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Secondary education

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Original poster

GCSEs 2019 Support thread 3

999 replies

myrtleWilson · 15/05/2019 21:19

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

OP posts:
Bimkom · 22/05/2019 09:41

Re grade boundaries - a lot depends on how reasonable the exam/test is. There was a legendary (or perhaps mythical) maths paper apparently set at my university out of 150. The top mark was 121, and the person who got that went on to be a maths professor. The second mark was 37, and the person who got that also went on to be a maths professor. the average mark was 15. The exam boards have been told to make the papers harder to really stretch the top, so they have. But it seems slightly ridiculous to me (coming from a different country without GCSEs and just final exams at the end of high school), that people should not be able to continue with maths until the end of high school unless they were exceptionally good at it. Many of the people I knew in my country who did maths through high school were not going on to be maths professors, or actuaries, or one of the jobs that needed exceptional matheticians. The just needed to be competent mathematicians to do it through high school. And if the GCSEs are being set in such a way as to really stretch the exceptional mathematicians, it might well be that the competent mathematicians will get less than half the paper correct. Seems very odd that this should then halt their mathematical learning at 16.

MollyButton · 22/05/2019 09:58

Umm sorry to be late, but DD did Edexcel Higher Maths yesterday. She said it was okay.
Today is Spanish and Physics, so exhausting. And English Lit tomorrow.

I agree that 7s don't seem as good as the old As. But also exam papers have a range of questions, some much more straightforward than others. The trickiest in Maths tend to require applying knowledge.

(A paper where most people got 15 wouldn't get through the monitoring process.)

doublechocadooberry · 22/05/2019 10:22

Best wishes to all DC sitting physics today. Hope they are all well.

DS is doing some last minute physics cramming with his AQA revision guide but I am not sure that is enough. Concerned that he should be looking more specifically at what key words he should be incorporating into his answers.

Can anyone remember the site for past papers and answers that outline science key words? There was a really helpful suggestion earlier in the thread but have scanned the thread to locate it without joy.

Thank you .

bizzey · 22/05/2019 11:20

Oh dear ! Wish i had not added it al up.
Including today 15 more !

gleegeek · 22/05/2019 11:27

17 more including today Shock

steppemum · 22/05/2019 11:37

16 left after today, we are not half way through yet.
By Friday pm, exactly half way. I am glad now that they have half term. At first I thought it was a pain, but we will go out and do a couple of nice fresh air relaxing things and he will get some sleep.

Is it me, or are there a lot of maths papers? He seems to have every subject in the last week, so hardly anything that he can say is finished Sad

Eng. Lit, business and DT still to come this week.

SilentSister · 22/05/2019 11:43

11 more including today, 8 more after half term - that sounds better, although a couple of horror days of double exams, and a week of 2 History papers and a Class Civ and a Maths, which is very heavy.

Poor DD just went out the door for her afternoon Physics. She is doing lots of deep breathing. Yesterday really knocked her confidence. Am fervently hoping today goes well. She is such an anxious girl, and doesn't handle "failure" well. "Failure" in her world is anything less than a 7 - as Soursprout was saying, these new numbers haven't solved the issue of grade inflation, they just seem to have just muddied the waters even further. Our poor DC's.

bizzey · 22/05/2019 11:44

17 ..crikey mind you ..ds has already completed Art so a different option ...and he might have been the same.
He has his first double tomorrow.

Bimkom · 22/05/2019 11:55

doublechoc I posted the below at p21 of the last thread - but I am not sure (and DS has gone off), whether it is as applicable for physics in terms of key words as it is for biology (particularly) and chemistry. Physics might be more mathematical. Sorry it is a bit late, I only just saw this).
www.physicsandmathstutor.com/
and then go onto Science then go onto the subject, and then revision, and then choose the exam board.
DS also says that his school is using the IGCSE AQA old papers for exam practice, as the content and exam technique are 95% the same. He is not sure how you find these papers and the mark schemes, but try googling on line. The only major difference is that any topic appear in any paper.
DS says that it is key to go over and over the questions on physicsandmaths tutor as the questions repeat, so it really helps to have these ones under one's belt - particularly key words, which are underlined in the mark scheme. If the word is underlined, you can't get the mark unless you say that word.
DS also says that if one wants to do a full paper, rather than revision question packs on certain topics, then he believes that primrose kitten has some for download for 99p.
www.primrosekitten.com/collections/gcse/products/gcse-2017-predicted-papers
Which seems to include combined AQA science.
DS has never used any of her stuff, so can't recommend, but knows other people who are using it. He finds with people who have made up their own mark schemes that they usually only give one option, whereas AQA itself will often accept three alternatives. He doesn't know if that is the case with primrose kitten.
Oh, DS has just sent me the link for the AQA on line past papers, which include the mark schemes for last year.
www.aqa.org.uk/subjects/science/gcse/combined-science-trilogy-8464/assessment-resources

Iambuffy · 22/05/2019 12:02

Ds has 14 inc today, 12 of those after half term, 8 in the 1st week back...

I'm dreading that week!

bizzey · 22/05/2019 12:03

Bimkom thank you so much for your links .

Greeborising · 22/05/2019 12:04

Dd just left for physics
I’m so glad this is the only time she goes in in the afternoon, she’s far too relaxed for my liking 🙄

bizzey · 22/05/2019 12:08

Oh i /we love the pm ones !
I feel we all sleep better without the worry of sleeping through the alarm 🤣

Iambuffy · 22/05/2019 12:09

Ds seems more relaxed about PM exams too.

Dreaded poetry tomorrow for eng lit...then it's over. 2 subjects will be done. Hoo bloody ray

bizzey · 22/05/2019 12:10

We are not a morning family !

readyforsunshine · 22/05/2019 12:14

Hope it’s kind physics papers all round, I hate reading about those having their confidence knocked so much. Ridiculous that there’s any feeling that below 7 is not good enough too!
Dd seems to have got off lightly with her timetable as she was eased in with 3 week 1, 5 this week followed by a weeks holiday, 5 the first week back then 3 the last week. Some of your dcs timetables sound horrendous by comparison, very stressful.

Greeborising · 22/05/2019 12:27

We are definitely NOT a morning family!
I set 4 alarms!

raspberryrippleicecream · 22/05/2019 12:31

DS2 prefers morning exams! Eng Lit. tomorrow will take him over the halfway mark. Ten after half term with six in the first week. No exams on Friday, or the first Monday back so a nice long break for him.

So far he is just steadily plodding through. I have huge sympathies for all DC who are finding it more stressful, DD finds exams very difficult so I've been there too.

hanahsaunt · 22/05/2019 12:42

Ds2 has 13 papers after half term. Plus physics today and Eng Lit 2 tomorrow. The latter I am slightly dreading as it's his favourite subject, predicted top grades and was devastated by how he felt he did in Eng Lit 1. He reckons that he just froze and his mind went blank for his Romeo & Juliet question - he seemed so broken last week and it just adds yet more pressure to tomorrow when poetry isn't his favourite aspect of the course. Onwards and upwards ...

Iambuffy · 22/05/2019 12:54

Ds is not looking forward to poetry tomorrow!

He is also worried about eng lang as its essential.

Annoyingly he is better at lit!

MollyButton · 22/05/2019 12:57

DD has 14 after Physics this afternoon - her elder siblings are shocked by how many she has.
Spanish this morning started as a disaster as the CD for listening was corrupted, so they couldn't make out certain key words. Eventually the exam was stopped and then restarted with the spare. (Exam board notified and agreed and they are asking for special consideration.)
DD was quite happy with all of this and not thrown at all.

bizzey · 22/05/2019 13:36

Sitting in the garden bored ...counting down to 1.30...and waiting for the washing to finish.....soooo i thought i would put my tupence worth in if it helps.

The amount of exams has been a shock to me this year .
Ds1 (2 years ago) did not get study leave till after1/2 term .so i actually did not notice how many exams there were.
Plus my dad was dying so obvs a bit distracted Sad

It has mafe me think more of how difficult doing all these different subjects on different days it is .

Re A levels ...ds1 has the most jammiest of jammies time table ever !
Nicely spread out ,with no doubles.
Maths,Chemistry and Geography.
He started with them and FM.
After 3 weeks he said he wanted to drop FM.
I asked him to eait till 1/2 term in case it was "brain fog " from long summer holiday
1/2 term came ..and ..it got dropped.
(He did not need it for degree choice )

He has had to work really hard to maintain his levels.

Michaelahpurple · 22/05/2019 13:41

Think after half term DS will have the opposite problem to this side. He has had two horridly packed weeks but by half term he will be 27 down and just 6 to go, spread over two full weeks, which I fear may cause a loss of focus and drive. Fingers crossed not

bizzey · 22/05/2019 13:43

Sorry ...pressed wrong button !
It is mainly about pp saying 5 would be ok for A level maths .
(Not a boast...but a fact ..)
But ..got a 9 in maths , A* in chemistry
And found it hard going .
Absolutely no professional advice..but to tru and do maths A level on a 5 would be hard .

DeRigueurMortis · 22/05/2019 14:02

DS was pretty chipper this morning about Physics so I'm hoping pride doesn't come before a fall...

That said he's super stressed about Eng Lit tomorrow.

Like others have said it's so many exams in total (far more than I remember doing) and such a hard, long slog for them.

I'm actually in awe at how well he seems to be coping.

I'd also agree about the new grading system.

Getting an A was such an achievement, but the pressure now not to get a 7 but a 9 seems to be very high.

It's seems sad that kids getting a plethora of 7's might not feel they've done really well Sad.

I know it's meant to stretch the top performers but I also worry it disincentives less able students - a 5 (good pass) just "sounds" very low so why bother?

I know DS has put himself under a lot of pressure and that in his top subjects he'll be very disappointed if he doesn't get a 9 Sad