Thread 3: Continuing to GCSEs Summer 2020 - Happy New Exam Year!

[OrangeCinnamon]

Continuation of previous thread
Thread 2

Thread 1 Year 10

At the end of last thread there was a bit of talk on prom dresses ( recommend Fonthill Rd in London if you can get there) by @proggymat and @crazycrofter

@TigerMum had a query regarding moving to foundation level at this stage.

Sorry peeps thread progressed without me noticing so none can reply to your queries!

I think 2nd class should just about get there by August!

I heard that and made the same face ! The Mercies has just arrived Piggy, thank you for that.

Alsoplay hard to explain the revision clock but it kinda looks like a spider web with a middle circle denoting the topic (eg Jekyll and Hyde) and then each number is a segment triangle where you write stuff to do with the topic so DD did one for Jekyll and Hyde that used lingo like: themes, context, setting and the different characters and then in each segment wrote more fully under each heading but kind of in bullet points iyswim and various quotes associated with the characters. She uses her highlighters and fancy gel pens and makes them pretty as well as useful

DD also takes fexofenadine 120mg once daily plus beconase nose spray and the sodium crom eye drops once they itch so not quite yet. What does the momastone stuff do?

*Mometasone

Thanks, Anne, and thanks, Piggy - revision clocks look more useful than mind maps for DD, who needs a starting template/grid to get her going and stay on track.

I hadn’t heard of it before Anne and DH took him so I wasn’t there to hear but impression they gave me is it is kind of a first line thing with tablets as back up if that doesn’t work.

@ChristopherTracy
DS seems to prefer watching Mr Salles over Mr Bruff plus making notes. I'm just relieved that he's doing some active revision at long last as opposed to merely reading stuff. Better late than never!
Still adverse to creating a revision timetable as such, claiming that he is still having to keep on top of HW but he is ticking off topics covered especially for the sciences. You have to pick your battles don't you.
Lots of the subjects are finishing in the next few weeks with English Lit & Lang being the last to finish just before Easter. It's such a slog....

Thanks for kind words about prom dress. DD reckons hers will get another outing when she inevitably sings an opera on stage or Jazz at Ronnie Scotts . Im not so sure. Was in TkMaxx and Topshop in Oxford st today Tkmaxx good for reasonably priced slinky off shoulder numbers and Topshop amazing for alternative dresses!

@crazycrofter i agree we had less pressure. I distinctly remember most of my revision being done lying on the grass. I can barely remember any of the exams . I dont remember feeling particularly nervous at the time either.
Dd has told me some of her teachers have stopped issuing homework as syllabus is finished. Instead they are to show evidence of revision or a completes past paper which they will mark. I think that us an excellent idea as it makes them accountable to teachers too. Hopefully not too much pressure on teachers. They do a great job at her school but even in a classic 'leafy comp' the tales ive heard ...I couldn't do it. So as as some said earlier , to the fab teachers

Thanks @Piggywaspushed we got Mercies at the weekend. DD really looking forward to reading it.

Started the week with an early morning Geo revision lesson so on the 7:19 train...

A number of the year 11s I teach are trapped in the Canaries and not back today! Bless them, they have been emailing me for work!

God knows where they are staying... could be revision on the airport floor.

Opposite problem ooop here- heavy snowfall overnight, buses cancelled, roads bedlam and many school closures as pupils and staff unable to get in.

Mine's gone back after not much of a break and with a streaming cold. I felt really bad sending her in, both for her and for everyone else who catches it, but she really can't miss school ATM. She also has her first comp sci revision session after school which should be really helpful.

Wheresthebeach yep, we too have an early "period 0" session 7.45am today (and throughout the week and next as two weeks of mocks now). She also has period 6 as an after school session so not home til gone 5 and she goes to clubs 3 days a week after school - which she wants to continue as it's the only thing keeping her going (her words). These next two weeks are going to be shattering and it's not even the real thing. Apparently she will have period 0 sessions before real GCSEs too. #burntout.

Anne so that's 2 extra periods every day, including through actual exam period? That's ridiculous! Do they not get study leave? My DDs starts on 7 May - I think she's seeing it as a bit of a rest 😁

Just logging in as this thread has fallen off my watched list.

A reasonably productive half term for ds, although I did a catch up on his progress and we had to do a bit of a mayor refocus on some subjects where his revision seems to have been a bit less productive (or more accurately, totally non-existent!)

Hope your dd is feeling a bit less pressured, lilgreen - it's annoying that it's always the conscientious ones who take notice of the heavy-handed messages from school!

Are those extra periods compulsory Anne -sounds like an awful lot! Although I guess hopefully it means less revision at home?

DS's school has 2 x extra 40 minute periods after school Monday-Thursday, but they are optional and most students pick and choose which subjects they attend.

DS's school has been struck by the coronavirus issue. The 6th form ski trip came back, via Milan airport, at the weekend, so now all those pupils, their siblings, the teachers from the trip and anyone who has come into contact with them have been told to stay at home. One of the pupils involved has shown mild flu-like symptoms.
DD's school is across the road and lots of the pupils are friends with each other/have siblings at the other school, so DD's school has issued the same request.

@AnneOfCleavage I don't see how the kids can be anything other than exhausted by the pace. We have lunchtime revision too.

Coronavirus really worries me, DD asthmatic so higher risk. I hope it all settles down and GCSE's aren't affected.

@Alsoplayspiccolo - yikes!!!

Piggy It might be revision in the toilets in the airport if yesterday in Lanzarote was anything to go by (we got out eventually). There were a couple of people in the ladies (and in gents too according to DH) using sockets in there to charge/use devices.

DS has second lot of mocks that started today. As he and XH went away to Spain for most of half term who can tell what his performance will be like. Feels rather like XH does fun things and I am there to provide stationery. And help with nearly every subject.

Now I’ll read back at all I’ve missed

@MirandaWest I feel your pain, except it's my current DH who seems to do the fun things which I get blamed for nagging and making them do homework/chores! DH "helped" DS2 write a cv and letter for work experience - he used a template he found on the internet for adult agency work (DS was utterly baffled by the idea of giving examples of work-based problems and solutions) and the letter DH composed didn't even mention plumbing, which is what DS wants to do work experience in! Useless. Guess who had to sort it out?
He took DS1 away at half term, lots of time to chat, you'd think, but DH has no idea which Unis DS1 has applied to...what on earth do they talk about and hasn't he heard of asking questions??!
And people wonder why I don't work full time! I haven't got time!

I do work full time...but I work from home (employed) which means I am able to do much of the school things.

DS said today's exams were all right - Maths and Biology. He wants to "bang" RE tomorrow which I think means do well . He is also not impressed that there's creative writing in his English Language exam. Maths is not being discussed - I am guessing he's planning to muddle along...

All these schools running revision classes - your children must be so tired! Dd is just about coping with school at the moment, there’s no way she’d go to extra sessions (and I don’t think her school run them anyway).

She was feeling fed up yesterday as she was speaking to a friend in year 13 and she said it sounds just as bad as year 11! I think she was hoping things would improve after the GCSEs when you get to drop subjects?! From what I’ve heard, year 12 is fairly pressured too as they base your predicted grades for UCAS in year 12 results? I wish it wasn’t such a slog!