Page 22 | GCSEs 2019 - support thread part 2

srilankadreaming · 03/05/2019 20:33

Good idea re the email Bimkom! DD is better at English, History, RE, Art etc so a typical girl! Her dad with a Science background wishes dearly she was more into STEM subjects but hey ho. What will be will be. He could have tutored Science and maths but she wouldn't listen to him so now have a maths and physics tutor!
Re English I assume you have tried Mr Bruff or Thug Notes for Lit. Wish there were some Thug notes for Pigeon English but you can't have everything.
DD started revising too early imo with no clear ideas on how to revise and had me helping her to write out little cards with info for each subject. I think both she and I thought she was learning it as she wrote them.... Erm no, it hasn't happened so now its like starting from scratch in some cases. Ah well, deep sigh.

SleighBellsRing · 04/05/2019 12:55

Hi everyone,

New to the thread and only discovered it as I was wondering how other parents are supporting their Year 11s in the run up to exams. DS seems fairly confident and has had good mock results. We just need to look at his revision timetable together to make sure he is making the most of the remaining time.

Iambuffy · 04/05/2019 19:47

Hi sleigh

I'm just trying to make sure he eats regularly, drinks plenty of water, is asleep by 11pm and gets some time away from revising.

He's done 5 hours today so is now out at speedway with his dad.

He will hopefully do similar tomorrow and Monday.

His exams start a week on Tuesday! (biology)

Iambuffy · 04/05/2019 19:51

binkom ds1 is dyslexic. You wouldn't really know apart from his slightly idiosyncratic spelling :)

He needs a 6 in lang which is what he is aiming for.

Oddly, he tends to get higher mark's in lit!

Bimkom · 05/05/2019 02:52

Thanks lambuffy. DS has looked at Mr Bruff and Thug Notes. He finds them a bit frustrating. He says (and I have no idea whether this is true), that the Edexcel Board, there is a lot of focus on context, so a lot of what they provide is useful, but that AQA (which is what he is doing), the focus is on language analysis, and there is nothing in there about language analysis. I think for thug notes they had only two quotes in total for Macbeth. He knows the storyline and context really well, but keeps getting told when his essays are marked "don't tell me the story, focus on the language". And we sat down with Dr Jekyll today (that is the worst of the worst) and I realised that he doesn't really understand a whole lot of the language. We would read lines in the chapter he really battles with (chapter 10), and I would say - well what is he saying here? and he has no idea, he gets put off by words like incongruous and denizen lumped one on the other. Sure he knows what happens, but that doesn't appear to help. In his mock, the comments were - "more introduction", "repetition", "develop ideas" And i could see that he had avoided commenting on the extract given, because the language was hard, and instead talked more generally about the book, because he knew something about the book. He says that he struggles with language in Macbeth too, but finds the language easier there than in Dr Jekyll.

Weathermania · 05/05/2019 03:38

Anyone else’s dcs not getting any study leave? My dd still hasn’t finished one of the science courses and the whole year group is required to be at school every day. Dd says half her year group just isn’t turning up. When I questioned that she did admit it wasn’t actually half!

One of my friends is livid they don’t have study leave as her dd is a real grafter who works well at home. I have mixed thoughts. Dd did about 3 hours revision yesterday followed by about 3 hours on FaceTime with a friend. I think not having study leave might be better for her .

She’s studying reasonably well in general though, some of the hours these children are doing does sound insane to me and a shout out to all those whose dc are not engaging with exams. My friend is at her wits end with her son who is doing nothing at all.

Glad art is over now. That’s one down! I think dd is at the stage (and I am too) where she’d just like it all to get started now.

Good luck to everyone’s dcs. I think all we all really want is for them to reflect their potential in their results. Fingers crossed!

Iambuffy · 05/05/2019 08:41

Ah. Ds is doing edexcel.

I don't like thug notes personally, but I'm old :)

His English teacher calls ds1 "king of context" :) its the lang imaginative/creative writing he struggles with.

If he gets decent questions on animal farm and Macbeth I think he will be ok. He's not keen on Jekyll and hyde.

Poetry? Hmm. He hates it. He would have much preferred the conflict ones!

Iambuffy · 05/05/2019 10:14

weather
Ds1s school aren't doing study leave either which is frustrating as he gets more done at home 😡

Also have to wear uniform.
Let's hope the weather isn't too stifling!

SilentSister · 05/05/2019 11:43

As you all know by now, DD is on study leave, has started exams, and is plodding along nicely. I suppose she is doing about 4 hours a day? She does a practice paper or two, and then some learning. I do get thrown when she is lying on her bed on her ipad, in thinking she is not working, but then she shows me she is watching blogs etc, and I have to concede that she is therefore actually revising!

The rest of the day we do something different, went to see Avengers on Friday (so good), or she will go out for a run or a jog.

We are very fortunate in that her exams are very spread out. This week coming she only has the 2 x Eng Lang papers, so not much revision needed for those, and she can do what's needed for the week after, when most of you seem to be starting, when she has four exams across the week and a mix of Sciences and Humanities. The week after that another four mixed, and then we have half term.

I think the time will fly past.

chocolateworshipper · 05/05/2019 11:48

DD isn't getting study leave. However, there are 4 days where she has no exams, including the last Friday before half term - I will allow her to be "ill" if I think it would be better for her stress levels and mental health.

catontherun · 05/05/2019 12:18

No study leave here either. It's a shame for the diligent pupils who therefore waste travel time to and from school and have their non-exam potential revision time punctuated by having to move classrooms every hour.

I can see that it's probably positive overall for those who are not very self-motivated and being together as a group face to face is probably a good thing too.

dc' s language teacher was apparently of the opinion that nerves got the better of them in this weeks' speaking exam so the predicted 8/9 is possibly in question now but as it's not going to be an A level subject, it doesn't matter except for a knocked to the ego.

Very envious of posters whose dc have already started and have exams fairly spread out. Dc isn't starting for another 10 days then has a few exams in the first week, a few in the second then after half-term there's 2 weeks of almost back to back exams

srilankadreaming · 05/05/2019 12:54

No study leave here either and DD generally does better at home too. Said there is (still) lots of messing around going on at school even this close to the exams. Depressing.
On the other hand DH is at this moment trying to help her with Physics and all I can hear is ' I hate this, I can't /won't do it' alternating with both giggling and crying.
Perhaps we have been helicopter parents but after giving her oodles of help, buying revision guides, paying for a maths tutor for 2 years
( her idea) I just don't know what else to do. She is full of good intentions but has just given up- groan. I'm at the point where I feel on her head be it. She will have to learn the hard way that only hard work gets results.

srilankadreaming · 05/05/2019 12:55

Sorry for that, just needed to vent!!!

pointythings · 05/05/2019 13:00

No study leave here either. It all kicks off for DD2 on the 14th. And I've just found out my mum has died over in Holland, and the funeral is on the 13th. Apparently you can get more exam time for a bereavement so I'll need to apply for that.

Can't believe this is happening.

Bimkom · 05/05/2019 13:07

lambuffy the one thing that DS is (and therefore I am) very glad about is that they are doing the Conflict poems rather than the relationship ones. Oddly enough, the poetry is the bit he does best on within English lit (not great, but better). He says that everybody (ie all the revision books etc) does discuss language for the poems, and they are short, so you can go over and over them and make sure you understand and can comment on all the language. Followed by Inspector Calls, which at least he understands all of - and he gets the political themes - although he is liable to write essays that make him sound like a dyed in the wool socialist. He struggles to separate between what the Inspector thinks, what Priestly thinks and what he thinks (although we have been working on that, and he has got a lot better). But with Jekyll he doesn't quite know what to think, especially about sentences that are really chock full of esoteric vocabulary. He should pass fine, it is not that, but he wants a 7, and that is a huge ask. He technically doesn't need the 7 in English Lit if he gets one in English Lang (he needs the 7 in English lang for his sixth form, even though he will not go on with it), and his essay technique, with some help from a tutor, is finally starting to improve, and making the 7 in English lang at least a possibility, even allowing for the fact that he will get almost nothing for SPAG.

Bimkom · 05/05/2019 13:08

Really sorry to hear your news pointythings

Iambuffy · 05/05/2019 13:15

So sorry pointy 💐 my sympathies to you and yours x

Iambuffy · 05/05/2019 13:18

binkom
Ds would have done far better with conflict poems and I could have helped with inspector calls as I played mrs birling in.a student production many moons ago...
Ds says similar regarding the mucking around in class.
I know several kids who were around for the revision lessons at half term and Easter and just didnt go...

Weathermania · 05/05/2019 13:19

I’m so sorry Pointy. Huge sympathies and much love to you.

SilentSister · 05/05/2019 13:26

pointythings So, so, sorry to hear your news. Huge sympathy to you and your family, I hope you can get DD some extra time .

srilankadreaming · 05/05/2019 17:27

So sorry pointythings, what a terrible thing to have happened. Much sympathy to you and your family. Take care xx

Soursprout · 05/05/2019 18:13

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

pointythings · 05/05/2019 18:16

Thank you all. You're all lovely. DD1 researched things and it isn't extra time, it's extra marks. If you have a major bereavement within 2 months of the exam, you're entitled to 5% extra marks at A-level and 4% at GCSE. I will definitely be following this up, there's no way this won't affect my DDs. Fortunately their school is brilliantly supportive - when my H died last summer, the head came round with cards and a gift, and everyone was massively supportive. We'll never get OFSTED outstanding, but in my world this school has it.

Iambuffy · 05/05/2019 18:50

That's lovely to hear - a supportive school makes all the difference.
And I'm so sorry about your dh.
You must be SO proud of your dc x

pointythings · 05/05/2019 19:21

My DDs are amazing. They've had 3 years from Hell - their grandfather died late 2016, in 2017 my marriage to their dad broke under he strain of his alcoholism. Late 2017 I threw him out after he threatened to kill me. August 2018 he died. January this year I learned I was being made redundant and now this. And through it all they've done counselling, kept their friendships strong, done brilliantly at school and helped the three of us become tight knit little family. I just want life to stop shitting on them.

But we will get through this one too.