GCSE Supporting - first week nearly over

[overthehillswegoo]

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Most of the time I get a vaguely nodding head then a single word answer.

Another one who liked the RS AQA paper today.

Feels great to have a whole subject gone 🥳

Two more will also be over this week. Roll on next week

@StandUpForYourRights @MargaretThursday my DD says very little, “it was shocking”, “it wasn’t too bad”, “very bad”, “nice” and that’s about it.

Ha, I'm not the only one then....its very difficult getting any info about the papers.

Like others, glad RE is now done. English Lit will be as well by this time tomorrow.

So proud of my son, hes been really unwell with his mental health over last few years and its taken since yr 8 to get help and therapy with camhs and typically its coincided with his exams so he's doing his exams whilst having therapy and dealing with everything. A few weeks ago it may have been too hard but he's done surprisingly well so far.
For him, the work load has been too much to deal with alongside struggling with things so some subjects had to take a back seat. English Lit is going to be a tough one tomorrow and I'm not sure he's learnt enough to pass. I will help him later on today for a couple hours and I told him to try his best.
Any tips for tomorrow's Eng Lit exam?

i'm impressed with every one of those children who has struggled to attend school recently who have walked into an exam hall and taken exams this week. That takes some strength. DD has one friend where I inwardly cheer every time she's turned up for a paper.

No more subjects finished yet for DD - though she got drama out of the way last week. RE paper went alright and fortunately she correctly guessed what incarnation meant when writing a 16 marker, she says. However, both leavers hoodie and prom dress have arrived. Prom dress she bought in a charity shop but I've just had it altered by the local dry cleaner. She looks amazing and is so happy so that's a boost.

I meant since Yr 6. Yr 6 is when we first applied to camhs.

DS said AQA RS was pretty easy which is a relief as he has been suffering from anxiety induced IBS today. I really wasn't sure if he would make it into French listening first thing as he kept needing the loo but he did,said it went ok but he was a bit distracted by stomach pains.

English Lit tomorrow morning, I've told him to take it easy this evening and have an early night. He's done a ton of revision already.

Edexcel French was fine. One subject finished.

Another one here said RE AQA was ok but worried the grade boundaries are higher as well. Not looking forward to the 2.5hr Eng Lit exam tomorrow as her longest yet.

Then onto physics Friday she hadn’t realised so few of them are left now doing triple, the Dble all leave when she still has half hour extra to go.. that’s 200+ kids “quietly leaving” the hall…not very quietly!

Haven't they got the writing paper after half term? Or is this IGCSE (where it is all in one exam IIRC)?

@Spring45Mermaid try doing the triple with extra time 🤣 200 leave on th double then another 50 to 60 on triple then 15 with extra time left for all science 's . Ots 2 hrs 50 mins for her English tomorrow!

I hate how long the English exams are, especially for the extra time students. DD isn't sitting it this year, but one of her biggest issues was running out of steam.

I think Eng Lit 2 tomorrow will be DD's longest exam at 2h 49m. Nice problems to have I guess - it would only be harder without the extra.

She is considering Philosopy for A Level, which is 3h before any extra time added. 3h45 with 25%!

Hoping all those who’ve been unwell are ok! And well done to them for getting in. DS has English Lit tomorrow - not going to be easy as he really struggles. Will be so glad to get this one over with
Wishing everyone well tomorrow!
I’m so impressed some children tell their parents how the exam was - the response I get is definitely ‘ok’ or ‘bad’! With no further details……… 🤦‍♀️

It is such a long, long exam! DS could definitely do with the extra time but whether he can sustain interest and concentration for that amount of time about something he's not that interested in is anyone's guess.

I feel I'm banging my head on the wall this week. Ds cannot be arsed to do anything. I've had to go out to a gp appointment and I've taken the router with me because no revision will turn into tv bingeing while I'm out. At least if he's no distraction he might do something.

DD said the listening paper for French (Edexcel) was bearable and the reading was fantastic. She was very happy with that one and said she had loads of time to check. Like @christmastreefarm , mine likes to give me a blow by blow account of pretty much everything she does in her life. I do love her, but sometimes I wish she would talk a bit less. I would be OK with a one or two word summary at times. This evening we went to Sainsbury's to get revision snacks and passed a mum who was saying to her small daughter 'please can you just stop talking to me' and I laughed out loud. I have been there. Yes, there is writing yet to come for Edexcel, after half term. She likes that though, and is glad to have listening out of the way.

She said the Islam RS was meh and OK. She had plenty of time and said she had written a lot. I don't know if that is necessarily a good thing but she seemed happy about it.

Yes, if you don't love English it's a tall order.

It will be a relief to get English literature out of the way although I’m quite worried about how dd will do. I don’t think she knows the poems well enough but she insists she does and has completely run out of steam to do any more with them.
DS has his first A’level tomorrow as well so will be glad when the day is over.

Second English lit here tomorrow too. An Inspector Calls and Heroes.

DS has come home from school full of a cold and is having a bath and an early night. Fingers crossed he wakes up much brighter tomorrow and he feels rotten atm.

That time of the evening when you say, have you tried BBC Bitesize? https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/guides/zq6m2p3

Something I don't understand. There was exam clashes today with not enough time to get all the scheduled exams done so the last one is being taken tomorrow. Students have been sent home with instructions not to go on any devices, but really?? Who is going to stop them?! I don't know what the solution would be (overnight supervision with teacher in my day!) but obviously that can't happen now.

Fully expecting tomorrow to be a disaster for DS - English is never good for him but the poems are his weakest point. I tried to go through them with him but he is not engaging so it is just a waste of time. Hopefully the rest of the 2 papers will have been decent enough for him to scrape a 4!

The school have said they will be using some sort of wand to check each child for mobile phones as they enter the exam room. Sounds time consuming but it appears to have been an issue this year. DD is at a great 6th form college and said someone was disqualified in her alevel exam last week as their phone fell out of their pocket half way through.

Good news is the school is starting study leave slightly early after Eng Lit finishes tomorrow so no more lessons for DS (and DD had her last lesson on Monday). So weird that both of my children will be done with school in a few weeks!

My two best tips for exams:

RTBQ2 (squared) - read the bloody question twice

"Make what you know go" (my A level history teacher's wise advice) for English I would use this to mean use any word you can remember to make reference to the text, even if you can't remember the whole quote and use it to actually answer the question.