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.

Interesting @postnotinhaste thanks! £45 a month is a lot to commit for Tassomai.

Speaking of cash definitely not going down the cash reward route and glas im not the execption.

Dd off to Berlin on Thurs I'm very jealous as I love the city but not so jealous of the heatwave they will be experiencing
Flip flops are banned for H and S reasons and Dd adamant that her Vans will be worn all four days. She is also adamant that her skirts are not too short

Might be worth asking School about Tassomai. I was all set to fork out then school offered it for a one off £20 so think there must be a version for schools.

Also very jealous about your DD and Berlin. We went last summer and nearly melted. I would love to go back, though not in the heat - 35 degrees and the underground in rush hour was a bit much to say the least! I’ve just got back from Germany , I’ve eaten too much cake !

This time last year, Seneca was about eight months old and free. Now it has started to make some courses paid.

DS1 used it for his GCSEs during the Spring term of year 11. This was in 2018. During the Easter holidays, the school sent home mock papers to do under exam conditions for most subjects and they marked them in the first week back, when there was only about a month left until the first GCSE.

DS1 got poor marks (for him). I think it was things like 6 and 7s for the sciences. So, I got him to dump Seneca and I subscribed to Tassomai and he did about 100 hours just on Tassomai over 2 months (which is not how you are supposed to use it). He got 9s for all the sciences in August.

Seneca looked like a good idea, but for DS1, it just did not work. I think it depends on the individual.

No cash for grades here. Cash should not be DS2's motivator and we can't afford to pay what a good set of GCSEs are actually worth.

@OrangeCinnamon it's great that you've got these threads going, but would it be possible to start numbering them when you create the next one? We got to about no 20 in 2018, so the numbering helped to keep track.

Hmm, that’s a bit worrying about Seneca Whistl Think I’d better encourage DS to keep up with Tassomai.

Rather than just PMK (DS just finishing yr10 so may want to keep in touch)...

Yr10s in our county have work experience these days; from what I can tell, most of them are just hanging out on street corners (!!). DS is one of the few who got all 8 days filled with WE. He finds it boring (garden centre), but has a good sense of duty so will turn up. He gets half price chips in the cafe, so not all drudge :).

Oh gosh really @Whistl of course ! Guess we will have a lot to talk about I suppose

DD school provide Seneca free, I will look into the Tassomai and if they will provide...you never know! They are generally quite good with providing resources

My understanding of both Seneca and Tassomai is that they are good for teaching the material/course content but you need to supplement this by practicing questions, particularly longer questions, and working on exam technique including understanding things like what is expected when the question says e.g. "describe how ..." as opposed to "explain why ..." etc . I would say getting a 6/7 just using either of these is pretty good and, with no disrespect to whistl's DS, who clearly did brilliantly, doing 100 hours revision over 2 months of any type is going to stand you in pretty good stead! Interesting that we've now had posters with distinct preferences of both, I wonder if some of this is down to learning style?

Maths and Science are DS’s strengths (8’s) - everything else doesn’t seem to be (5’s). So, after a fortnight’s holiday, I’m going over his Eng Lit notes with him (God help me!) and helping him organise and maybe prod him into making revision notes for himself. Learn 5 quotes a week for 4 weeks - that’s 20 quotes right.....which is a start.

Redsky Seneca is about using memory to teach course content but Tassomai is not about understanding, only memorising and working until you know the answer without hesitation.

Tassomai is really just a series of flashcards. The equivalent would be the old idea of making up a series of flashcards and then testing the student on each of them until they can answer each question three times right in a row. What you pay for is not having to make the flashcards up and keeping track of when the student last answered each question and whether they got it right or wrong.
It works well for the longer form science questions because it asks things like "what is step 2, in xyz process?"

Exam technique is something else and yes, the students need to fully understand the difference between the verbs describe, explain and evaluate.

sansou
English Literature is DS's weakest subject. This week's focus is the poetry cluster.

Really pleased with DS's results.

Long story, but put in the lowest stream at our partially selective (he passed the exam) comp. We suspect because he has SEN but no EHCP.

Now has got for his mocks a 9 for computer studies, 8 for chemistry, 7s for maths and physics (also doing additional maths, which we haven't had a result for yet, but he should do OK because he quite enjoys it), 6s for English Language and Literature (up from a 2+ at the end of Y9!), History and Biology, and 5s for Astronomy and RE.

He's going to aim for more 9s in the next lot of mocks apparently. He says he quite enjoys the lowest stream because he gets to be top of all his classes and teach the other kids.

The English results in particular are stunning, I will have to shake the hand of his English teacher/s very enthusiastically

Glad I can say this stuff here, IRL people's eyes glaze over and they get a faraway look

DragonTrainer3 that is excellent.
The progress in English is particularly impressive.

@Tumbleton thanks - just hope he can keep it up for the actual GCSEs - fingers very much crossed.

I have purchased Tassomai for my DS and he is enjoying the little but often side of it. Easy to tick off each day of the holidays and still feel like you are keeping on top of things, without it all getting too onerous, and particularly at this point, a good way to keep on top of learning the basic content, before they refine the exam technique closer to the exams. Had a quick look at Seneca and we felt Tassomai was much better for his learning style.

Dragontrainer that is amazing - a huge well done to him.and to you for supporting him.

I tend not to have too many discussions with DS about things dating back to year 7 when he kicked off about his homework constantly and one ended up with a 45 minute panic attack that neither if us would like to repeat.

I think his main issue with sciences is physics where he isn't quite getting what is being asked of him by the questions. But given his teacher frequently has to leave class to find someone who can give her the answers this isn't a surprise and we'really hoping for a new teacher next year.

He did very well with my only input being trying to keep things calm and othanks ed so i'm leaving well alone. DD in contrast is worried about starting her new degree and doing loads of study which is great to see as she did sod all for GCSE .

DD has had a huge clear out of her room this week; without being prompted!

Well done to your son @DragonTrainer3
@Silverhill This must be the week for Dd to surprise us! Mine has taken up sewing after finding Harry Potter themed fabric bundles in hobby craft
Better than being on phone I suppose

Hi all, my DD is starting Year 12 this year but will be taking GCSE's at the same time as all of your DC's as she wasn't able to last year (personal cirmcunstances). She's doing English, Maths, Psychology and Biology at college as they offer those 4 on a resit course. She's also taking Geography online as she needs a 5th to get onto the course she wants to do next year and that 5th one will also make a big difference for uni etc. Is it okay if I participate in the thread still? Nobody I know in real life has DC's of a similar age and the new Year 12 threads have obviously moved on from GCSE's but I really need somewhere to discuss them and ask questions as we progress through the year so I thought this might be the best place? Thank you.

Welcome Pagan
You are very welcome to this thread as gcse for our DC is what we have in common so we all share the same trials and tribulations irrespective of age. I haven't posted much and think and hope this will be a really helpful support to us as we go through this difficult time. My own DS will still only be 15 when he sits but that is how it is so we need to just get on with it. I watched the thread for last years gcse group and found everyone to be so supportive and hope this thread is the same as we progress.

Welcome to PaganMin
It's a thread for anyone whose children are taking GCSEs in 2020, whatever their circumstances. I've found it to be inclusive and supportive.

Hi @PaganMin lots of useful tips to be found here...welcome! Your Dd will be gaining some good self-directed study skills doing her Geography GCSE online.

Hi PaganMin
How is your DD finding Geography?
DD couldn't decide between History or Geography so chose both with the caveat that if she found the work load too much she could drop one.
Of all her subjects Geography is the most content heavy and she has been set a humongous amount of homework which has sparked her off on the 'I want to drop it' trail whereas I feel she should wait to see how things are at January mocks.
Are any other DC's finding Geography the most content/homework heavy of all their chosen GCSE's?

DD is enjoying Geography. She has been making fact cards over the summer holidays for each case study.
She is finding that Art is (by far) the one with the heaviest workload.