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.

Dd got her mock results today, over all she’s happy but is disappointed with her Physics grade and a German (as expected due to a disruptive class and teacher change). She got level 9 in History, English language and chemistry, 8 in business studies, 7 in English lit, computing and maths, level 5 in German and a Level 4 in Physics. They didn’t sit a biology exam but it one of her favourites so not worried about that one but physics could let her down , she said a lot of people in her class didn’t even get a grade or only reached a 3/4. Now panicking that she has 5 months to get her grade from a 4 to a 7 (ideally).

But over all I’m very proud, she did good for a student that rarely revises and refuses to attend any extra lessons.

Those are great results, lovemusic!

DD has her mocks timetable now, which is pretty brutal at times. Also, they start before term starts properly, so the pupils have been told to wear warm clothes ( because the school will have been shut for 3 weeks) and take packed lunches, as the kitchens won't be running. There's no school transport either, so we have to make the 40 minute drive in rush hour traffic to get her there to start exams at 8.30am. 😖

Alsoplayspiccolo That's awful that they are starting before term starts. I'm starting to dread mocks, DD has slowed to a stop and I'm afraid that she'll suddenly panic about he amount of work she needs to be doing.

Can decide if she just needs a break after a hard term so I should leave her to it, or should I mention something...hmmmm

It’s been an exhausting term - I think If dd had mocks after Christmas I’d let her slow down now, have a break Christmas week and then do full on revision from week 2 of the holidays onwards.

Dd did some revision in half term for hers - that’s when she stated in earnest - but not full on all week by any means, she did plenty of social stuff. Then she did evening and Sat revision for two weeks prior to the mock period and the mocks lasted 2 weeks so there was revision time in that period too.

So far her results have been good - but not quite as good as she’d hope to achieve in the summer. But she knows that she will have more time to do more thorough revision before the real things - there will be the Easter holidays and study leave.

This feels like a good balance - she put a decent amount of work in depending on subject (Geog was only the night before - but it was still one of her best marks) and has got decent results as a reward for her work. But she can also see that there’s room for improvement.

Looking like the hard slog is happening in all our homes willingly or not

Just starting our mocks here. They have already had a few then from Thursday until the 19th on study leave. Our school do them like this so they can "have a rest" over the holidays . Pah chance would be a fine thing for some inexplicable reason they seem to be very behind in Biology and have been given 4-6 hours worth of homework! We are hoping that doesn't happen for all the subjects or it isn't going to much of a break.

Need advice-
DD is being encouraged to sit higher maths paper.
She’s had her mocks and did not do so well in this subject...she wants to try the foundation paper and aim for a grade 5. Her school have agreed for her to try the foundation paper.

Her teacher said that he would prefer her to sit higher... my DD said she would prefer to get a grade 5 in foundation than a 4 in higher paper.

Any suggestions or advice welcome...

@Yr11mummy - I’d go for the lower paper. Don’t let the teachers persuade her otherwise.

My son did his mocks a few weeks ago. He worked so hard. No matter what grades he gets we are proud. We all had to send a letter in for the children to read before opening their results which I thought was a nice gesture. We added a bit of humour in DS’s as we thought 15yr old boys might be a bit embarrassed. Still, a nice gesture I thought. He gets his results on Friday. Well done to all who have results through.

Yr11mummy what did she get on her mock? If she got a 4 then I can see why it would be sensible to consider the foundation paper but they do say that their grade is likely to up in the 5 months they have until exams so she could reach a 5 or 6? It also depends on what she wants to do after GCSE’s.

Thanks for your replies.

She sat 3 papers and got 4, 3, 3 ....
No plans to study maths after GCSE’s.

She will be re-sitting this week at foundation level and she’s confident that she’ll get 5.

I think we’re going to support her in doing foundation papers rather than higher in the summer.

Need some reassurance and hope. DDs mocks results are awful no where near predictions and much worse than Y10 mocks. I just feel bad for her as she actually has worked hard and says she is just dumb and she's a failure. She has been doing revision cards, past papers etc. Totally at a loss as what to to do to help.

Oh that's toughback. The year 10 exams were likely on less content so it may be she had more to do this time and struggled. hopefully, she'll get some useful feedback but this does vary in helpfulness and quality so she should ask for exam papers back so she can look through them in her own time.

One thing girls often do a bit wrong in revision is endless mindmaps , cue cards etc and not enough practice but you say she did past papers... did she time herself?

I hope she feels OK. It's a stressful time. And winter and cold and darkness is no time to do exams really.

@BackInTime
First thing is to talk to her teachers and find out what they think and how she can improve. It could be something relatively easy to fix like exam technique. Is there a parents evening to discuss the mocks results or can you arrange to see them?
How badly did she do - how did she do compared to her friends? DS has had past papers for mocks before when they haven't covered everything on it yet - it ended up being something like 25% for a C
Plus we know from PP that sometimes schools have everyone doing badly in mocks to give them a kick up the arse. If she's doing ok compared to her friends then don't worry.
She is definitely not a failure because she hasn't failed anything yet - the exams are still months away. The point of mocks is to make all the mistakes when it doesn't count. Thousands of young people all over the country will be in this position.
She is also not dumb if she has been predicted better! If her teachers think she can do well they are right!
Your main job now will probably be to rescue her from what this has done to her confidence. Anything to stop her feeling that she is dumb and there is no point working any more.

Plus we know from PP that sometimes schools have everyone doing badly in mocks to give them a kick

I can see how you could do that in English where marking is relatively subjective. The teachers can decide not to give the 'benefit of the doubt' in any situation. However I can't see how you can mark harshly in maths where the mark scheme is very definite.

Year11mummy, I'd be pushing for foundation maths too.
A maths teacher said on another post that they would recommend foundation to any student who looks unlikely to get a 5 in higher.
DD has applied to a 6th form that insists on a 5 (but doesn't state that that has to be in higher) because they say that's what universities want.

Teen, they can't change the marks, but they CAN change the grade, eg DD's history teacher allocates grades according to 7 = 70%, 6 = 60%, which obviously isn't necessarily reflective of actual grade boundaries.

True Piccolo I hadn't though of that. I'd assumed they would grade according to the actual boundaries if using last year's papers.

Backintime, have you read the other post on the board, about success stories after disasterous mocks?

Lots of talk about now being the time to learn exam technique, so don't lose hope. Most kids are still trying to finish learning content, and mock revision has had to he juggled with homework etc and the busiest term of the year - I know DD has barely scraped the surface of revision and her mocks are immediately after Christmas; she's been crazy busy with extra curricular stuff, 6th form interviews etc.

Thanks all for your words of advice. I think it's a possibility that exam technique has let her down. Generally I think they have all done pretty bad and the school have said it's a wake up call for them all. What is hard is that the subjects that she spent the most time on are the ones that she did the worst in.

@Piggywaspushed She has used mind maps and revision cards (not sure of the quality but will look at this) and perhaps not enough practice. Although it is difficult doing practice papers in subjects like English or History when the marking is more subjective with more essay style and opinion questions.

That is so true!

Nice teachers will mark. I always do

But practising timing is almost as important as marking the work tbh.

BackInTime I think the mocks have/will be a wake up call to many. It highlights the areas teachers have not covered yet in some subjects, dd didn’t know hardly anything in her German paper, not sure how she scraped a level 5 tbh, same with Physics where she got a 4 (and so did most of her class who are the higher group).

Dd did amazing in English and History because she loves writing and possibly writes too much 🤣

Dd has Aspergers and argues that she doesn’t need to do any extra revision in physics or German so I suspect her grades won’t improve much. She’s hardly done any revision at all which makes me angry as she’s still getting 7/8’s and a couple 9’s. If she tried harder she could probably get 5 level 9’s but she refuses.

Thank you everyone for your comments xx

Ds only has science back so far ... bit of a mixed bag . 8 in physics, 7 in chemistry and 4 in biology. Unfortunately, he does combined science so has to perform well or at least equally in all three.

I found biology the most interesting and easiest at school but he is the opposite, and also finds his bio teacher a bit.... vague.

Piggy dd’s were similar but 9 in chemistry and 4 physics, they didn’t sit a biology paper but she predicted a 8. She’s also doing combined science so like you say it’s not so much of a worry. She has been offered extra revision classes. Dd says her physics result is due to having a boring teacher.

I think with combined science the trick is not to see the worst subject as pulling the best down, but rather the best are pulling up the worst. Glass half full rather than half empty.

Fair play teen! It's just slightly annoying that their overall grades don't show relative strengths, unlike Triple science.

That said, he has got so much better at science since middle school where he really sucked!