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?

I didn't bloody record it, flatmouse! . I've told her I'm recording the next one. She's a natural at stand-up comedy.

And your DD absolutely needs to rest and enjoy Christmas. It's a marathon, not a sprint! No doubt the school will set some stuff to keep her ticking over and doing that is fine, but there's a balance to be struck. I feel your pain, both of mine need the brakes putting on regularly.

Is the Mr bruff stuff free?

Yep on YouTube (think you can buy books as well).

At the risk of being very unpopular, DD doesn't have to learn Macbeth quotes as it is open book.....obvs a clean unannotated copy, but even so.... isn't everyones??

Older Under the new GCSEs English Lit became closed book. (At least for some boards). What board is your DD doing?
It will still be 'better' if she knows the quotes - no time in an exam to start trying to find quotes to back up an argument over who was more evil Macbeth or his wife.

Teen Indie school, so IGCSE Edexcel, and yes, I have now looked at the other boards, for the GCSE they are all now closed book..... DD has learned the whole play by heart, as she is a drama girl, so good at that sort of thing, and was going to flashcard key pieces, but it now makes sense why her teacher said not to bother. I think DD will still be matching up Acts and Scenes though, and just to event things up a bit, her novel, which is awful, ISN'T open book . She has A Perfect Peace a really awful American "classic".

Ds has only started Macbeth this year - they’ve not finished it yet (mocks got in the way) but all went to see it at the Barbican.

They’ve finished everything else back in year 10.

Kitty that seems late! I'm hoping DD2 (y9) does Macbeth as I know it backwards having done it for O level 35 or so years ago and have seen it regularly since then. I took DD2 to see the RSC live screening earlier this year.

TeenTimesTwo do you think? I’m laid back about it - it’ll be finished in Jan then it’s all done. They’ve a bit of Geography field work left and then that’s finished and about half of Elizabeth for History. French I know they still have stuff, Physics just space I think, not sure about Biology and Chemistry and DT there’s the NEA although they’ve done a fair bit of design.

DD going to RSC production tonight.
I think I did Julius Caesar for o level but get confused as we did so many including macbeth, midsummer nights dream and I still remember some key quotes now!
Ha, just checked. Christmas Carol not Macbeth tonight. Either way she has the mock tomorrow which covers both, so hopefully it will help!

Kitty maybe not late if it will be done in Jan. I'm out of the loop anyway as eldest did her GCSEs under the old system. There is still 5 months to go after all.

Although Mr Bruff is good for English lit, I would say Mr Salles is a better one to look at.

He does Power and Conflict AQA poetry in detail.

For any text which is a play of course you need to see it. That is how a play is written, to be seen. Watching it helps sequencing. My son's school streamed in a live performance of Romeo and Juliet. They are also watching A Christmas Carol at a theatre in January.

Revision wise, Ds1 does it and I get handed the flashcards to test him, also when he finishes a chapter in the revision guides, I use the test questions to see how much he has remembered.

Although his grades are fantastic he doesn't see it because in some classes the teachers are dealing with every grade prediction from a 3 to a 9. The teachers are trying to boost up the lower ones and therefore don't praise the higher graders so as not to demoralise the others. But this backfires because then Ds1 thinks he isn't doing great. Argh.

And 9's are driving me insane, since when was a 7 not good enough? Because now there is this 9. It just makes them feel rubbish.

Kitty My DD only started Macbeth this term too. They just finished, and going straight into mocks. All seemed fine on Monday, so we'll see how it all comes out in the grades.

Not posted on here for a long time. DD finished 2wks of mocks last Friday Results starting to dribble in. Can I ask are you focusing on the % mark or the awarded grades?
So far she has 7 in maths (not that happy with mark but reckons school used past additional questions on p3 as lower sets could only answer first 2 qs), 7 in physics. 7 chemistry,7 English lit and 6 in biology
Reason I ask because in some subjects % for 7 is low but inline with last years boundaries

We’re just focusing on the grades - ds’s school (as I assume are all) are using last summers gcse papers, mark schemes and grade boundaries.

Well done to your dd bfmhgmum some great results. Ds has 3 results back Geography 8, Eng Lit (Macbeth & J&H) 8 and Biology 6 (he’s cross as missed a 7 by 1 mark but I feel a 6 is probably accurate as he wasn’t well prepared for it).

We are using the grades as they sat actual June 2018 papers in lots of subjects as we have seen them.

We are trying to use them to see where he lost marks and then use that to improve his answers.

Some of their homework this week has been to rewrite an answer on English and History papers. It is good practise if a similar question comes up.

We are incredibly lucky that the History teacher is not only amazing generally but also attaches the mark scheme to the front of the exam paper meaning you can see exactly what you are meant to have included in your answer.

oldandgold assuming they are last summers gcse papers and are marked / graded using the mark schemes / grade boundaries they are a fairly accurate assessment of where she was at on the day she took them. My dc’s school predict 1 grade higher (occasionally 2 if close to boundaries etc) then mock grades.

As to what happens in the summer- I’ve known students improve considerably from mocks with consistent, targeted revision, similarly if students sit back and do nothing their grades will slip.

Congratulations to your dd on surviving her mocks, I hope she’s pleased with her results.

old Your comparison for old and new grades is correct, except for Grade 4 which is old low/mid C. It doesn't cover old Ds in any way. The pass rate of 4+ should be the same as for C+. The new GCSE's aren't easier to pass.

I'm looking forward to end of term. But then I guess we will need to address how much revision over the holidays, DD has more mocks in her options as soon as she gets back. I think I will encourage her to take time off until she's back from family visits after Christmas. How is everyone else approaching it?