Y11 2023-24 continued

[Techno56]

New thread for when the other one fills up, I need somewhere to panic away from my son 😁

@Tebheag dont worry, i am not helping my child. I am actually so surprised of the amount of people helping their kids with revision. They are 16 year old, they should do it by themselves.

Another history candidate here (definitely not a historian though!). I tried to get him to drop it as it's one of his weaker subjects and has so much content. I think he tried to cram all of Russia last night and run through it with me but at least had enough humour left to raise a smile when I tried to sing "Ra-Ra-Rasputin" as a prompt to an answer!

Nice one @GU24Mum! I must say we have managed to laugh quite a bit through all of this. I specialise in coming up with silly (sometimes naughty) mnemonics which I hope will prompt at least one wry smile in each exam.

Same thing happened to me. I usually work 3.5 days a week, so was going to spread them over 5 to be free after 2pm, but instead, someone left and Im having to do overtime, so Im working 5 days a week! He is fairly self sufficient though, so Ive just answered some questions and read through some essays etc in the evening.
We had a panic this morning ad he'd revised medieval and renaissance medicine last night but apparently WWI 'always' comes up. He has already revised it so I hope he can recall it!

I did the Russian Revolution for my A Level history. Me and my friend at the time sang an entire sample essay to the tune of 'Ra Ra Rasputin'! I got an A!

History and Psychology here today too. Oddly DS is calmer than he's been for a week - even said he slept well. History is his best subject - he got over 20% more in the March mock than any other child in the school He is supremely arrogant about his history ability and knowledge. I'm glad he's positive but I really hope that pride doesn't come before a fall. If anything goes wrong it's likely to be around timing; simply so much to write and so little time. Apparently this is why grade boundaries in History are low?

He spent the evening revising Psychology. He went from a 5 in the November mock to a 9 in the March mock. It's amazing what actually having a subject teacher will do. He didn't have a teacher for most of year 10 and had to pick up what he could from the school handouts and google.

Good luck to our young historians, psychologists and computer scientists - and anyone else taking exams today

Good luck to all the kids ( and parents!)

Dd has history today too, her topic is migrants in Britain today, is any one else's child doing that? She does Weimar and Nazi Germany on 11th June.

@Tebheag My Dd has refused all offers to help her revise, set up a timetable etc so I've been hands off.

@GlomOfNit I did history of medicine GCSE which I found really interesting, all the way from the Egyptians and Greeks to Harvey? and discovering how the heart actually works.

The amount of help needed/accepted very much depends on the child. They may be 16 (though some of course will be 15) but they will be of varying degrees of maturity and ability.
Some can organise themselves and revise independently, others need more help. There is no fixed rule as ro how much they should do independently.
Remember not all DC are aiming for all 7+, then to A levels and top uni. Many need support to get their 4s, or 5s or 6s for next steps.

I think it varies on the dc - my eldest was adamant that they didn’t want help (whenever I bought a revision book for them, used to throw it on the floor and trundle me out of the room), my middle one wants more input from me, and uses the revision materials I have found. I think the way their brain works too - some people can concentrate for a long time, and can focus when reading, while others have much much shorter attention spans (maybe SEN related), go off topic and need/want a bit of metaphorical prodding to stay on task. Sometimes it can really help to learn a topic by explaining it to someone, or answering questions. That’s how my 16yo seems to learn best.. whereas my eldest was different.

I thought that I would be helping ds with his revision but the reality is he just doesn’t want that. And every time I suggest something it just causes an argument. I just assumed he would be able to use the revision guides, understand everything and he’d be fine but there is so much more to it.

History went ‘so well’.

and breathe…

We dont have anything today - a gap day! Thats cos DD finished history yesterday with her sources paper - first history paper was last week. Tomorrow is maths 1 and Friday is Chem 1

DD came on her period in the nights so that's annoying ... had some cramps and had some pain killers after breakfast which will hopefully get her through as history is first thing

I just hope she's not dwelling on english (R and J Eduqas paper ... loads to day then ran out for f time and didn't finish the two higher mark questions ... gutted as it's her strong subject and she needs it for As) as she was panicking when getting ready.

But yes it's another one down at least

You know nothing about other peoples kids and how much they may struggle.

Many adults find exams incredibly stressful and difficult. Oh and some of these kids are still 15

@GU24Mum

I'm going to be humming Bony M all day now!

It would be great if we all had straight 8/9 grade very capable children. That is not the case here. He's a great kid all the same 🥰😍

Remember not all DC are aiming for all 7+, then to A levels and top uni. Many need support to get their 4s, or 5s or 6s for next steps.

//

Spot on Teen. I think some people forget that for some kids the effort to get those lower grades is just as huge as those who get the high grades

Just because a child is now 16 (15 in some cases) does not mean they don't need help. Most adults need help sometimes, there's no magic age where people stop needing help. Good luck to everyone .

This time next week it's not long to go until the breather of half term

Agree, my son will be 15 until very end of August and will need to work extremely hard to get 4s/5s/6s. Many of his friends work much less hard for higher grades. It just depends. I do wish he'd accept my help though! 😬

Agreed - my DS still needs encouragement and support at uni - actually more so as the unis themselves dont provide any.

Is anyone else's DC just awful at letting you know how exam went? Technically they can't use phones at school but she's always been able to send a sneaky text when she wants me to buy her something when I'm at work! She then takes a 40 min bus home and still won't text. Am doing everything I can to be hands off and chill as that's how she wants it and worked well for her mocks, but goes against all my natural instincts lol! Looking forward to half term as it's her 16th so no talking about exams at all.

I've been giving lifts, and there is no study leave and also no phones so have to wait til half three to find out in person. But I do go and have a look on the student room (and here) to see the general feeling about the paper. Comp Sci today, so a long wait and he had double English this morning to get through but hopefully useful for Monday's lit exam!

Yup I was so anxious about this am I willingly did 15 extra minutes at the gym just to distract myself.

Still no message either