Year 11 2023-24

[Maxus]

Anyone else got kids starting year 11 in September?

I've just had a look and it does say levels 1-9 but the mark scheme only gives number of marks needed for certain questions up to Level 5 which is where I think I got confused and assumed it was a Foundation paper. So I'm not sure if I'm reading it wrong? The main question about the text was out of 15 marks and it says you needed 10-12 to get Level 4 and 13-15 to get Level 5. But that's only one question so I would have thought total marks would change the level awarded anyway? But I did think when we went through it that they were making it very hard to get a Level 4! The creative writing task's mark scheme only gives criteria up to level 5 too.

Ah. Are you perhaps confusing 'levels' in the marking with overall final grades?
The banding levels are for marking purposes. But the total marks are then used for the GCSE grade which will be listed somewhere else on the exam board website.

e.g. see here:

You will know if the paper is tiered as the front page will say Foundation or Higher on it.

For non tiered Eng Lang GCSE you need around half marks to get a grade 4.

Yes, the banding levels have confused me!
I've found the overall total marks needed but we'll need to go through Paper 2 as well and I really have no clue how many points he'd pick up for his creative writing. He hasn't done that bit yet for a start as I gave him some ideas and told him to do it the next day but it's still sitting, not done, on the table! Thanks for your help 😊

The levels in the mark scheme do not correspond to grades. There are only ever 4 levels in Lang and even I don't know how many marks = what grade.

Grades don't exist until the papers are marked which is why boundaries shift each year.

If you have specific AQA questions, I'm happy to help.

I know this is a really annoying question and much will depend on your own child’s interests, but which GCSEs are the easier in your opinions having watched your child experience them so far? For us, I would say Sports studies.
History much harder than expected!

DS has had his first mock today (maths non calc). He says it much harder than the past paper questions he's been doing. How are they making them harder than actual GCSEs??

Papers do vary. If he is doing mock with the edexcel from 2023 the foundation paper was hard, don't know about the higher.

@Panic71 I think Art was the 'easiest' subject, BUT was equally the most time consuming. DC spent twice as long doing it as other subjects. We found Chemistry the hardest.

My son who struggles academically seems to be doing the best in RE. Not sure if that's due to the teaching or the requirements, but he would say that's the 'easiest' I think. He's also on track for Level 2 passes in his 3 BTecs, which are supposed to be equivalent to Level 4 at GCSE but as he is doing so much better in them than his GCSEs I suspect they must actually be easier.

@TeenDivided its AQA higher paper. He said that the questions were more convoluted than those on the past papers. Could they be writing their own questions? Maybe it’s just exam pressure that made him think they were tougher.

They could be writing their on papers (though that sounds like lot of unnecessary work to me). It should be obvious from the front page whether it is a 'real' exam or one they have constructed.

He says it looked like the front page of an actual exam paper. I guess they have just picked one that happens to be harder than recent years.

@Panic71 DS thinks RS is the easiest and further maths is the hardest. My son's friend told me that PE GCSE is his hardest. I think because he took it thinking it would be an easy choice!

@JustHereWithMyPopcorn if the paper is a challenging one I'd assume the grade boundaries will be lower to allow for this. If it was summer 2023 he won't find it but if it was an earlier paper it should be available on the AQA website to look at, together with the mark scheme, if that would be helpful.

My daughter did the 2023 paper as her mock and said it was really hard. There were lots of tears apparently! They haven't been able to bring it home yet as other schools nearby are using it in January mocks.

I love that they are more hands on and practical too

Thanks @Waspie and @postitnot

My DD2 did the AQA 2023 higher non calc for her mock recently and found it v tough. That was my DD1's actual GCSE paper and I remember she said lots of her year hated it. Loads of tricky problem solving which she personally loved as that's her strong suit.

GCSEs that mine seem to have found easy-ish: RE, geography. More challenging/daunting: English language, chemistry

Anyone know if you can get collated versions of past recent GCSE exam papers to buy, I’ve been printing them off at work but takes time and I might be told off.

@LighthouseCat it sounds like it must have been that one with what you and other posters have said.

@Worriedmun I have got DS looking at some of the papers on his iPad and then writing answers onto an A4 notepad, just to save on the amount of printing. All the blank pages in the tests drive me mad with the wastage!

I think different kids suit different subjects, dd is doing best in Maths and Spanish and really struggling in RE and English Language, 4 grades between the best 2 and worse two. She took RE hoping it would be an easy option, but has had lots of supply teachers as the school can’t recruit for it. I don’t think she’s putting enormous effort in to it, but she is really trying hard in English.

Does anyone have any advice on how to help dd get through the rest of the year?

Shes been having friendship issues which has resulted in her being alone with no friends atm with her old group constantly annoying her indirectly. It really gets her down and she has never really fit in her school . She feels sad she has made no real connection during school and has got it in her head that high school was the only time she could. The outside of school activity that was keeping her going she has now aged out of and she feels quite lonely. Theres also a lot of change going on at home ( baby)

@dinomirror Is the outside of school activity transferable to any other activities eg gymnastics to trampolining.

My son is going back tomorrow. The second PPE is starting on 29/01 and we have just received the document from school with the topics they will cover for each subject. Struggling to get past papers for economics. Does anyone have a child staying economica gcse?