Are we ready for a GCSE’s 2019 thread?

[KittyMcKitty]

If so I’m in.

DS (my pfb) will be going into year 11. Mocks after half term. Crossing my fingers for him - needs average point score of 6.5 (across all 10 subjects) to stay for 6th Form.

Anyone else?

Waves!

Nice to be wanted.
DD went back yesterday. Not too bad a day - still has the not great teacher for one subject but doesn't have the even worse one. In History she was worried she'd been moved as the teacher has changed, but doesn't seem to have been and she knows and likes the new one.

The star pupil in her year (who DD has had with her since Primary) overachieved over the summer - teaching English in Cambodia and building schools apparently - we talked about Volantourism after school.

Morning all :) just checking in before I get mister out of bed!

So he asked me not to ring the school over his sets issue and promised to deal with it himself so I let him on the understanding i would call them if not sorted.

Yesterday the head of year told him that there indeed has been a mistake and whilst he's stayed in his old set for maths, he has been moved up in English and science.
His English teacher is actually his form teacher so he's happy with that. His school has the same form tutor right through from year 7-11 so she knows him very well and is saying his target is a 6/7 which has obviously gone up since the Exam result in August.

His school have always had European hours and start at 8.40 ( registration ) with a short break and short lunch ( 30 mins ) and finish at 2.40 with 5 one hour lessons.

The stress he's displaying after 3 days is quite worrying but as he has Aspergers he is quite a worrier anyway so i need to keep an eye on things.
Nearly the weekend

Powergower has your DS got revision books already? Mine have the CGP ones for sciences and says they're invaluable - teaching at school has been patchy during yr10 so they relied on those guides a lot

Does anyone know of any useful online resources for further maths GCSE- particularly EDEXCEL?

Hi Powergower I'm interested that you say the school have downgraded to a BTEC. I thought that BTECs were equivalent to GCSE - assuming they get a Level 2 Pass or above?

PS

Well DS has had his first two days back. He is not impressed, said all his new science teacher does is talk all lesson and it's really boring. This is not good for DS as he has ADD and needs to be kept engaged.
He hasn't been given any homework that I know of yet. They dont even have a link book at all anymore.
Hopefully we will have a chance to air all our concerns at the expectations evening on Monday.

Forgive me if this has been discussed upthread, but it's a long thread and I couldn't see a direct answer by just searching on "revis".

I need to have The Talk with DS about revising this term. (He does well in prep, but often does poorly or at best average in tests, suggesting that he (a) doesn't have good revision techniques, and (b) isn't rigorous enough at self-testing to see if he's learned what he's revised.)

They are of course still learning new content till at least January, and up to Easter for Biology. Mocks are in January. He is sitting 10 GCSEs/IGCSEs including Triple Science and Spanish.

I was thinking that he could do simultaneous flashcards for any new material, and 30 minutes a day revision (weighted at the weekend if he has too much homework one evening). Does that sound reasonable? Too much? Too little? Any thoughts?

Obviously this is just till end of this term. Over Christmas holidays, he needs to revise solidly and we'll review then. He has some musical extracurricular activities, but not heaps of them, and likes to spend at least one after-school session in the art studio. But generally he is home by 4pm at least three of the five days in the week.

TIA.

Question for you all if I may-

What options have your dc chosen?

My ds has chosen

History
Art
Photography
Drama

Do you mean what GCSEs does she do over and above core subjects (Maths, English, Sciences [double or triple]?)

DD does

• 2 languages - French + an unusual one
• Art
• History
• Textiles

(naming the unusual language, very popular at DD's school, probably narrows down her school a little too obviously!)

Sorry cant yes that's what I meant!

Ds is doing double science. He's not targeted a high grade in it, science is his weakest subject. He's predicted grade 4's in science and said he will be lucky to get them. I've bought him the cgp workbooks and science is the first subject he's revising as of next week.

Sour

Ours are quite similar

DS chose
History
Drama
French
Latin

The problem he's having is deciding which subjects to choose for A'level. he's a bit of an all rounder and is enjoying everything[except science- he chose double science to enable him to do drama, is achieving highly..8s in his mocks, but doesn't not enjoy it AT ALL]
He was deadset on maths but now isn't sure at all. The only thing he's really sure about is drama.

Definitely :)

Seems like history is popular too. I'm going to WHSmith next week to get the rest of the revision guides as ds is panicking already!
Maybe that's a good thing. His best friend is bright but really lazy and didn't revise much for the English lit and I can't see him changing, it's just the way he is.

I'm gutted ds didn't do French, I got an A at GCSE and A level and studied it at university and would have loved him to have chosen it but he didn't like it at all.

Ds has got homework for drama, art and English language and is still at his dads so busy busy tomorrow for him.

L: French, Spanish, History, Music
B: French, Spanish, History, Latin

I'm impressed how much details everyone here knows I have no glue what homework my kids have. Their teachers never complain (and I'm sure they would) so I think they do fine. I have three younger kids with special needs and honestely concentrate more on them. Of course, all my kids get help when they ask, but they have to be more independent then other kids (And I often feel bad about it).

L. wants to do Psychology, Maths, Biology and History for A level.
B. wants to do either A level with French, History, Politics and Maths or IB diploma. Her favorite IB school is a private and she has to pass an entrance test and we have to check our sholarship and busary options before.

Dd3 is doing triple science, her school have compulsory RS (full GCSE), she's dropped her MFL, and her other options are Art, Drama and history. Think that comes to 10?

MrsSteptoe that sounds like a lot to me! My most organised child started revising in February half term, the other two didn't start until Easter. #4 has had poor attendance, so is pretty good at consolidation as she goes along and catches up with stuff, but I would be concerned that she was being too hard on herself if she were doing half an hour of revision every day at this point.

DS2 is doing as his options: French, Art and Geography (that is in addition to the two he sat early last year). He is also doing triple science.
Geography is a worry because the teachers don't seem to have a clue about the new GCSE. French is a worry because he finds it very hard. We got him a tutor last year because he was feeling overwhelmed. It was not helped by a teacher whose technique it is to throw tonnes of material at them, rather than work a bit more incrementally. Eg giving them a week to learn 19 irregular verbs in the first couple of weeks.

English he enjoys, but somehow his articulate oral responses don't usually translate into articulate written responses - he goes off on tangents and is all over the place in his writing. It has been improving, but it is a struggle. I finally decided to get him a tutor in English this year, because I thought he really needs somebody who can sit down with him on a one to one basis and untangle his technique, which a teacher of 30 kids just can't do. It is not knowing the material, or understanding it that is the problem, it is structuring it in a written form and making sure he doesn't change his mind every paragraph when he thinks of something "better" to say so it comes out a complete mish mash.

Zoflorabore
Options
Mine's doing Maths, Eng Lane, Eng Lit, and Triple Science, all of which are compulsory, plus a compulsory MFL which in his case is Spanish; the three choices left to him, he's gone for History, Art, and RE.
AtiaoftheJulii
Thank you - that's honestly helpful to know. I haven't really got to know any of the parents at the school (often the case at secondary, I suspect) so a sense check on MN is invaluable.