Year 11 - 2024-2025 Support Thread

[QueenMabby]

Hi
A continuation for those of us with DCs going into year 11 - GCSEs are looming!

I don't wish to derail the thread (DM me if your prefer) but I'm considering ANA too and splashing out on Business for the first time ever, but I can't find any reviews of ANA - can anyone help?

Also grateful to hear of recommendations of chain of hotel - Premier Inn standard will suffice.

A little derail is fine! Have you asked these queries on the Japan threads? I’m still at the very very early stages of planning.

Not yet but I searched for ANA and thought it odd nothing relevant came up.

@ChannelLightVessel
Sorry, I know you asked several weeks ago but I don't think I saw or replied to this post until now.

Yes, DS1 took the Maths A level exams (3 papers over 3 weeks) in June 2024, and they started the FM content at the end of year 12. They have double teaching/allocated study time compared to other A levels (or for those taking Maths A level as a 2 year course and not taking FM. I can see pros and cons and think this is a challenging option, but whichever way it's done, taking 4 A levels including FM is quite tough. For DS1 it means he already has an A* in hand, and it makes university course requirements and offer conditions seem more attainable. FM (and Physics), and preparing for his extra exam/interview (Oxford) give him the continuity in studying Maths.

Thank you for the explanation @elkiedee!
Meanwhile we are trying to cope with awful OCD and mock revision. I’m not sure there’s been a single day of the holiday yet when DD hasn’t cried.

I didn't think schools predicted grades for 6th form just based on mocks. DS1 was already doing quite well in his chosen subjects at mocks but was getting 4s and 5s in other subjects (writing ones mainly, including English) at this point. He got 7s and 8s in those subjects at GCSE (6 in English Lit).

On Religious Studies, we're not religious, but DS1 chose it because he'd heard it was a soft option (it really wasn't).

But I think the way to get better grades in all the writing subjects GCSEs now is very similar - I've looked at some of the exam oriented text books, practice questions and answers. While there is lots of content to deal with, to get marks of 7+ I think exam technique, understanding and answering the questions and understanding what's needed to get, for example, 3 or 4 out of 4, 12 out of 16 rather than 2/4 and 8/16 is perhaps more important than rote learning, and the textbooks go into detail on the difference between a basic and a good answer. I also think getting the technique right will help with learning the content, because students should get to see how it all connects up and fits together.

@ChannelLightVessel Sorry to hear that your DD is really struggling.

I would hope that schools use them as preparation for the real thing - if everything is dependent on exams at the end of 2 years, I think mocks are needed - but for DS1 they were part of preparation. He got 4s and 5s which were mostly 7s and 8s. (His 9s were Maths and Triple Science and he was already doing well there, though the grade boundaries were a lot higher for Maths than for any of the science subjects).

@ChannelLightVessel - your poor dd. Is she putting a lot of pressure on herself or is it that her OCD is flaring up and that's having a knock on effect?

My godson has OCD. His GCSE results were "spiky" due to his OCD flaring and stopping him from writing what was needed in his exams (those viscous voices). He got a really good handle on it during a-levels and did really well and is now at his first choice uni studying his favourite subject.

I hope your dd can get the help she needs to manage her OCD.

Vicious. Not viscous. Sorry. 🙄

Does anyone think it is worth getting any of the advertised "revision support" items? I have never revised in my life, and really don't know how much support school will give compared to how much we are adding in.

Any recommendations?

Thank you for your support. I think it’s probably the OCD and the revision anxiety exacerbating each other. The OCD takes up time and emotional energy, and makes school really stressful, and then she can’t relax and recover this holiday. I actually think it will be better once the mocks actually start. I am going to try and take her to the GP tomorrow and discuss the medication options.

What kind of thing are you referring to? I have paid subs for Quizlet, Seneca and bought various revision guides (often v cheap second hand from World of Books) although school has also provided quite a few. Tempting to chuck a load of money at it but too many options could get overwhelming at this point imo.

@JusteanBiscuits DD3 has various cpg books (from her sisters) but not sure how useful they are. She has subscribed to that exam practice website ppl have mentioned previously in the thread and I know she’s used that a few times and finds it helpful.

Hi
please can I join? DS starts mocks on Tuesday and is in a bit of a spin. He’s pretty disorganised, has spent lots of time revising but not necessarily made notes ( frustrating as we spent time talking him through different revision methods and he spoke to a teacher at school who is available for help with exams). He did a past biology paper yesterday and didn’t do too well so I’m interested in the idea of sharing the requirements with him as it was the higher mark questions where he didn’t do well, just writing very generic answers. I don’t know that he’s done any French revision. I’m hoping that after the mocks he’ll understand what has worked and what hasn’t and we can pull together a red, amber, green plan! He’s got 2 1/2 weeks of mocks, starting with 2 exams on day 1🫣. He’s got cgp books etc which he hasn’t used- hopefully they will come in useful. Sixth form
applications have had to go in here as well DS is at a grammar with minimum requirements of 6s in top 8
subjects and I just have no clue how he’ll
do. He’s predicted 8s for English lit, and language and geog and biology but he really struggles with exams, revision technique and I’m not sure how to help. He is desperate to stay at his current school so we’re desperate to help him! Any ideas very welcome and sorry for my long rant!

Welcome @Waffles21

Biology is a tricky one. It's very specific on the mark scheme with what scientific terms and vocab is needed. It's a good idea to study the mark scheme.

Physicsandmathstutor.com is a good resource for all sciences, maths and geog.

Just use the mocks as good practice and an indication as to where most of the revision needs to go for the real thing. My dd also has mocks starting next week. She has marked all her topics for each subject in red amber or green and has just focussed on the red and amber ones and left the green for now.

@Waffles21 and @QueenMabby also mocks here from next week. Lots of stress - still quite a lot of red areas on maths and physics. Biology terminology does seem to be a nightmare. DD2 is doing Seneca quizzes and then testing herself and we have been trying to help by asking flashcard questions but I'm not sure whether it's really going in. We will see.

Not helped by the fact she also had to have a history coursework draft in this holiday which required a lot of time. I now know a lot more about Operation Overlord than I ever thought necessary, and she has learned how to footnote.

Thanks both! How do I find the mark schemes please? Thank you!

@Waffles21 - they'll be on the exam board's website. Also encourage a read through of the examiners' report which highlights for that year's paper which questions were answered well and areas that candidates struggled with. They also offer advice on answer technique etc.

Dd has Eng Lit as her first exam which is probably her least favourite. She's at a private school and is lucky that both English GCSEs are iGCSEs so both have 40% coursework which takes a bit of pressure off the exam when the real thing comes round.

On a non-school issue, she's been referred on the two week wait for a rather dodgy looking mole so we'll have that to deal with during mocks too. Our GP is fairly confident that it's nothing cancerous but wants it double-checked and formally logged so that they can keep an eye on it.

Oh gosh, hope she’s ok @QueenMabby . Thanks, will make that my
mission over the next couple of weeks. Ds has English language and chemistry on his first day, both hopefully ok for him. Good luck to all DC going back to mocks.

examiners reports???

Hi all, you can get them on the exam board website. They have examples of answers marked at different grades and common mistakes etc. Tips. Not looked yet other than last year when DC did one GCSE. Think is helpful especially for subjects like history. They can read an answer and critique it and see what examiner said. Time is really ticking now, going to need some fierce prioritization. 18 weeks until DC’s first GCSE. Eek. Good luck all with mocks.

We were looking at the English lit one yesterday. Some great info on poetry comparisons etc.

Thanks for the tips on the examiners reports. Sounds really helpful and definitely look them up.

@QueenMabby that must be a bit scary, hope your DD is OK.

Back to school for us. DS did some revision in the holidays as he didn't do any in December due to mocks finishing end of Nov, so I encouraged him to get back on it after a month off. He went over his non-calculator maths paper which he didn't do well as expected in the mocks and also did some listening practise for music. Did a bit of biology too as it's always been a struggle for him to remember stuff for it. There's so much content.
I've ordered some flashcard for some of the subjects to kick start proper revision. His teachers will I assume be going through their mock papers this week as they didn't get them back till the last day of last term. So will have a better idea of what to work on from then on.

Good luck for those that have mocks starting soon/this week.

@datacolour biology content seems insane - my DD1 does the A-Level and it only gets worse too.

@QueenMabby v best to you and DD - hope there's a conclusive and positive outcome on that soon.

Mocks began today. In true DD2 style, she'll be missing the first one - for a voice lesson. Honestly! We were testing her on her flashcards in the local Premier Inn over breakfast before dropping her yesterday - got some very funny looks from the tourists as she likes to mix up all her subjects so we were flipping between enzymes and Nazi Germany.

All the best to those doing mocks right now. Hope it is not too cold in their exam rooms!

Hope the Drs can reassure you quickly @QueenMabby

DD went back this morning. Six weeks until half term and then after that six weeks until Easter - I think I am more aware of how quickly time is flying than she is. She has a couple of isolated teacher training days this term which feels a bit unusual. One is just after the March mocks which will be much needed I am sure.