GCSEs 2019 Support thread 3

[myrtleWilson]

Welcome all - just went to post on thread 2 and saw it was at 999 so quickly did this

Well, DD2 hasn't mentioned how French went but says Drama was dreadful. On the whole her accuracy in assessing her own performance in exams has been woeful in the sense that when she says she has bombed something, she hasn't - but we shall see.

ILoveYou3000 why is your dd in school during half term?!

Some schools offer revision during half term, Greebo. Ours does, but not on that scale - DD has an offer of a morning for Geography, but it's entirely voluntary. She might go, she might not. I've already told her she's not doing more at school revision than that - she needs downtime too.

Greeborising , Soursprout and Ilove
It's crazy isn't it.
Dds school due to its type has a 25 mile ish pupil range. So many of these kids are doing over an hour travel.

I understand it has been found to work for some but I'm baffled how knackered kids who have just sat through 9 till 1.30pm of other classes and have their heads full then go to an exam in a different subject.

Ours usually runs sessions over half term but she won't be going! She's knackered.

I think it’s great if they are offering revision sessions but not if it’s compulsory.
I agree, down time is very important

purpleboy pointythings

DD just rang, she thought the Drama paper was awful too. Very disappointed, as she was just so confident about it.

Added to the general awfulness, she has just found out she answered one question completely incorrectly and thinks it won't be marked at all. Interested if anyone has any input. So, she answered a question describing the character from the same extract they were given, when she SHOULD have answered with a DIFFERENT extract. Does that mean she looses the whole 15 marks??

Waiting for her to come home now, oh dear.

Silent sister - do you mean like in eng lit where there is a choice of two - an extract question and then a one sentence question (how does Lena’s character shape the main plot) - did your daughter write about Lena’s character drawing only on the extract from the first question?

DD has just got home and both French (Edexcel) and Drama (OCR) were "okay, as far as I could tell" - I have resisted probing any further.

Aqa PE paper 2 better according to ds1

in over half term . That is mad, those poor kids. Half term is looking increasingly essential. DS will work at home (because that is how he will deal with his anxiety, he won't cope with too much down time), but I would suggest more if he would listen to me - he is actually taking some this afternoon as I type hooray, but when I said I approved, he was "oh I should be doing .....". He is enjoying something humerous on youtube, first time i have heard him laugh in days. DS may be wanting to leave our school, but they certainly would not do anything stupid like this.

Ds1s school are doing a couple of revision classes over half term.

They did them in Feb and Easter too.

Dd has revision sessions over half term. We booked and paid for them but if dd decides she can't face it, that's fine with us. I suspect she'll go to the history ones as she's desperate to improve on her mock result!
Sorry to hear drama wasn't nice. It's such a lottery, I think that's what adds to the stress. If the dc knew what to expect, there'd be no shocks and they could just show what they understood and could do. Grrr.

Re: Half term revision sessions, the letter states they are 'expected' in for all sessions appropriate to them. It's also been hinted at that if they do not attend these sessions it will go against them in terms of entry to 6th form and attendance at prom. They did have to withdraw the prom threat though as all the kids responded with "fine, we just won't go."

I told DD she only has to attend those she wants to, she's going in for them all- at the moment, she is free to change her mind. I've already decided I'm keeping her at home next Friday.

Ds is absolutely heartbroken after drama.
He didn't finish the last question which was worth a lot of marks.
He has himself "failed" and has sent me out for Ben and Jerrys.

That’s terrible!
How can they say attendance at revision sessions will have an impact on 6th form entry?!

I can understand there may be some kids who don’t work as hard as they could and perhaps need more support and guidance but to make this a blanket rule is cruel.
What about all the kids who are working their socks off and take it very seriously?
They are 16yo, old enough to take responsibility for their own learning.

I actually feel cross on behalf of those who are dealing with these stupid rules and sorry for the poor kids who aren’t being allowed to manage their own study time.

I've just received a text from ds's school for physics revision tomorrow 11-1 ( not compulsory and he's been to every extra session ) and he said he's not going.

We had voluntary revision sessions over Easter, but to insist is so wrong, some schools really aren't thinking of the wellbeing of their puplis.

our school has crumpled and is allowing everyone study leave now after so many parents asking for it and complaining about DC having to be in school. They are offering a quiet room for any that do want to study in school which is a good idea.

for all the dc who had crap day.

Just out of curiosity how does Drama work? Is there practicals, coursework and exams?

From what I can gather the pastoral team have been battling for the kids but seem to not have got very far. There's science sessions both tomorrow and Sunday, DD says she doesn't want to go in and so she's not.

She's made her plan for the weekend and I trust her so I'm leaving her to it. She's planned in time for maths, physics, Never Let Me Go and poetry.

Maths is her nemesis, but she's been working so hard on it and her marks have been on the upswing. I'm really hoping the papers she gets are kind to her. Strangely though her strongest science is physics, so she's quite looking forward to that next Thursday.

Zoflorabore Sending hugs and commiserations. If it is of any help DD said most of her class didn't finish either. Are you Wjeg?educas or AQA? Hoping the boundaries will be low ??

ILoveYou3000 For Drama they have three main elements, but within each are many more, if that makes sense. So there is the Devised element, where a group have to create a mini play based on a theme, with script, lighting, sound etc and then produce a written portfolio on the process with several requirements in that, they are marked on each element. That was 40% of the mark. Then they had a Scripted piece, which is an extract from a play to perform, again as a group. That was 20%. Today's exam, the final 40%, is questions on a play, ours was War Horse, plus questions on a random play of their choice that they have seen. DD went to see 4 or 5 over the two years. This can be anything connected with the play, characters, or set, or costume, or lighting etc etc. Drama, like Art, is not an easy option !

SilentSister thank you. Wow, that sounds like a lot of work. Fingers crossed for all of those who did their drama this afternoon.

Dd woke up at 12 noon for the drama exam starting at 1! I knew she was knackered after yesterday, but hadn't worried about her oversleeping It takes at least 45 minutes, an hour to be on the safe side, to get to school by bus - on Tuesday and Wednesday she left home at 11.15 to be in school in good time. She phoned my FIL straightaway and he came over and took her - in her panic she forgot that ds's girlfriend was here and would have driven her if asked. Oh well, meant she wasn't sitting around fretting this morning!

Nothing till Tuesday now, and only 3 next week. And breathe.

What do you do when your DC won't revise? I've just suggested to DD that she does some revision (she's done very very little over the past few weeks and she's been off school all day) and it's prompted her to cry, say she can't do it, and that she's not the child I want. Now she's gone out. Do I just completely give up? She just keeps telling me she "can't revise". It's so frustrating. It's not like she's doing anything else useful, just faffing around on her phone and painting her nails. I'm a lone parent with no practical support from her father, and I feel like I'm working hard to give her opportunities that she can't be bothered to work for herself. But then I think maybe it's her confidence or mental health and maybe I'm being too bossy so I back off a bit but then I get frustrated again and gently mention that she could revise and it sets off another round of drama. I can't work out what to do.

Tabbystar, sounds like she’s overwhelmed with it all. I have one who won’t stop (A levels) and a stop-starter who hets distracted. Decided to tidy his wardrobes out and tidy his room last weekend. Wtf!! Can’t wait for the end of exams tbh.

Yeah, we've had the take every single piece of clothing of hangers and decide what to do with it approach to revision! It's so hard to know what to do, I am disappointed in her, but that feels so bad to admit .