GCSEs 2019 support thread 4

[TacoLover]

The last one is almost full!

And that rattled him

They seem to do that with maths - everyone I speak to has said the same

Edexcel higher maths here, DS seems to think it went well. Not too hard.

Who knows? He has funny processing issues/SEN and has never been able to learn times tables or spellings or any memory-based learning. But he can figure things out, so a hard paper where calculator is allowed works best for him.

Fingers crossed

He dropped mfl, humanities in y9 and hopes to do maths, further maths and physics (and maybe IT) so it's ALL hinged on his maths grades

Bimkom and foslady, is that aqa?

Ours is Edexcel

He said there was a 3 marker he didn't even attempt because of time pressures

Not sure which one they do at dd’s school - I think it’s EdExcell, but dd did it last year and was pushed for time then. One of her friends is at a different school doing AQA I think, and she has been coming out of maths unhappy, and her friends at the school she is at now said it’s been tough. They have all said they could have done with more time (even dd’s mock for FSMQ went badly and she normally was ok).

If everyone is the same then 🤞for the grade boundaries

Told him about the prize, he laughed (I think a bit sarcastically). I think he is now texting the boy whom he thinks should have got the maths prize and asking him if he wants a book adressed to DS from the headteacher, on the grounds that that other boy should have got it.

Bimkom ds said Edexcel Maths Paper 3 was hard - it seemed the general consensus at his school (its a selective school so they’re generally v good at maths) - he said even the people who did further maths found it hard. He had a couple of questions he didn’t finish due to time.

Ds just text to say edexcel higher maths paper was harder than previous two. Didn’t get more than that as he is in a side class revising history for this afternoon and phones are banned

Hi all,
been a lurker on this page and the others previous :D Anyway our son has just left for his last final exam which is History. The last few weeks have been exhausting for all concerned and am glad he'll be done with it all. We are in Wales so grades have remained the old style. Cross fingers results day will bode in his favour although he hasn't really been as motivated as we parents would have liked in terms of revision but it is what it is, ha.

Good Luck to all sitting exams today and the rest of the week.

Bimkom I think a lot wrote and article not a letter. From what ds remembers it said someone had written to the paper saying .... write a response...

He said he wondered whether it was a letter or an article and decided it was an article. Out of his friends it seems roughly 50:50 what was written. After much googling I don’t think many marks are for “dear sir” etc etc. Maybe it was supposed to be an article? Who knows but crossing fingers here.

An not and (clearly my marks for technical accuracy would be very low!!)

No news here (phone being left at home - I think I scared her with stories from on here) maths and sciences are most definitely in the "get enough to pass and never have to contemplate them again camp" - apologies to those science and maths lovers!

When she was revising yesterday she had to go back over her notes (history) as there were a couple of things she wasn't getting. Am not sure if that is a sign of too long a gap since she last did Weimar/Nazi or more positively she was actually 'revising' as opposed to 'reviewing'.. in the absence of news until results day I'm going to be optimistic and choose the latter!

DD saying AQA higher was easy from question 1 - 16. Harder towards the end but better than the previous two I think.

History is more of a worry. If she gets questions on women in Nazi Germany, or slavery (I think?) then she's sorted. If it's Eastern Europe v Western Europe she's screwed.

ds home after edexcel higher paper.

maths best subject, heading for a 9, and A level choice.

said paper was awful, he looked up, it was 10:30 and he still had questions he hadn't answered. Said it was hard and too much to do in the time. He is at super selective and most of the boys came out saying they struggled to finish.
I am just hoping that if they all struggled to finish then the grade boundaries will just adjust. Paper 1 and 2 went well, so still hoping for something reasonable.

3 left....

DD did foundation and was happy with all but one question. SHe gets extra time, but said she didn't really need it today.

DS was in a right 2 and 8 when he came home - he said the higher paper was very hard. I think it's the last few questions that throw him - he gets that they are challenge questions for the level 9s, but still sees the whole paper in their light, and so he may have done brilliantly for 80% of the paper and the last 20% was bad, so he sees the whole paper as a challenge.

DS has further math and German on Monday. He is not looking forward to them as everyone else will finish on Friday.

AQA maths here went really well, easiest of the 3 papers.
Chemistry tomo then physics Friday & we’re done!

Ditto Ready for sunshine- can't wait!!!

DS said there were 2 questions instead of 20, and that really threw his timings out.

Don't know what edexel are thinking this year . It is the same for the A level.
It is as if they have purposely set exams /papers that all need an extra 1/2 hour ?

What a Way to demoralize the students .

Another edexcell higher here. Really struggled with this paper. Focused on trying to get marks for working out as knew she couldn't complete the answer.

She is probably a foundation maths. We did try and change it but due to settings for other subjects was not possible. Hoping she has done enough to pass.