GCSE supporting - to half term, and beyond!

[SheilaFentiman]

Making a new thread to support half term revision and the set of GCSEs afterwards!

@bendmeoverbackwards thank you. We're out as a family tomorrow night for dinner. No party planned but I expect he'll do something with friends once the exams are over.

Biology went brilliant he said. Maybe a grade 9. But can’t tell with Geography. He wrote a lot and there’s a lot of errre. Maybe a 7 he thinks. He covered most of it but judging it lower incase. He did get up again and study about 5.30 this morning though. He’s off to bed now but took his ruler and pen and phone lol 😂 That Maths paper rattled him. And the 6th form have asked for a fourth subject incase he can’t get one of his first choices. (Further Maths which requires a grade 8)

He reluctantly chose chemistry!
Are any of your DCs doing / considering doing four A Levels? Even just to drop one later on?

My daughter’s school encourage starting 4 to drop 1 at end of year 12 or before. Not sure why but they say people often coni with different 3 to their top initial choice. She has struggled to choose a 4th.
also felt IGCSE biology paper 2 went better than the( found very difficult) paper 1.

What would be a good fourth choice? Something you’re good at and easy I would have thought?

Do your DCs all have a plan B incase grades are not what they expected? Is plan B a resit or take a different subject.

Grr frustrating just spent 55mins on hold to hmrc who still didn’t pick up the call but no idea why DD hasn’t got a NI number because we’ve always claimed child benefit, she has a child tax fund thing & a passport very odd! guess I’ll have to sit on the phone again on Monday…

DS didn't get his NI number so I went online and found a form to download. Filled it in, posted it off and 2 weeks later his number arrived. I seem to recall that DS would have had to make the phone call himself. He had to fill the form in himself.

No plan B here but I think that's ok. DD thinks she will start with 4 and drop one. I'd quite her to do 4 but only if the 4th is further maths and she can't decide if she wants to do further maths or not.

DDs sixth form start with 4 A levels and you drop one. She will pick a different subject if for example her maths isn’t the required 8.

iGCSE biology was not terrible but ok.

Looking now it seems like the whole process can now be done online.

www.gov.uk/apply-national-insurance-number/how-to-apply

Dd1 is planning four. But one is further maths, and another is music, which she does outside of school as well. So I reckon the workload will be more like 3.5, or 3 plus EPQ. The college she's chosen discourages 4, FM aside, but there's always a minority of kids who insist on four and this self selecting bunch still seem to do really well. She's been asked to pick a reserve and has gone for computer science.

Choosing FM is definitely anxiety provoking with the target of an 8. She's managed that in assessments consistently over the two years, but has found the exam schedule really exhausting so who knows?

At DS's school you can only chose 4 A levels if you chose Maths and Further Maths. Otherwise it is 3 A levels and an EPQ or 3 A levels and another qualification (such as sailing instructor or higher sports leadership). They also get extra classes in cooking on a budget, personal financial management, mock interviews etc.

DD's school starts them all off on 4 and most people drop one unless there are pressing reasons for not doing so. I think it's probably quite a good idea. The reality of some A Level subjects can be quite different from GCSE and it's good to have options in case it doesn't work out like you thought it would. DD is doing two not offered at GCSE so I hope she likes them as much as she thinks she will!

I don't think universities care about doing four in the UK so I think that the idea is concentrate on the best three and get really good grades in those to give yourself the widest potential choice of universities at the next stage (if that is what you want to do - if the thing you want to do after that isn't university, I can't see four being an advantage either).

DD has been thinking a lot about A level choices.

For her I think the difficulty is not so much having a plan B, but when and if to invoke it. If she gets a couple of grades lower than most of her other marks in a subject she wants to do for A Level, is that enough reason to switch the plan? She is dyslexic and gunning for essay subjects so she's already taking on a lot. Or do we just say the exams are a bit of a lottery with what comes up, so let's not read too much into a grade or two here and there?

I'm feeling nosy - what are your Dd's new subjects?

Dd is still struggling over her third A level choice. She’s chosen Sociology and Psychology which are definites and put down Class Civ as her third back in December. But she did badly in the subject in the mock and isn’t particularly interested in it. She’s now considering a science to have a break from essay writing but which one?

DD reckoned AQA higher Biology today was 'OK, not as good as paper 1' but anyway hooray, another subject finished!

The 6th form where she is hoping to go only lets you do 3 A-levels unless one is Further Maths. But they are expected to do a lot of independent work plus some sports/other enrichment stuff. I'll also be 'encouraging' her to pass her driving test and get a part time job so she'll be pretty busy.😆

Our 6th form recommends 3 A levels plus EPQ for most, with the highest achieving going for 4, but no EPQ. Seems to work well.

Ooh thanks @SirSidneyRuffDiamond we will try that

The college here does 3 A’Levels plus EPQ extension they had some really good options so hoping she gets the grades needed.

3 plus EPQ here. The choices (plus a back up choice) were submitted ages ago - presumably to draw up provisional timetables & tutor groups. I don't know how this works at school if pupils don't achieve the required grades.

Our school also does 4 A levels dropping to 3 at Christmas (unless you're doing further maths or really want to continue with 4).

My son's chosen FM so seems to think he starts with 5 which I can't believe is the case but time will tell.

Does her school do A level Eng Language? I rather hoped that DD would do that.

Otherwise, Biology?

If ds gets five A's then he can do 4 but unsure what his fourth would be, if not it is 3 and the Welsh Bacc.

@SummerCyclist98 I seem to remember from older dc that the NI number is the same as the number on the CTF , but still probably need to apply anyway.

So stressful this morning. Ds says Biology went ‘ok’. I can’t wait until they’re over tbh. The stress of getting him to revise. Worrying when he isn’t revising. Roll on next week. Only three more to go here, history, physics and chemistry I think. Hope everyone is ok.