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.

@mmzz your spreadsheet sounds really good. I bet you could sell it as a product to other parents next year.

I'd say I am an interested but not overly involved parent. DS1's school is very good and I've leant to trust them over the years he's been there. I don't feel the need to actively manage DS1's revision because he is on top of it (I think). DD will be the same but I think DS2 will need more support (although he should mature a bit over the next 3 years).

I'm afraid I'm just too busy with work and 3 children to spend too much time worrying about details. I'm more of an overseer than an active manager!

I think I could make a stab at tutoring RS! Wouldn't want to. Disliked every moment that I spent doing it, but DS seemed to have a mental block over it and was asking for help. You sort of learn it as you are looking at it trying to make sense of it.

I think i could tutor maths too., but they say that those who struggle are better off being tutored by people who struggled with it themselves, and I can see the sense in that.

After trying to help DS on Tuesday with english though, I won't ever attempt that again! It did no one any favours!

I'm not really involved as I feel it's important for kids to take ownership of their education/exams and, more importantly, I feel the teachers know the curriculum/literature much better than me!

sandybayley DH wants me to get it built on a platform and sell it that way. There are investors who specialise in it as a sub-sector. The educational software sub-sector is exploding right now as a result of the spread of fast broadband and the way schools have greater spending flexibility with their budgets .

After trying to help DS on Tuesday with english though, I won't ever attempt that again! It did no one any favours!

That's how I feel. I'd also worry that I might misinterpret things, I might hinder more than help. Surely the English teacher is best placed to teach them!

Also, surely the exams are aimed at 16 year olds, not 40 -50 year old parents ?

@mmzz you should definitely do it! Maybe create an App for easy access for parent and child. It could be the next quizlet or Tassomai.

I think the reason I have found this thread more interesting and helpful than any other, and is the first I have been regularly involved in, is because we seem to have a huge range of DC, a huge range of different types of schools, and different type of revision approaches And in general we accept no one size fits all - we are just all seeking advice and ideas in case it can contribute/add to what we already do and believe.

I think we've been an open minded and supportive crowd and pointing out a difference doesn't mean judgement - long may it continue

Are we going to be the first to finish? DS finishes this Friday. By lunchtime he will be done. This week he only has English language x 2, the second Maths paper and Music. Very much in the home straight now

Results day is going to be very difficult for us. DS's school is crystal clear that to get into sixth form you need to get a set of marks that gives you an average of higher than B in 8 subjects. So basically he needs an A average, with the ability only to go lower in one subject. We were sent a letter at the beginning of this academic year making it clear that DS was in jeopardy of not getting that and it may be sensible to have a back up plan (which we have in place). So poor old DS has spent this year knowing it is all a bit precarious and has applied himself with great maturity but I suspect we are not quite going to hit the level. Its been a really hard year for him I think.

I may wander over to the 11+ frenzy threads about applications for academic London day schools and point out its not all sunlit uplands once you are there.

Good luck all examinees!

And get well soon wee pup

Re this from the other thread on AIBU (which I now plan to take a nosey at): "The crowd universally said YABU, so the OP trotted back in and said she's positively laid back compared to "some of those GCSE threads on other boards".

I will admit that hand on heart I made snap judgements about this thread in the past when I wasn't posting on it (and had glanced at it a couple of times for 5 minutes); I felt that everyone was waaaaay too invested

But now I am happy to confess and atone . I was far too hasty in my judgement, and I have found this thread highly informative, very supportive, often humorous and a safe place to vent your GCSE angst. Not sure I could have done without it - especially since one of my closest friends is quite dismissive and appears to think I am making a massive and disproportionate fuss over dd's GCSEs (she really has no clue as her ds is in Y9)

Yes Oratory quality of school also makes a key difference. My own DC have been lucky but (as part of that) I certainly felt that I could mislead my DC even in the subjects I'm comfortable with (History and English) and that the teachers knew far better than me, so from the start I left well alone. I've no idea how things might have turned out if they'd gone to a less good school but it's far more relaxing for me to have that luxury.

Tawnypit I'm so envious!

So envious I couldn't type your name properly TawnyPippit

I may wander over to the 11+ frenzy threads about applications for academic London day schools and point out its not all sunlit uplands once you are there.

This made me smile! They won't pay any heed though as it will seem theoretical for their DC, even the ones that had to be tutored to within an inch of their lives just to get in.

@hmcAsWas - those 11+ threads are something else - and I can say that having done it with DD. So much angst when the reality (in hindsight) is that they're all great schools and the DC do well wherever they end up. The only positive about 11+ and 13+/CE is that it leaves the DC very used to taking exams and revising. This is all good experience for when GCSEs begin.

History for ds2 today too. We had a last minute meltdown over a some sheet of information he wanted to take in for last minute revision, but couldn't find it. Dh was quite surprised how upset he was; personally I'm amazed he has been so calm throughout, clearly he has been just about holding it together and one little wobble is enough to set him off. Still, over soon. An hour to go before he comes back, oh yes he has an Eng Language booster first. No time to fret about each exam before you are carried off on a wave onto the next challenge..

I'm invested but not very efficiently Dh told me off for suggesting something about essay plans - I think the children find my advice creates tension. If I can give it discretely about two weeks before that is fine, but otherwise, I've been advised to "stay out of it" by all the children. I think it gives them headspace to work out their own strategies, which are quite different from mine. Ds likes flashcards, whereas I like doing A 4 mindmaps..it just would clash if I tried to interfere, and anyway I don't know the details enough to judge what level of answer is competent. I noticed with the RE exam last year that what I thought were quite woolly answers got high marks, and you needed to know far less than I imagined to get a 6/7. You certainly didn't need to know many Bible quotes (which rather shocked me)

Oratory dd is at a [state] school where A level students can easily come away with 2 A's and B in humanity/science subjects yet the Gsce admission bar is 6 Cs and B in your A level subject. Students who are rejected by another Sixth form which demands all A's and A*s end up going to uni with the same results as the students who got in with the A's at the selective state sxith form etc. In the end the student who misses high grades can still do well at a Sixth Form which doesn't filter them out at that stage.

And of course statistically the Selective Sixth Form will be seen as higher achieving because it takes so many more academic students and they will add up to higher A level results. It is not the teaching or even the cohort which makes the A level results higher, it is the raw material of the students.

There is obviously a percentage of students who won't get high A level grades from some Sixth Forms, but that doesn't mean that YOUR CHILD won't get the highest grades they were capable of, in that less selective Sixth form.

I would love to be invested, but I'm not allowed to be. DD is determined to do this all by herself & I simply have to provide transport to the tennis club and keep the fridge loaded. I did suggest earlier than spending another 2 hours playing tennis on Wednesday evening may not be the greatest plan with two exams the next day. DD pointed out that it's only maths on Thursday, but 2 papers on Friday. Why can I remember my own students' timetable for this week, but not my own daughter's?

Please tell me there is a choice of topics for history this morning. Don't's DS is doing Germany, but DD spent yesterday on USA and post WWI. This is a key subject for her as she plans to take it at A level and possibly beyond. I think Friday afternoon is medicine & Tudors, but now I'm not convinced.

Don't panic - a huge choice of topics even within boards not just between boards !!

I'm too struck by how short the history exam is compared to the huge volume of the syllabus, They will clearly only be tested on a small proportion of what they have covered. Conflict and tension between the wars and post Tsarist Russia for DS today

I now realise that nobody is 'overinvested' on this thread and that everyone's input differs markedly but is appropriate to their own dc and specific circumstances

Phew!

What are your stock questions for DC after their exams? I've spent years telling my students that "I hope you get the results you deserve" and now I find myself asking DD after each paper either "Did you get the Qs you were hoping for?" or "Did all your hard work pay off?" I need to think of something else reassuring as she has 8 this week!

D'S went in for AQA history today. Grumbling about the length of the exam. He had a history wake up session at 8.

Fingers x for all of our DC

Stick we had one of those exam heavy weeks when we started a couple of weeks ago. Not sure if this is the right thing but we adopted the approach of only focusing on the exam for that day on that day and not thinking about others. Then as soon as one was done we would forget about it and put it out of our mind. Then focus on the next one/two the next day. Compartmentalising was the only way we could cope with the sheer amount of content and exams all requiring different skills.

DS3 is doing AQA history USA and WW1 today, the two topics there weren't any revision guides or textbooks for. He had to, gulp, use his own notes! Friday is Medicine and Elizabeth. Only 2 exams for AQA but 1hr 45mins each.