Gcse 2018 (10) The one with half term

[Stickerrocks]

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/secondary/3256691-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

Oops. Can't remember how to link nicely, so this will have to do.

Tassomai didn’t work for us as DS really didn’t understand the concepts. We spent the money instead on a tutor. I think it’s a great concept if you pretty much understand what’s going on and just have to learn it but no good if you have a lack of fundamental understanding.

Ups and downs again today! I’m on holiday today so I helped with some Biology but probably hindered as it’s really not my subject. Trying to learn the menstrual cycle and associated hormones with my 16 year old son was rather hilarious! He did timelines for history -seems to really help. He knows all the “stories” but just needs to make sure he has all the details. Maths went well too with some brilliant answers on the harder questions - he struggles with fractions, percentages and ratios but then does a simultaneous equation with quadratic and also a tricky probability one!! Feeling more hopeful about Maths now. Paper 1 was always a hard one for him as his number work is a bit shaky.

Sun finally come out so off to play (watch !) some tennis.

No money for tutors here just hard hard work and reading round subject mores the pity

Sorry Sostentuo- it sounds like your DGD is doing brilliantly on her own though which is great! I wish the same could have been said for my DS!

mmzz - has your DS tried Primrose Kitten?

teenmum - never heard of it. i'll have a look now.

and thanks. (forgetting my manners - sorry!)

No revision here today. We took a day off and went to Llandudno and spent the day on the beach and promenade. The weather was fantastic and we spent hours looking for stones to skip in the sea and playing cricket. Back to the grindstone tomorrow

@beenrumbled -sounds lovely!

dd went for an "intervention day" in school, nothing sinister just revision really. She was quite relieved to have a break from revising at home.

Ds2 seems to have lost steam, or perhaps he just seems less nervous than before. I'm not really clear what he is revising now that Eng Lit is over - I'm now more worried about A level revision and ds1.

Beenrumbled that's what I should be doing, a beach and promenade...

beenrumbled I'm jealous - been pouring with rain here plus thunder and lightning!
DS revised music this morning and a bit of biology but too much gaming going on. He's got a morning of geography tomorrow at school and I think that's a good thing!

My first post but i've been following the threads since around thread 4 although I completely missed thread 9! DD has been revising steadily since September, completely her idea and she's been doing brilliantly with grades ranging 6 - 8. Sadly she ran out of motivation and enthusiasm about 6 weeks ago and has been doing a lot less work recently. She had a bit of a strop today when DH suggested that she can't spend the whole of half term hanging out with her friends and we don't really care if no one is doing any revision she will be! Anyway we've had a talk and she has agreed it would be silly to give up at the last hurdle and she's going to get her head down again and committed to doing 4/5 hours a day for the rest of half term.

Before I turn to Google I thought i'd try here. I'm looking for some help with AQA History and English Language, does anyone know of any online resource for practice questions. DD has the CPG text books and some papers from school but needs more to practice. She's in school for some revision sessions this week but apparently the teachers have already provided EVERYTHING they have so there's no point asking them

Does anyone know where I can find specimen papers for GCSE EdExcel other than the one on their website? Also, does anyone know any good revision websites? DD is slightly concerned about Music at it is deemed to be "her thing", yet she is struggling to get very good marks on papers.

Definitely having a half term lull here, which is concerning as she still has 16 exams to go. Is this a record?!

Today we had a family day out which was notable mainly for the abundant quantities of lashing rain. Tomorrow I'm taking her little sister out all day and am hopeful that the quiet house will be conducive to thinking about history. Next week she has 7 exams and I think it's going to be exhausting.

Deva Loose wrote this earlier on the thread which I thought was good advice on English Language -
I'd really recommend Mr Bruff for the writing questions - he does one on description and one on stories using the same photo. You could find different photos and practise the descriptions using the same techniques, then use an online thesaurus to find some synonyms and try to expand vocabulary that way. Finding alternative words for colours is particularly good

DS is doing edexcel history but he just uses the CGP books, for everything actually so I can't help there and he doesn't do music.

Beenrumbled sounds like you had the best of the weather today!

DS has still got a stinking cold hoping it will shift soon, so long as its not in my direction

DevaDiva try this link for English Language:

www.tes.com/teaching-resource/gcse-english-language-paper-1-pack-of-5-sample-papers-and-mark-schemes-aqa-11363432

Thanks Kick that looks really good I'll pass that on to DS, I'm sure he'll be thrilled

Welcome, @devadiva
I thought I'd try to answer you, but it's not what you want to hear. It's the first year for 9-1 History, so as far as I know there is only the specimen paper.
It is a similar story for English, but with last year's past paper and, I guess the November resit.
That's my understanding, but maybe someone else knows better.

In contrast, DS's maths teacher seems to have managed to unearth a never ending supply of past papers and level 9 questions. Some of them require payment for the solutions, so maybe they are just guesses. I don't know why maths seems to be different.

Cross posting, again! And better answers again!!

Hello! Just checking in for the evening crowd

Not too bad a day with DS, although he seems to have spent all day doing Maths. He did a paper 2 but spent way more than the allotted time - said he wanted to work out the questions he didn't know. DH marked it and said he did very well (A grade level) but it remains to be seen whether he can pull this level out of the bag under exam conditions!
He just doesn't seem to be able to work very fast at home, despite us trying to remove all distractions. He uses a desk in a study off the kitchen but comes out whenever he hears me putting the kettle on! He honestly has the attention span of a gnat. And I'm sure he is mistaking boredom for hunger and he keeps coming out looking for food (e.g. 45 minutes after finishing breakfast ).

@hmcAsWas - that's an interesting comment about counselling, as I was thinking about something similar for DS. He has very low self esteem and is very body-conscious, also has various OCD-like tendencies which I think probably impact friendships. I've often thought some sort of counselling/ CBT would help him, but don't really know where to start, or how to discuss it with him, as he doesn't seem to have any self-awareness of his slightly different behaviour.

Did people miss my reference to my mother or is it not worth commenting on?

DS2 has also had access to more papers for maths than any other subject. Maths is the only subject he is doing with Edexcel, so perhaps it's an Edexcel thing?

The head of maths also found an entire paper of Grade 9 type questions for those in the top sets to practise. Apparently the answers are behind a paywall, so he has written out the solutions and put them on the school portal.

Wonderwine - I think most of us could benefit from some form of therapeutic talking therapy, we are all 'damaged' in some way. Didn't use to think like this (was quite dismissive of it actually) until dd really benefitted from it and developed better coping skills for generalised anxiety syndrome

hmcaswas I have just looked back and there's nearly a whole page I missed completely, which included your post. I'm sorry to hear about the decline in your mother's health. It must be very difficult to see such changes every time you see her. Friends who have been through similar have commented that it's almost like a grief process as you are losing your loved one gradually.

Sorry TheThird (and everyone) - that was a rather clumsy and petulant way for asking for moral support. I blame it on the beer (and the fact that I don't like to show vulnerability)

hmc I saw it, and it made me stop and reflect on the shortness of life, but I didn't comment because I honestly got distracted with work. I'm sorry.
It's awful watching her fade away like this. I hope you are ok. I suspect you aren't, because watching a parent slowly slip away is immensely difficult to bear.