GCSEs 2018 (11) Big week coming up

[mmzz]

old thread

Ellen that's correct - taking exams all in one sitting is the litmus test. It tests all sorts of skills, as we're all seeing.

Maths geniuses still deserve a normal childhood and social life Sostenueto - I'd ask: what's the hurry? And look at the downside of accelerating/ separating DC from their natural peers.

Thanks all. It's not her heart this time, which is what has thrown me. She was referred for urgent tests on Wednesday & is going in later today. DD & I had had a long chat on Tuesday about how she can't deal with issues with her grandparents on the other side at the moment, so we've decided not to mention anything at all. I may suddenly have to cover for someone at work at the other end of the country if I need to dash down to Cornwall.

DD is doing history & geography & we discussed the meanness of the scheduling this morning. She actually agrees that geography is less taxing on your hands than history, because there are less long questions, but it's still a case of switching off from one subject and getting into the right frame of mind for the next. She may need her rest breaks.

Thanks Loose but he's not chosen it as his specialism quite yet, although he might well do so, I guess it depends how things pan out. He's about to embark on his first foundation year, so it's one of six rotations he's chosen (in your area! But hopefully you won't be needing his services!).

Yes, poor old Ruth Lawrence attending university age 11 with her dad in tow.

My DS1 took his maths GCSE in November of Y11 which allowed him to study FM And take it in June, so keeping up his maths practice. I don't know if it benefited his maths grade taking it on its own, possibly? It certainly seemed like a good idea at the time. He still took 12 other GCSEs in June.

Should add I say your area only because of what you've just said about pigeons on the Circle line - my only clue to your general whereabouts :)

Ruth Lawrence - now there's a blast from the past. On the one hand she was held up as an example of what us mathematical girls could achieve, but on the other hand, there was a degree of pity for her quirky childhood. Apparently she won't inflict a similar lifestyle on her 4 children and allows them to have friends of their own age.

I think you've made the right choice, then Sticker. Your DD might not agree with you initially when she finds out after the exams but I'm sure she'll soon realise it was in her best interests.

DD did some exams in y10 (in Wales). I think it’s definitely better for the school and their 5 A*-C target as they can stop teaching kids who did well and focus on the others.

Although It’s great that DD has fewer exams this year, she is also a year older now (obvs) and her exam technique is better, she is more mature. She has dyslexia and ADHD so the maturity thing really matters for her.

It’s hard to say whether she would have got a better grade this year by being older or a worse grade because of doing more exams

Stickerrock so sorry to hear about your mum

LooseAtTheSeams that made me laugh - there was a duo who went from Victoria to St. James on the District Line most mornings when I worked in London.

On the AQA History/Geography debate then DD would say there is more writing in Geography but that might be because she has more to say and it is an A Level choice.

After English and History today DD has 6 next week and all of them are very important to her and three are future A Levels. She has her heart set on a future in Medicine too. I suppose on the 23rd August we will see if she has reached the first - education - step on the ladder.

Good luck to all our DCs - onwards they trudge and we limp along behind them

DD's school abandoned any early entries for DD's year group, but now they've had a change of heart for the current year 9s and 10s. They are taking any MFL early and they have reverted to doing the 1/2 GCSE for RS. That seemed a little mean, because the RS teachers, who were already struggling to understand what was going on, were overwhelmed preparing 2 year groups for the first sitting.

I think its difficult for teens to cope with aging GP's...DD had a little cry when I picked her up from her DF's on Wednesday. DF's DM has dementia and has deteriorated (she cannot take medication because it affects other bodily functions). She had bouts of screaming on Sunday and DD just couldn't handle it (understandably so) ..I think DF is trying his best to handle the situation and has found it difficult too..he has first stages of prostate cancer (being monitored quarterly MRI;'s etc) so all in all not great....There are some benefits of being older parents but also allot of negative things too.

@AlexanderHamilton sorry they're late but just catching up

Sticker hope your mum is ok.

DS has English Langauge and then History Edexcel this afternoon. Maths Edexcel yesterday he also thought was good and no surprises.

No wonder so many people think this is an exclusive thread. The only time anyone responds is when I give specific exam info and noone ever replies to my "chat" posts like they do everyone else's. I posted on one of rhe earlier threads under my old user name and the same happened. Oh well - I must be invisible.

Actually on the English Lit debacle DS's teacher asked the class which was their least favourite poem and it was Singh Song so she went over it again in class(a few weeks ago), so if it gets marked leniently you could say DS will get an unfair advantage.........

No your not ReservoirDogs a lot of my posts get ignored to but I think its because the thread moves so fast its not personal, don't leave this thread is for everyone.....

ReservoirDogs - Definitely not personal - I think posts tend to get missed if you post when something else is "trending" ...yesterday it was Alexander's DH and understandably so...

My opinion is that the thread is very open to everyone ...Its not just grade 8/9's etc ...my DD will probably have a spiky set of results

I have day's when I have lots of time for the thread (today) other times I scan through quickly when I am working...

Phew

waves at reservoir
Please don't disappear, I think this is just a fast moving thread, I'm always up for a chat.
English and history for us today.
to those having a hard time .

@BlueBelle123 DC get different levels of advantage all over the place. If it were to be levelled completely then none of our DC would have interested, supportive parents and they'd all have had a dozen English teachers since the start of year 10 with the lessons delivered to a noisy, disruptive class.

My issue with the Ozy poem is that its so widespread that it caused a systemic imbalance.

Second that bluebelle
Don't leave reservoirdogs your not invisible! The thread goes so fast I'm always missing peoples posts. We have all sorts on this thread, its not exclusive because I'm on it! Please don't take tings personally.

Regarding taking exams early....

At DD school there was a chat about it. If DC brilliant at one or two subjects but doing less well at other subjects they encourage them do the exams early. The rationale is that they can get the easy ones done and then concentrate on the ones they find harder. End result is that they get higher grades across the lot BUT the Really good Unis know this and it doesn't demonstrate the DCs ability to cope with a high workload which is REALLY important for higher education.

So in essence they are only encouraged to take exams early if there is a risk that they could get low grades at the other exams. It's a balancing act.....

They also do a selection of igcse and gcse because the igcse tend to have their exams earlier so the exam season is spread between 2nd May to 13 June in DDs case (MFLs will still go for another week after this date). Art was end Apr.

DD goes to an independent so they know how to play the game!!

Sos - reading your previous posts it looks like your DgD is good at all subjects so you def made the right choice to do them all at the end (even if it doesn't feel like it right now).

It's not personal Reservoir honestly. The same thing often happens with my posts and Teenmum is right, it's when there's stuff being discussed that a) a lot of people feel the need respond to (Alexander's DH, Stickerrocks mum) or when the thread's moving at pace. Or when there's an issue being discussed that affects a lot of posters and the replies centre around that.
I know what you mean, and it can sometimes feel like you're being ignored, but it's really not that.

It's ok we can actually do the 8/9s this time round with youngest DS.

He is doing mainly Edexcel igcses except for CIS Physics and Biology (because the school likes for them to have the practical exam as one of their 3 papers) and OCR Geography A because they felt it prepared for A level better.

However the clash of the 3 boards led to 4 exams on one day - Eng Lit, 2 x Biology exams and one Geography paper.

In fact those with extra time had to have overnight supervision. Not DS fortunately.

The advantage of doing the CIS sciences too meant that Biology and Physics were done and dusted. DS exam timetable was front loaded with a gentler run in. Also handy that Maths, History and Geography were mainly after half term (3 of his A level subjects along with Economics) whoch meant he was happy to carry on revising lots!

Sostenueto the school doesn't believe in having DC take exams early, unless its something that they won't take any further (e.g. an early French GCSE for a native French speaker).

TBH I don't believe in it either because it just shifts a problem along. Either DS would have had to go to university a year or two early (if they'd even have him) or he'd have a couple of years where he did no maths at all. I'm not sure which of those two is worse. It was a far better option just to have him have an easy time of it in maths lessons for years 10 and 11. He has a SEN whichmakes all the other subjects harder than they could be, so i figured that the rest time in maths lessons wouldn't do any harm.

So True Teen - I haven't sent best wishes to Sticker or commented on some of the earlier posts as I would normally, coming to the conclusion if we responded to everyone's post we would be here all day.

Though I will say Mmzz, DS and I agreed on the way to school this morning that it makes much more sense for the last quarter of the maths exams to be really hard (as igcse was) to separate the real mathematicians not just those who have made a few silly errors. A lot of whole schools couldn't solve the last question, but DS said a couple of his friends just spotted it straight away.

We also agreed there is some luck in getting the top grades and exam scheduling is probably part of that, including those exams at the back end of a long few weeks - definitely losing focus now and going through the motions in terms of pre exam revision.