5 if her other grades are fine (especially since her predicted grade is 6/7 and her maths teacher would attest to her being competent in the subject). DD could get anywhere between a 5-7 dependent on the paper and whether or not she is on good form today. She said she's glad to have a break from essay writing

callitwhatyouwill yes it's obviously very similar - same sort of marks, same wobble. Was your DD AQA too? The final outcome doesn't matter much really, certainly not whether 9s are achieved as opposed to 8s, but I absolutely don't want a fallout in terms of confidence in herself because of too many 9s being predicted.

brainmelt I don't think it makes much difference either way, but if looking for a slight advantage I'd start at the front. The first questions are easier, they are there to calm the student down and get them warmed up. Also, to be honest, an easy mark counts for exactly the same % as a difficult mark, so its best to ensure you get the low hanging fruit first, I'd have thought.

Saying that, I do think its a really good idea to look through the whole paper briefly before you start. That way you can make a mental note of which questions you want to make sure you leave time to do. you don't want to spend ages staring at one question, and then run out of time for one that you could have got full marks on.

if DS doesn't get his 9 its not going to impact on his future, dented ego at most, its those that have to get a 4/5 that I think really deserve all the luck today!

Absolutely, my DD will still have plenty of options if she doesn't get her 7/8/9's, it's really not the end of the world. Far more problematic for those that need a 3/4/5 (my DS next year!) for their next step but who don't manage it. So definitely good luck to them

I'm not sure it's about egos....

Not that I want to get into a debate about which set or subset of DC are more or less deserving.

Thanks mmzz .

goodbyestranger I was referring to my DS

goodbyestranger
It’s Edexcel. I know exactly what you mean about the levels that they achieve ie 8’s or 9’s. I share your fears about the fallout, too. For me, they’re very real and certainly plausible- I was that girl 34 years ago with A Levels and it still makes me sad now. I try not to project this into her.

Any news on Maths?!

It’s not about egos here, either and all dc’s are deserving of luck in this difficult year

DD says AQA was very fair - a few more challenging questions as expected but all doable and plenty of time left over to check through.
I will eat now before I start to feel ill as RS approaches!

I don’t think my son has learnt anything about or even knows the names of the poets! Is googling the best way to find out quickly? It’s OCR childhood so quite obscure. Amazing poems though Realise I’m totally micro managing now

Is AQA over? - an hour and a half exam? Or did it start early?

Dd is doing Edexcel and that is 2 hours or rather 2.5 hours for her with extra time

In terms of ego, maybe I should clarify that it can often seem like a damaged ego is the outcome but it can have a more profound effect. Sometimes what we dismiss as ego, goes far deeper and has significant and long term effects- I speak from personal perspective .

Gosh Juggling that was quick! What time did they start? Ds started 9.00 so prob still in exam hall (not that I would expect to hear from him....every time I prompt to say a little text would be nice I get ..'I forgot').

DS has dyscalculia so for him today is his Everest. He has been incredible in his approach to maths since his diagnosis. I imagine a lot of people would use it as an excuse to give up but he has worked incredibly hard to overcome his disadvantage. It has given me an insight into how resilient he is. I could not be prouder of him than I am now.

twitter.com/hashtag/edexcelmaths?f=tweets&vertical=default&src=hash
revealing on day 1, but now they are beginning to repeat themselves after every exam

I agree DS has always come top in every maths exam/test since year 7 bar for once so if he doesn't get a 9 and others do his confidence/ego around maths will be considerable knocked.

Here's hoping he has a good paper Larlarland

My dd's confidence is knocked because she hasn't come top in anything since Y7!

After having to stop the car to let a chicken cross the road this morning, Dd is convinced AQA maths will continue on the food theme by asking them to calculate how long it takes to cook & eat the chicken.
She is seriously considering sending a takeaway order to the question setters at AQA as apparently food featured in psychology & a restaurant in business-studies.

BlueBelle yes I'm aware but the comment came after a few of us had mentioned 9s. Ego has a really unpleasant overtone of self-importance though, which isn't applicable to so many bright kids and certainly not to any of my own DC.

100% with you callitwhatyouwill.

I don't like divvying up DC on a moral level either - they're all just DC.

hmcAsWas that's what I mean - they're all just still fairly young DC, let's not knock any of them.