Y 11 2023-2024 thread 3

[Techno56]

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

June 19th is ds last exam. Prom the day after!

You know after the last few years of trying to support dd through school, I am not sure that I have anything left to support her through English resits which will take over sixth form and dominate life.

I am feeling exhausted. My older 2 just did exams. With revision, and went on and did what they wanted at A level and are now at uni.

dd wants so badly to do A levels and uni, and I just wish she didn't because it costs me so much in terms of support, and I am just so tired. And when she is worried etc then it comes out against me as the main support. I am tired of that too.
sorry if that sounds shitty and selfish.
autism is a bugger.

@steppemum would she watch videos on English? We have found the lightup hub quite useful for revising while you feel like you're not really revising if that makes sense ..and if is only 12.99 for a month. Or a tutor? My son had a real mental block with unseen poetry and was at risk of not being able to start writing even though he would have had some ideas. I paid for a tutor just for and hour to focus on this and it really helped. He is autistic too but obviously they are all very different.

He said he "can't remember anything about the French exam" so I guess I'm not getting any info on how that one went!

Same here. Although DM is always cackling when DS shows his independent streak and I worry. Perhaps my parents worried and knew more than they let on.

Anyone else had Economics today?

No Economics GCSE at DD’s school, @Wehaditsogood, though she plans to take it for A-Level. How did it go today?

Economics was OK, but that is what DS always says. So I am not sure.

@steppemum I am sorry you’re struggling. I echo the tutor idea if you can afford it. Dd was struggling in English and got a 3 in her end of year 10 exams. She then did brilliantly in her mocks and is finding English so much easier. So much so that she’s decided to take A level English language, which is actually very different from the GCSE. Please try not to worry too much about A levels. At the end of the day, things will be as they are and all you can really do is offer any resources you find for free or can pay for. I’m sure the MN community can help with the free online stuff. There are even TikToks to help people with revision, not that my dd would watch them.

I really feel for you, my DD is NT and I know how hard it is when she blows up at me for saying the wrong thing at the wrong time (in her eyes) when I am only trying to support her and encourage.

Sometimes you just have to walk away and take time. I got shouted at one evening this week when trying to say 'just do your best'. I had to walk away, have a cup of tea, then reluctantly went back in to the lion's den.... offered a hug and it all came out in tears from DD about how stressed she is over exams and how upset she is over a relationship matter. It gets all too much sometimes particularly if they don't deal well with stress/potential 'failure'.

No magic answers but I hear you and understand. Keep going, your support will be crucial to her at the moment, even if she is trying to push you away xx.

DD spent 8 hours out with her mates yesterday and then when I collected her was in floods of tears about how she’d missed her friends and had been so lonely and was so tired and stressed. She’s planning to see them a few times more over the half term.

I’m not sure she’ll go back to the heady heights of the level of revision she was doing but hopefully she’s got enough in the tank for the final push! I can’t say anything right re revision so I’ve decided to keep out of it. The exams are spread out enough now that she can take her foot off the pedal a bit.

The exams are spread out enough now that she can take her foot off the pedal a bit.

Same here. In fact even if DS didn't do any revision at all during half term and just used the weekends/days off/evenings during the next set, he'd still be massively 'up' on the revision he managed to do for his pre-half term exams. But it depends on subjects - some of his friends have a really full first week back, whereas DS only has 10 exams spread over 3 weeks.

We have though agreed 1 hour a day during half term, just to keep things ticking over.

I can foresee this already with DD2 and I still have three years to go.

im so grateful that DD1 has been a dream to parent through these exams (aside from the odd natural stress) but I don’t expect the same next time. Plus DD1 is a very calming influence on the household generally and she will be at uni by then. Saying that DD2 seems to be trying to model DD1 with how she now wants to approach end of years which I’m grateful for.

Actually, a general question for you all - how much revision do you think is an appropriate amount over half term. My DD gave herself all Thursday eve and yesterday off but is planning to be back on the books today. I dont want her to be back on full days all week though like she has been. Are you limiting it?

@Tiredalwaystired A few years ago now, but DD had something like 3 days solid break then back to her revision routine of work mornings 9-1 including breaks, afternoon off, then 1.5 hrs early evening. About 4-4.5 hrs actual work.
That was what was sustainable for her. DD2 wouldn't have managed anywhere near that.

Ds is having a few days off but then aiming for about 4 hours a day. He hasn’t really done much yet for the paper 2s so he knows he has got quite a lot to cover. But as a pp said they are much more spread out now and he is on study leave so it feels a lot calmer

DS has an exam every day on the week after half-term. There will be no break here.
I insist on him meeting up with his friends. They go to the gym, play sports...

There’s still a lot to do here as there are 2 geography papers yet to come and the second of the history papers which are all content heavy. The RE paper 3 has content he didn’t seem to cover at school much. So I think he needs to get back the momentum he had in the run up to the first set.

Ds went to bed at 6pm yesterday, completely flaked with a migraine. Poor him.
I hope he recovers quickly.
I feel really mean just wanting him to get back to studying but he worked really hard for the exams he's had (hence him being so run down) but it would be such a shame for all the papers after half term to bring his grades down.

We are having the weekend off as he had an exam every day for the last two weeks and hasn't had any days totally of at all. Then back to it for science paper 2s, he will work through all the content on Seneca and it will probably take 3-4 hours a day. But will do it in smaller chunks. Then once back at school he will look at some past papers / I will quiz him in the days before the science exams.

He has a tutor session for English P2 coming up this week, and will probably do a few maths past papers also but we are running out!

DD also has history and geography to come. I know she will work for history as it’s an a level choice plus she is terrified about the amount of content ! I am hoping she will take the weekend off and get back to it Monday, but I also think she’s at the point now where I can’t push her! I do keep mentioning maths as I’ve paid out for a maths tutor all year as she was panicking, but I haven’t seen much revision for it which is frustrating. But she’s also right to focus on her a level choices. She has mentioned doing some history flash cards today even though I suggested a full weekend off.

She is still asleep , long may it continue . I’m going to do some gardening so I don’t wake her .

She has an exam every day after half term but it seems an easier week tbh.

DS has 6 and then 5 exams the weeks after half-term 2, 2 exam days both weeks. I'm very jealous of those with calmer run-ins.
He had a day off yesterday and a night out with his friends. Back to full-on revision today. Although DH abd I are out tonight so I imagine he will have friends round.

After thinking that DS would take the weekend off he's just announced he's going to do some Biology revision. When questioned he said it was only because his friend won't play FIFA with him until they've done some revision together. I can't really argue with that!

DS had yesterday off (no exam) and spent it with friends and I expect/ hope he will have the weekend off. Like other DC, he wants to do history A Level so I think that's going to be a major focus of revision this week.

DS had an afternoon / evening on the beach yesterday and is busy with Explorers (Scouts) today. He has choir practice on Tuesday and then all day on Friday will be taken up with a choir competition but apart from that he’s planning to do a few hours of revision each day. It’s geography that he feels needs the most work though he’s told me that the remaining Welsh and English shouldn’t be underestimated!

I’m really proud of the way that he’s organised and applied himself. He’s not 16 yet but has taken a really mature approach to it all.

Morning All, hope your young people are enjoying the nice weather and are having some well earned R&R. DS is playing tennis and then we're off to the rugby club to watch the European cup final and then a BBQ with the rest of the U16's squad to commemorate their end of age group rugby.

DS went into school yesterday and almost 160 of the year group (PAN 240) had called in sick! So basically with the exception of those doing French writing there were fewer than 30 year 11's in school! The school have now done a quick U-turn and decided year 11's don't have to be in school as per normal timetable after half term.

DS said the HOY was really pissed off with the poor attendance yesterday. But what do they expect? It is bonkers to have kept everyone on the normal timetable when they want/need to be revising for their next exam.