GCSEs 2018 (11) Big week coming up

[mmzz]

old thread

Alexander DD1 is in a similar state on music and I have been lulled into a false sense of security by the fact she hasn't mentioned any concerns until about 24 hours ago.

Apparently there was absolutely no point practising listening to our extensive collection of recordings, or discussing them with me (not professional but very experienced choral singer) or her piano teacher, or indeed any of the many people I know who are either professional or very experienced amateur musicians and would have been very happy to help.

No, clearly none of us could have been any help whatsoever .

English language for us today. DS did badly in his mock on this, as did most of the class . I can only assume that the teacher was giving them a rocket/message. DS did two practice questions over half term which he emailed over to the teacher and then went in and discussed with the teacher yesterday. Apparently they had been marked at a much better level than the mocks, so I think he is feeling a bit more chipper about that, which is good. Phew.

Agree re PP who said you've given up working out what it means when you hear how the exams went (as fellow mothers of boys will know, we are only given information on a need to know basis and then at cryptic levels).

DS re English lit (he hopes to do for A level);: it was very hard. Me: Aaaarrgggh

DS re Physics (weakest subject other than French): it was really easy - I smashed it. Me: Aaaarrgggh

(My favourite bit of limited feedback was re French speaking: DS: M Frenchteacher said that was the best I have ever done. As DH pointed out when he had left the room that's not actually an objective standard or even a high bar!)

All the best for English and geography today! Dd reasonably chipper this morning... but needs to focus on history for the end of the week then sciences. We shall see.

Here goes - English today and DS’ attempt to pass an English exam for the first time in his life ! In reality only needs a three and good coursework should pull it up to a four but it could depend very much on the questions and how he reacts to them? Both the unseen text and the transactional writing peice.

He did some good work with his sister yesterday but was very deflated after history which he found very tough (an easy paper caught out on timing and then panicking and forgeting how to answer certain types of question). Unusually for most he has spent a lot of Easter and most of half term on English revision (and hated every minute) so hopefully thats helped.

I rested the temptation to say at least you won’t have do any more English after today just in case !

Special good luck today to all those who have places or A level courses riding on English grade.

Oratory- Good luck to your DS - I hope it goes well....

DD also sitting on good coursework - she tends to do better in exams BUT she slightly messed up Eng Lit exam so maybe feeling a little pressurized today.

I think DD would probably do well in Music given that her DF was telling her to practice Guitar yesterday when she said she needed to do Maths (she is not taking music GCSE)

Tawny It's not just boys. DD is so determined to do this on her own that I have to wait for her to get to the point where she needs to let it all out. Every so often one of us will get a line by line description of the question paper, but most of the time we're lucky to find out if the paper covered human geography or the history of medicine.

I hope DD doesn't come a cropper on English today, as she's done relatively little last minute revision, concentrating on geography instead. She's torn because she wants to do really well in every subject this week, whereas the first week of biology, RS & chemistry didn't have the same pull.

DD's longest exam at 2:15 - hope she remembers to take some rest breaks - I don't think she has taken any so far and will have aching hands if she doesn't...but at least there are no exams tomorrow.

Yep I am with all of you regarding feedback on exams.
As you may remember DD had a melt down a couple of weeks ago (quote “I have failed everything”). After a long discussion (finally) it transpired that it was a couple of questions on her papers causing her “fail” quote. We sat down and deducted the marks for the dodgy questions then knocked off 20% of the remaining marks (which she considered a reasonable deduction to the questions she thought she 100% knew). Then we checked last years grade boundaries. Ended up at a 6 (or 7/8 if the 20% reduction was too high).

She’s confident again now.

I think they focus on the questions they weren’t 100% sure of rather than the questions they found easy and knew. Also helps that she has course work elements and knew the grade for a couple of exams (history and English plus she knew her art scores) and the science answers were easier to assess as right or wrong.

... I am also feeling a bit better about it - after today 3 more to go.

Also sure that your DC have done well. You guys have given all the encouragement and help any DC could hope for.

DS is usually the opposite on feedback, says it was ok and tells you the bits that went well then later some real issues drip out and the result is usually several notches down from what he reported. I don't know whether that's because he's a natural optimist (quote from more that one school report - goes through life with a smile on his face) or because what is in the depths of his brain doesn't find its way on to the paper but he thinks it has ! At least I'm prepared for it now.

@BlueBelle123 I love your post of last night:-
I've realised that when Ds comes home and says how the exam went I can only see the worse........
If the exam was easy, I'm thinking well clearly you've missed the point!
If the exam was tricky.......well you haven't done well
If he says what he generally does which is it was fine.....I'm what does that even mean......I think I just hate the not knowing!!!!!!

That's me exactly. I've yet to walk away privately thinking "Oh, good..."

Apparently, I said the worst possible thing to DS this morning, just before he left. I definitely deserved the anger with which he hit back at me for my insensitivity.
I said exactly two words:
"Good luck"

Yes Mmzz and somehow we have jumped this year to translating 'it went well' into oh no the grade boundaries will be high !!

Thanks for the good wishes btw

How very dare you!?

Good luck indeed!

DS struggles with English Lang - been getting level 2 in his tests, so with a tutor , lots of extra work and revision classes that's gone to a 4/5 recently.

Hes been very tense all weekend and last night was unable to settle to anything. Hope it goes well for those who need the results.

Meant to post earlier to send extra luck for English Language today, especially for those who need a pass/particular grade for the next stage.

And so true about the responses to the various answers to 'how did it go'!

both my dcs are concerned about their English Language paper. Dd understands cyclical structure, and ds2 now understands exposition and motifs...of that at least I'm sure. The rest...well completely uncertain. We did some creative writing tasters last night round the supper table...their vocabulary is very limited, they don't use clauses and they like telling stories which are highly and improbably dramatic. If they get 5 s or 6's I will be happy, but there is no coursework so 4 with ds2 might be a possibility, if he suddenly goes off the rails..A typical story for him would consist of a volcano erupting mid sedate mountain climb, a alien spacecraft landing at a picnic or a large dinosaur bursting into the living room. Dd just writes long lugubrious stories which never go anywhere, think Neutral Tones crossed with SnapChat..

They don't need luck. They need the examiner to appreciate their inner genius and see that any wrong answers they give are an alternative approach to saying what the correct answer required them to say from a slightly different perspective and deserve full marks.

Of course any bits left blank are there to inform the examiner that the question asked was too trivial to answer and didn't even deserve a response. If they had wasted their time answering it, they would have written exactly what the examiner wanted them to say, so they may as well be given full credit for not answering anyway!

Mmzz that made me laugh.

in otherwords...."the word Luck acquires a fantastical ominous flavour in this context [of taking exams] suggesting the exam taker has done no work or revision, and the use of "good" in this phrase contrasts with the likelhood that the exam may be bad/unfortunate, thereby juxtaposing two discordant elements, and unsettling the listener.."

Nettleskeins I can see you've been revising!

Nettleskeins - That's grade 9 work!

Ha ha Sticker will definitely show that to DS who feels exactly that about all these GCSEs

DS seemed OK for English this morning, although was complaining at breakfast that he can never find anything creative to write. We talked about stories with 'twist' endings and avoiding cliches like waking up and finding it was all a dream!
He got a lift with DH and was revising literary devices on Quizlet in the car apparently...
His next English is on Friday, and I discovered completely by chance when looking at the syllabus last night that although the paper is only 15 mins longer, it is actually worth 60% of the total English Lang marks , so he really needs to be prepared for that! Glad I spotted that, as I have a feeling that coming at the end of the week he might have 'run out of steam' and been tempted to coast through it.... (It's Eduqas/WJEC board, BTW, in case I'm setting any hares running...)

Good luck to all in English Language today, but particularly to those for whom its a mountain to climb

Wonder.....we had the same conversation regarding dream endings......

My final comment to him was, ‘don’t forget to add an adjective!!!’ and we both chuckled as I’ve been saying that to him since year 1!!!!

🤣🤣🤣

Have everything crossed at the moment. I do hope dgd copes with English paper. I am a nervous wreck and so is pup!