Y 11 2023-2024 thread 3

[Techno56]

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

Son has said he now can’t get a 7 in maths (edexcel) which we hoped he would. Unless the grade boundaries are a little lower than last years. Anyone know if they’re likely to change much?

Totally agree about the grading system. Dd got all 9s except for maths in her mocks - it’s ridiculous as anything can happen on the day. ‘Just’ an ‘A’ was a much better system

I’m definitely not expecting as many 9s as these feel like they’ve been much harder esp with the pace but the problem is dd is bound to be disappointed if not. It’s frustrating as she works hard and I feel that she won’t be happy at the end . And I’ve heard of quite a few A level students losing their way after GCSEs as a result.

Apparently maths was good yesterday and worth the ridiculously late cramming and 4 hours sleep!

Today is History (medicine and Drake) - think he has a good general idea though less strong on specifics and dates. Tomorrow Geog and Physics (they do an odd board for Physics).

My older two have both done three humanities - seems a shame if schools don't allow both history and geog when they have to do all three sciences! I might be biased as I did O levels and could choose the ones I wanted to do.

Grade boundaries change every year depending on how well the cohort performs. Until all the marks are in, there are no grade boundaries.

Does anyone else's kid have a rotten cold? DC developed it over half term, though is luckily past the worst now, and said loads of people were sniffling through the exams and they are only allowed really tiny, thin tissues!

@GU24Mum I think our boys do the same exams/boards!

@Echobelly that's rotten timing, hope they feel better soon!

@Echobelly ☹️ Hope they’re feeling better soon.
Maths was ‘ok’ - said his brain was working really slowly which often happens when he starts back with meds after a few days off, needed every bit of his extra time.

PE was as he thought - much harder than paper 1 and some things their teacher hadn’t covered at all but he felt he’d written something that would get a mark or two.

He’s hard at the Geography today, needs at least a 6 to do two of the subjects he wants at A Level.

I was in the 2nd year to do GCSEs and remember just how much coursework we had to do, there has to be an equitable balance somewhere.

2 quiet days for us, but that just means the dreaded Eng Lang is looming for Thursday.
cannot wait for Thursday to be over.

@ComingInByAnsible - ah, could mean they/we know each other so I won't dig futher and ruin either of our anonymity!

Me too. Desperate for it to be done with. Mine is still meant to be at school, but as his English teacher has just left and there aren't any biology lessons I haven't sent him in and he's been working at home. Uses less energy and less chance of catching some lurgy or other!!

@GU24Mum yes I suspect so, especially going by your user name. 🙂

Today is the last exam day when DC isn't finishing a subject. The rest of their exams are final ones, hurrah!

Edexcel Spanish was ´quite good' apparently. Easier than the mock

History was good here - that’s the worst one done / most important .

We’re on the home straight here now !

Dreading the history debrief. Please god it went well. Then that will be history done for now. I suspect DS hasn't done much, if any, geography over half term and that's tomorrow 😬 DS is another Geography Regretter, which is a shame. But he says he's finding the papers are pretty much common sense and some good general knowledge.... Which sounds INCREDIBLY cocky! Hope he doesn't fall flat on his face.

History went really well. I even had a phone call she was so happy with how it went! Spanish this morning didn't go so great though!

So apparently OCR History "went really well". Won't know more until DD is home after maths tutor.

I hope history went well for my Dd too, it's one of her least favourite subjects.

Tomorrow is geography, topic is people and society. I don't think she's done much if any geography revision.
Then on Thursday we have the second English language paper and that's the beginning of the end and never having to study those subjects again if she doesn't want to 🥳.

DC found this paper quite tough, said a lot of the questions were on stuff they hadn't covered in as much detail, but the 24 point question was good.

He needs a 7 as wants to take it at A level...Fingers crossed!
This is also ridiculous entry requirement inflation. I did A Level history and didn't even do it at GCSE! I got a B. From the open days the A Level history didn't look that much harder than when I did it that kids wouldn't achieve it unless they got an A!

AQA Spanish here, reading was good, listening was awful with some overly complicated questions according to DS.

History Edexcel Was OK. I think he's too tired to talk but now has to revise geography which is in the morning and he's done no revision at all! 😖

DS happy with Edexcel Spanish. AQA history was tougher than paper 1 and he had to rush to finish in time. He's worried the rushing impacted the quality of answers.

Those were two long exams today, and now he has to gear up for geography and physics tomorrow. At least these two are shorter.

History AQA Elizabeth was a good paper according to DS. Thinks he has done well but will doubtless remember lots he could have done better.