Gcse exam tomorrow and ill with tonsillitis!!

queenofthesoi · 2023-05-21T15:00:06+00:00

My Dd has 4 exams this week, one tomorrow, and she's come down with tonsillitis. She's sooo unwell and miserable. What do we do? Dose her up on ibuprofen and paracetamol to get her through??? I can't even remember what the school has told us but I understood its really strict. Went to doctor who started her on antibiotics even without a swab because of the situation.

Oblomov23 · 21/05/2023 16:15

Get a doctor's note and a special consideration form.

Elderflower2016 · 21/05/2023 16:17

I think I read on another thread that if children are too ill to do their best it’s better to not sit exam - if other papers in same subject are being taken they can take an a average grade? Rather than if they sit the exam unwell special circumstances only add 5% marks on? However I could be wrong and I think I would call exams officer first thing and look on school website tonight to try to find regulations. Someone will be along in a min with more accurate info I’m sure …

Original poster

queenofthesoi · 21/05/2023 16:30

We got a medical certificate already from the doctor which states she has tonsillitis (we're not in UK - it's standard here). Should say we are abroad and these are IGCSEs - not sure if that makes a difference.
I emailed the school already - her exam is in the middle of the day so time for them to respond.

She definitely would not be at her best - she's got a high fever and her throat is very painful. But we could give her the max dose allwoed of ibuprofen and paracetamol and hopefully they allow her to take in the throat numbing spray and she could probably get through the two hour exam. DH will be able to take her to and from school by car. Poor thing, she's worked so hard and now this!

Tomorrow she has one of the sciences of the double award science - they have only one exam for each of the three sciences so not sure how this will work if she doesn't do the exam.

OP posts:

fdgdfgdfgdfg · 21/05/2023 17:13

I used to get tonsillitis loads as a kid, and I always found the antibiotics really fast acting. You may find that she feels tons better tomorrow and well enough to take the exam

londonmummy1966 · 21/05/2023 17:22

Poor thing. Deefinately try and talk to the exams officer tomorrow first thing and find out what the situation would be both if she didn't take the exam and also if she did and either failed to complete as too unwell or didn't do herself justice. My DD fell foul by attempting to sit an A level paper instead of getting signed off and special consideration was pitiful. But that was A levels so the rules may be different for IGCSEs. Make sure that you have all the facts before taking a decision.

princessconsuelobananahammock · 21/05/2023 17:23

So in the UK she needs to have 15% of the total marks for the paper. So as long as she can do paper 2 of Chem later, if she feels awful she’s better not doing it. She will get very few marks in special consideration unfortunately, it’s very tight.

princessconsuelobananahammock · 21/05/2023 17:25

Sorry I just re-read properly - it’s double award Science sorry!! I think it’ll be ok if she sits the other 2 in that case & as a prev poster says, often antibiotics kick in quickly with tonsillitis.

princessconsuelobananahammock · 21/05/2023 17:29

The awarding organisation (exam board) have the regulations for iGCSEs so it’s best to look there. In England JCQ oversee but iGCSE bodies do it themselves

spiderlight · 21/05/2023 17:39

@queenofthesoi - ring the school first thing. Don't rely on an email that might not be seen in time. My DS is sitting his exams at the moment and has been ill for a couple of months, and his head of year has told us that we must phone as early as we can on the morning of the exam if he's not going to be able to go in.

Michaelmonstera · 21/05/2023 17:50

Email HOY and Exam Officer tonight. Also ring the school’s exam officer first thing tomorrow and be up and prepared to go in if necessary. The Exam Officer will be able to give you accurate advice about the options. However, only you/your daughter know how unwell she feels. I hope the antibiotics work quickly

AnyOldThings · 21/05/2023 18:56

Ex exams officer here.

special consideration for on the day illness would only get her either 1-2% uplift. 5% is for death of close family member so you can see how limited special con is.

If she’s going to seriously under perform she’d be best to miss the paper and have her performance based on rest of papers. She needs to sit 25% of a subject for this to be allowed.

However, this then makes the remaining papers in that subject much more important so you should bear that in mind.

AnyOldThings · 21/05/2023 18:59

Also it’s not unusual for an exam to have absences. It happens a lot as illness always comes up for a few. Just let school know before the exam so they aren’t chasing her or holding up the start waiting for late stragglers.

if you think she could perform close to her best then it’s a judgement call as to if dosing her up and sending her in might pay off.

it’s tricky but only you and her can decide if 1-2% uplift will compensate rather than missing it and getting an average from other papers.

AnyOldThings · 21/05/2023 19:03

Elderflower2016 · 21/05/2023 16:17

I think I read on another thread that if children are too ill to do their best it’s better to not sit exam - if other papers in same subject are being taken they can take an a average grade? Rather than if they sit the exam unwell special circumstances only add 5% marks on? However I could be wrong and I think I would call exams officer first thing and look on school website tonight to try to find regulations. Someone will be along in a min with more accurate info I’m sure …

@Elderflower2016 sadly it’s only 1-2% for on the day illness depending on severity. 1% for hay fever and 2% for general illness.

For anyone wanting to see percentages I think it’s on page 6 or 7:

https://www.jcq.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/Guide_to_spec_con_process_2223_FINAL.pdf

Original poster

queenofthesoi · 22/05/2023 02:08

Thank you for all the advice.

The school got back to me already, basically saying the same thing as people here and that the consideration by the exam board is minimal in this case. They said best option is to take in November if she's not well enough now. They've arranged for her to have a separate room for the exam if she comes in.

I'm going to go wake her soon and see what she wants to do.

Poor thing, she's worked so hard for this.

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Imperialleathers · 22/05/2023 09:57

Hope your DD was feeling better today and able to take her exam. Tonsillitis is absolutely horrible but once the antibiotics start to take effect then she should feel better pretty soon, for me I normally felt considerably better by the next day.

DancesWithFelines · 22/05/2023 15:46

We’ve had the same, DS unwell last week with a head cold type thing but Friday morning checked his throat and his tonsils were a mess. He dragged himself to the maths exam and we were able to get a GP appt for Friday afternoon. He spent the whole weekend very unwell taking antibiotics, at his worse I really didn’t see how he was going to get in to sit Chem and Geog today. But as of this morning the ABs have really kicked in and he’s much better than he was.

we got a doctors note which states severe tonsillitis and the school said that they can request a special consideration with 2% uplift. It’s not much plus we wouldn’t know if it had been applied (or to which papers they chose to apply it).

very stressful time for us, I hope your DD starts to feel better soon.

AnyOldThings · 22/05/2023 19:38

DancesWithFelines · 22/05/2023 15:46

We’ve had the same, DS unwell last week with a head cold type thing but Friday morning checked his throat and his tonsils were a mess. He dragged himself to the maths exam and we were able to get a GP appt for Friday afternoon. He spent the whole weekend very unwell taking antibiotics, at his worse I really didn’t see how he was going to get in to sit Chem and Geog today. But as of this morning the ABs have really kicked in and he’s much better than he was.

we got a doctors note which states severe tonsillitis and the school said that they can request a special consideration with 2% uplift. It’s not much plus we wouldn’t know if it had been applied (or to which papers they chose to apply it).

very stressful time for us, I hope your DD starts to feel better soon.

Special Con would be applied for any exam during which he was suffering symptoms.

AnyOldThings · 22/05/2023 19:40

queenofthesoi · 22/05/2023 02:08

Thank you for all the advice.

The school got back to me already, basically saying the same thing as people here and that the consideration by the exam board is minimal in this case. They said best option is to take in November if she's not well enough now. They've arranged for her to have a separate room for the exam if she comes in.

I'm going to go wake her soon and see what she wants to do.

Poor thing, she's worked so hard for this.

@queenofthesoi I’m not sure resitting in Nov is a good idea. For English or Maths yes but not the full combined science of 6 exam papers just for missing one.

In your DD’s case I’d say a grade based on 5 out of 6 papers is not too bad.

Original poster

queenofthesoi · 23/05/2023 02:10

DD did the exam. We got her through by timing the fever reducing meds so her fever was nornalish during the exams and numbing throat spray. She said it went better than she had feared and she managed to push through and focus.
She has another exam today but she's starting to feel a bit better so won't be as bad (plus it's a subject she doesn't care about so much which takes the pressure off).

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Postapocalypticcowgirl · 23/05/2023 19:26

Elderflower2016 · 21/05/2023 16:17

I think I read on another thread that if children are too ill to do their best it’s better to not sit exam - if other papers in same subject are being taken they can take an a average grade? Rather than if they sit the exam unwell special circumstances only add 5% marks on? However I could be wrong and I think I would call exams officer first thing and look on school website tonight to try to find regulations. Someone will be along in a min with more accurate info I’m sure …

You won't get 5% for tonsillitis. 5% is for students with really extreme circumstances, like they've had a close family member die.

For a minor illness, 1-2% is more common.