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.

Thanks ladies. Just another thing us women have to suck up isn’t it? I suffered really badly when I was at school. I remember one time I was at an athletics meet with the school and I got my period just before I had my race. I was in agony but the teacher made me run anyway. Then I had to lie in the back of the mini-bus for the rest of the meet. Everyone knew what was wrong with me and I was so utterly embarrassed!

After today it’s Chemistry tomorrow and thankfully she can go home after that. Half term can’t come sooner. They are all absolutely knackered. Having full school days and lessons in between exams has wiped them out. I know the school are trying to give them the best chance of performing well with as much structured revision time as possible but I think they have underestimated how much it takes out of them. They have all that nervous energy after sitting an exam and absolutely no down time.
I’m hoping after half term when DD only has to go in for revision sessions and exams that she’ll be less tired. Although she still has a heavy schedule with 6 exams the first week back, 5 the week after and then just 2 the following week.

Poor DD @Rollergirl11 - such bad timing 😂. A day with no exams for DS today but Chemistry tomorrow is one he's dreading. It sounds like Eng Lit went okay, he liked the LOTF questions but struggled with the poetry one.

I am going to have to crack the whip a bit at half term to ensure enough revision is done for a tough first week back afterwards including Eng lit, history & physics. He has a couple of tutor sessions (maths & science) during the break so hope that will keep some momentum - l know he needs some downtime but I don't want motivation to slump!

No exams for us either today, Chemistry tomorrow and then a nice 10-day break before the madness really begins. DD is hoping to do Chemistry at A level next year so she should be prepared and feeling okay about it. It's Physics she's really dreading and that risks bringing her grade down.

DD has Spanish and RE today. There’s a chemistry revision session after school but she’s not sure whether she will go or not as she feels like she’s getting a cold(has done a Covid test and was negative).

Spanish is one of her favourites and she’s doing it for A Level so hopefully it’s going all right.

Spanish today for DS, listening is his weakest one so not sure how it'll go. I think Spanish will be one of his lowest grades overall, he loved it up to Y9 then has found the GCSE incredibly difficult. He wishes he'd chosen business instead. He'll be happy with a 5 overall for Spanish, he'll just be glad to pass really. He was predicted a 7/8 but he just hasn't put the work in, his confidence dipped in it and it has hindered how hard he has worked for it which is frustrating.

@MirandaWest same here with a Chemistry revision session after school (compulsory) which DD could deffo do without!

Dd went off for Spanish this morning. Feels utterly unprepared and a bit panicked. Her teacher is very derogatory to her pupils which is not exactly empowering them.
I’m picking her up afterwards to go home for chemistry revision.

One of mine has Spanish and RE today . @PugInTheHouse mine also finds the listening the hardest part of Spanish and also really liked it up to Year 9 and now he can’t wait to drop it (along with music). Hoping it goes ok for him. My other one is supposed to be revising for RE but not seen much evidence of that this morning.

@FFF2022 mine would just do music, PE and maths if he could, he is doing music at college full time, he already works in the industry so he can't wait to be able to just focus on that. I am glad he has managed to focus enough to try hard in the other subjects but I imagine it is frustrating for him.

Let's hope it's a nice exam for them today!!

My DS home from Spanish and said the reading part was easy but that the listening was really hard. As expected really!
Is now cracking on with chemistry revision for tomorrow and then having the rest of the day off to hang out with friends.
I'm hoping he gets back on it on Saturday as he has a lot of physics revision to do as well as getting ready for paper two biology and chemistry. Also needs to practice further maths papers.
It's awful for girls having their periods during exams. I really struggle with work on my day two. Sympathy for your DD @Rollergirl11

Sympathy @Rollergirl11 for your dd - it always picks the most inconvenient times!

Ds didn't like the translation in the reading paper but said the rest was ok. Spanish is his least favourite subject but an MFL is compulsory at his school so he had to take it. As long as he passes I don't really care about that one!

He's looking forward to chemistry 1 tomorrow - it's a chosen A level subject for him. He's then having the rest of Friday and the whole weekend off to rest.

I don't know how the children who are obliged to be in school are managing it! DS would be so shattered that it would have an adverse impact on his exam performance. He comes home from each exam exhausted!!

@QueenMabby you've ruined my day. I thought it was Friday. I've been working up to the end of my working week all day.

Then I read "chemistry tomorrow" and was like "I thought DD had chemistry this week but it's definitely RE today so what's happening."

Then realised it's Thursday 😭 Half term can't come quick enough!

Agree @QueenMabby

Dd has been having an afternoon nap
The Last few days

Prom tomz night so lots of outfit planning Hair and nails prep (doin her own).

Luckily chemistry for her is a just get through it so ok as long as passes.

Oh and she's in school until the day after her last exam. It's definitely exhausting her. She's hating the group revision and does far more alone. I'm letting her have the days off where she doesn't have exams though. Sudden lots of illness despite 100% attendance throughout school 😂.

Apparently lots of parents are turning up after exams and saying their child is ill so they are collecting them 😂. I don't have that flexibility and they won't let them just leave unaccompanied, despite being over 16 🙄

Same here! They’re required to stay in school for group revision between exams but apparently it’s so loud and stressful as I bit of a free for all!

DD works far better alone so I’m collecting her after each exam. Her attendance has dropped considerably too!! I’m sure the school are we aware of what’s happening though!!

DD2 has RE today and both she and DD1 have chemistry tomorrow. Last minute session with a friend who is a Biochemist tonight to go over anything they have problems with.

I think Friday night they'll be binge watch the new Stranger Things on Netflix.

We have a day out on Saturday when we go to the Royal Albert Hall to watch the film of Lord of Rings with live music. Postponed from a couple of years ago due to Covid. DD2 is a massive LoTR fan!

just got a message from DD saying the questions for RE were "ridiculous and everyone did bad " will probe more when she is home - this was the second RE paper

Mine found Spanish ok but found RE v hard. And my other one said RE was ok. Now aiming to get them to do some revision for chemistry for tomorrow morning. Mine still have to go in for lessons until tomorrow and after half term only for exams. One has been more ok with it than the other.

DD is back from RE now and said it was fine and said she finished with 10 secs to spare. She said the 12 marker questions normally there are 8 points or so easy to get from the text and this time there were only about 4 and you had to make up the others so sounds like it may have been harder than normal. Then she said she did one on a topic they have not done other than general quotes for as the one question was so bad. Good its done anyway.

2 tomorrow chemistry and computing and a hyper kitten she has taken over. Will be glad of half term though just another chemo for me but at least not chemo plus exams week and sorting out DS EHCP.

Well DD survived the day. She said Spanish went well and RE was harder then the last paper. There were 2 papers. She said something about their teachers drum it in to them that they are not to do Section C of the first paper because they don’t get marked for it. But loads of people did and then didn’t have time to complete the 2nd paper.

She’s now going for a sleep and will then do some Chemistry revision for tomorrow. Almost 2 weeks down!

Just Spanish for us today. Called DS1 and he said there were no unpleasant surprises. He has been doing a lot of listening practice and averaging 80% which according to whatever matrix he was using was an 8 when he marked it. He is very keen and obvs A level so really wants to do well.

DS2 said RS paper was harder than last one. He said there was one 12 mark question he was unsure of. He has chemistry and computer science tomorrow. Good luck to everyone who is doing exams tomorrow 🤞🏽

My daughter just said this too :(

DS said he did not do well in Spanish, I think he has been revising but he's so negative about it I don't think he's been doing it in the right way. Chemistry tomorrow, he has gone from a 5 in his first set of mocks at Christmas to a 9 in the last set at Easter so hopefully will land somewhere in the middle!

DD said the RE paper 2 was the hardest exam she's done to date.