Year 11 - 2024/2025 - Support Thread - the final stretch

[QueenMabby]

A new thread to take is to exams and beyond! All welcome.

It does seem "real" now 😬

DS didn’t do Drama but told me about what had happened as soon as I picked him up - his school lodging complaint as well

@madameMscastle I don't have any advice but my sympathies! I've had so much eye-rolling from DC and struggling to get them to try the revision materials I bought too. I was just keeping my fingers crossed that school was covering the revision and exam prep.

But amazingly this morning, first day of study leave, DC seemed to wake up with a sense of purpose. Actually did a steady day of Eng Lit and Computer Science work, with sensible breaks for snacks and meals! I nearly died of shock!

I think the reality of the situation has finally hit home (better late than never).

Thanks for letting me know. Do you know what play they were studying? I'm trying to ascertain if the error was with this particular text (I love you mum, I promise I won't die) or it's been a cock up across the board! Trying to get coherent info out my son is impossible! 😂

It seems at least one exam board every year make errors like this 🙄😡

@WellyMcLonglegs contact the Examinations Officer for more info

I will ask him if he knows - he is rather dreamy though - he doesn’t know if he needs a PE kit tomorrow even or if they are shirt signing 🤷🏻‍♀️

Sorry, too late to say good luck for Drama, German etc. today, but I hope all went well.
Just to add that DD has had 2.5 lessons per science per week, so just under 2.5 hours for each one.

Just counted 20 left for DD. She’s done 2 already. That seems an inordinate amount!!!

french speaking went well

What are people’s thoughts on last minute revision? Next week DS has Maths, History, Eng lit 1, Biology 1. Maths - past papers, History crack on with facts, Biology and English lit less sure. Any ideas??

Good luck 🍀 all with exams today

My thoughts are to go over the stuff already revised making it fresh in the mind again. Hit the highlights using the mindmaps/revision cards they have hopefully previously made. Unless of course there is a major topic that has been ignored up to now...

Thanks. For Biology this is good. Eng lit he has struggled with his revision and has got some notes but gaps. Need more of a crash course approach. He knows a lot and has good analytical skills but needs it at the fore of his mind. Lists by character/ theme of key points and evidence?

I think the cgp revision books are good (amazon)
Quite a bit online for eng lit

Yeah we have those and have done a little. I think DS has struggled to revise Eng lit more than a fact based subject or maths where you hammer out practice. Are where we are and will make most of weekend!

@Hollyhedge- for Eng lit mind maps of each character and theme is a good way to go. Encourage them to have a go at one by memory and then look at their notes/revision guide and fill in the areas they missed.
There are a limited number of characters and themes for each text so it’s likely he’ll have enough time to run through most of them.

Latin language for dd this morning. She’s
already stressing about Eng Lit on Monday though. She’s done 40% of it in coursework and her raw scores were excellent but that’s not really helping!

Thanks and good luck DD today! Yeah I figure he can hammer out a fair amount of Eng lit this weekend. Would rather not be doing a mega cram but needs must

History today here. Much worry as it's an A-Level choice. She knows plenty - doesn't always marshall her thoughts well to get all the marks though. Coursework mark was good though, so hopefully she's feeling OK as she goes in.

Good luck for @QueenMabby dd for Latin lang and all others sitting today.

Anyone have Business Studies this afternoon? DD first sit-down exam after MFL oral last week. Think I feel worse than she does!

Yes, Ds2 is business this afternoon. I've just dropped him at school. Same, first sit down, after Spanish oral last week. He seems ok.

@Hollyhedge I think English literature is one of the hardest to revise for. Has he got it on Monday and what does that week look like generally in terms of exams?
I’d probably look at main characters and themes. Has his school given any indication of what they think might come up?
My DD also had English literature on Monday so we are in the same boat!

Dd doesn't have any exams today - she'll hopefully spend the weekend revising for eng lit and maths next week

Good luck to everyone with exams today! DS has Latin language this morning, which he’s usually fine with, but isn’t looking forward to English Lit on Monday which was his lowest mocks score. He’s also got 2 RE papers and a Biology paper on Tuesday, so it’s going to be a very revision heavy weekend!

His school make everyone take RE GCSE but timetable it as one hour per week through year 9, 10 and 11. So the revision has to go right back to September 2022!

Wishing that GCSEs still had coursework like they did in my day and like the iGCSEs still do. Other than Music where he’s already got marks for performance and composition, everything else is 100% exam which is a lot of pressure in a very short period.

DS has history, maths, Eng lit and bio next week. Bio and Maths both likely at A level so high stakes. Eng lit is weakest link in terms of revision. Will help him with characters, themes etc this weekend. He struggles with language/ structure etc. Fine if someone says it could symbolize x or whatever, but not sure himself. Fair enough. He could do well, he has moments of brilliance, it’s v unknown….good luck everyone !

Dd seems very blasé about English Lit...she's made sure to revise the poem that was used in last year's paper (so it won't be used this year) so she can compare the other possible poems to it?
Seems plausible...🤷‍♀️
She loves the creative writing element in English Language so hopefully that will help her

Same here I’m a bag of nerves he’s cool as a cucumber. Business is apparently easy and doesn’t need to be revised. Interesting approach child