Year 11 - 2024-2025 Support Thread

[QueenMabby]

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

Save My Exams has loads - but you pay after a certain amount I think. We are getting quite a lot out of our subscription though - two with A-Levels, one with GCSES.

They are practice papers, still a reasonably good approximation of what the exams will be like though I would have thought?

I like the idea of bundles of already-printed papers because our home printer is utterly crap. But would be willing to pay a subscription to get hold of the real past papers.

Physics and maths tutor online also have lots of past papers for sciences, maths and geography.

Update on second mocks for DS16 from late Feb/early March. Feeling really low as once again he can't seem to produce any written sentences/paragraphs and has once again left mult-point questions blank, draws diagrams/tables (doesn't get marks for those) or at worst writes jokes. This is the case for English, Geography and written Drama (where he has a 9 for practicals). No dyslexia, but since his first set of mocks in November he was diagnosed with ADHD and ASD and is now on ADHD medication and is allowed 25% extra time on exams. School say they are checking if an educational specialist can support him.

Does anyone know what would happen if he fails the upcoming English Language GCSE? He wants to do A levels in Chemistry, Biology and Maths and has gotten a conditional offer from a sixth form, which requires five Grade 5s including a 4 in English Lang or Lit.

Could they take him but he re-sits the English GCSE in November? What would happen if fails in November and if he continues to keep failing future re-sits for English Language?

English Lang: 1
English Lit: dropped
Maths: 8
Biology: 7
Chemistry: 8
Physics: 8
Drama: 1
Geography: 2
Further Maths: dropped
Spanish: 4

@HereComesYourMam
Where are the Amazon ones please? Can you provide a link or a photo. I too could really do with just ordering them. Off Amazon would suit me best.

It will depend on the school. I know 2 people who failed English last year and couldn’t stay at their Sixth Form, but they got a place elsewhere. Have you applied anywhere else?

I have a lot of these already, I was just wondering if I was missing something. I'd like to avoid printing, my printer would thank me for that.

@Greenbriar I think some sixth forms around here would take him and some wouldn't, I guess it depends if they are set up for resits. I think it is compulsory to resit English if you don't get a grade 4 but some people may be offered functional skills instead. Do you have other sixth form options near you? Could he get some intensive tutoring for English? Our school have just sent a newsletter and included a link to (online paid) year 11 Easter revision sessions for English and Maths, but in person 121 would probably be even better. We breathed a massive sigh of relief when our DS (dyslexic and autistic) passed English so sending lots of sympathy (he is at university now).

what books are other kids doing for lit? We are looking for websites that might help. Already know about bitesize. Particulalry looking for somewhere that might suggest good quotes that can be used for a number of themes? So in Macbeth there may be a quote that can be fitted into an essay about a couple of different themes and saves learning untold quotes. I don’t know if it exists but if so that would be amazing.

@Greenbriar
He's clearly intelligent as he's scoring so well in the sciences/maths.
It sounds as if it's a problem of technique.

If he's only scoring 1s in English Language, I personally would go right back to basics and get a couple of 11+ exam English language books which will show him what the "process" is of evaluating a piece of written text and how to do a "reading comprehension" on them.

Then once he's confident with those, move up to the 13+ common entrance exams. At the end of the day, all he needs is a 4 or 5, so the common entrance/13+ probably ticks a lot of those boxes ie if he can do those, he stands a good chance of a 4/5 in GCSE.

Just to add, reading comp is on our Eng Lang board but yours might be different...if so, ignore me!!

I was curious as regards why he would be writing jokes on the papers?

I have a ds that similarly struggled with intelligible essay writing. Even a paragraph and especially in exam situations

He struggled with Edexcel biology A levels because there’s a lot of essay type questions. He switched and taught himself towards the OCR paper ( I think it was that one ) as there weren’t essay type questions.

So worth your son checking the boards for his Alevel exams and the exam papers before he firms exactly where he goes moving forward

It’s stress probably
some people suffer so badly it’s not simply a matter of being stressed it’s more becoming almost completely incoherent, throwing up, complete brain fog etc.

An obvious sign is being clever in class getting good grades for work then sitting an exam and writing complete gobbledegook

Useful English GCSE youtube channels;

Mr Bruff
https://www.youtube.com/@mrbruff

Mr Everything English - 4 quotes which fit every Macbeth question

Mr Salles - 10 Macbeth quotes fit every question

@Greenbriar Is he engaging? If so what is his current school doing to help?

Given he’s still at grade 1 when just a couple of months from the exams it is quite a big ask to reach a 4. I’d ask to speak to head of sixth form at his potential school / college & also their SENDCo to find out what support they would be able to offer as well as resit possibilities. I think I’d be looking at worse case scenario options whilst trying to find him immediate help. So frustrating that this is being realised so late in the day. Good luck 🤞🏼

@GreenbriarI would recommend this book. There are also books for years 8 and 9. They cover learning needed for AQA English language but with easier texts. Great for breaking down the questions and learning how to do them in manageable chunks.

we’re nearing the end of this thread so I’ll start a new one.

Drama is a lot of essay writing too. Why did he drop further maths rather than drama? Sorry, not helpful. This must be so difficult for you both.

New thread for when this one fills up

https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/secondary/5299065-year-11-20242026-support-thread-the-final-stretch?utm_campaign=thread&utm_medium=app_share

I know that some autistic young people can also have oppositional defiance disorder or pathological defiance disorder. I've come across this in inter-personal behaviour but wondered if it also translated into test-taking situations.

Amazing! Thank you. I will be looking up the rest of the books too. If I can get my child to revise those quotes then he might just get that 4!

Good point
and of course logically it seems it would

NewThread

Hi @Greenbriar, that sounds like a tough situation for you.

Apologies if I've missed it but when you say no dyslexia, have you had the c.£800 assessment to determine this? I ask because I know of a YP whose teachers never suspected dyslexia, and neither did the Exam Arrangements Assessor who granted 25%, but the parents did and so got them diagnosed. Their profile was similar, strong at science, less strong at languages.