GCSEs 2018 (13) Untwisting our knickers, lucky for some!

[Stickerrocks]

Thread 12 Link to the thread with our potted histories. Now the end is in sight.

reservoir just video, not your page. It's very good 😀

YouTube link for non FB people

I have 2 dcs, one doing A levels, one doing GCSEs, both at local comp.

A level dc is working v hard - my goodness are they a step up from GCSEs (brace yourselves for yr12!)

GCSE dc has barely opened a book. He had to do 3 sets of mocks because their first set was so bad at school so he feels he knows enough (fgs). He did work at maths because that's the subject he enjoys the most. He says these GCSEs are more about applying your knowledge than who knows the most (I did point out to apply the knowledge you actually need to know something in the first place ). He is naturally good at maths and sciences and wants to do Maths, Further Maths, Physics and Biology for A level.

He has chemistry, physics and further maths left to go.

I am terrified for both results days. GCSE dc is not guaranteed a space in 6th form. He needs to get certain results (8 in Maths, 7 in his sciences) and above 5 in English. He doesn't want to stay at the school he is at but getting in to any other 6th form (London) is done on distance and how many places they have per course and chances are Physics will be full before his name gets called up (on distance). We only find out all of this on results day which makes it incredibly stressful!

Daffo two lots of big exams at the same time! I am not looking forward to DS2 doing GCSEs as his attitude to revision at the moment is that he doesn't need to do it! Luckily he's only Y8. Very best of luck with the grades for sixth form - it sounds very competitive.

Hello Daffo What a crunch year for you.

Funny video Reservoir

looseYes I'm sure dgd will pass too.. and knowing AQA they probably won't put any of it in exam ( trying and failing to be optimistic). Only 2 hours to wait for feedback then just 2 exams left! Good luck to your ds today!

it's just an impossible system to navigate (6th form) as it's done on the UCAS system here and not on the 'normal' schools admission system.

That means the schools don't know how many children hold places elsewhere and how many will turn up on the day. So for example, there are 6th form colleges here which are quite good but have a lottery application system (ds didn't get a place at the one nearest us, it's just a random pick out the hat system). But that doesn't mean he gets a higher priority for the ones where you are prioritised on distance. So someone who got in to the college can maintain a place with the nearest school and only on the 23rd August decide which one they are going to take. Ds therefore has to go to the school at a certain time, see if there are any places left, see if he has the grades and more importantly, see if there are spaces left on his course.

So he could get to the school he wants to go to, find he has a place based on distance but then be told that Physics is full so he can have a place but not do the subjects he wants.

it's actually giving me sleepless nights

when we did it with dd, she got the last place on English A level and I have no idea what we would have done if they had told us English was full and she couldn't do it!

Well Chemistry and any A levels happening this morning will have a delayed start at DD's school, since her school bus (with three GCSE students on it) was twenty minutes late.

@DaffoDeffo - welcome to another Londoner!

I'll have the A Level / GCSE convo in 2020 but DD is very switched on so I don't think she'll need as much attention as DS1 has had / will need for A levels.

I am really not looking forward to the A Level process. Must be very stressful when grades matter so much for uni offers / next steps.

Looks like Chemistry will have begun by now. Digging out my A Level Chemistry memories to send suitable vibes to all DC. Unfortunately I think I must have wiped those memories and replaced with something else

Terf oh dear. I once had to sit next to a Partner's wife at a Christmas dinner who was sitting on a rubber ring. She had given birth 3 days earlier and had a very earnest conversation with me about her piles.

Sost Our DC/DGC will have retired by the time we out do the MN Archers threads for longevity.

DD is being fairly smug this week, as our car sharer wants to take sciences for A level and looks as though she is going to vomit each morning, whereas DD doesn't give a flying fig in the great scheme of things. She won't look so smug on Friday when car sharer has finished and she has intensive revision for add maths until Tuesday.

DN sat the maths foundation paper yesterday. He gets a bit of extra time and is resitting it for the 5th(?) time. He had around 20 minutes left and said to the invigilator "I'm wasting my time and your time just sitting here, so let's call it a day." Asking DD last night how she found the higher paper probably didn't do much for his confidence! He said there were a lot of equations and nobody had ever checked if he understood the basics before moving on. I would hate to not have a maths brain and only be able to see it all as gibberish.

What a nerve racking system Daffo .

Stupid question about grades for this year for English and Maths ...how will they be awarded for GCSE 9-1's that were first sat last year ? Its the first year for English and Maths for IGCSE so the formula will be applied - will they just look at results and set boundaries?

Subsequent awards of grades 8 and 9 in new GCSEs
2.53 As we explained above, the formula approach to grade 9 awarding approach is
proposed for the first award of each subject only. Grade standards would then
be carried forward from year to year as they would for the other grades

It looks as though we are lucky in Hampshire by comparison to London then. The DC all hold multiple offers, the 6th forms assume around 50% will go elsewhere, and as long as you turn up on your given enrolment day you should be allocated a place on your chosen courses. They all typically have around 800 taking A level maths, which seems to be the only one with a strict grade requirement of at least a 7.

Sostenueto best of luck to dgd too - I'm sure she'll be fine but it is stressful for them.
Daffo we're holding three offers in London. DS's school enrols its own students on results day and does externals the next day but I must get him to check what happens at his first preference. No one has mentioned distance but I think grades could well be a factor on popular courses.

Goodbye Is DD fairly chilled about the delay? I get anxious each morning heading towards our local level crossing in case I have misjudged it and have an extra 5 minutes in the car with the girls.

@Cherryburn Agree with the curved balls...I did ask DD the question whether she had found the exams harder than last years (which she sat for mocks)...she said ....some were about the same ...some had questions that were not clear (Biology 2nd paper) - Physics she found easier (probably down to proper revision). I wondered whether they were testing exam questions on this year's cohort on IGCSE's so they get a better idea of how to set the questions on the 9-1's for next year - but who knows?

I don't think especially chilled Stickerrocks. The three of them will inevitably bolt at lightening speed from the main road to the school (fast five minute run) so I hope DD doesn't get hit by an asthma attack. Not sure if that sort of thing triggers one or not. She uses an inhaler every day. Oh well - luck plays a big old part in all exams and she's been fine so far.

Feel a bit better - just posted a rant on the @are GCSEs too difficult thread” (people mainly saying yes )
Funny how a rant made feel better

Deffo that's unimaginably stressful! In my local authority there is very little movement at A level - colleges enroll for Vocational qualifications, the majority stay at their school for 6th form unless subjects not offered so there is very little movement. However, grades required are quite high, 6 for any A level except Maths (7) and FM (8) and an average point score of 6 across the board.

I'm too superstitious to predict ds grades - suffice to say if he got what he got in his 2nd set of mocks I will be very happy. If he doesn't get a 9 in Maths, then the whole system is wrong!

*@Teenmum60 I hadn’t thought of that (testing questions for 9-1) but it would make a lot of sense. I wonder if they were doing it last year too- the boundaries dropped quite significantly in Chemistry and Biology (by 7% and 5% respectively for the A). Physics stayed more or less the same, and DS would agree with your DD that it was the most straightforward, but it’s his strongest science by some distance anyway. Hope that doesn’t mean there are surprises of the nasty variety in store for Paper 2!

Teen I have wondered the same that they were testing the harder questions. There have definitely been curve balls.

DD and I definitely losing steam. Chemistry today and I am not sure she has done enough past papers. She did quite a few of the paper 2s revising for the paper 1 (don't ask) and only managed 2 yesterday. One was not great and one was really good so it's going to be a bit of luck Re what turns up. Some of it was silly mistakes not reading the question properly and some of it just not saying it how the mark scheme wants you. This is what worries me the most that although correct if you don't use the right words a non-science teacher marking the paper would not give the marks.

Once done today we only have Physics and Add Maths. Will feel a sense of relief once Friday is done. I really need to think about how I can help her give the last push for the final exams. Although it is hard as I am struggling - can't imagine how she feels.

Deffo I can even begin to imagine how you must be feeling with so much going on at the same time and so much hanging on it.

Luckily I won't have the GCSEs and A levels scenario at the same time in 2 years but by the time DS gets round to it not sure I will have energy left after having gone through GCSEs, a levels and uni applications with DD.

I am sure this has aged me.

*cant imagine

These threads move so fast!
DS is fairly confident about his exams so far (except History, which was apparently "shit" as the American Midwest didn't come up at all and he'd mostly revised that).
He's annoyed that he has to go into school tomorrow even though he has no exams, "study leave" only starts on Friday after the exams are finished. I told him he can only stay home if he can persuade the teachers he doesn't need to be in school. Given his debating skills I fully expect to wave him off to school tomorrow.

@Cherryburn That's my worry with Physics ...DD said she finished paper1 within 1hr and spent the next hour checking answers and adding a bit more detail here and there.. (she has always found Physics easier than the other sciences) I have a heavy workload later today and tomorrow so DD is at her DF's ...just hoping she revises in the same way she has so far this week...I think she will because she has her eyes set on an A*.

Inmysparetime Technically DD still has to stay in school until each subject is over. As Add Maths is her last one and there is a maths lesson everyday, she has no study leave. They are even running their usual Add Maths after-school class tomorrow. I'm collecting her after chemistry today though, as I'm going out for lunch and don't know what time I'll be back and on Friday after physics as we're off to Wembley to see Ed Sheeran. Your DS is not alone in this study leave fiasco.