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

[QueenMabby]

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

Dd looks ok. Atm anyway!
She's very good at "looking busy but not really doing anything constructive" :)
But they are her exams so it's up to her. I'd just hate for her to be disappointed on results day.
Dd hasn't done any revision with friends so far...lots of them went away at Easter and most don't live locally.

Also remember for biology - on anything plant related don’t say dark! Dd did this on a past paper last week - plant didn’t grow because it was dark and no marks! No light or lack of light was the required response. Specifically said not to accept dark! This is why bio is so hard. The mark scheme is devilishly specific.

dd is a morning person and was up and on her ring fit at 7.30 this morning! She front loads her revision so she has less to do late afternoon and evening which is when she’s not very productive.

English Lit revision today..
Dd says she's starting earlier today so she can finish earlier..
We shall see 🙂

I think I'd be explaining that you need to do what the question asks specifically...so, 1 answer

Thank you for the tip! Yes the mark scheme is so specific!

DD once got 0 points on a 6 mark Biology question due to terminology.

She gets 9s and 8s in science and I had tested her on that topic and I knew she knew it and understood it.

So she has spent a lot of time getting terms correct as part of revision. Hope not to the detriment of other work.

Lots of Eng Lit revision planned for today here ready for tomorrow morning. 38 days till it’s all over, DS announced when he came down for breakfast this morning. I, for one, can’t wait!

Dd has a “summer loading bar” on her wall. For each exam she does she colours in a section so she can see the loading bar grow. By the end of this coming week she will have done 10 of her 24 exams so nearly half way.

Lots of crossing off days on the revision calendar 📅 here
It's a mini dopamine hit 😁
I love the idea of loading bars!
Dd hasn't started revising yet...🙄
I don't understand getting up early then just...blobbing about 🤷‍♀️
She'll be complaining it's "too hot" later 😬
Teens! Gotta love em 😁

38 days!
Omg 😫

I think I might decamp to my shedsummerhouse and read 📚
Got a very busy day tomorrow and I'm really tired 😴

Older dd is driving me to distraction today.
Synpthathies to those with other dc studying too!

Having helped DS in English lit today I feel like I know more about the texts that him now. I'm coming out with quotations I didn't even know I knew! It's going to be a long day.

😁
I can still recite the "quality of mercy" speech from MofV...
Not bad, considering I learnt it 35 years ago!

DD is resitting maths. She keeps forgetting she knows how to divide.

I’ve done something similar but the other way around. My DD was feeling overwhelmed at having 26 exam papers, and I said it was a bit like eating an elephant - you couldn’t possibly do it in one sitting , but if you have a nibble each day you can do it. I bought her a box of assorted flavour chocolates. She gets to eat one per paper when she gets home from school. She likes the idea of seeing it get less and less.

Joining the thread! Not sure I’m ready for this 5.5 week endurance test with an anxious but hard working teen. Bring on Macbeth tomorrow to tick one off! I have made her a lucky dip of small presents so she can open one thing after each paper to give her a little reward! Good luck to all going through this process.

Dd is finished for today but can go into school early tomorrow apparently.
I'm off to cook my steak for dinner 🍽 🙂

Looking forward to round 1 of English lit being done tomorrow. Seems like it’s about writing a lot - even if BS. DD is a very concise writer so I fear she might be marked down for it :-(

DS getting nervous now, just voluntarily extended his revision finish time. I marked half a bio paper for him and he did really well, so hopefully that gives him a well needed confidence boost.Bio really is a pain which such specificity in terminology. Tell DC to be really careful with charts - DS missed a label on y axis and it cost him a mark…

Very best of luck to all DC tomor. It’s going to be a long few weeks!

Dd much prefers Eng lit paper 2 so she's not feeling very thrilled about tomorrow.
She cheered up when I told her that by half term 2 more of her gcse subjects will be complete 👍

@MrPanks @BellaI that's such lovely ideas regarding a little treat everyday! Might have to steal that :-)
DS has done well today, he's remained calm and collected and done quite a bit of work. He's usually also very concise in his writing and waffling on doesn't come naturally to him, so he's made progress today. Going to watch a YouTube video of Mr. Salles predicting tomorrows Jekyll and Hyde question as the last thing we do and hoping it'll help in someway even if it's a different theme in tomorrow's paper.
Good luck to all the DCs!

Hoping DD will be able to get off to sleep tonight, any tips if it's a problem???

This morning she set alarm for an hour earlier than usual weekends so I think she wants to make sure she's tired out.

A drowsy anti histamine?
Reading a book always relaxes me before bed.
A warm bath/shower?
Warm milk/hot chocolate?
Gentle exercise like yoga? Yoga by adrienne on YouTube has 5-10 minute before bed relaxation stretches.

Don't lie there fretting - get up and go somewhere else until you feel tired.

Warm shower or bath before bed.

I'll be on the sleeping drugs as usual