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

Quiet lurker but keen follower of thread.

Silent - Another Edexcel iGCSE Mum here. DS said paper started easy and was progressively got trickier. Scared about outcome. Focused on getting ready for Geography now though. Fingers crossed...

salom I hope your mum is ok.

I’ve had a text from ds about maths (Edexcel) - he says it was fine. This could mean anything from “I couldn’t remember how to add 2 & 2” to “Ive answered every question and will get 100%” so it’s anyone’s guess really!

Geography this afternoon!

Silent and Bonkus - not cheering on IGCSE edexcel maths

DS's school has only ever given them old spec papers until Easter which, whisky the reforms were less dramatic than for GCSEs, I think still may have given him a false sense of security.

He hadn't done a lot of maths in the last week as all seemed ok given last paper activity and lord knows there is enough learning to do in other subjects - hopefully that strategy hasn't backfired

DD back and she doesn't want to talk about it. All I can do is give her a hug, and the re-assurance that there is a second paper.

Dd happy with maths- says she messed up on some of the easier questions but managed to get hard ones she wouldn’t have expected herself to get. Apparently invigilator gave them a fright when she declared 2 minutes to go 28 minutes into the exam by accident , I guess time must go by slowly when invigilating

Oh dear.
Lots of hugs to those DC who found it hard.
Ds never texts so I never know how things have gone until he gets home.
5 mins til geography paper....

DS said Math was OK - (AQA highers) and he think he scored high.

DD said it was good. (AQA foundation) - shes been hovering between a 3 and 4, so I hope this one she actually passed otherwise Im not sure what she will be doing next year.

Re: Calculators - DS said he needed one for Geography for one question in the mocks, and had to work it out manually - so he was taking a calculator in in case he needed it? I never did Geography, so not sure what type of question would need a calculator!

Geography paper 1 often has some sort of graph and they have to work out mean temp / rainfall or something.

No news from DD about maths. I guess she's just opened her Geography paper.

My dd is year 11 in Northern Ireland and she done a CCEA gcse maths paper this morning said it went ok anyone else doing this exam board.
They will do next paper in year 12 but can repeat the year 11 one in November if they don't do well.

AQA higher, iambuffy. Circle theorems are a thing she likes and is good at. Mind you, she likes algebra too. Hoping for a 6 (her last mocks were high end of a 6) and a 7 would be thrilling.

Well, I'll know I just over an hour.Fingers crossed everyone.

So sorry to hear about your mum Slalomsuki.

DS had maths and geography today, like lots of others on here. He seems OK and was relaxed enough to play football in between exams so taking that as a good sign.

Physics tomorrow and he’ll put in a few hours of work after dinner. We’re abroad and already 6:30pm here.

Ds says maths was quite hard but ok. Annoyed as no quadratic sequences and apparently quite a few people were thrown by a question asking them to sketch a shape from plan view etc.

Geography (Edexcel B) he was pleased with which is good as it’s an A Level choice.

Well DS is back, so I got more feedback on the maths, and also on the geography.
The maths, it is not so much that he thought it was that hard, just that he made a whole bunch of silly mistakes. He also said, aside from one question that was really mean, but he asked someone last night and hence got, there wasn't anything really meaty, it was just annoying and he will have lost marks here and marks there.
The geography paper (OCR) was, in his words, "stupid", but he said he knew it was going to be, as the he thinks the board is pathetic, and so he predicted it was going to be like this. He said you didn't need to know any geography, just the case studies and logic. But he thinks he did OK because he knew the case studies, and could apply the logic. He said it would have been upsetting if he had expected to actually be tested on geography, but given his low expectations, he prepared correctly.

Text from ds earlier... asking for money for lunch

I asked him how maths went (Edexcel IGCSE) and he reckons hard but he did enough to pass. Fingers crossed. Don't know about geog yet.

to everyone, it will be over soon!

Sorry to read about your situation Slalom.

Edexel maths here also, DS said it went well - one down, two to go.

He is only managing a couple of hours revision a night - I hope it is enough. Physics tomorrow eek.

DD2 said Geography was good but not her best. Scarily enough every time she has said this about anything, she has done amazingly well...

Also got DD1 to deal with - her A level History on witchcraze completely threw everyone, very weird questions. She's a bit down.

Back from (edexcel higher0 maths and disappointed/frustrated about the 'ridiculously hard' questions at the back end of the paper! Proud of himself though for powering on and enjoying (AQA) Geography so onwards and upwards

Tabbystar my ds was the same opinion as your daughter...I shall cross my fingers for both!

DS just home, wasn't too happy with geog either, said there were no case studies but there was some stuff he swears they'd not been taught.

Ho hum, he has another two papers to make up any shortfall. Hope it wasn't as bad as he thinks though as this is a potential A-level subject for him...

Dd came home absolutely devastated about making a TOTAL hash of an 8 marker in her geography. She puts so much pressure on herself and has worked so hard. She will be doing geography at A level. She’s thinking of environmental sciences at university. And then in a question about developing countries she started writing about Haiti and then second guessed herself, thought she knew more about japan and when she came out, remembered that the question was about DEVELOPING counties. By the time she got home she was hyperventilating and sobbing. 😢

I am gutted for her - while trying to be reassuring that it only counts for a tiny proportion of marks over the 3 papers, but at the same time remembering the horrid sick feeling and how it’s worse when it’s your own fuck up rather than anything else. It’s totally thrown her - she is convinced that the marker will think she’s stupid, that her teachers will think less of her and that she’s letting them down. She’s predicted really high grades and I think every exam she worries so much about the things she gets “wrong” rather than the things she’s getting right.

Also is concerned that she’s going to get a “low” GCSE mark that will be seen on her university applications. The pressure is so high - after the gentle first week, this week is a shocker and I can believe she’s got more than 20 exams still to go.

Could cry myself...

Maud - that’s what I’ve said to dd. This is 37% or thereabouts of the total grade. It’s done now and just to concentrate on the next two.

I still think dd can pull out a grade that will get her onto A level, but it’s totally thrown her - usually competent and steady in exams and she’s just so cross with herself.

Dd had maths (aqa higher) today and said it was hard but she did ok. Shes hoping for a 7 so she can do it at A level, got mid 6 in mocks but has done loads of work since.
Her motivation for revision has completely tailed off after months of continuous effort. It's kinda reassuring to hear other students are the same. Just got to hope that the previous sustained effort is enough to get what she needs for her chosen next steps.

And to all students and parents who are struggling with additional issues. Our life is currently calm and focused on exams, and we're finding it draining. Cant imagine having other life shit on top.

I've been silently lurking so far.

Well Maths (AQA Higher) went well here.

DS said there was one tricky question he passed on and came back to at the end - the rest he was happy with and any lost marks would be silly mistakes (he says he had time to check his paper but there's always a chance something has slipped passed).

Checking in with his friends and teacher in the afternoon he got the tricky one right and seems pretty confident he's done very well.

Physics tomorrow (which with maths and computer science are his strongest subjects) so fingers crossed for another good day.

(By contrast English last week was not great so having a mixed bag like so many others here).

slalomsuki

Is anyone on here an expert on special consideration? DD had a flare up of a medical condition, but the school are saying that they can't apply for special consideration because she notified them AFTER the exam. They say they could only apply if she notified them before or during. Is that right? Seems unfair for a morning exam!