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

[mmzz]

I think ds2 wrote a Daily Express or Daily Mail "article". I think it was pretty ranty in style... He did exactly what I suggested he didn't do which was to launch into a diatribe and put far too many rhetorical questions. He seemed delighted with both papers and told me he had put too much evidence in the history paper...in your dreams!!!

mmzz that sounds an extraordinarily nuanced answer my goodness he will be writing leader columns when he grows up

"A friend's DC has had a completely differently experience, and I must admit I don't know the exam board, but they still had course work for English and only had to sit one exam each for Literature and Language - and also had the huge advantage of entering the exam knowing that they already had a Grade B in the bag"

That sounds like CIE Edwina - since this is what my dd did. I think the question style and format of the CIE exams better suits dd too - not sure what she would have made of the sport and corruption question on AQA (sorry - but isn't this testing knowledge of current affairs etc and how worldly wise the dc is rather than purely testing English?)...and thank God she didn't have to memorise 15 poems for Eng Lit

mmzz and Alexander - will be nice to have familiar faces on the 2020 GCSE thread

hmc I’m booking my place on the 2020 thread too.

@KingscoteStaff @mmzz @hmcAsWas

@AlexanderHamilton - I'm on for 2020 as well with DD. We'll be in midst of A levels as well.

It will be reassuring to be there with some of the 2018 veterans in 2020. I am hoping it will feel a bit easier next time because this time was made harder with all the things we didn't really know, such as how hard would the questions be, what does a 5/7/8 look like, and just a ballpark for the grade boundaries.
During 2018 we all compared grade boundaries around the time of the mocks and discovered that there is huge variation from school to school. So, one DC's "just missed a 8 by one mark" was another's 6.

On a personal note, I'll be ready for Mr Persistent maths teacher next time! Did I say already that he got the Head of Year to call me up? I went all through my own school years without ever getting referred to the SLT, and all the way through DS1's ( & 2's), right up to the last month before DS1 is eligible to leave school and then I get a call about maths of all subjects?!!! The tone was that I am a bad parent, putting my child's GCSE in jeopardy and he had been asked to call me to reason with me!

At least, I will know about Messrs Bruff and Salles, Seneca (free) and Tassomai (better but expensive), freesciencelessons on YouTube and I won't have many text books or revision guides to buy. There's been some great recommendations and help on these threads.

@Nettleskeins I think it was a subject that DS spends a lot of time thinking about! He also wrote quite a bit about Abramovitch (sp.) but he'd lost me by then.

Another early riser mmzz!

It will be much easier the second time around for all the reasons you state, but I think the biggest difference will be knowing the likely grade boundaries (although I do think they will still be rising year on year in 2020). Both of my DC's schools have tended to under-grade mocks, probably in an attempt to avoid complacency, but I'd much rather look them up for myself to get a real picture of where they're at.

I can't believe you got a call from the HoY. Mr Persistent maths teacher clearly has control issues. I wonder what would have happened if your DH had dealt with him from the off. I suspect it would have played out very differently. That sort often have a problem with women with a point of view, particularly when it differs from their own!

I won't be on the 2020 gcse thread (DS is my youngest) but I'm hoping we can keep this thread going through Y12/13, albeit probably at a slower pace!

Anyway, we've still got GCSEs to finish first! 3 more for DS next week and he's done. And the World Cup begins! Thank god it didn't start 2 weeks earlier...

Yes, my bodyclock now seems to think that 4-5am is the appropriate time to wake up. I quite like it in a way - I can do whatever I want, including reading MN!

I don't know what Mr Persistent's problem is. I've just never met anyone so stubborn. He's quite young (maybe 30?), so maybe that's got something to do with it?? I wouldn't mind if he had a point, but he really doesn't.

I think the HoY was taken by surprise by the way the call turned. Mr Persistent clearly hadn't explained that DS has been averaging 95%+ since year 7 or mentioned that he's been ignoring repeated requests for extension work for two years.

I plan to be around for year 12 /13 though. For me, these threads have been invaluable for the support and tips, and just generally having an answer to the question "Is it like this for everyone else, too?"

I'll still be around too.

DD is hitting GCSEs in 2020, then DS2 in 2022.

DS1 has just surfaced, he is going to have a shower (under duress) then head into school for a Maths revision session.

He is not happy as he had to decline an offer of refereeing a tournaments (£50!!!!!), and also a local game first thing.

He will have to put a good chunk of science revision in today as he is playing cricket from 1pm til 8pm tomorrow!

Edexcel igcse English Language and Literature has the option for coursework or all exam. Thankfully DS school chose the coursework route.

In Lit his essays on An Inspector Calls and Macbeth was coursework leaving the dreaded poetry and an essay on whichever novel they taught (his was Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe).

In Language the creative writing and poetry was coursework leaving the comprehension,comparative prose and transactional writing. The coursework for both is 40% of the grade. The coursework grades (not externally moderated at that point so indicative only) were given out just before gcses started. Great if you had done well and not so great if you hadn't!

DS is the final child - one through uni and one at uni. So I'll be here for the starting year 12 thread too! (The one where they lull tou into a false sense of security that there are no.public exams)

Unfortunately the coursework options are only used by independent schools in this country as they don't count in league tables.

DS's school does CIE igcse for English Language & Lit. There's a coursework option on both but they don't use it and do all exams instead. Not sure why.

@mmzz on results day you have to go in with your DS and with result in hand march up to Mr Persistent and ask for an apology at the very least he has been unable to identify your DS's maths ability (not a good quality in a teacher), I can't believe how the school has handled the situation

My posts on the 2020 thread are going to be very different. No Dd would love a 9 but settle for an 8 on that thread but it will be Ds hasn’t revised at all can he get a 4/5 in English!

Cherryburn Some don't uae the coursework.option becase the grade boundaries are generally significantly inflated. Also some schools including a local one grade too generously and when they were spot moderated the whole cohort's coursework was downgrades by a whole grade. So some schools won't take that risk.

Morning all

I am off to Park Run and dropping ds off to Geography revision at 9am.

My dd will be taking her GCSEs in 2021, but would like to join in with year 12/13 thread.

Teenmum Thanks for recommendation of sports store, there is a shop close to us; will be visiting this afternoon to look at Punch Bags.

Cblue you mentioned a few pages ago that your dd does martial arts. Is that Karate/Tai Kwon do (sp?) anything to spark an interest in sport would be great for my ds.

DH and I are sitting (slightly hung over) at the kitchen table, staring into mugs of strong coffee.

DS leaps down stairs, raids fridge, scatters newspapers and cereal evenly across the floor and crashes out of the front door to catch the 8.30 bus to his cricket match.

Can we just have a moment to hail the resilience of our DC - these 16 year olds are facing a demanding and relentless series of exams - the same ones that still turn up in my stress-dreams 30 years later!

Even more admiration to those who are dealing with additional health demands - both the DC and the DP.

The end is (almost) in sight! It's brighter on the horizon!

GettinTrimmer if your new name is anyhting to go by well done and I'm about to go for a run as well!! would your DS like cycling its something that can be done with a club tends to be older people who are very welcoming to all and also on your own.

Reservoir that's why I'm glad there is hardly any coursework I have found it has never ended well for DD she had coursework moderated down due to teacher error, which seems so unfair and I to have heard of terrible abuses of the system!!

Do the school get raw scores or just the levels?
To be honest, 100% on the GCSE will make no difference to Mr Persistent. He's already ignored or minimised a wealth of evidence that DS is highly able. UKMT results are just an example. The teacher just has an amazing ability to filter out any evidence that doesn't support his prejudice. He has nothing to base his opinion on, but he sticks to it like his life dependss upon it.
The chances are that he'll be teaching DS2 next year though, so I need to avoid a confrontation on results day which would probably just be annoying for me anyway as doubtless the teacher will take the credit for teaching DS so well he got a9 instead of recognising that the main things he's taught DS is how intensely boring maths can be when you are never challenged

Then I can only conclude he is desperate for a pay rise!!! I found that sort of treatment wholely unacceptable, DS has had similar but nowhere near to your DS's extent and it has resulted in him completely turning away from maths, it such a shame but your really can't underestimate the damage some teachers have the power to do.

Yes ReservoirDogs I assumed it would be the grade boundaries, which are eye-watering for the coursework modules.

Agree Kingscote. I'm really impressed that DS has sustained the motivation over such a long period and is gamely still revising hard for the science exams next week. But I really take my hat off to DC who are going through this while having to contend with serious health issues. They're amazing.

Kingscote completely agree! Brilliant dcs, all of them. DS is pretty upbeat with a week to go but is completely refusing to attend any more geography revision sessions - he thinks there is too much geography in his head already and he doesn't want any more! He's going to focus on the science paper 2 stuff this weekend.
Definitely up for a Y12 thread. I would love to hear what everyone does next.
DS2 is in year 8 so I'll be on the 2021 GCSE thread. He is the child who can't be made to do anything he doesn't want to, so it could be quite a frustrating process!