Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. Child-safe in minutes.

Meet the Other Phone.
Child-safe in minutes.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
Secondary education

Connect with other parents whose children are starting secondary school on this forum.

Original poster

GCSEs 2018 (12) Are we nearly there yet?!

999 replies

mmzz · 08/06/2018 12:40

OP posts:
Thread gallery
7
Teenmum60 · 09/06/2018 16:26

DD has managed to do 2 past papers this morning and then emergency shop required because we have run out of paper...Its nice that the exam is just 1hr because she can manage to do quite a lot of pp's over the weekend (IGCSE Edexcel).
I think when a love one is dying its so so difficult..my M & D died within 6 months of each other...my DF had just had enough and they were about to put him to palliative care when he took the decision to pull out any tubes that were assisting his breathing (COPD) so within a few minutes he was gone...my DF was diagnosed with heart problems shortly after...had a pace maker fitted at 92...but didn't react well - was given a week to live and lasted 12 weeks just through her will to live (Tough cookie), it was such a tough 12 weeks for all of us - we decided one of us would always be there - so I was driving 240 mile round trips 2/3 times a week....but I would not change that because she seemed chirpy for most of those 12 weeks.

It is interesting to see how schools have dealt with revision ...DD has not been into any revision sessions since the 7th May when they broke up for study leave.

ReservoirDogs · 09/06/2018 16:27

Staying on at school 6th Form. I think you already guessed where he was.

LooseAtTheSeams · 09/06/2018 16:29

I agree to a certain extent with the Secret Teacher and have a lot of time for John Tomsett. But ds found some of the extra revision sessions useful - I've left it up to him to decide whether or not to go and that's how it should be!

Sostenueto · 09/06/2018 16:36

Got to say dgds school puts no weight in the maths challenge thingys, they don't tell the DC till day before they are doing it! They have had quite a few go through to Olympiad but never announce it. They just give awards out at house assemblies. Its weird some schools set store by the maths challenges but some dontConfused

Sostenueto · 09/06/2018 16:39

When you get ds results make a beeline for that maths teacher mmzz and shove results up right where it hurts!Grin

TerfTerfTerf · 09/06/2018 16:44

reservoir makes perfect sense if you're at a school you like! We're at a 11-16 school and amazed by the huge choice of post-16 options. I think it's been good for DS to HAVE to think carefully about the future rather than just drift into sixth form like I did, he's changed his mind several times since visiting schools and talking to students/staff so fingers crossed he gets the place at Hills and is happy Smile

ReservoirDogs · 09/06/2018 17:01

Terf - So my DS will be 500m down the road from Hills at his school 6th forn Wink

TheThirdOfHerName · 09/06/2018 17:03

By 2020 I may well be TheNinthOfHerName Grin

First name change was after the hack and sharing of passwords. My actual password wasn't there but a mistyped version of it was. Yes, I have changed it.

Second name change was after receiving a PM from someone I know in RL.

BlueBelle123 · 09/06/2018 17:13

Devilish I found your posts very sombre reading, some on here truely carry a very heavy burden, it puts my worries into perspective...........Brainmelt I would of totally agreed with your rant Smile

BlueBelle123 · 09/06/2018 17:14

It does sound like quite a lot of you could be neighbours Grin

Oratory1 · 09/06/2018 17:24

Agreeing with whoever said the volume of biology is huge. We re also finding school have been a bit cought out by the scale of the new stuff in physics. Trying to revise things now they either glossed over quickly in the last few lessons, or things they learnt at the end of year 9 and didn’t have time to go back over.

LooseAtTheSeams · 09/06/2018 17:32

Oratory I think DS was a bit overwhelmed by the volume of all the sciences! He spent most of Easter trying to catch up. By this stage I think he’s very happy with Biology, which is good because he plans to carry on with it! However, he’s not as confident with the other two. He should be fine now but I could tell he was worried a few weeks ago. He prefers the paper two topics, though, so I think the worst is behind him.
In any case he’s playing games on the computer so clearly not that bothered...

BlueBelle123 · 09/06/2018 17:33

Agree Oratory DS used the CGP books as his starting point so ensured everything was covered I'm not sure he even looked at his school books

Original poster
mmzz · 09/06/2018 17:34

What hack?

OP posts:
TerfTerfTerf · 09/06/2018 17:40

Just chatted to DS about biology on Monday..,"yes yes I know all the stuff" ok then name three places where hormones are produced "ummm thyroid pancreas and...ummm...dunno"
Good start Grin

Original poster
mmzz · 09/06/2018 17:45

oratory and whoever it was that asked the original question, I agree that there is a lot to learn in sciences. DS is doing Edexcel, not AQA but finding that he's got a lot to do in the next 5 days. The problem is that he's been kicking the can down the road for the last 5 weeks, always focused on the next few exams, and now he's finding that there's a fair bit left to do this weekend/ each evening next week.
I'm going to be glad when Friday afternoon comes around!

OP posts:
Oratory1 · 09/06/2018 17:46

Yeah CGP have been a god send. They don't have detail or reading around but at least you know you have covered everything. DS has found some of the text books so wordy he can't find the information he needs. The CGP question and answer books have been useful too if you don't have time for a whole paper.

Original poster
mmzz · 09/06/2018 17:49

Out of want for something better to do in the wee, small hours this morning, I counted how many different posters there have been on this and the previous thread: 82! The are more new names today too. No wonder I'm struggling failing, actually to keep up!

OP posts:
Devilishpyjamas · 09/06/2018 17:54

Thanks for the kind thoughts everyone. TBH although it’s been horrendous for Ds2 it has made revision etc far easier for Ds2. That sounds awful - but Ds3 failed the 11 plus much to everyone’s (except mine) surprise and I am sure it was because ds1 was at home in a very bad way. It was in the months before he moved into his first provision, so when he needed full time 2:1 and dh was having to leave work at 2pm every day to help out. It was very hard for ds3. (We’re not fussed about him not passing the 11 plus - his school is a much better fit for him).

I asked Ds2 if he wants to go through biology tonight with me, but he said tomorrow.....

Devilishpyjamas · 09/06/2018 17:55

horrendous for us, (not ds2)

Original poster
mmzz · 09/06/2018 17:55

You have text books for science, Oratory?
DS was stuck earlier and I suggested he read the electronic copy of a text book that the school have him. It turns out he never got a text book for any of the sciences. All teaching for the last two years had been off pdfs from TES, CGP revision guides and the occasional YouTube video! I was a bit surprised but it's a bit late to have a problem with it!

OP posts:
PeggySchuylar · 09/06/2018 18:05

Interesting secret teacher article about revision sessions. DD had a biology revision session last week and went to the school hall to find some of her friends but no teacher!

There was a history session later in the day with content recap taught by one teacher and exam technique by another. One half was great for DD as she liked the teacher the other half not so much.

We are digging deep this evening to finish American Civil Rights so that she can concentrate on Biology tomorrow.

This time next we it will all be over for us. Weird.

Cblue · 09/06/2018 18:16

82 posters - bet there’s probably a similar number of readers too. I lurked on it for at least 8 threads before deciding I was being silly and I might as well try to join in.
It was a comfort to know others were going through the same trials and tribulations (and that I wasn’t mad!!!). Not to mention all the sensible advice FlowersCakeWineGin for you all (take your pick which is your favourite)

Sostenueto · 09/06/2018 18:20

devilishFlowers

Talking about sciences dgd says biology easiest out of sciences but hardest as the amount you have to learn. The units for it are massive. Tbh she prefers human biology and not too keen on plant biology. Chemistry she's finds OK and no complaints about it but physics she says is the hardest because its so boring! Physics teacher was still teaching last unit ( space) a day before first exam. Its a good job dgd studied it a bit beforehand as she realised they were so behind. As it is she says they only skimmed it but its not that big a unit. How is everyone's DC finding the sciences?

EdwinaLIzzard · 09/06/2018 18:41

My DD is not a natural scientist but she has worked really hard; her problem is lack of confidence. She reads a question, panics and then freezes which not only wastes time but means she only recalls part of the information!

Her teachers have been so supportive, not only with the academic content but also with coping techniques for exams, and I just hope she can do enough to pass. We dropped to foundation just after Easter as they were concerned she would freak if faced with challenging questions and we all agreed that it would be best to focus on the lower level questions in the hope she can secure a grade 4 or even (fingers crossed) a grade 5.

She has been revising her biology today and is more comfortable with the Paper 2 topics but who knows what will happen when she actually reads the first question!

Lots of geography revision too, and I have been testing her on Isle of Wight field trip data - I have learnt quite a lot too Grin