Current Year 11 2021/2022 support thread pt III

[StColumbofNavron]

Thread for the parents of DC sitting their GCSEs in about 4 weeks time - eek.

I've not heard from DS1 as they currently remain on timetable (finishing today) and he had business this afternoon, finishing in 10 mins. He was definitely more nervous about maths than he has been for any of his others so far.

No exams until Wednesday now with Eng Lit.

the #gcsemaths hashtag has some highly amusing tweets.

 @StColumbofNavron. Ds was showing me some funny memes for the maths gcse.

Well they’ve survived their first week. One down four more to go! DD has Geography on Monday and then next is English Lit on Wednesday.

It’s DS 14th birthday tomorrow and he has 4 friends over to go go-carting and then a sleepover. I think DD might decamp to a friends tomorrow to try and escape the rowdy boys!

Hope everyone has restful and productive weekends.

I’ve just been and looked at the hashtag on twitter and the last question that has everyone het up was an absolute gift for DD. She did an almost identical question with her tutor on Wednesday. She also did a question similar to the triangle with semi circles.
No wonder she thought it was ok.

Poor DS who was predicted a 9 in Business missed a 12 marker - somehow he didn't turn the paper over 😂 realised in the post mortem discussion. He types some exams & said that after reading the paper he folded it to work on as he was at a small desk without enough room for the laptop & paper to be side by side. He doesn't need a 9 for next steps & has the second paper to come but is devastated. I am now worrying about whether he might have done the same in other papers...

This is my fave:

'Me after working out 4x2 while Higher students figure out the density of cube A and B in a ratio as integers #gcsemaths #gcses2022'

Followed by a picture of someone in a bubble bath cheers-ing with a glass of bubbles.

According to Twitter the formula sheet was totally unused.

Oh no @legosnowqueen How absolutely gutting for him.

We did stress so many times about reading every page even if you think it might be blank but I think I might say it again on Monday morning.

I am really worried now that people are saying the maths exam was really hard, DS did edexel higher today and texted to say it was really easy. I am concerned he has made a massive error or something. He's good at maths but has been getting 6/7s based on mocks marked with 2019 grade boundaries so not exceptional. I am way more stressed than he is over it all, I hate the waiting after. I'm an accountant and the worst bit after exams was going over every question in my head afterwards and deciding what I'd done wrong. I never got close to guessing how I'd done though.

There are going to be lots of stressed DCs at DSs school today, 13 out of 15 who sat foundation maths in January failed so there is a lot riding on it for them

My dd did AQA and she said it was super hard

Girls in tears and all the boys saying it's the hardest exam so far and much harder than any mocks

Hope the grade boundaries reflect this as it's unfair in these kids that missed a lot of school through no fault of their own over the last two years.

I hope so too, they have missed loads and all at different times so impossible to ensure they have covered everything for everyone, as well as some schools not providing adequate learning when DCs are in isolation etc.

DS1 home. He said it was 'fine'. He ran out of time (argh) and said he only glanced at the last question which is getting all the social media attention and he would have needed decent time to do it. He said it was worth 8 marks, but that there are 80 marks available.

DD1 found the Edexcel paper ok.She didn't attempt the last question but did manage a couple of the other hard ones. Luckily they had a breakfast revision session and some of the stuff they went over came up.

Sounds like the AQA and the Edexcel IGCSE and GCSE papers were all pretty tough, twitter is going crazy about it. DS is now home and said his paper wasn't actually easy, just easier than he was expecting, a couple of questions at the end he didn't know but he said he got full answers for the first 15 questions, then varied attempts for the rest.

DS said maths AQA and Business were both fine today so not much info from him. I’m just glad he has a weekend to break them up a bit before 4 next week: Geography, English Lit, Chemisty and Computer Science.

Thanks @StColumbofNavron just had a look at maths GCSE on Twitter.

Ds said AQA higher paper was huge but easier than tests she’s done in school

DD had AQA Higher Maths, she said it was easy and thinks she will either have 79/80 or 80/80 but it is her strongest subject and she will take Maths and FM at A level and is taking the level 3 FSMQ this year as well though that is self-taught.

Glad first week is over, that's 7 done, 20 to go, well done to everyone's DC on getting through it. I think she found 1 out of 7 difficult and the rest fine but the difficult one was as she switched schools end year 10 and it was a paper on a new subject she took up in y11 on what was taught in y10 and I don't think it was especially difficult but main thing is just to do them and move on. She went out with friends tonight and is now back with Mr Floof. He is very cute but he is a bit much for me on chemo and am happy she is taking over.

She has a break now until Tuesday then 5 next week, French reading and listening, English Lit 2 books, Computing, Chemistry and 1 other I've forgotten, maybe another biology. Then 15 after half term going to 24th.

Ds found Edexcel maths really hard. He's looking for a 6 so the last question isn't an issue but hopefully paper 2 and 3 are better.

He said Business was fine because he wrote at top speed so hot uk the end.

My Dd did Edexcel higher and found it hard. She generally gets 9s in maths but it knocked her confidence. They've had such a crap time and have been without their maths teacher for a year because she's suffered long covid. Only
one person at school knew how to do that last question.

@MrsPnut it's worth mentioning, I don't think DS will make that mistake again.

Now addicted to the various Twitter feeds...

DC usually gets 98-100% but even she struggled with last question

@Akite there was a picture on Twitter of a maths teacher trying to solve that last Higher paper question. He looked quite puzzled, certainly as if he was having to think about it!

DD has had a lot of disruption with teachers on and off with COVID, particularly in Year 11. If you looked at her science exercise books you'd almost think they'd had no lessons at all, there is so little written in them. Contrasted with English where she's filled a full five books over the course of the GCSE curriculum.

The coming week is DD's 'heaviest', although she does have one exam-free day in it.

DD had a Maths lesson after the paper yesterday and their teacher showed them how to do the last question with the shaded area. DD had said previously that she would have struggled to work it out even with a calculator.

Has anyone read the other thread on this board about some students being given the wrong Maths paper yesterday? What a total nightmare! You’d be so livid with the school wouldn’t you??!