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!

Yes, actual GCSEs, he took them in November. The whole school does numeracy in November I think, and then the top two sets also do maths in November so get it all out of the way. Top two sets do the additional maths syllabus now in lessons and can take the add maths exam in the summer if they want. DS is in set 2 and wants to do the add maths exam as you need it to do maths A level. But - you can't carry on with add maths (and therefore A level) if you need to resit the gcse. He wants to do physics at university so would need maths A level I think. This result is actually quite important now I come to think of it

Gah...still in the middle of mocks. Today is 3 exams.

Scheduling seems to have ignored the need for a sensible lunch break! Mainly affects those with extra time. Today they technically have 25 minutes for lunch, but that ignores the rule that they should be in the exam hall 15 mins before exam starts. DD has just under 7 hours of exams today, I would have thought proper time for fueling was vital to carrying on!

Friday she has 21 minutes for lunch! I've emailed the school and they've agreed she can bring lunch in on this occasion, but it all seems a bit crap on the 'thinking it through' heading.

And breath....

@Shimy @Alsoplayspiccolo @dietcokeandwine thanks for your input on ADHD meds! Come to think of it, his dose went up last time we saw the psychiatrist so that might have impacted him. I think we'll try him taking a lower dose again. Tearful, angry and exhausted describes him to a tee at the moment! :(

Thankfully I'm having a dry run at GCSEs with the easier child! Dd had some lectures on revision techniques yesterday. They suggested doing past papers, which is good as I don't think dd likes doing them and has avoided them so far!

@Wheresthebeach hope she copes ok! It sounds like the actual exams will be a breeze by comparison! @MurielTheCamel good luck with the Maths result. Are you in Wales?

Yes crazycrofter - that's what I've said to her. Got the 'teenage' look in response, which I guess is fair enough!

Her Chemistry collared her in the hall yesterday and asked how the Chem mock went. She said 'Hard'. He said 'Good - its suppose to be, if you thought it was easy then you couldn't have understood it'.

Gah 'her Chemistry teacher' that should read.

Yes in Wales @crazycrofter

I'm not sure I agree with that Chemistry teachers logic!

DD just got mock results.
5 x Grade 9
2 x Grade 8
1 x Grade 6 ( maths ...)
Very happy here!

Wow, those are great results aibuquestions, a good indicator for the summer!!

Gosh AIBU that is a grand set of results ...well done Your DD

@crazycrofter glad it was useful! Definitely worth considering a meds adjustment.

Amazing results for your DD @aibuquestions - well done her!

@wheresthebeach - your poor DD, that does sound a bit bonkers. DS's school only ever scheduled one morning exam and one afternoon exam per day during mocks. There was some to-ing and fro-ing and adjustments where necessary (ie for the dual linguist kids who are taking both French and Spanish so had to fit in two lots of listening, reading, writing etc) but nothing like what you describe. Hope she gets on OK.

Had a lunchtime text, so not going to plan! Sigh. Nothing to be done but hope its not as bad as she thinks.

Aibu wow...great results.

Just dropping by to say hope all the DC have coped ok with mocks/mock results as applicable and hope everyone has as relaxing a weekend as it’s possible to have mid GCSE year!

DS1 has to prep for Spanish speaking assessment -the last element of his Spanish mock, he did everything else before Christmas - so I am anticipating a stressy few days DS is not a fan of languages, especially speaking assessments!!

Great results aibu!

Well done to your DD for surviving her school's crazy scheduling Wheresthebeach. Seems so un-necessarily harsh to add more pressure on them with no breathing space...

We also have mock results back
6x 9’s
2x 8’s which DD tells me she is “livid” about
1x 6 (French) series questions to be answered by school there as to why MFL results are so terrible across the entire year (isn’t just DD who has dropped considerably)

What kind of world is it where a DC is 'livid' about 8s?
I hope you told her that 8s are brilliant!

Feeling really chuffed with DS. He did a PE test yesterday and received a grade 8! He actually revised for this one and it shows! Maybe this will be the turning point..

What kind of world is it where a DC is 'livid' about 8s?

100% agree! I'd be over the moon with 8s as would DS!

Has anyone else's schools told them they wouldn't be giving 9s out? I know that DS's English teacher has told them this. Not sure about the other subjects though.

The MN demographic here is skewered if people are mentioning schools attaining 90%+ 7/8/9 at GCSE.

Only the top 30 independent/top 5 state schools nationally achieve those results (according to the 2019 Sunday Times Parent Power).

It must be pretty disheartening to have DC feel like failures if they don't achieve 7's, let alone 8's/9's in that sort of environment.

Agree with others, 8s are amazing grades (A*!) seriously, if she is genuinely upset about 8s, she is setting herself up for potential issues. Re the French, did you see the story about French and German being marked easier this year?

Re the French, did you see the story about French and German being marked easier this year?

Don't be getting my hopes up about that now just to have them cruelly dashed away!

DS’s English teacher said she won’t predict any 9s. I think the number grades are muddying the water a bit.

My friend’s DS got 2 x 5s, 2 x7s and the rest were 6s in most recent mocks. He worked hard and is growing in confidence, I take him to school and it’s been great to see the starting to believe in himself bit. His parents seemed kind of pleased but not as pleased as I thought. I asked how they would have felt if it said 2 A’s, 2 Cs and the rest Bs and they thought about it and suddenly looked much happier.

As a teacher (not any more) I would never have predicted any 9s. In fact I now tutor and I won't predict a 9 even for my super bright student.

I would give a 9 for a mock if it deserved it, it would have to be a really strong performance tho. It's a bit easier now as there are a couple of years of actual grades to look at, while two years ago we were really guessing.

Sorry meant to post link to GCSE MFL story here it is