GCSE support - the final frontier!

[SheilaFentiman]

These are the voyages of the GCSE Enterprise. To support our DCs, bemoan exam boards and to boldly go through the last fortnight like no one has gone before!

Ds's school have now granted study leave as it was the last day everyone had an exam. The entire year promptly headed to the beach. (The school is on the sea front)

Physics and Geog to go on Friday.

DD has history tomorrow on USSR Cold War I think and Triple Physics on Friday

She's been revising whilst sunbathing in the garden after maths today

Cheery young lady back from Music here - fortunately no-one asked about the Neapolitan chord as we have no idea what it is. Informed me she made a 'plausible guess' at the other chords, but she's quite musically literate so it probably was plausible... and 'they literally asked me to find a trill mum when it says 'tr' right above it...'

She's got her Sixth Form reading lists with her so I've been happily pulling out my old texts from Sixth Form and Uni. Othello, Heart of Darkness, God of Small Things, Short History of Nearly Everything and a bunch of other stuff for the summer. She'll be busy!

Oh, and she's Eduqas/WJEC, but seemed quite happy about the random questions - so now I'm worried she'd done it all wrong!

DS2 said Maths was good except for the last question.
He said he had no idea how to do it!

DD said last question was crap as expected. Something to do with Freda and counters!😄

Big LOVE to everyone who sat exams today and it went right or didn’t go as well as hoped.

Another packed day of revision again today for History, Weimar and Nazi Germany tomorrow. Maths was brilliant apparently. The best exam so far. He may have missed a few marks he thinks, because of something on the calculator they provided him worked differently to his? (They are not allowed to use their own calculator) or else he thinks possibly 78/80
hmmm 🤔 At least his intense revision is paying off, even if to just offset his own regret / frustration at himself…
I always prepare him for a lower grade through unforeseen minor mistakes, but he says this one he couldn’t have done anything better. He has given it his all.

Well. Two. More. Days. And We. Are. Done.

This is true. DSs maths teacher told me this as I was reeling in horror at his mock results. They make the papers absurdly hard. I am really not sure what the point of this is.

DS is AQA for music. He said it was fine, but it’s his best subject by a loooooong way ….
any of the musicians doing it for A level?

DS planning to take Music A Level.

Complaining about Edexcel Music exam this afternoon though and hasn’t complained about any of the nine other subjects he’s taken exams in so far.

I’m hoping to get DS to do grade 8 theory too. I think he’s likely to do a music degree (if indeed he goes to university) and I’m told that helps.

Think dd is AQA for music. She said it was good.
We also had a flaky teacher but this year, year 10s teacher was lovely.
Dd was still learning the syllabus last week. When queried he said, you'll be OK, you're a bright kid. He's taught very little this year, missed lots of lessons being important elsewhere. I would have taken it further if he hadn't been the Head teachers son.

And that's it. We're done. My child has left the education system. She's a little upset as she said,what is she now-? She's not a schoolkid but not at college or working.

I've told her to have a good summer.

Good luck to those with your exams still to sit. Hope everyone enjoys their prom.
Hopefully there will be a thread where we can be very unmumsnetty and let everyone know how brilliantly our kids have done.

DD isn't taking Music further. She wants to do marketing/advertising/PR so will hopefully do the Btech in Business now.

She wanted to do a biology a level but her grades just won't be strong enough unfortunately to take them at her 6th form. She did Foundation and needs a 6 so 🤷‍♀️

Dd1 won't touch it for A- Level ... she had no teacher at all for year 9 and most of 10 (just supplies) and then it's been a gargantuan task to pull the class up on composition once they appointed a teacher, so not much learning of other stuff. I think that made it not much fun.

As a result of the upheaval there is actually no GCSE music class in her sister's year (currently year 9) - though they've run it as an afterschool club - the supply teachers were so depressing that only four children out of 280 picked it as a GCSE choice. DD2 is moving to music specialist school instead - which is a bit of a nuclear option but hopefully right for her.

And congrats to @Rowgtfc72 - done already! Weird, but brilliant. DD has three to go.

My son did edexcel not aqa like I said before and found it the best one so far. He never completes a paper. His Maths teacher said you could do just half of it well and get a 6. He's hoping for a 5.

Congrats to your DD @Rowgtfc72! She's finished - what a marathon it's been.

As well as reconvening for results day, I wonder if we could have a thread as a sticky in secondary Ed for gcse revision resources? Some of what we got was invaluable, some not so much. I wish I'd known what I know now at the start of the mocks.

This is true. DSs maths teacher told me this as I was reeling in horror at his mock results. They make the papers absurdly hard. I am really not sure what the point of this is.

This has long been a bugbear of mine about the higher paper. Why have an exam paper that requires such a low pass rate, it is demoralising that a big part of it is inaccessible for the majority yet they still have to go through it. Bring back the intermediate level. Rant over fingers crossed for all.

Ds had OCR Music and Edexcel maths today. He was really happy with music and said maths was good.

He definitely plans to take music, with the view to continuing it further, so fingers crossed!

3 more exams to go! 🎉

DS2 has really lost his focus this week, Chemistry and Spanish Tuesday barely got a look in and I got texts at 12.30am about things he was worrying about. 😔 He was happy with Maths though and only Physics in Friday then he’s done.

They are all in tomorrow for Leaver’s Day, he’s had no study leave and has been in 7.30 - 4.30/5pm every day since the beginning of May. He’s shattered and looking forward to next week, I’ve yet to share he’s got an 8.30 orthodontist appt on Monday morning!

I think dd was told its to distinguish the 8s from the 9s.

I am inclined to agree with pp who said there should be an intermediate level. I don’t think you can expect all 16 year olds to be stoical about a bastard of a paper. They’re going to panic and it’s probably stopping some of them from doing as well as they should. I know DS is like a rabbit in the headlights when he’s flummoxed by a question.

OCR maths anyone?

Looking at Edexcels grade boundries for higher Maths 2019. Over 3 papers you needed a total of 50 marks out of 240 to get a pass(4) that's only just over 16 marks a paper.

Anyone dc got wiermar Germany paper tomorrow? Ds hasn't revised apart from going to a couple revision sessions. It's had to take a back seat really. I Said I'd go through it with him later.

DS also taking music for A level and hopefully beyond. School has a new teacher who has energised the whole department thank god, cos numbers were dwindling. DS was poorly earlier in week, rallied for maths and music today, now semi hysterical at the thought of only one left (physics) so revision not going fabulously as I think he has mentally checked out!