Year 11 - 2024/2025 - In the thick of it!

[QueenMabby]

New thread. Sorry. Forgot to start it - I hope everyone finds this!

Thanks @CakeFace1234 . Ds had worked really hard, it was his weakest subject he needs a 7 to get into his sixth form (he’s not doing a level maths, but needs minimum 7s across everything 😢)

My daughter is predicted a 6/7 and said it was awful! She’s come home in the grumpiest of moods so giving her treats and encouraging a nap

Oh wow, that is a tough ask. Will keep everything crossed for him. Mt DD needs a 5 to get into her college and I thought that was pretty standard.
Maths is my DD's weaskest subject and went in thinking it would be awful, so maybe that is why she is in a good mood as she has been pleasantly surprised. Ive had another message for her and she said that the questions on the paper are things she finds 'less tricky'.

This will probably mean the other two papers are ones she is going to find harder.

Really sorry to hear so many found maths tough this morning, hope they are all ok. I was invigilating the Edexcel one and there was tracing paper for it.

My DS is doing AQA and I won’t hear how it went until he’s home this evening as they aren’t allowed phones in school. He has really high expectations of himself in maths and I’m worried it will throw him off if it hasn’t gone as well as he hoped.

He’s got 22 exams in total, 5 down 17 to go!

Which board?

That sounds a really tough requirement for sixth form, much higher than any I have come across.

Edexcel Higher

Ours is 6 x 7-9 including English and Maths

External students are then ranked by GCSE grades (only 40 places and over 1k applicants).

Hugs to her. It's miserable for them. Hopefully calculator papers will be better.

Oh no my DC sat EdExcel higher this morning.
I don't remember them ever using or practicing anything with tracing paper other than when making hama bead creations when they were small! Maybe it was to wipe their bums with when they'd seen how hard the questions were?!
Which evil person sets atypical exam papers?

Oh, poor kids :(
Bear in mind that if the paper was pitched to high for cohort ability, then the grade boundaries will be moved accordingly x

Daughter has just completed EdExcel higher Maths. She said that is was awful and is now feeling thoroughly deflated.

7s for 6 form across the board in every subject is such a tough ask. Is there any leeway? That’s all As! So much pressure. Even our local grammar asks for an average of 6.4.

Think for our school it just depends on what A-levels they want to do. So criminology for example needs 5s in English and maths but psychology needs 7s.

Exedcel iGCSE higher here too. Dd also happy. She said that lots of people hated the last few questions so if your dd only skipped the last one then i bet she’s smashed it!

So sorry for all those kids that had a tricky maths paper. If they all struggled then the grade boundaries will be moved. But that doesn’t help them when they are in the exam getting stressed and upset. I don’t know what the government are doing to our poor kids.

I invigilated the Edexcel paper. Not everyone used the tracing paper.

That's the problem isn't it, it's completely demoralising. I haven't had chance to ask DC how it was for them as they are going into another exam now. But capable children being made to feel stupid, what a system! I don't care if the grade boundaries will be adjusted if none of them can answer most questions, it just seems completely stupid to set a paper so tough that it's inaccessible in the first place. What's that testing?

Yes they’ll take a confidence knock and they’ve only just got started. DS has two exams tomorrow. So hard to get back on track.

My dd has done Edexcel maths and ds did AQA maths today. I guess we'll have the post mortems tonight!

We've had a very tough few years with EBSA (both chidren had about a year off each over years 9/10), so as a lone parent I'm absolutely delighted they both went in and sat them. Good enough for me.

The exam boards mark and grade their own papers. It’s done on a bell curve. So. Say the AQA paper was pretty easy and all the cohort scored higher than expected then you might need say 85% for a 9 (I’m making all these numbers up btw). If the Edexcel paper was really hard then the cohort will do less well. The same bell curve applied to that cohort may mean that they need say 73% for a 9. That way it’s fair across the whole pupil body.

DD was edexcel igcse higher paper too, they use calculators for both maths exams so don’t have the non-calculator woes. From previous posts, I think the grade boundaries probably differ so hopefully that helps with the equity across the board.

She said it was her best by far, I’m so relieved as she would have been devastated if she’d felt she’d messed it up (best subject).

Edexcel maths, higher level.
Verdict: I think it went ok but IDK"
A muted response compared with previous exams.
11 exams down out of 23, so almost halfway 🥵

DD also reporting a hard Edexcel iGCSE maths paper.

What was the tracing paper for? DS said no questions needed it?

I hope your daughter gets what she needs! Maths is also my daughter's favourite subject and needs a 7 to do A level. She was out of school for more than 2 years (some of year 7, all of 8 and 9) and is autistic and in a specialist school so she's had so much catching up to do! I think she wishes she was the "genius" kind of autistic rather than the "dogged determination" kind!