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.

Sorry that as a bit of a ramble but we've been having those same thoughts - I am very fortunate that these GCSEs seem to have cemented his choices (although if the results go against him, particularly physics, that could change)

Teenmum
Here is a link: 37 Days

It could be a way to get your DD to revise, when she thinks she has stopped revising...
I don't know anything about dailymotion though.

@teenmum60. Option blocks....obvious really but I hadn’t considered how they timetable. I can ask the school for a copy and see how viable her combinations is.

Now just the is it a good/bad idea for a dyslexic to choose humanities issue. Which is driven by the is it better to do subjects you love or subjects that are easy for you question!!!

DD made a late decision to swap from Maths to a language. That in itself was okay, but the organisation of the blocks meant that she also had to swap from English Lit and Lang to English Literature. She was an external applicant and it was a pretty late decision (but before the beginning of term), though.

mmzz did raise the practical element of Biology with DD. She was fairly stroppy with her reply by answering that she could use YouTube to watch the practicals as she didn’t need to actually do it just know how to write about them. I hadn’t considered how she would prove the practical side of things to the exam board. I have to tread carefully as she is likely to say I’m putting obstacles in her way and/or dig her heels in and do the opposite

.... ie scores right at the end of the scale at both ends on Ed Phsyc report) seriously considered history A level as he loves it but in the end decided to focus on maths, physics, CS and try and keep up the interest in History outside school*

Are you me, Oratory1? DS made exactly the same choice, except swap economics for CS because he really isn't interested in CS at all. (Too many dull ICT lessons).

To me, it just doesn't make sense to make your life difficult by choosing something that has a handicap in its path, when there are easier, and equally rewarding in their own way, alternatives. I suggested to DS that he could maintain his interest in history by buying books on it, and the upside is that he'll never have to write an essay for it and he can choose which bits of History he wants to study.

So, if the rise of feminism doesn't excite him (and it doesn't) but it does interest his female History teachers who choose the curriculum, then he doesn't have to do it anyway. however, he can read up on the industrial revolution, or the monarchies or various wars and battle tactics, if that is what he likes.

@oratory1 - she’s very good with words and comprehension, she just can’t spell them. For some reason phonics just don’t mean anything to her. She has high reading scores and is good at remembering and is very logical but a really slow handwriting speed (not that you could read it anyway!!!).
Laptops have made a massive difference to her. She is academic and darned determined.
And yes she does love English and History but mainly because she like a good debate (argument £

Oddsocks after the exams (no need to stress her out now), give her this URL: qualifications.pearson.com/content/dam/pdf/GCSE/Science/2016/Specification/GCSE_Biology_Spec.pdf and ask her to search on the term "core practicals". She will quickly find her self on Page 8: Practical Work and will see this sentence about halfway down:
Centres must confirm that each student has completed the eight mandatory core practicals.

If she studies and sits them independently, how is she going to get the exam centre to write that letter for her to the exam board?

Maybe there is a way, and the Home education Boards on MN will know what to do. I just can't see how to solve it though.

Ha Ha I have to confess I have read a number of your posts thinking you could be describing DS !!

I think he also feels validated in that he decided not to take drama or music to GCSE as he would have found them difficult but more importantly felt it may have spoilt his enjoyment of them to have to be examined in them, and has been really happy with that choice. HAving said that music and drama are much easier to keep up out of lessons. And I do agree with the study something you enjoy mantra so it probably depends as well if there are other things you enjoy/are interested enough in to take to A level.

I've mentioned this before on here, but DS1 changed two of his three A-level subjects in the October half term of Y12.

Cblue - if its spelling and handwriting then I don't see that as any barrier at all. There are many ways round that. DS other issue is he can't form the argument under time pressure and also can't find the words to articulate the answer - he often know the argument but can't think of the word to get it out. I used to get frustrated with huge pauses when I asked about his day or what he wanted for lunch but I now know he just can't find the word he needs to answer.

I nearly had to reach for the tissues once when a teacher commented on how much he had improved in class and his response was I always knew all the answers I just couldn't get them out

Thanks for the link mmzz will roll with it for now....

Sigh thank goodness for these threads..

mmzz the bit about your DS that struck home was knowing he had studied things in class or at home but then had no recollection a day later, or not being able to write anything in English when you know they have been told how. DS just doesn't respond to lecture style teaching or learning by reading (which has been the style of his English departments) he has to do and understand. On the other hand once its in and understood its never forgotten.

Need to drag myself from here and tackle the garden now - have a good day everyone :)

@TheSecondOfHerName - that is really useful to know. At her school you normally choose 4 subjects and drop one in Oct when you have decided your preference. I hadn’t even considered that you could swap entirely. Wow just realised how thick I must sound to you all!!!

@Oratory1 - that must have been really hard. DD has no issues communicating exactly what she wants to stay but getting down on paper was an issue (answered all the questions in classs and then got 10% in tests). School has been brilliant and after many years of hard graft she has techniques that genuinely work for her. She has gone from being bottom to be towards the top (not a 9 though ). I always considered her dyslexia to have been the thing that makes her work so hard. Mind you she has put so much pressure on herself that she has had to leave a few of her exams to be physically sick.
I will be happy if she just passes!!!

Oddsocks NEC (National Extension College) is a charity linked with the Open University which does distance learning A levels. They organise everything I think. Google.It costs abotu 450 per Alevel. Avoid something called OS (Op..S..u..y) they seems to be a con with thousands of fake reviews.

Or your dd could do an private IGSE in Biology at higher level (maybe IGSe are already higher level - I'm not sure) and then get onto a state funded A level Biology course.

there are so many options, particularily as stage 4 education is funded up to 19, so taking three years to achieve A levels is free, whether by means of retakes, or other changes.

Like second my son changed his A levels in Year 12, although for him unfortunately one changed as late as end of Year 12. Ds1's school started them on 4 which was a big mistake for him, although other students I know liked the range and the choice. 3 A levels mean you can really get your teeth into them from the beginning and by half term you can change if one is unbearably "wrong" for student.

I think the commonest situation is to find that sciencey student really hates writing essays, or vice versa that an humanities student really finds Stem subjects much more boring than they thought they would, despite achieving excellent GSCE grades in a subject like Maths or Chemistry.

The other big mistake is not to undertake any preliminary reading on the syllabus before you start the syllabus, in the holidays; I think then you can judge how interesting it really is. A few projects or reading lists before hand would make so much difference. Ds1's school did not offer or suggest this, but ds2's school makes a condition of starting the A levels. You hit the ground running then.

CBue that actually sounds like a really good system, 4, and dropping one in Oct. Ds1's school did not let you drop the 4 till JAN?FEB..a nightmare for all concerned. He was sitting through the 4th which he was determined to drop, doing no work (they allowed this) just so they could recordhim as attending the lessons. It was something to do with funding, don't get me started on that...

DD hasn't revised for four days. Politely asked when she was considering starting and got a mouthful of abuse. Currently crying in the car in the next village.

Cblue that sounds great and glad she has found ways through.

oh my heartrate has risen just writing those words on the page, must try not to get so traumatised by past wrongs

garden also beckons here. Basil seedlings to pot up, and paths to sweep. Also some weeds, but they don't really show atm Before I know it the whole border will be covered with beautiful white flowers [bindweed] and creeping buttercup, in the spring it looks so verdant!

jufus pmt? I think she will find her own solution, probably will start revising when she is ready. Hugs to you, they are masters of screaming fits at this age. dd is in a good mood at present but when under pressure can explode.

@ elleskeins - yet another excellent suggestion. Read the syllabus!!! Doh. I can’t believe I didn’t think of it. Too wrapped up in the GCSEs to think clearly and was just stunned by her declaration of “I made a mistake and don’t want to do any of my subjects”

I will get her to take a look this week. Thanks all!!

Oratory1 with DS its the creative part that gets him. He can relate facts if asked direct questions, his SPAG is perfect but touchy-feely stuff just floors him. So, getting him to talk about the writer's intentions in English Lit was like pulling teeth.
Its the same in English language.
A current example is getting him to understand that after the Prague Spring, the people who got all excited and were sticking flowers in the soldiers' hair, but when the crackdown came, they just melted away back to their old lives and were scared to talk about it with each other for fearing of someone informing on them.
To you and me, its obvious. To DS he just can't understand without a long chat on every point like this which there isn't time for, so he has to memorise.

I was just talking to a good friend about the GSCE Eng LIt, and she said her daughter was telling her NOTHING about any exam, she was surprised that I even knew any of the details [and very interested to hear about Ozymandias, as her child was doing that group of poems). I think each child has a different way of coping with the stress, some internalise, some explode, some discuss or dissect.

Elleskeins???? Nettleskeins!!! Who invented autocorrect?!?!