Y 11 2023-2024 thread 3

[Techno56]

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

DD said Edexcel paper 2 F was good and she managed to answer all the questions. Some on reflections she didn’t get right but only 1 or 2. She hasn’t ever finished a maths paper before so fingers crossed her hard work has paid off

DD said maths Edexcel Higher better than the first although later a browse on the dreaded Tik Tok has led her to believe she got a couple wrong. History tomorrow which is a biggie as so much content and an A-level choice. Spanish tomorrow too but we are sort of glossing over that as she wants to focus on history and she says it's hard to get a high grade unless you are a native speaker (not sure if that is true but don't want to rock the history boat).

@newmum1976 My Dd is doing both history and geography too

DS also doing History and Geography.

DS has Spanish and History tomorrow, Geography on Wednesday, English Lang on Thursday and Biology on Friday. It’s a lot this week and next.

DD said Maths (OCR) was "fine". Not sure if I should be worried or not. She reckons she answered most questions but there were a few she couldn't do at all.

So many doing History and Geography! DD is at a grammar and they don't recommend doing both unless you're adamant about doing both at A Level.

DD is in full on history mode tonight. Business studies on Wednesday which is also a fair bit of content but that's a Tuesday night/Wednesday morning problem apparently 😂

Wow. So they’re expecting kids to know what a levels they want to take at the point of choosing their GCSE options at 13? That’s harsh.

DS also does both history and geography. He really regretted geography.

DS pleased with Maths paper 2. The next two days are full on: Spanish, history, geography and physics. Then biology on Friday. HT helped to recover and regroup but he's exhausted again already!

@Gazelda sending you wishes for a speedy recovery! We had Covid in the house in the past without anyone else catching it (not isolating, just keeping windows open) so fingers crossed your DD avoids it too.

DS is another one doing both history and geography. He really enjoys both and hoping to do both for A level.

Ds is an history mode tonight. At dinner I asked him how it was going, and he said ' well I revised cattle farming in blah blah as itll be just my luck it'll come up'. Now dear God has someone tried to make the most boring history syllabus imaginable?

Having said that, tomorrow's history paper has his least favourite subject: Elizabethan England. He likes the Drake and Spanish Armada bits but not much of the rest. I don't think he's put nearly as much effort into revising EE as the other three topics!

@Tiredalwaystired at DD's school you can do Geography A Level without doing Geography GCSE as long as you get a G7 in GCSE History so there's no need for them to do both at GCSE unless they really want to.

However, yes- they are advised to take options based on what A Levels they think they might be interested in because some courses do require a GCSE in the subject (drama, languages, engineering, art...)

Dd is super chilled and said she liked today’s maths but her friends didn’t. She is exhausted and said she’s going to bed early tonight as she shouldn’t be this tired after one exam. I think she was worrying about it over the weekend as she was very intolerant of her younger sisters.

History tomorrow! I’m still wishing the weeks away.

Really wish they didn't post the papers and what they think is the correct answers online. DS really concerned now he lost a few silly marks he new already couple of the harder ones he didn't finish but did attempt the last question this time. Now really worried he failed never had that before all of his mocks where 6 one was just off a 7 if he hadn't done silly rushed mistakes teachers words. Going to be a long night.

DD had the American west for history tomorrow but given her explanation at supper about Custer’s last stand I am not confident in her preparation for it!

You can usually lose quite a lot of marks and still come out of it with a good grade.. (depending on where the grade boundaries are each year)… I have just looked at the Edexcel grade boundaries for 2023 (Maths, Higher), and total marks were 240 (across 3 papers), and the boundary for a grade 8 was 174 (from memory) - meaning that you could have dropped up to 66 marks across the 3 papers, and still come out of it with a grade 8. Considering that on average there are only 80 marks in each paper, that is a significant proportion that a student could have dropped and still get a good grade. And of course grade 7 boundary was lower again, which is still an ‘A’ in old money…

2023 Edexcel maths grade boundaries - grade 7 = 145, grade 6 = 112. So to get a grade 7, you were allowed to drop 95 across the three papers. It may of course be completely different for these year. But at least it might allay some worries for students who know they have missed out maybe 15 marks on a paper…

DS felt the Edexcel higher maths paper was 'ok' - he found it a bit harder than the non-calc one. Wouldn't it be great to say, that's maths done with - but no,
yet another paper to come!

History tomorrow, which is high stakes for DS - he's hard on himself, loves history, and wants a 9.... I think it's unlikely many of them will get 9s but if he falls 'short' he's going to be gutted. The amount of content for History of Medicine is doing my head in. And he says they didn't have a great teacher for that, either. Thank god for revision books and useful online videos! I mean, FFS, the scope of this module - it takes in the Ancient World and modern-day laparoscopy! And a huge amount in between. I suppose the point is to be able to look at trends and big sweeping timescales and the bigger picture, but that didn't seem to be how it was taught.

DS also doing history and geography. He really enjoyed both in year 9, and at that point potentially could have chosen both/ either for A Level. Has slightly regretted geography.
Good luck for everyone with exam/s today.

@GlomOfNit dd is the same . She will be absolutely broken if she doesn’t get a 9. But there is so much detail and content to learn.

Middle East is the big one for her paper. Anglo Saxons she is pretty secure in, but this is her first time revising Middle East and there are so many dates and tiny details. I keep trying to summarise the big picture for her after each set of flash cards she brings me to check with her . I did it for my degree so at least I’ve got an understanding of this one!

DD is also doing history today. Sounds the same as your DS. Hard on herself aiming for a 9. Doing Elizabethan and Migration. Loves Elizabethan but hates Migration. The topic is just huge! Vikings to Brexit. She’s run out of time really and not been able to give any of it as much attention as she’s wanted! Now she just wants it over! She says she did well at Paper 1. So she’s hoping it evens out. Apparently Medicine topic is even bigger!!
Also got Spanish this morning that she hasn’t done any revision for!

Good luck for today's exams. DD just has history this afternoon. Not sure how she will do as it is not her favourite, or an A level choice, so hopefully she's not going to put too much pressure on herself. She did say she could never retain the amount of info needed, so just hope it goes ok instead of badly 😁.

I agree about the annoying Tik Tok answers that are posted. DD said last night that a teacher had done yesterday's Edexcel paper 2 but she was convinced (as were a lot of the commenters) that he'd done one wrong! Won't stop her doing the same again with paper 3 I fear 🙄.

Worried about the history.
Dd has consistently got 8/9 in her 3 mocks but she feels that Normans was rushed as a topic and she’s not had a mock in it so it’s the first cycle of revision. I’m sure she’s more prepared than she feels but I’ll be glad when it’s done. Really don’t want her to get her confidence knocked at this late stage when exam season has gone so well.
deep breath and paint that confident smile on my face for her!