Year 11 2023-24

[Maxus]

Anyone else got kids starting year 11 in September?

Anyone else’s kids still pondering A choices? Dd initially had a backup in case she missed maths, but now that seems secure, but if she misses English then she may have to rethink psychology. She’s not sure, thinking business or economics, I think economics will be more interesting and she could consider politics too. Whatever I suggest she’s wary of and I don’t want to push her into a choice she’s not happy with. I’m not sure why she’s not considering another science. Career wise she’s not sure but after career interview thinking maybe finance sector.

Ds still isn’t sure.
He knows that he wants to stay at school sixth form and has put in his current choice but once they have worked out the columns to choose from he may change his mind.
His predicted grades and mock results are more than good enough for him to be accepted on whatever he decides.

Yes, DD is not totally decided. We're hopeful that she can take four until October half term and make the decision then.

My dts were settled in their choices early on. DD’s chosen Chemistry, Biology and Geography with a view to study medicine. DS opting for History, Politics and English Language, he’s thinking of doing law.

Is her 6th form flexible with entry requirements? If so, go with what she’d enjoy. She will work hard and often some of the prerequisites are silly.

Is anyone anxious about the upcoming exams? I'm more anxious and nervous than my DD is. I keep telling myself to 'trust the process' and that she's worked hard but anxiety is still lurking😨 .

Luckily DD isn't anxious (not consciously anywway) and I'm hoping it stays like that. She was a bit tired at the end of last term, but seems to have a boost of energy now. The Easter break has helped her relax, even though she's done quite a lot of revision. She saw friends quite often in the evenings and went to all her sports training sessions. This coming week she will finish revising for all subjects. She did a fast run through all GCSE content since early March, mostly through answering topic-based questions. After next week, it will be just papers + harder questions + flash cards + covering gaps. Mostly it will be paper 1s until May half term, except English Lit and German. And Art, which will be over at the end of April.

We are still not sure whether she will sit the Add Maths exam, although she's now improved her % in papers. There are over two months left until the AddM exam, it's her last one, on the 18th of June. I hope she decides to sit the exam, but I won't push for it. Revising for AddM helped her anyway as there is quite a lot of overlap with the A-levels Maths curriculum.

DS if 6th form Geography Business Studies Economics and core maths if college Accountancy Geography Business Studies and core maths plans to go into accounts Finance the 6th form dont do accountancy ALevel.

They said at interview they’d want at least 5 for English to study psychology and dd got 4 in mocks, she doesn’t enjoy essay writing, for quantitative psychology it’s quite formulaic, but qualitative is very wordy and I think she’ll find that tricky (I did a psychology degree recently). But maybe she’ll improve her writing which would be great. If she gets a 4 they maybe happy because her science is strong who knows, but she should have a reserve choice.

For me I think the bits of psychology that are quite scientific are interesting, I like the stats, but the social stuff is not as interesting as other social sciences. But obviously I’m not dd and she has to make her own decisions.

Super anxious, you want to see them succeed don’t you, it’s not at all easy being 16 in any circumstances, it’s awful to have all this pressure of exams as well as doing the whole young adult thing.

Our 6th form offers both the A Level psychology and the BTECH. The btech sounds much more case study oriented and hands on.

I don't know much about Business but both Politics and Economics are heavy essay subjects.

DS has been offered History, English Lit and Classical Civilisations at his first choice. At his second he was going for History, English Lit and Politics (they don't do classics) but changed politics to biology at the interview as the college said three essay subjects would be hard going.

DS is doing GCSE psychology and says it's all about the answer structure. He said he has realised that he doesn't have to write paragraphs and paragraphs as long as the information is presented in the correct way structurally. I suspect GCSE format is very different to A level though.

@anoukis I am similarly stressed! DS seems to think he's done the hard part already by getting the super selective offer and getting the required grades at GCSE will be easy by comparison (the school he wants to go to offered on 68/70 points for top 8 GCSE's and he only needs 56 to confirm the place, so I sort of understand why he thinks that). To try and help motivate him we did a calendar yesterday which all of the exams marked on it and stuck it on his bedroom wall above his desk. He is saying he will do more revision this week, although he's gone off to the tennis club this morning! DS dropped further maths as it seemed superfluous given that he doesn't want to do maths at A level anyway.

I am unsure about dd doing 3 essay subjects although they are her strong suit. She has chosen History,politics and economics so i am hoping econ isnt as much writing? Also does anyone elses school not predict 9s at all? They have basically said they only predict 9s if they have gotten a 9 in every assessment which i think is unhelpful as we dont know what they truly think

@dinomirror think DS school is similar for 9s only know 2 kids at DS school predicted 9s both been straight 9s all year I every test for the subjects.

Predicting 9s can put on an awful lot of pressure.
Surely better to predict 8s (or even 7+) and let the student exceed rather than them feeling they have 'failed' by getting 'only' an 8.

DS is swithering between history or geography and business and psychology. He is staying at school and will only need 5's to do that, but obviously, we are aiming higher than that.

He's been pretty good at self-directed revision for the last few months, and his mocks were OK, but there was lots of room for improvement.
DH is helping with maths, and I'm the flashcard queen.

My mum speaks fluent Spanish, but apparently, she would not be helpful for the spoken exam 🤦‍♀️

The exam period terrifies me, but I'm focusing on the summer ☀️

My son was given predicted grades in 9s and 8s mainly. There is no way that he will achieve those grades in most/nearly all subjects. I am more realistic than that. I haven't put him under any pressure to go for those grades, despite him being a fairly able student. His last mocks were all 4 and above. The problem here is he knows he wants to do carpentry at college come September. The grades to start off in carpentry are low, and he is much more able to achieve higher grades than needed. I don't know why, but he is totally not even interested in doing any revision at all. I think he'd do better if he did, but I am not going to force the issue. Maybe he will start to do some soon? I won't hold my breath though. Quite a few of his friends have been on holidays abroad over Easter, and one was on a cruise. I doubt they've bothered much with revision either. Oh well. It's a bit sad, as he's never been one for books in more recent years, however he's always done homework, and his best... What can I do? I will just be there for him. He definitely is not interested in A Levels, or going to university.

Anyone else have teens that are just 'over being at school' now? Mine has been for a while now, especially since the 1st lot of mocks he had. His attitude has really changed in Year 11... I am less concerned about what grades he gets, and more concerned about his mental health. I don't want him to get all anxious, and stressed out. I certainly don't pressurise him to achieve higher grades. He will get what he gets...

We’re still on the letter grading here in Wales and school predicts and gives targets of whatever grade they think the child is capable and on track to achieve - be that A* or lower.

DS has revision sessions each night after school and does about an hour more each evening. He already sat lots of papers last summer and during year 11 and so he only has 12 left this to sit summer. He’s pretty chilled and carrying on with his out of school activities. As they’re mostly exercise based I think that’s a good thing.

@Needingacoffee to be honest I don’t think high school has been a good fit for my DD period. Hopefully she will flourish and be herself in her next step in life. I agree I am just being there for her 100%

@Midnightstar76 I wouldn't worry too much about High School not being a fit for your DD. My DS is not stupid by any means, but sitting down all day doesn't suit him. He wants to be active, and not just sit and listen. He's also more of a hands on type learner. He was okay with books, until he got to Year 7...

I bet you will see your DD flourish, and become more herself whatever her next step in life may be. To me, there are no mistakes of course choices... My DS is free to make his own choices, and I will not get annoyed with him if he later decides to change career paths from carpentry. He's also interested in Civil Engineering, and Construction work. I will 100% always be there for my DS. Definitely just be there for your DD, no matter whatever the outcome of the GCSE exams.

This is super on instragram for biology revision
https://www.instagram.com/biologywitholivia?igsh=Nm9nemZpcHU4Ymt2

Sigh, we were doing OK with the revision but now illness has hit (hopefully short-lived). Although it made me wonder - what happens if a student is ill on exam day? Obviously you'd try and struggle through but what if it is something such as a vomiting bug?

I think they would do resits in November?

Yes, think you're right. For some reason, I thought it was just English and Maths resits then. Just Googled and looks like you would need a GP letter/certificate if student is ill.

Schools can apply for special consideration if something happens to adversely affect grades, but I don't think exam boards are often very accomodating.