Y11 2023-24 thread 4

[Techno56]

New thread for GCSE survival 🙂

Dd said WJEC music 'could have gone better and could have been much worse. She said it was hard, especially the 'describe' question. She said there was very little on the set pieces which seems unfair as they did set them.

WJEC seem to be making things deliberately hard this year. I work on a school and I've heard it from lots of people about lots of subjects, GCSE and A level.

Friend being over has helped a lot and DC has gone to bed tired but happy (and having baked some muffins with friend). They are actually setting their alarm for really early tomorrow to go for a walk with another friend.

We will be on holiday the week before results, getting back day before so hopefully we can largely forget about it until then. By the sound of things they should be safe for getting into their first choice of sixth form; their main 'worries' are 8s not 9s in their best 2-3 subjects, which is not a problem but they seem OK with the dreaded English Language, which was the only potentially worrying one, although it's also one where it can be hard to judge how well you've done.

Sounds like music was difficult but the end of the road is in sight for you all now.

DS has bounced back. Had a few friends round the other night to watch the England football match, has played tennis and <drum roll please> has cleared out his room! Wonders will never cease. It's actually pleasant to be in there now - no faint underlying smell of gym changing room because of the tennis shoes and rugby kit stuffed under the bed.

He's cleared out his exercise books and is just keeping those he's taking for A Level, plus science and maths (just in case he changes his mind on A level choices later). All of his old uniform is either washed or waiting to be washed and will then be returned to the school for resale. His locker key however is AWOL so we won't get our deposit back on this.

I raise the dreaded words "summer job" and so he's spoken to his tennis coach about doing the Level 2 coaching course over the summer. This would mean the club could employ him for the kid's holiday camps they run, and he could offer his own beginner's coaching (usually private lessons for the under 8's) which the club are happy for their young L2 coaches to provide as it leaves the more experienced coaches for the older kids and adults.

I'm frankly stunned at the amount he can get done when motivated

Does anyone have an exam today? If so, good luck - you got this!

I'm so proud of my DD - ahead of the Add Maths exam which is this afternoon. Last one! 😌

Around Feb mocks she was scoring around 40 marks in Add Maths, which is just about an E pass. Add Maths was taught as an afterschool optional class 1 hr/week to those in set 1, but it was a bit on and off. We even consider dropping it.

She's worked so hard independently since Feb - using the OCR textbook, exam practice book, Bareau videos, and integralmaths.org and has managed to score over 70 in the past couple of weeks in past papers. This means an A/B grade, depending on grade boundaries.

I know grades can be important to some extent, but TBH I'm just happy with all the work she's put in to get to this stage, for all 24 exams. I hope the results will reflect her hard work but we have a whole summer to enjoy before that!

PS. @Waspie DD has 'threatened' to clean and declutter her room too, here's hoping 😀

You’re right to be proud @anoukis. Best of luck to your DD this afternoon - she deserves it after such sterling efforts.

Fingers cross on both counts @anoukis Hope it goes well for your daughter this afternoon.

A bunch of lovely young people represented on these threads, some overcoming adversity and personal challenges, to do their best in these exams. So proud of them all

Hear hear! for all the lovely young people and a 🥂 for their parents!

She's texted me to say it went very well. Phew. Off with friends to celebrate now.

A glass of wine (or two) tonight for me. Dinner with my ex/her dad tomorrow evening, to celebrate the end of the GCSE exams. Hope he's paying, as his involvement in her school life and exam prep was nil.

Have a fabulous summer everyone and I hope results day will be kind to all of us. See you around 😉

Design done today. Apparently it was " common sense really" whatever that may mean! Further maths 2 tomorrow, then done!!

That’s good news @hels71. Forgive my ignorance, but how is design examined - was that a written paper or a practical task?

I think tomorrow is finally it for England and Wales. Nearly there now!

Good luck to (I think) the last of the exam sitters tomorrow and well done to all our DCs - and us! -for getting through the past couple of months, it's been tough. 🍾

DS finished today, I felt a bit emotional when the clock ticked to the end of his exam time. He said Design was ok and FMSQ was sweet. Good luck to those who have the last remaining exams!

There is WJEC food tech on Thursday, not many sitting that one in our school.

most have already finished, just the add maths and food tech stragglers hanging on in there (much to their annoyance when their friends are all of SUPing!)

Is the wjec food tech exam always at the end? I can’t find dates for it for next summer.

DT is always at the end, I think

Dt was today though and food tech is Thursday?

Not my area, but this WJEC timetable suggests Food & Nutrition is tomorrow:

https://www.wjec.co.uk/media/fgrjsjxz/summer-2024-wales-and-eduqas-gcse-final-exam-timetable-22-06-23.pdf

Food is part of DT department in my school

Two days at home with all exams finished and DS feeling a bit lonely I think. He had a busy weekend with a friend and has 6th form taster next week and prom etc but the change in routine has hit him I think.
Boys are also terrible at arranging things to do I think 🥲

Food tech is tomorrow, DD's final exam 🥳🥳

Last one today, AQA further maths. Hope it's better than the first paper. Can't believe it's finally almost over. Well done everyone! What a journey

half an hour and it’s all over…

Just picked up DS from FM2 (they started a bit early so were done at 10.30) and he said it was much better than paper 1 thank goodness! Still challenging but enjoyable apparently!

And relax, it’s all done………

Just heard from my DD. It was a good paper. She only couldn't do the last question. She hadn't done much revision for Paper 1 and had 4 days to revise for this one and had lots of help from DS who is doing Maths at A-level. Can't believe it's finally over for her after 33 exams!!

Now only 2 A level exams on Thurs and Fri and then we're finished!!!

My DD thought it was really hard! Didn’t revise at all though…