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Original poster

GCSEs 2019 - support thread part 2

999 replies

AtiaoftheJulii · 28/01/2019 20:27

Here we are again Grin

OP posts:
KittyMcKitty · 15/05/2019 06:32

Good luck dc today. Ds just has Eng Lit today.

Lifeandbeans · 15/05/2019 06:40

We have Romeo and Juliet, Inspector Calls and Christmas Carol.

DD doesn't really understand intentions or what people mean unless you put it in literal black and white so we aren't holding out for much.

She has her BTEC today though and that should be okay and she said she found biology yesterday fine but it was the foundation paper.
She was chuffed at the six question
mark on beta blockers though as she knew what they are as I'm on them.

Zoflorabore · 15/05/2019 06:44

Hi all I've not been on for months. Ds sat his English lit paper last year so he's got a day off today :)

Yesterday was the biology which he was fuming over due to there being so many things not on the paper that he was told would be and revised for.
Also there was a question seemingly more maths related and then a 6 mark question on the effects of beta blockers that he didn't know. I take beta blockers for anxiety so quickly filled him in and he thinks he may have scraped a couple of points for it.

On my FB I have friends in other areas of the country whose dc sat the same paper yesterday and said the same and the general consensus was that the grade boundaries will definitely be lower this year.

So this week we have chemistry tomorrow and drama on Friday.
Good luck to all!

OddBoots · 15/05/2019 06:51

I'm worrying a bit about DD's Lit today.

Yesterday she was revising An Inspector Calls and Jekyll and Hyde for today but so many of you are mentioning a Shakespeare for tomorrow. She thinks she has Romeo and Juliet with her poetry on the 23rd.

I have had a look at the OCR website and I think she is right but this thread has me questioning my sanity!

TabbyStar · 15/05/2019 06:55

AQA has R & J today!

KittyMcKitty · 15/05/2019 06:56

AQA is Shakespeare and 19th century novel - ds doing Macbeth and J&H.

Zoflorabore · 15/05/2019 06:58

I wouldn't worry because it seems that our dc are all sitting with many exam boards.
Ds is doing a mixture of AQA and Edexcel which are different to his cousin in a school 20 miles away. The dc will know exactly what is covered on each paper.

Iirc last year ds had Blood Brothers, A Christmas Carol and Romeo and Juliet plus unseen poetry and they were split between 2 papers and it was made very clear to them.

grauduroi · 15/05/2019 06:59

DS seemed to like his French and Biology yesterday, so fingers crossed.
Today is the dreaded Eng Lit - Macbeth and A Christmas Carol - he knows lots but finds putting it all together coherently a real stumbler. I will be on tenterhooks until 3pm!

MaudBaileysGreenTurban · 15/05/2019 07:03

Yes, it's Macbeth and Jekyll & Hyde here today. Fingers crossed for all. English is ds's thing but he's more of a creative writer so he's looking forward to Eng Lang - lit not so much. Still, hopefully it will be ok.

I dreamt last night that he failed everything 😬😬😬

cptartapp · 15/05/2019 07:03

Romeo and Juliet and poetry here today. Not his favourite. We'll be running through quotes at breakfast!

Danglingmod · 15/05/2019 07:05

Zoflora - why would your ds's teacher think they would be able to predict what would come up on the paper? It's only the second year of the new spec. Anything and everything on the spec should be revised.

Lifeandbeans · 15/05/2019 07:25

DD has just pulled a right stunt.
I checked she had her bus pass in her blazer she said yes as she is a flaming nightmare with the thing.

She's just rang me utterly screaming that she didn't have her pass and it was 200% on the TV unit in her room and when I could not see it I was obviously the one in the wrong.

I've just literally run across the village while ill and in pain with adult fare to make sure she didn't miss the bus and her exam to find her getting on the bloody bus with her pass. Not a thank you in sight...

Arghhh Angry

Iambuffy · 15/05/2019 07:28

life
Sigh.
Sorry you are feeling so bad. Deep breaths.
I'll be SO glad when this is all over.
Although I will admit to spending about an hour last night laughing at Twitter #aqabiology memes!

ILoveYou3000 · 15/05/2019 07:45

Having had a little look on Twitter, it would appear the OCR Biology paper seemed to consist of stuff not on the spec. I had been wondering if it was just my daughter's school but looks like it's happened across the board. A 6 mark question on drawing a star, the kids all seem baffled about and one tweeted something along the lines of "all that revision for 20 pages of questions on practicals we've never done".

I feel so bad for the kids, all the work they're putting in, and none of it made a difference. I really hope the rest of the science don't go along the same lines.

However I'm wondering if this mean grade boundaries will have to come down considerably?

Good luck to everyone doing English Lit today. This is one of my daughter's strongest but her mock went spectacularly wrong, so 🤞🏼 she does better on the real thing.

Bigearringsbigsmile · 15/05/2019 07:47

my son did OCR biology and he thought it was fine.
The drawing a star picture was[he says] because a certain amount of all the science papers have to contain maths-because so much science contains maths.

Bigearringsbigsmile · 15/05/2019 07:49

Romeo and juliet AND JEKYLL AND HYDE HERE

Riverviews · 15/05/2019 07:52

My DS also said the 6 point question in biology OCR was strange

Lifeandbeans · 15/05/2019 07:55

Me too Iambuffy.
There were some brilliant tweets!

Soursprout · 15/05/2019 08:13

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

whistl · 15/05/2019 08:24

Just dropping in from year 12 to wish you all good luck. I remember this week from last year and it does get easier quickly - even by next week, it will feel less stressful.

Soursprout · 15/05/2019 08:28

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

SilentSister · 15/05/2019 08:46

So envious of DC's doing Never Let me Go, such a fab book.
Good luck everyone today.

gleegeek · 15/05/2019 08:55

AQA Macbeth and Jekyll and Hyde here. Dd is cramming quotes. She's just told me she's found a great Jekyll and Hyde song on you tube...it's only Mr Bruff who I've been recommending for months thanks to someone on here and she's steadfastly ignored me!!!!! I give upAngry

Bimkom · 15/05/2019 09:21

AQA Macbeth and Jekyll and Hyde here too. DS is feeling a bitmore confident. He wrote a Jekyll and Hyde essay which he gave into his teacher, and his teacher gave it back yesterday and was really complimentary - hope a similar question comes up on the exam .

Re OCR, our experience with that Board is that it is a nightmare. One of the two GCSEs that DS did early last year were from that board, and they were very tricky (unfortunately for that subject, they were the only one). And DS is furious that his school chose OCR Geography after switching from the IGCSE (after State Schools were not allowed to count them, and then the board said it wouldn't do it anymore, given the take-up of the GCSEs). They have now decided to switch to Edexcel, but too late for DS (although DD will benefit). He is really expecting something tricky from them. So we are not surprised that the biology sounds super tricky.

slalomsuki · 15/05/2019 09:48

No idea of the exam board but we seem to be revising Of mice and Men and 16 poems for this afternoon. DS is not a natural at English but has worked hard on this.

Good Luck everyone.