Starting Yr11 Gcses 2020 Support Thread [Edited at OP's request]

[OrangeCinnamon]

A continuation of a Year 10 support thread
previous thread

Last thread was great and supportive as some of us tried to navigate year 10 and some very helpful peeps steered us through.

[whoamitojudge]

Mocks finished here ( thank goodness) just awaiting results. My DD has said she will plan to do some revision during the summer for her weaker subjects.
Only 3 more weeks of school left now

[Silverhill]

I think DD is ready for the end of term - she looks quite weary. She has some study plans for the holidays (making sure notes are complete, doing a bit of work on her weaker subjects) but all very low-key.

[PostNotInHaste]

Mocks just finished, one relieved looking DS. I’m going to have to sort stronger hayfever meds for next year.

[Boysarefab]

Hello fellow Y10/moving into Y11. I have been watching your previous thread and am so pleased to see a thread for mutual support through Y11 & GCSE. Think I will definitely need it.
DS did end of Y10 exams in June and got mainly 5s and 6's. For the first time he actually put some effort in and revised quite hard and was a bit disappointed but I think they gave them actual past papers on the syllabus they had covered so he's hoping to improve. He would like 6's and 7's. Last day of school tomorrow, thank goodness as he is exhausted as was on DoE last weekend too. Holiday homework has been set for every subject but I want him to have some R&R first. Looking forward to getting to know you all.

[Rhubardandcustard]

Hi. Jumping on board. Dd had mocks early May. Mixture of results ranging from 4s to 8s. Not sure she did effective revision in April, but she would argue otherwise.

We’ve been to a few 6th open evenings this week and that has really got her excited about moving on. We’ve discussed what grades she needs minimum to do the courses she wants, so fingers crossed that will encourage her to do at least a little revision over the summer break.

[GreekOddess]

Hi can I join please?

Ds1 fits the "lazy boy" description. His targets are mainly 6s and 7s whilst his predictions range from 4 to 6. Did poorly in most of his year 10 exams despite usually performing well in tests. He just doesn't have any interest in anything academic related despite being adamant that he wants to stay on at the 6th form for A levels.

Time will tell...

[PostNotInHaste]

Welcome to you all

Biology teacher has said he will have then next year but very likely different physics and chemistry teachers. A physics teacher who doesn’t have to go and ask the colleague for the answers would be very welcome, current chemistry teacher not very comprehensible either.

[voddiekeepsmesane]

DS just finished a very busy 3 weeks...16 year 10 exams then straight into final expedition of DofE 32km hiked in 2 days! DS is both physically and mentally tired ready for summer hols in 2 weeks!!

[GreekOddess]

Wow Voddie 16 exams is loads! Is he at a selective school?

[voddiekeepsmesane]

Nope though it is a semi selective high achieving comp and DS got through on 11+ grammar style paper. 16 exams isn't that much considering that he will have 21 papers to sit in GCSE mocks and for real next year.

[voddiekeepsmesane]

I looked at the year 10 thread near its beginning but wondered if it was for me as my DS is doing ok, but it still holds its stresses and DS puts a lot of pressure on himself. I have continued to read the thread but not contributed throughout the year but this coming year will probably need more support as we go on. It has been very interesting to see the varied ways both schools and families tackle things.

[Silverhill]

voddiekeepsmesane
DD is also doing OK but puts pressure on herself.

[voddiekeepsmesane]

It's hard to get the balance right IMO Silverhill

[Tumbleton]

I was on the previous thread but haven't posted that often. Signing in with DS, who just had a surprisingly impressive end of Y10 report (exceeding targets in more than half of his subjects). His weakest subject in the end of Y10 exams was English Literature. (it turned out that he had only revised one poem). He has plans to do a bit of studying over the summer holidays (mostly Maths, English, Sciences).

[ProggyMat]

voddiekeepsmesane Silverhill
Ditto!
How many GCSEs are your DC sitting?

[voddiekeepsmesane]

DS is doing English*2, Maths, Triple Science, Geography, French, Computer Science , DT specialising in electronics and mechanics. Just amazes me how many papers for each subject there is!

[ProggyMat]

DD is doing maths, English x2, biology, physics, chemistry, history, geography, French, Latin, Ancient Greek, plus further maths.
Don't even want to count the number of papers

[Silverhill]

ProggyMat
DD is taking 9 subjects. She will 'only' have 22 exams but one of them is a 10 hour Art exam spread across 2 days.

[Silverhill]

She is also doing Latin (OCR)

[ProggyMat]

Silverhill
We can keep each other company with the Latin! :)

[crazycrofter]

Another dd doing Latin here! She finds it hard though! She broke up yesterday and is now on her D of E expedition. She’s got some summer work to do for her weaker subjects - Latin, Spanish, Maths, Biology. She intends to do it but I’ve heard that before! She’s got a pretty busy summer ahead too.

I’m dreading next year. Her mocks are in November. I’m glad they’re before Christmas but it doesn’t give her much time to get her act together! And she’s such a slow worker ...

[Silverhill]

crazycrofter
DD is also a slow worker. She has always taken longer to do homework than it's meant to take, and she didn't manage to get to the end of any of the exam papers they did at the end of Y10.

She did get extra time in her KS2 SATs but was assessed again in Y9 and no longer meets the threshold. Hopefully she will get quicker with practice.

Her Latin language is good, but I suspect she might struggle more with the literature, which they started this term.

[ProggyMat]

crazycrofter another Latinist
DD is fortunate as she is 'an all rounder' and her attainment across subjects is strong. Having said that, she has 'a lot of plates to keep spinning' and from now to the exams proper it's finding the right balance.
Her end of year exams were in May. She had down time over the Easter holiday and left herself 3 weeks to revise.
Cue full blown rivizilla mode- not healthy!
Neither of us want that particular monster to rear its head at Christmas prior to the mocks!
Lesson well and truly learned (me finks) so 2 days per week over the summer will be spent keeping the plates spinning!

[AndwhenyougetthereFoffsomemore]

Checking in :-) DS did his exams relatively early, so it feels like the last few weeks have been marking time to the end of term, somewhat. His grades were good except for English Lit (he's dyslexic, but weirdly did well in the Eng lang exam and history, so he can do essays .... he just didn't really answer the question...) and Spanish (always his nemesis!)

He's come up with a lovely, complicated ongoing revision system which he planned to keep going throughout the rest of this year and over the summer, to keep things ticking over. So far, he has almost entirely failed to actually do any of this revision!!

[Tumbleton]

Andwhenyougetthere
DS is great at making revision timetables and starting ambitious revision plans, and the first topic in each subject has been revised many times in many ways.