GCSEs 2019 - support thread part 2

[AtiaoftheJulii]

Here we are again

DD is not science's biggest fan and found biology hard but not impossible (although there were some questions that she hadn't revised...)
She's anxious about English tomorrow as it is an A level choice and she's worried about bombing it...

DD's train cancelled due to no driver, and no signal from her sodding Virgin mobile. She just borrowed a phone from a lovely lady. So nothing to report yet, grrrrr.

DS’s comment about today’s exams: “They’re only GCSEs, it’s not that deep” - I tried to smile and said whilst not life and death still probably quite important

soursprout my dc also found biology fine too.
Thanks Gree, reassured me a bit, but we all just have to wait now I guess.

Maddie my DD said mentioned a salamander question. She said everyone was saying they found it strange and felt there was a lot they hadn't learned. Here's hoping the second one is better.

She came home, had a chat and a shower and is now starting on English Lit.

Thank goodness, I was starting to worry as another mum elsewhere has said their child doesn't recollect anything about a fish!

Ds1 is cross.
There is a malaria vaccine apparently.
But according to NHS England there isnt...

Ds2 said French and Biology (both AQA) were fine. Didn't get all the questions in French but confident he has done enough to pass. which in French is all he is hoping for.

Morning exams are 9.30 here and afternoon exams 1.10. According to DS2 they've moved the morning exams to the later time to allow 'exam prep' time, checking pencil cases and key words. Yesterday afternoon they did this during lunch ready to start exam at 1.10

Dd says that biology (Ocr gateway here) started off easy and by the end was like an ethics paper
She’s getting herself into a tizzy currently because she can’t think of an argument for fate for Macbeth. Could any dc help?

Yes, weird question about a genetically modified salmon and another about rat sperm. Ds isn't happy...

She's back . So CIE IGCSE Biology paper, bit weird also. Lots of girls found it really tricky. Questions asked in an "odd" way, and questions on things they hadn't really covered. However, she thinks overall it went OK, she said she managed to blag quite a few - gulp.

Tomorrow is CIE IGCSE Eng Lit Poetry and Prose. She has "A Separate Peace", which I think is an extra dull American Classic, poetry is "Songs of Ourselves, Vol II" which is 15 poems.

Next week the Eng Lit will be Drama and Unseen, which is Macbeth and something "Unseen".

Well DS sat the Triple AQA Biology. That is the one with the weird question about the walking fish. That was also the one with diabetes and something about ponds. There was also the AQA Triology biology exam today (this gives you two GCSEs, but you study all three sciences), and DS said he preferred his - obviously having looked at and discussed the other one with people who were sitting the triology. So we may not be talking about the same paper. DS thought it was OK, just weird - particularly the fish, which he said he had never heard of, and neither had any of his friends or the people on twitter. But I asked DD (Year 8) who is a complete animal nerd, and devours national geographic from cover to cover, and of course she knew all about it. She says she has a national geographic card about it somewhere, and went looking for it. Not that what DD knows would have helped in the exam, i don't think, but just goes to show (she is completely obsessed with animals of all types).

Ds is saying AQA Trilogy was harder than the triple after comparing with friends: he had beta blockers and they had draw sn animal

Seems to be a bit on Twitter about Biology.

Yes triple aqa biology here

Ds1 says his friends who sat the foundation paper said it was "easy"

Maud dd also had the rat sperm, not best thrilled !
Silent yes to ‘The Separate Peace
‘tomorrow, very dull indeed I’m afraid

DS thought biology was okish, but he didn't do the diabetes questions at all as he was completely He struggled with heart valve questions. But he knew all about the axilotti.

*axolotl

Right, so dd goes into lesson before biology exam and teacher says we’ll go over a few things that may crop up in the exam.

All good you may think, well my dd is extremely squeamish and has previous form in not only biology but film studies as well with fainting due to whats being discussed and watching a graphic film.

So the teacher decides to play a film on open heart surgery so she nearly passed out and spent the entire lesson outside the class and was still shaky by the time she sat her exam.

Thankfully she’s not looking at the medical profession as a career.

Ds said biology was ok but was very weird with a made up animal which threw everyone! He said some of his year were in tears but he seems ok. He's got eng lit tomorrow and is writing down some Frankenstein quotes.

DS did his bio paper 1 today too and is not overly happy about it. He said it was OK but there were some odd questions. He didn’t get home until nearly 7pm, had some supper and straight up to revise for Eng Lit tomorrow.

Who doesn't love a piano playing Axilotl - Seriously it is a real thing, just not usually found playing piano's

it's only 6pm now

ds thought the french was good and the biology was fine-he did the ocr luckily not the awful sounding aqa

The aqa biology paper sounds about mad! Seems not diabetes and pancreatic cancer should have been on paper 2?

We’re abroad @bigearringsbigsmile 9:10pm here ;)