GCSE exam clash

[Citygirlrurallife]

Has anyone had experience of an exam clash where there is already another exam that day? One day this summer DS is scheduled to have an English Lit exam at 9am and two further exams (Computer Science and Mandarin Listening and Reading so actually 3 exams scheduled!) at 1:30pm one day. Have done some googling (and emailed the school just waiting to hear back) and found that usually an exam clash means you do them back to back but that would mean him doing 3 exams that day and with them being very different that’s a lot of context switching! Has anyone managed to get one of the clashes moved to another day - isn’t that what contingency day is for?

For me it’s more that it’s massive context switching to go from essay writing in English to programming in code to listening and reading in mandarin than about the time spent doing it really.

He’s had 11 years of it. That’s what school is like. One minute you are coding, the next someone is wittering about Ohm’s Law, then you are being yelled at to climb a rope, then someone is saying “right, geographers, we’ll just have our quiz on coastal landscapes and then we’ll start on the changing urban population of North America”, and before you know it you are gouging out a picture of your grandmothers cat in a square of lino.

Alright chill out

Calm down hysterics, I was asking what the process is so we know and can prep for it. I haven’t at any point said my kid should get some sort of special dispensation. This is the education board not AIBU

I don’t think any posts on here are hysterical.

And tbf what you originally asked was could you get one of the clashing exams moved. Which would be somewhat of a special dispensation.

I think what people are saying is that it’s just something that happens, perhaps more so when unusual combos are taken (Mandarin is still quite a niche subject at GCSE) because the timetable has to have some exams clashing – and obvs not ones that everyone takes like biology and maths. The switch of subjects is also really standard. DS2 had 10 exams in his first week – 10 different topics and ways of answering questions and subjects to think about, It was fine.

Now a days the there is really less than 6 hour exams on one day. I remember when there was a three exam clash with 9 hours and the student had to sleep at a teachers house which I think was a really fair way of dealing with the situation.

You did ask if they could take the exam on contingency day as 3 exams in one day was too much. The contingency is for national issues not an individual one.
Your EO will be in contact shortly about the clash and what the procedure and timings will be. If there is a long break you are allowed notes and food but no access to phone.

Ok sorry if it read like that, what I was asking was IF in the case of clashes an exam got moved, not if I could request one got moved

anyway got my answer. As I say it’s not a big deal, just like to know what’s what and how to prepare for it especially as it’s his first exam day

Are you sure? This is not the case with A levels.

Contingency day is in case of significant local/national issues, like...a bombing in the underground or something like that. So a lot of candidates affected by something.

There are 2 contingency sittings. In this world if social media/internet no pupil could be trusted to sit an exam weeks after the main sitting. The longest they can wait is for the next day if kept under strict supervision. This happens more in alevels as the exams are longer and could exceed the daily limit.

In a contingency day the whole exam cohort will be sitting the same paper for whatever subject is needed to be sat.