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Secondary education

Connect with other parents whose children are starting secondary school on this forum.

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Original poster

B#gger! It looks like DS has 3 A level papers at the same time!

20 replies

Hockeystinks · 29/12/2018 16:50

DS1 is doing A levels in 2019. For various work-related reasons, I've just gone to see what days his exams fall on. He has nine papers, and three are scheduled for the same afternoon in May. I guess it is because he is doing exams with different boards.

How is it going to work though? He had a clash of two during GCSE, and did them back to back. However A level papers are longer. That's six hours! Assuming he starts at 1pm that's going to be a long afternoon/evening. What about eating? How long a break will he get in between? Could he still be writing a paper at 8pm?

Talk me down please - I am worried that this scheduling will not be at all good for allowing him to do his best

OP posts:

TheFirstOHN · 29/12/2018 16:57

I think you need to email the exams officer at the school/college to ask what the plan is. For example, they might decide he can start one exam in the morning, providing he is sufficiently supervised between exams.

ButteryParsnips · 29/12/2018 17:01

He'll have to have a proper break between. They might as TheFirst says arrange for him to do one in the morning, keep him away from any friends doing the same subjects, and then another in the afternoon. He can't do more than two papers in a day so they'll have to go to arrangements that apply when exams have to be moved to a different day.

TalkinPeace · 29/12/2018 17:04

He must be doing a VERY odd combination of subjects to have a clash like that
as the boards tend to coordinate their timings

have you checked that all subjects are with the same board ?

At Al level they are more likely to quarantine him overnight with a member of staff and do the third one in the morning

TheFirstOHN · 29/12/2018 17:09

I think they can sit more than two papers in a day so long as it doesn't add up to more than 6 hours in total.

DS2 had to sit three GCSE papers on one day last summer (due to a clash).

Original poster

Hockeystinks · 29/12/2018 17:12

Thanks for your reassurance. DS is indeed doing a weird combo of subjects. However two of his subjects are quite mainstream and they clash - but they are with different boards.

Overnight supervision is a possibility??

OP posts:

TalkinPeace · 29/12/2018 17:25

Hockey
Yup, for the A level kids if the exams are long, they hold one over till the morning and the kid stays with a teacher for the night.
Its rare (but at a college the size of DCs happened most years) but it works well.

Original poster

Hockeystinks · 29/12/2018 17:47

Phew. I obviously need to speak to school. DS has Aspergers and while he likes his teachers I can't see an overnight stay being a success

All the papers are 2 hours long, so doing one in the morning and two in the afternoon would seem practicable surely?

Would DS or us get any chance to input what might work best or is it just up to school to decide - or exam boards?

I did think three papers in one day would be rubbish but I suspect an overnight with a teacher would just send DS into a tailspin! He is aiming high Uni-wise so needs to do as well as he can.

OP posts:

TalkinPeace · 29/12/2018 17:56

Hockey
Start talking to the school in the second week of term.
They will have a system. Work with it and all will be well.

Original poster

Hockeystinks · 29/12/2018 18:08

Thanks Talkin

I'll speak to school once DS is back and settled. I won't mention it to him just yet though!

I thought A levels would be easier with there being fewer papers than GCSE. Trust DS's weird subject combo to throw a spanner in the works!

OP posts:

titchy · 29/12/2018 18:27

If two are mainstream are you certain they clash? The exam boards do coordinate with each other and there are different papers depending on syllabus version.

Three x 2 hour papers however could be done in the same day with a decent break: 9-11, 12-2, 3-5. He'd obviously be in isolation supervised by a staff member during that time.

MarchingFrogs · 29/12/2018 19:29

JCQ instructions re clashes, supervision requirements etc pp12-14:
www.jcq.org.uk/Download/exams-office/ice---instructions-for-conducting-examinations/instructions-for-conducting-examinations-2018-2019

Looking on the JCQ document which details exam centre cocerns about the timetable, the only major one I could see related June 3rd, which has papers in FM and Computer Science timetabled for the morning session and and Physics in the afternoon, but I may have missed something.

picklemebaubles · 29/12/2018 19:38

Mine did, too. He was shattered by the end of the day.

Original poster

Hockeystinks · 29/12/2018 19:38

The exam boards are OCR and AQA. It looks like total time is actually 5 hrs 45 mins between the three papers so from looking at that document Marching DS will be allowed to do them all in one day. Hope so! Though my previous point stands - three exams in one day is going to be tough.

He isn't going to be happy, and I'm not that impressed either tbh!

Marching I'm happy to pm you the details in case I've got it wrong?

OP posts:

user1471525753 · 29/12/2018 19:57

If all 3 exams are timetabled for the afternoon, He'll do one in the morning, then be kept under supervision until the afternoon. He will be able to revise from his own notes but not allowed access to the internet. He will then have to do the other two exams back to back in the afternoon. He can have a break of up to 20 minutes between them but he'll have to remain in the hall under exam conditions and is not allowed to revise.

MarchingFrogs · 29/12/2018 19:57

@Hockeystinks, I'm happy to have a rummage in the timetables for you, if you think a second pair of eyes might help. Pending the official timetable being supplied by DS2's school, I've had a look for his 10 GCSEs, but have yet to get my act together to look for DD's 3 A levels...

xyzandabc · 29/12/2018 20:09

Contact the exams officer, they will be able to tell you exactly how your school work to the jcq regulations as posted by marching above.

He will have to do all 3 on the same day as you can only carry over an exam to the next day of the total hours exceed 6 hours in one day.

In our school, the morning is longer than the afternoon so it's likely we would move 2 exams to the morning session, allowing a supervised break of 15/20 minutes between the papers (during which he is not allowed to revise). He would then be supervised in isolation until the start of the afternoon session when he would sit the 3rd exam at the scheduled time.

Furrycushion · 29/12/2018 20:13

If it's likely to throw him warn him that he won't have any access to his phone.

TheFirstOHN · 29/12/2018 21:03

Once the exams officer gets back to you with the plan, you can go through it with your DS so he knows what will happen (e.g. supervised breaks, no access to phone).

On the day that DS2 had three GCSE exams, his scheduled "lunch" break did not coincide with the opening hours of the school café where he gets his lunch (he has ASD, will only eat certain things for lunch and none were available from the canteen that was open during his scheduled break) so he ended up not eating lunch that day. The last exam finished at 4:30.

Original poster

Hockeystinks · 29/12/2018 21:54

Thanks everyone. Marching has double checked for me and there is a three-way clash.

I will speak to school and get a plan sorted so DS can have lots of time to get over whatever reaction he is likely to have and get used to the idea. He is better when he has time to accept that 'it is what it is'!
iyswim?

Just his luck though. But it sounds like no overnight supervision will be necessary - phew!

OP posts:

Danglingmod · 30/12/2018 17:16

It's rubbish when A level papers clash: I think it's bad enough that ds has some on back to back days considering it's a popular combination and they're very heavy writing subjects.

However, I doubt anyone can beat the weird clash a couple of lads in my sixth form had. I can't remember the subjects but I think it was maths, a tech subject and one other but they had to sit 3 x 3hr papers on one day, sleep at a teacher's house and then 2 more 3 hr papers the next! 15 hours of writing in 2 days! (This was the nineties. It wouldn't happen now and papers aren't as long.)

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