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

[QueenMabby]

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

Sorry to go off topic but @HereComesYourMam is your user name a play on a Pixies’ song? I have now got that song going round my head with ‘man’ substituted for ‘man’!

It is! 😀Sorry for the earworm 😂

Nooooo

So did they answer two Shakespeare questions?

It's ok if they answer about the wrong text, as in not the Shakey they did (well it's not ideal, but their work will still be marked: DD wanted to answer on Pride and Prejudice as she loves it haha), but if they answers two SH plays then only half their paper will be marked :(

I recall DS2 who did PE which is often early had 9 exams in his first week. A friend who did a different MFL had 11 (bc reading and listening are on the same day as they are short). I mean 11 tho!

The big weeks are tough but the good news is that you quickly get Eng lit out of the way which is such a challenge for so many students; I really think the exam needs a big rethink. A foundation paper with a more accessible structure for the Shakespeare for example.

@Oblomov25 I think that is an error - Eng and maths are not on the same day as far as I can see.

I'm sort of envious of all you parents getting information about how the Eng Lit paper went! DC said "Fine" and refused to tell us anything more! I have no idea what the questions were or anything (EdExcel). Same with Comp Sci. I fear it's going to be like this for the entire exam period.

Today is Biology, tomorrow Geography paper 1.

Agree.
English and maths won't be on the same day

These 2 weeks prior to half term are dds busiest -but she did do 2 creative subjects which were done by last week.
2 more will be done by half term 🙌

RS and biology for my DC today and then another 2 on Thursday. Slight concern that the revision for the afternoon exams goes on the backburner as they concentrate on trying to face the next immediate exam, I mean obviously they are advised not to do that but it's human nature to an extent!

Feel very sorry for the child who answered the wrong English lit question. Perfectly possible when you are full of adrenaline and not thinking clearly. Especially awful if they won't score anything for their second Shakespeare analysis as poster above suggests.

GCSE exams are a fairly tortuous process. I think to pass them should be ok but to excel across the board is extremely challenging and some of that is purely down to the timetabling of exams. Keep trying to put it in perspective, as I hardly remember mine and once you move on through life they become less important but at the moment they feel huge. I suppose its just all those years of study so you want them to get a decent set of results to show for it.

For DS, one of his Eng Lit papers went well, the other - he panicked, could not get his thoughts in order and then couldn't recall any relevant quotes. I (unhelpfully) shared how I would have approached the question and he now believes he has fluffed it. We have discussed how forming a plan and jotting down his revised quotes in the plan before he starts might help - instead of trying to recall them when brain freeze has set in.

He was more stressed this morning and struggled to get up but he has revised biology than any other subject as it's not a strength of his so hoping he can make a stab at all the questions to gain some marks.

Hi, I’ve not posted on here before so hope it’s ok to join in, eldest is currently in the middle of exams. He did really well in French speaking last Friday after a disastrous mock so was happy with that, and said English Lit yesterday was ok, which is fairly positive for him as it’s the subject he dislikes most! He reckoned the questions weren’t what had been getting predicted (he was Macbeth and Christmas Carol). Science and maths are his strongest so hoping he gets on ok with biology today.

Scheduling wise he’s got one every day until half term (when he also has to be in school full time until then), the first week after half term isn’t great as he has nothing the first two days, then 5 over 3 days from the Wednesday

Oh no, I imagine this could be done easily. I always remember our English teacher telling us before exams that even if we had read one of the other books on the paper not to be tempted to try answering that instead of the one we had actually studied

But they might be if they are different Boards? Sometimes similar subjects are even timetabled at the same time (eg two Arts subjects at 9 am on the same day) so the students have to be isolated so they don't hear what's on the next paper

Especially awful if they won't score anything for their second Shakespeare analysis as poster above suggests.

Unfortunately not. The exam instructions at the start of the paper clearly state Answer one question from Section A and one from Section B. Section A being the Shakespeare. Macbeth (on AQA anyway) is the first question so I can only assume the student went in on that one and then turned to R&J (second) which I assume they had studied. So they might even end up with their worse SH question being marked as well if they did them in that order.

It is indeed a lesson to read the paper and go in knowing what you will need to do. If nothing else please ensure your DC leave the house with that knowledge! If you don't know yourself, look on a past paper.

Nope and defffo not with Eng and maths and science which everyone does.

The boards all timetable the main exams at the same time to avoid clashes, as they are aware that schools pick different boards for different subjects. Everyone did Eng lit yesterday. Everyone has biology today.

Ah that's interesting and makes sense!!

So there is some milk of human kindness there then

They were supposed to answer Romeo and Juliet and A Christmas Carol but somehow they answered a Macbeth question instead.

It was my child’s friend so I don’t know the full details but there was lots of shocked reactions. I posted as I didn’t realise it could happen and as a reminder to our own children to double check.

Poor child. That's exactly the kind of thing that DD is prone to doing.
I keep telling her to read the questions twice or three times before writing, AND double check after a couple of paragraphs. Whether she does it or not will depend on her being worried or nervous or a variety of other things.

Yes an online insta tutor recommended doing the questions in reverse order (ie starting with the Q with the highest marks), but I think this could be a dangerous tactic with lots of scope for forgetting the existence of the other questions

Tbh, it happens every year.
Pupils sometimes even sit the wrong tier paper!
They are asked at the start of each exam to check they have got the correct tier paper in front of them...
I think nerves must take hold/mind goes blank, poor things.
Dd missed a whole page on her English lit mock exam...most of the class did and iirc older dds class had the same issue.
Mocks are so important to iron out these issues/easy mistakes.
I still shudder (as an ex school governor) at the private school that taught the pupils the wrong spec for the English Lit exam 😬🫣
It was a few years ago but...blimey.
2 years teaching the wrong spec!

@clary is correct.
All pupils sit the core subjects (English x 2 maths, sciences) on the same day, no matter what board they do.
I'm not sure about igcses, but they are mostly sat by private school pupils iirc.
Clashes can happen with option subjects, but it's not often and I only know of one pupil that it happened to last year.
They had to be quarantined until they could sit through exam later in the day than their peers.

IGCSEs do run to a different timetable but IME it is mostly that they are earlier. An MFL student of mine was sitting Eng lang IGCSE the other year and the exam was on about 7 May! And German IGCSE (for example) was all on 8 May this year whereas the GCSE has the writing paper later. Still no clash tho even if a student does a mix of GCSEs and IGCSEs.

Yes, igcses always seem very early on

Dd has 2 exams tomorrow so will be revising tonight (I hope!)
Then the dreaded maths on Thursday - she needs a 5 to get into 6th form but they do offer resits.
Dd is actually a capable mathematician, but just has no self confidence with the subject...too many knowledge gaps due to covid lockdowns, I think.

Our iGCSEs started in April with MFL.

In the olden days they used to be in June which have teachers more time to finish the syllabus/more time to revise

My DS is the the same I get a ‘good’ or ‘fine’. I’m basically just trying to clock his mood as to ascertain whether they are going well or not. He seems in a reasonable mood!

He had the English IGCSE yesterday - Of Mice and Men. So not much info on here about how that was or if it was hard, as most doing other exam boards.

Business was also ‘good’.

He has an awful day on Friday - I think History and Business. He does a lot of IGCSEs so slightly different timetable.