GCSE Support - nervously waiting

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Hopefully everyone from GCSE Support The Final Frontier can find this new thread!

@boysmuminherts that is definitely good to keep in mind!

@megletthesecond I think encouragement is great. Treating perfectly good grades as actively bad just because they aren't the best possible is stupid and damaging.

I was the first year to take gcses. I got 1A, 3 Bs, 3 Cs, a D and an E. My mother only saw they were not all As. I got a D and 2 Es at A level. She was embarrassed to tell people I had failed them. I went to uni, initially to do a teaching degree- hated it, and switched to English Lit. I have a B.A. (hons) degree. She told people I was a failed teacher.
I absolutely have no ambition and work in a factory as a result of this.

Dd needs 3s for her apprenticeship. She may well get a few 7s. 3s will do. She would like 4s so she can go to uni after her apprenticeship to do a motorsport engineering degree. But for now, 3s will do.
She has complete faith in herself.

It's not the grades that are important.

Just checking in, I am a serial namechanger but have frequently posted on the GCSE threads

DD is very nervously waiting. I think she should be ok in the majority, but one subject has always been a hard slog, despite it being her favourite and wanting to do it at A Level. She needs a 6 as a minimum, preferably 7. Previous exams usually achieve a 5, although I have never witnessed her work quite as hard as she did for her GCSE, so definitely fingers crossed. I have gently suggested that even if she does achieve the required grade, maybe a chat with her subject teacher is warranted as obviously the step up to A level is quite high. Just trying to balance that with not denting her fragile self esteem though
This is all new to me, so no doubt I will be checking in here more often for advice/support!

Away I think you are right to advise double checking.
Is it something that could be kept as a hobby, or area of background interest?

Maybe as an interest, but not something she even wants to follow up post A Level, which just adds to the uncertainty. She has agreed to at least consider an alternative if she does get a low grade but higher grades in other subjects. It's a start

@AwayYouGo Given the number of students and subjects, maybe it wouldn't be too "outing" to tell us what the subject is which DD enjoys but isn't great at? I'm sure there would be someone here who could give useful advice.

I don't have any children waiting on a level results, but I'm thinking that the grade boundaries for them on Thursday will give some indication as to how GCSEs will fare compared to the last few years?

Checking back in after a few weeks ‘off’ to also anxiously wait! Can’t believe in a few hours we can say results come out next week. Results felt like a lifetime away when that last exam finished.

@PhotoDad I'm not naming the subject out of fear of outing, but respecting DD's choice not to name it. I'm not really looking for advice on the thread as to whether to continue the subject as that is something we will discuss with her school. I am simply posting to let off steam, to share my worries etc in a completely anonymous way

Can I join you? I'm starting to get a bit nervous about the results. DS is at a very popular state school which means he needs 7s in his chosen subjects to stay on, and a 8 in maths as he wants to do further maths.

He should be able to achieve this and his mocks were in line to achieve what he needs but we've had a difficult year and I'm not sure what impact this will have. And realistically (and I've told him this), I know it's not the end of the world if he doesn't achieve it.

@AwayYouGo Of course! Vent away.

Worth looking up the number of students in the whole country who get straight grade 9s- each year it is an absolutely tiny number. Is not being in the best 1000 or so students in the country a failure?

I agree that if DC get good enough grades for their next step that is a major achievement, whatever their next step is.

Yes, all we are focussing on is whether or not grades are good enough to continue on the chosen path. And if they aren't, then that certainly doesn't mean that DD isn't good enough. Not sure how much of that notion is getting through though

Can't believe its only 10 days to go! It seemed like it was ages away now all of a sudden its really close! 🙈

About 0.02% get all 9s!

Yes in DS2's year (2019 so last normal year as it were) 837 students who took 7 or more GCSEs got a 9 in all of them. I mean that's nothing. I've had a much higher figure quoted at me on a MN thread, but that relates to Covid years when it is likely to have been higher. 837 people is nothing! And yet I see ppl on MN saying oh no, my child got a couple of 7s in there, so terrible! <sigh>

What you need is great - anything else is just icing on the cake. And vanishingly few students will even need all 7 and above tbh.

Even if a child is extremely academic and works hard, there can't be many who are fantastic at every one of their subjects, given the general lack of choice over which ones you do.

I have had today a very complicated set of instructions to enrol ds in his chosen 6th form, it involves 7 zones and you have to go to one as an external applicant, another to view over subscribed courses and another for actually checking choices. We will bloody need A's to understand the system!!!

Wow that sounds intense! I am hoping that we will just go in to school on the morning, speak to a couple of subject teachers and be on our way not least because we are going on holiday to either celebrate or commiserate. I hope everything else can be done via email, as was stated in earlier communications.

We get history on Weds and add maths on Thursday this week. I'd put GCSEs out of my mind but not long now. Mercifully less stressful than last year when it was A levels and uni places.

Anyone got twins getting results at two different schools? 🫣😬

Think am sending DD with her Dad and I'll go with DS. I want to be there for both of them but they'll want to be there early so they can pack to head to Leeds festival straight after 6th form enrolment (if they get in...). Argh...

Yes, they're more nervous-cited about Leeds than their results!

In MN the reported number will be x 100 at least about 2%

Around 30 pupils get all 9s at our school. It makes everyone work hard because their peer group is. But they feel a sense of disappointment and for some, failure, if they get anything below a 9.

That doesn't sound like a healthy environment. For some students no matter how hard they work they will never get a 9.

Wow how many are in the year?!!