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

[QueenMabby]

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

My son thought AQA chemistry higher combined was hard today as did a lot of his school friends. Which is a worry as everyone or here says it was ok.......

No, my DS also said it was a tricky one

My daughter thought it was ok, reckons she got about 45/70 which should be about a 7 according to this chart. No idea how accurate it is (or she is!) but it’s a guideline. She said some people thought it was terrible while others thought it was great, so who knows!!

I wouldn’t read too much into what other people say. My dd2 thought it was good, but it’s all relative. She could answer 50% of the paper so she was happy. Last time she did a paper one she got 13%, so today was “a good exam” for her.

To be honest, I think some students are so relieved when the exam is over and done with, they tend to look on the bright side for the most part - which is good because no good getting stressed over something they can’t change.

DD found the AQA PE weird today but I’m not seeing others saying similar.
Indeed with how DC find exams. DD thought chem not too bad but has low expectations whereas PE ‘weird’ as has higher expectations. It’s all relative I guess.

@2025istheyeari and @kary42 is Component 2 the 10 hour exam taken in April with the externally set title and Component 1 the two projects taken during the two years?

How did you know to x3 and x2?

Yes component 2 is the ten hour exam which is worth 40% whilst the coursework is worth 60%. I can't remember where I found the x 3 and x 2 but it works to scale the marks accordingly.

The x 2 and x 3 is in the spec. It's to scale the mark up to be out of 480.

Here https://www.aqa.org.uk/subjects/art-and-design/gcse/art-and-design-8201/specification/scheme-of-assessment

Just stumbled upon a yr10 parent asking about ‘save my exams’. I know a few of your DC use it so wondered if you’d recommend or not…

www.mumsnet.com/talk/secondary/5338147-has-anyone-used-save-my-exams-as-a-gcse-revision-resource?utm_campaign=thread&utm_medium=share

I will respond to that @NotDonna - my DD has used Seneca, Save my Exams, BBC Bite Size for Sciences, but found the CGP books most helpful overall (for Bio and Chem) and studying with her friends. Most recently she has discovered a new “friend”, ChatGPT! She feeds it stuff. I have no idea what she is getting up to detail wise as I do not really need to worry about her, perhaps ChatGPT is standing in for me not being a revision partner.

Generally speaking. DD found AQA Chem single Higher fine. However, she is not liking the micro-deconstruction going on after every exam when they all chat about answers. It is making her anxious. I think they are doing it on social media too and in chats with each other. I really just want her to move her brain on after every single exam is done, rather than let the worry linger.

DD said chemistry wasn’t the best, but wasn’t the worst 🤣🤷🏼‍♀️ at least there wasn’t tears like the mocks… I hope!

English Lit 2 today - not sure how she feels about it yet

Friend gave me a lesson in using ChatGPT as a tutor the other day and it was incredible.

You can ask it to set you a question, you then answer and it then breaks down your answer, tells you where you could improve it and congratulates you.

Infinite patience and encouragement.

I was very impressed.

I agree @NotDonna, how DC find a particular exam is very subjective, dependent on their ability in the subject/amount of revision/confidence/expectations of themselves/general personality etc. One thing I can say is that so far DD has said papers have been easier than the mocks, but that might just be that she’s improved since then.

Good luck to those with Eng lit this morning and anything else. Comp Sci? Sending positive vibes.

Good luck to everyone today. English Lit and Sociology here. Not a great start to day – DD overslept because she couldn't get to sleep last night. We're doing all the right wind-down things but general stress and overthinking keeps kicking in.

Good luck for English literature today 🍀

Computer science this afternoon for DS. Then that’s one subject finished 🙌

I wish Eng Lit 2 was the other side of half term. He was cramming poetry last night so I think his poor brain has been scrambled with too many ideas. Hopefully he can unravel his thoughts into some order. Who knows?!

Wishing your DC all the very best today. I too have found a big box that the revision note and books are going into as we progress.

DD has woke up incredibly tired this morning and it’s a double exam day - English literature and child development.

I’ve just sent DD off for English Lit, In her words she is cooked. I don’t think that’s a good thing. It’s her least favourite subject.

I think she is realising she has
not done anywhere near enough preparation. She’s managed 6s in most mocks apart from 4s in English.

Any suggestions for getting some focus to best use the half term?

When we did this with ds he struggled massively with motivation over half term. Said he’d rather the exams go straight through! I’d start with a day (or two!) completely off and then target the most needed subjects/topics accordingly. As usual - encourage work on their most hated areas. Left to their own devices most people focus on the areas they like best or feel most confident in and those are generally the areas that need least work!

He looked like he has already sat his (two long exams) today going in, so not a great start.

Or perhaps he just wanted to get away from me and once he sees a friend he will perk up!

English Lit for ds as well, his is An Inspector Calls, and poetry including the unseen poem. He's done as much revision as he can but he's quite tired now and not in the mood for a 2.5 hour exam!

English Lit is one of DD's favourite subjects, but she's gone off in a panic, saying she's going to fail.

It appears she woke up at 3am and couldn't get back to sleep, so she did some revision 😵. This is terrible news, she barely has the stamina for one short exam per day, and this is a mammoth one. If it goes badly today, the rest of the week will be done for too. I do hope she can relax and it's a reasonably easy one 🙏