Y 11 2023-2024 thread 3

[Techno56]

For when the other thread fills up tomorrow as we all discuss English lit 2 😁

I will breathe out a bit after tomorrow, as then he will have sat a paper in every subject which means if illness strikes later, he should still be able to get a grade.

I was too ill to finish school and then he had the whole testicular torsion drama right before mocks, so it has really been playing on my mind.

He wants to do physics A level so this one is important 😬

yes, we have just had their email letting us know and painting a positive picture. Reading between the lines it looks like teaching is fine, it is attendance, connections with industry, and a couple of other things which won't effect dd.
But full report not out yet I don't think.
I'm an ex governor, so I hope I can read between the lines.
Honestly, there isn't another option and she would freak out if we thought about changing sixth form now, so she will be going there.

Same here - DS is inconsistent and so much depends on how his brain works/his emotions play out on the day (today for physics: not good! Physics was a potential plan B for A level but not so sure now....). Plus essay/arty topics are prone to assessor's subjectivity (friend of mine's son got a 5 in English after 9s all year and got regraded....to a 9!). DS sat 3 early GCSEs last year and none ended up being the predicted grades: 2 disappointments and one happy surprise. His judgment on whether an exam has gone well doesn't seem to be very well tuned. I'll be a nervous wreck on 22 August...

My DD said the same thing happened to quite a few in her school too.

Ginger** can I ask what board was this? DD was chuffed about a Mr Birling q she had ... worried now

@tellmewhenthespaceshiplandscoz AQA for my DD

Thanks x

DD reports that Physics was "really good". 👍🏻

DD very pleased with how AQA Combined Higher Physics went.

AQA higher triple physics was hard apparently

Anyone else feeling totally drained and exhausted? DD is obviously the one who's really suffering but I'm finding the stress of worrying about her, combined with my own work stress, housework, life etc all a bit overwhelming!
Pathetic, I know. I'm trying not to let it show and just keep everything calm and nice for DD. But god it's exhausting!
She's still got 3 more exams this week after today.
Can't wait for half term!

Oh dear, DS has said his AQA higher physics paper was the worst exam he's done to date. He wants to do physics at A-level. He said there were things in there that they have never been taught, like radiation. They have really struggled in science at his school as they had a constant swapping of teachers until November last year. His teacher had no idea where anyone was at and heading into the mocks confessed they had not done any physics for months. I told him then that DS wanted to do it at a-level and asked what I could do to help. It was all very wishy-washy. Even right up until my last meeting with him in mid April he was saying he would be doing x, y, z and giving our this, that and the other to help. None of it materialised despite constant requests. I'm so cross.

DD said physics not as bad as it usually is, it definitely not good!

Similar at DD's school but I feel for you if your son wants to do it at a level. I think it's worth writing to the head teacher about your experience and asking for your email to be copied to the head of science and the governor with responsibility for the learning committee (or equivalent). Schools are really struggling to recruit decent science teachers so they're probably well aware of the situation but I think it's still worth putting it in writing.

@DelilahBucket we also had barely any science teaching. I had to get a tutor, which as a lone parent on a not very high income has meant a lot has gone in credit card, and I’m still paying it back. Has a knock on for the school as I’ve not paid any of the voluntary donations they’ve asked for various bits as a result.

@DelilahBucket DS came out in a foul mood from his Edexcel Higher paper. he's been fine with all the rest but was angry at this one, convinced he's done terribly. He wants to do Physics A level. 😬

@DelilahBucket - we've had to do the same with a lack of content being taught in another subject too

Sorry, he was also saying there were things they hadn't been taught in his.

Ds said physics went quite well so fingers crossed for him. I'm happy that he gets to chill today.

DD said AQA combined physics wasn’t great - she felt that the questions were worded differently to usual papers and her preferred topics didn’t come up. One maths question she really struggled on and she was so tired that she knows her brain wasn’t working properly. I think it would have been a different story if she was ‘fresh’. She’s in the foulest mood right now so I’m steering clear!
Such a shame when you’ve been doing so well in a subject but on the day you just don’t perform.
How they are going to get their tired brains in gear to do some good creative writing for English tomorrow is beyond me!

DS is doing AQA higher combined physics too. Hope it went OK. He was exhausted.
I hope they don't all come down with colds or something over half term. We have a ton of maths revision planned

It's the worst thing about our current education system, it doesn't measure knowledge and understanding fairly just tests what people remember in a few hours under stressful conditions. It suits my eldest brilliantly as she thrives on exams, but my middle does better with coursework which there seems to be very little of these days.

Daughter says the physics was alright so I'm taking that as a positive given her anxiety this morning. She said there wasn't much theory, it was mainly formulas and maths. She did AQA higher combined .

Delilah, we've had the same in regards to biology at a level. No lecturer for a while then a new one started and was terrible, so then they had to do without and rely on cover teachers. My daughter had been getting As and A*s consistently before hand then her last mock she got a B. She's been having to teach herself some parts. She needs at least an A for her uni course so that's a concern.

To the poster who asked about the Mr Birling question, my daughter did the AQA paper and the question concerned Mrs Birling. Her boyfriend and others did answer about Mr Birling. They should have used Arthur Birling or Sybil Birling (?) to differentiate it. Hopefully he will still get marks for what he has put as he did answer the theme but use the wrong character. Reddit was full of other pupils doing the same

Did anyone do Edexcel today? I see a lot of AQA but would be interested to hear how other thought the Edexcel one went.

@TrixieFatell I agree about exams not reflecting knowledge and understanding always. My DS gets very anxious and today he clearly let it get to him despite being very confident with Physics normally.

DS just back from AQA physics higher, was pretty positive about it, he said there were a lot of calculation questions, more than he expected, which suits him but may not others. And the hall roof had a leak, so he did the exam with a constant ‘drip drip’ right in front of him! He decided it wasn’t quite annoying enough to ask to move!

I'm the same @JustHereWithMyPopcorn I always do worse in exams then in essays etc. I have the knowledge but my brain doesn't like exam conditions.