GCSEs 2018 (16) - The Final Countdown

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www.mumsnet.com/Talk/secondary/3304925-gcses-2018-15-the-reckoning?

Well done eagle dd too!!

Excellent results - well done to your dd eaglefly

Well done to DC of Kingscote Farang and Eagle great start and hope those with peculiarities in some grades get them sorted.

8 days to R day for the rest of us eek! !

It all feels a bit strange knowledge ng some of the results after Waitrose NT so long. Super results for your DD eagle - absolutely fab achievement!

One of DD’s friends achieved 9 As and that’s slightly intimidating, even though DD has done her absolute best, too! She is very happy for him but it makes her missed A harder to accept!

farangatang - I can understand your DD's disappointment and I do hope it was mistake with not including all subsections in the marking scheme - I totally admire your honesty - I think its really good that we can see these wonderful achievements but also know that our DC's may have to deal with results that may not be has expected...I was always worried that a lot of our DC were setting themselves up for failure and a 8 (A is a massive achievement...)...I think maybe even more difficult for the DC where they maybe on the old system of A's but have only take 1/2 subjects where they can achieve a 9 so if its just missed in these subjects they feel disappointed...which seems wrong.

Sympathy, and handholding offered here for those of you who are waiting on A level results tomorrow. The GCSEs are going to be bad enough, but with only a day left, I can't imagine how nerve wracking the wait for the A level results is now.

Farang I too hope you get the clarity needed behind the anomaly result. Huge congrats to your DD for achieving the results that she expected.

For us the biggie results will Be next week - these will be the a level subjects. Fingers crossed for everybody.

It's true - I've recently come across the a level results thread. It's a complete another level of stress. So much resting on those for the next step. I too have everything crossed for those waiting for a levels tomorrow.

Enrolment appointment received for first choice college along with detailed instructions of how to apply for the season ticket. I'm obviously not going to do it just yet. How many passport photos do we think DC will need? We have 3 relatively recent ones here, but I'm wondering if she will need more.

DS's passport came up for renewal a few weeks before his 16th, so I waited and got him an adult passport. It's strange to think that it's the last I'll buy for him, as he'll be 25 when he needs to renew it.

The passport office lets you use a camera phone photo now, so I have a digital copy and I'm just using the same photo anywhere that asks (itit's good enough for the passport office, then it's good enough for Oyster...).

Yes - Oyster def accepts a digital image when you do it on line.
Last time it took about 3 days to arrive in the post but I guess it will be slower at the moment with everyone renewing?

DDs stopped working in mid July despite being valid until September but I am not sure whether that's just a coincidence?

We didn't realise that you could use digital photos & took a trip to Jessops for DD's passport a few months ago. A friend had a dispute in St Petersburg a few weeks ago when border control told her that her DC didn't look like her passport. She was weeks old in the photo & now she is 4! I decided that DD would have to live with her passport for 10 years and I didn't want the blame if she hated age 25.

I hope her Oyster still works this weekend, as she's off to London without us.

I'm not sure how how I'm going to feel about the A-level thread tomorrow. There are a lot of high-achieving students on there who will be (understandably) disappointed if they get below AAA.

DS1's results are likely to be somewhat lower (he got DDE in the mocks).

I realise that there are a lot of high-achieving students being mentioned on this thread (including DS2). If your child is expecting lower grades, please don't be put off from posting. I do understand (because of DS1) and would like to be able to support you and celebrate their achievements too.

Feeling for all those waiting for A-Level results - as PPs have said, the stakes are much higher!

I think grades alone are a crude measure of achievement - for DD, the grade she achieved for Maths was the same as her 'anomolous' one. However, we're both over the moon about Maths as at the start of Year 10 she was failing (averaging E and D grades!). Anything below prediction and track-record is always going to be disappointing. Interestingly, noone is saying 'what do you think you did wrong?' but 'what's GONE wrong? There must be a mistake'.

If she's dropped the ball on that exam (massively) then she needs to know but I'm also hoping they've just forgotten to include marks for one of the components.

Still four more to find out next Thursday... I'm just so proud that she got through the whole GCSE process without having massive meltdowns and being overcome by anxiety. She's done brilliantly for that alone!

As have all our DC - hoping they get results they are not only happy with, but proud of!

Third I just want to wish your DS1 the very best for tomorrow and I hope he gets the results to continue with whatever he plans to do next. Fingers crossed for him!
I'm just hoping most of my students have passed their GCSE English at this stage. I do know performance in exams doesn't always match ability in class. That's making me at least as nervous as DS's results. And DS is starting to make me feel a bit twitchy - though outwardly I am calm and reassuring, and full of backup plans!

Oh, and my GP says exams are a ridiculous way to assess people and he's got a medical degree so he must be right!

eaglefly belated but BIG congrats!!

Thanks brain.

Everything crossed for tomorrow Third. Sending you huge hugs.

It's been a bitter sweet journey for us this summer. On the academic side things have been going really well. But behind the scenes DD has been dealing with her failing mental health. She has recently been diagnosed with depression. Bizarrely it is not related to the academic aspect at all - the academic side has actually been a comfort. Things are never what they seem from the outside. All the highest grades in the world are worth nothing to us in comparison with her mental health. She is getting help and we are hopeful that things will improve.

So let's take time to celebrate all achievements and the fact that all our DC have made it to this amazing milestone.

DD is convinced that exams and especially GCSEs ones are not a measure of intelligence or intellect - they are merely a process to learn, facts to memorise and a mark scheme to adhere to. I have to say I agree with her.

Well done eaglefly's DD.

DS also did the non-coursework version of History. Grade boundaries look 'interesting' to say the least - the Special Subject question must have been extraordinarily hard or easily misunderstandable for the grade boundaries to be so low!

Third I am the very example of all children are different.

Oldest (25) got 3 Bs and 6 Cs at GCSE, a DUDE at mocks but got CCD in A levels, went to a not great uni but with charm managed to get on a fast track graduate entry programme, is earning enough to be paying rather a large amount back monthly on his student loan (perhaps we should have funded after all!) and is about to go to NY to work.

Middle (21) (dyslexic) got 3 A*s, 6 As at GCSE and a CDE in mocks but a BBD in A levels, had an offer of BBB at an RG but was still accepted with his BBD and is going into his final year there on a strong 2.1.

Youngest is probably the most academic and was expecting all A*/9/8s but thinks he has fluffed a couple so may not be what he was originally predicted or hoping for. It is almost as if there is more pressure on him because there was less expectation on the others but high hopes for him. We however keep telling him that we have seen him work hard and the results will be what they are and we are proud of the effort.

It is also great for us as a family that they seem to have got progressively more academic as there was no having to live up to the older sibling.

Also it goes to show bearing in mind DS1's career path now that even without top grades there is something you slot into an that suits you.

Good luck to those awaiting A levels and hopefully whatever grade you get it takes you to your preferred next stage whatever that may be. (Same for gcses next week too)

Eaglefly Sorry I was typing my very long post above whilst you were obviously posting and now my post seems glib!

I hope your daughter gets the assistance she needs to see her through. Take care (and I am going to add a very unmumsnetty x)

eagle the measure of your DD's intelligence comes with her very accurate, insightful comment about GCSEs. I wish her a prompt recovery

ReservoirDogs thank you for sharing about your older two children, that's really encouraging.

Reservoir we have similar , ds1 academic but likes to fly below the wire , interestingly apart from a few who knew him well most expected Bs at GCSE , he came out with all As and A* at GCSE . Interestingly he didn’t enjoy A level and didn’t cope well with the fact that suddenly people had high expectations . Also more of an intellectual, hated the constraints of the’mark scheme ‘ I think would in the 1970s have been a classic 2 Es offer.Still did well enough to get into a selective course at a RG university but was miserable and hated it. Now has good job in an area he is interested in, lives in big city.

Ds2 is dyspraxic and also has a host of associated problems , but with much perseverence now has maths and English and a couple of others and 2 x L2 BEtecs but apprenticeship now ending and looking for job, living at home

Ds3 always been very bright, top sets for everything , most of friendship group similar . He has really felt the weight of expectation , like you we have tried to reassure but I am not sure how successful we have been. Interestingly dreading Thursday next week more than with the other two.