Y11 2023-24 thread 4

[Techno56]

New thread for GCSE survival 🙂

I’m finding it really difficult to adjust to no more schoolwork or exams. Think ds might be too. All that freedom that he has been desperate for is suddenly here.

We're still at it. Two next week. At the beginning, I thought it would be great having these days for just two but dd is exhausted. It's really hard to keep going.

Also still going - DS has had today totally off (gamed all day with 90 minutes break to go get a prom suit) before a final 3 days of probably what needs to be his most intensive revision - for FM2.
Paper 1 was a shocker & FM revision had to come second to normal maths. In practice that means he's done none & needs the next 3 days but it's so hard to keep going when everyone else seems to have finished!

Good luck to the kids still doing exams this week. Really feel for them looking at DS there would be no way he would cope with any this week. He did nothing yesterday apart from an hour quick tidy of his room and gym but still look knackered had to repeat everything a few times to him.

DD was so emotional on her last day, never seen her cry so much. She's got a great group of friends, all going to a different college so she's going to miss them lots.

@steppemum glad to hear your DD is feeling better after pride, hopefully the holiday will also cheer her up! DS found his first physics paper horrendous, it was his second exam and it really knocked his confidence. Last year grade boundaries were very low so keeping fingers crossed that will help.

Not sure that as much music revision is happening this weekend as DS has planned. This last push is a real struggle.

DS is planning on keeping all his notes for his sister. He is very proud of them 😁. Not sure she is ecstatic about this inheritance!

Good luck to everyone still going, not long now!

DS was very glad to get everything out of the way - no rest for him though, he was setting up then dj-ing at the PTA ball on Saturday and left the house at 6.45 this morning to start his summer gardening job 😁

Delivered mine to his last day at school, three hours with his music teacher and then exam this afternoon 🤞

Just messaged DD - she is at least up and dressed. Planning to start maths revision at ten. Only doing half a day today and a full day of it tomorrow. We’re over the hill!

Wow he is busy.
My DS just got up about 9am talking about finding a job but not sure whether to wait till after holidays told him it could take awhile to find one and start.

Courage to everyone supporting their teen through the last few exams! Nearly there!

DS felt a bit flat and despondent yesterday. He said he'd been looking forward to all the things he'd desperately wanted to crack on with during the revision and exam periods, and now he has all the time in the world, he doesn't really know what to do with himself! This is a common feeling for me too... I'm glad he's having a week of 6th form induction next week, anyway. And this week I can take him to buy some 6th form clothing - JUST the sort of thing he wants to do, I'm sure!

Music this afternoon. I can just hear DS stirring upstairs, so we'll be lucky to get an hour of revision in! He is seriously lacking any enthusiasm now, barely got an hour out of him over the weekend (he also has further maths on Weds).

We had such a good clearout yesterday. DD gave a box full of revision books to a Y10 friend. Decided not to save any of it for DS (4 years behind) as they’re bound to have changed the specs by the time he comes through. She’s decided against getting a shop-based job as she has several local families who like her to babysit and they seem to remunerate her rather well.

Best of luck to our musicians 🎵 this afternoon.

Good luck with music and further maths!

Good luck to everyone finishing this week. Hang in there! end in sight!

Like other posters's DCs, DS felt really flat and sluggish this weekend. Luckily he now has a week's worth of work experience which I kind of imposed on him. He wasn't super enthusiastic but the alternative - moping at home on his phone - would be far worse. It's unsettling to see him so unmotivated to do things like resume gym/sports (he decided to stop during revision which I disagreed with but hey...) and spend all his time on screens...He'll be the first it isn't good for him but cant snap out of it himself...

Music and additional maths here this week then their year 11 prom at the end of the week.

Back to his sport competitions this weekend which we’ve both missed!!

He’s got gardening work lined up for family and friends through the holidays which is fine by me as it leaves some flexibility for enjoying the summer too.

DS left for music earlier, muttering, in true Star Wars fan style, that he has a bad feeling about it. He said his brain is no longer absorbing information. I hope it goes better than he fears.

Whatever happens, we are going out to eat tonight to his favourite place. Sneaking in a family celebration of the end of the marathon before he celebrates with friends in a few days' time (they are waiting for further mathematicians to finish).

He had refused to contemplate work experience before the GCSEs and I have avoided insisting, but he'll have to start thinking about it soon. Will be tricky with the building work this summer.

Good luck to others still going!

DS has gone straight to the beach after music so I have no idea how it went or what state his uniform will be in! I was hoping it would be ok for Wednesday!

I just got a text reply saying 'good' for music (OCR). His responses are getting shorter and shorter the longer this goes on. I expect after further maths it will just be a 'kk'

DC is back from their final, music listening. Unfortunately they're really not happy with how it went, which is a bit of a downer to finish on having been OK to very happy with the rest.

Though that said, they know they have top marks in performance and composition for music so honestly it's not going to matter a great deal other than that it might mean they get an 8 and not a 9. I think they are feeling down because they feel that the other two subjects where they had potential 9 expectations were only OK rather than really happy with them. They expressed it as 'this was my last chance at a 9'. I mean, honestly, you kind of what they want to say 'If that's the worst you have to worry about, lucky you', but I don't think that's helpful right now. Fortunately one of their best mates is coming over in half an hour and that should stave off wallowing and hopefully they can look forward to the rest of the summer ahead once they've got over that particular disappointment.

Such a shame this had to be the one paper they weren't happy about!

For OCR music, there was one 7-marker question that none of DS's class mates were sure whether it was Indian or Israeli/Palestinian music. He said his class were a 50:50 split. I've just been onto The Student Room and it's the same story there (although the split is currently leaning towards Israeli)! DS put Indian....

DC said exactly the same thing - they said they couldn't place the instruments.

WJEC music was tough too by the sounds of it.

Uniform has come home damp and sandy!

Edexcel music was tough too, DS is really ambivalent about how he's done. But... we are done!! Feels like the main thing right now and we are off to celebrate his resilience, perseverance and all the other ways in which he has had to mature over the last month. August is a long way and so right now it's about the journey rather than the destination.

Maybe they will still award the marks for "What are the typical characteristics of music from this region" to the ones who got it wrong, providing they correctly give the characteristics of the 'wrong' region? It seems odd to choose a piece that was so difficult to distinguish, that all the kids are saying the same thing...

(Still don't know what the right answer was!)