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

DD2 very happy with Physics, only one question she couldn't do anything with and she felt she nailed the formulas and calculations. And this is usually her weakest of the two papers.

It's been weird - so far all the subjects she struggles with have gone better than expected, and all her strong suits have not (Porter, anyone?)

After Lit 2 tomorrow she has 9 left to do, fairly decently spread out.

Dd has gone out with her mates for something to eat.
Apparently they are all arguing over one specific question in the physics exam.
I will share when she decides to come home and tell me how it went!

Ds (Edexcel triple Physics) said it was a harder paper and everyone found that (for context he is at a Grammar and Physics is v popular A level choice). He said one 6 marker he wasn’t sure of but the other was fine.

He’s gone off skateboarding now to enjoy the sun and clear his head. Just Eng Lit and DT left this week.

After half term it’s a bit full on though - both History, 2 more Geography, 2 more maths, Eng Lang and the Sciences Paper 2’s.

Elephants that’s awful about the fire alarm. We had one at work today but thankfully not in a gcse.

myrtle we can cling to each other virtually and weep!

There was a fire alarm last year during exam period at DD's school - the exam students had to be kept separate and basically corralled by a group of teachers to ensure no talking...

Think DD's brain is at the point of melting - she wants a chicken salad for dinner, which is fine. But has just asked her Dad to make a "salad sauce" to go with it. She meant a dressing

weeping or slightly maniacal laughing is guaranteed iambuffy

I can do either myrtle

So DS has just said he's looking forward to English Lit tomorrow (his worst subject and worst paper) just so it's over and done with and he can stop waking up in the middle of the night having nightmares about it

He must be stressed because he even accepted a quick cuddle....

He's been fine with all the other exams so I know this is really getting to him and there's nothing I can do to help .

He's been revising since he got home so let's hope this last push is enough.

I don't know where the they can’t move them more than 3% comes from.
Certainly Edexcel moved the grade boundaries last year more than that in maths between 2017 (first year of 9-1) and last year. First year - 9 was 190, last year it was 202, 8 was 157 last year was 170, 7 was 124 last year was 139, 6 was 96 last year was 109, 5 was 68 last year was 79, 4 was 41 last year was 50.
These are all out of 240, so you can do the math for percentage movement. 3% of 240 is 7.2. 5% would be a 12 mark difference, which is closer to the actual movement (although it was less for a bare pass)

ds (triple AQA) really liked the physics paper, said it wasn;t an easy paper, but he really got it and thinks he did well. Came back pretty pleased.
Tomorrow is Eng Lit which he hates.

DS said paper went well. So relieved. Another one down. phew

Came home from picking up 8yr old dd and ds was home from school and didn't look in a good mood at all. I asked how physics went and he said "fine" but when pressed further he said he's tired and fed up. Tell me about it!

I asked him to have a night off revising tonight, to go on Xbox and chill out. No chance of that. He just won't relax and even his teachers have told him he's doing too much. The mood is this house isn't nice tonight and I feel awful to say that I'm looking forward to him going to Greece with his dad for a week after the exams to get a break from it all. I have bad anxiety and he's not helping ( I know it's not his fault ) but he seems to save all of the moods up for me and is lovely to his dad who he sees twice a week

8 down, but Dd still has 18 to go!

3 history
2 further maths
2 more geography
2 English lit
2 English Lang
1 more RS
2 German
3 sciences
1 maths

Yawn.

Not a happy physics boy at home at the moment. Glad that's us finished for the week and half term and ext exam is the 4th June.

We have had bad week. Thanks for the nice thoughts everyone. Mum is still in hospital and very frail. School is going to complete the necessary forms for special circumstances and while it may be refused at least they are supportive.

Thanks binkom it’s clearing been lost in translation somewhere along the lines.
That’s tough zoflora, not a problem I anywhere near approached with my ds if that’s any consolation at all! It’s stressful if they refuse to work & stressful if they work too much. Soon be half term, hang in there

I did GCSEs and I’m sure we didn’t have anywhere near as many exams. Can definitely recall English language being 100% coursework and I think English lit was 40% coursework. Remembering the old exam boards - LEAG for Englishes. NEA for languages. SEG for physics..can’t remember the others

I did 1 (eng Lang) a year early and 8 the following year. Dd taking 11. They all do RS gcse as core, and she’s also doing further maths. I’ve told her the advantage of this is that she can do what I did and selectively “forget” any she’d rather. So it’s as if I never took physics... :)

So sorry for folk with outside pressures on top of the exam stress. It’s bad enough with outside stuff being on an even keel. Fingers crossed the special consideration is granted

Elephants - what happens in terms of the exam with the alarm going off? Do the school report it?

Hello! Back from 3 days in the wilderness (well no, Ashdown Forest) on a school trip.
Mixed bag for dd this week.
Monday's RE was 'so-so'. Tuesday's maths we won't talk about. Today's physics was 'awful, I don't think I passed'.
On top of that dd was diagnosed on tuesday afternoon with a hip dislocation problem which will require surgery and up to 10 weeks of no horse riding. Her passion. She's now panicking who will look after dpony following surgery. I have told her not to stress and just concentrate on exams for now.
Gah! I need wine!!

DS2 loved the Physics payer (AQA higher), its an A level choice so hopefully good news!

English Lit is one of his worst subjects and he is really looking forward to getting tomorrow over.

can anyone tell me when the AQA further maths are? Ive got the 17th, but I only have one on my calendar?

DS was a bit sad about physics (triple) - he said it was very math based. He said he thought he did "ok?"

DD (combined) was not so happy wither - she said she found out that one of her friends had tried to kill herself, and that had upset her before the exam so she thinks she did badly. Her fried was in the exam, so very much alive and kicking, but DD is a real mother hen and will pick up on any excuse to get sucked into a drama.

SIgh.

English tomorrow and then freedom for a week.

WJEC English Lit for Dd in the morning then nothing ‘til after half term (12 left then).
Really felt for her following her triple Physics (AQA) today. She came in and sat at my desk straight after to decompress, I asked ‘how did you go ?’ “Fine’ was the answer. I know more comes later after she’s relaxed a bit so I left her to it and was doing bits away from her.
Meanwhile a colleague - Physics teacher but not her physics teacher had spotted her , and was asking for a blow by blow account of the paper 😱🤬😱. Asking for her specific answers and terminology she used. I did tell them to leave her alone 😂 - like she couldn’t of done so herself in that situation.
she did thank me in the car and described me as a momma bear protecting her young....

AQA physics higher went well, lots of maths apparently but he's pretty good with that. Better than chemistry overall but not as good as biology was his conclusion.
English lit tomorrow which he'll be glad to see the back off. Currently cramming for DT on Friday. First cohort for the new spec. It seems they've spent 80% of the year focusing on coursework and now everyone's frantically trying to get their heads round theory with no past papers to practice. Then a week off thank goodness!

Dd's weakest science is physics (she does double) and she was happy that there was lots of maths and thought the 6 marker about particles was a godsend. She was hoping for a National Grid question but no luck there.

Behindlock my dd rides too & has been so looking forward to a long summer competing & her horse has gone lame I totally understand how upsetting it must be for your dd.