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

[QueenMabby]

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

DS said biology was good today (AQA higher separate) - but he and his friends were concerned that everyone liking it might mean higher grade boundaries

Oh, we've already had the throwing the school books for AF and MofV in the recycling bin!
@claryapologies, yes, edexcel.

Thank you so much. So my DD is predicted 8/9 and worries that she took a conceptual approach to the question on symbols in Macbeth when she should have considered the more obvious symbols (blood, daggers) If I understand well, the more conceptual approach could be okay as the question was designed so it could be answered both ways so there’s something in it for everyone?

I’ve not seen the exact question but yes, I would imagine so. There is usually an element of "any reasonable answer" with English questions.

As an example of this (and a horror story!) in the year when DD took GCSEs (Eng lit is her absolute top one and she worked so so hard on it) the OCR paper (DD took AQA thank goodness) had the R&J question {paraphrasing} "discuss why and how Tybalt hates the Capulets". :O what an error!! The reporting on it in the media was a bit "oh how funny" but I recall saying to DD thank goodness you didn't do OCR; it would have floored her honestly.

Anyway I wanted to say that apparently the exam board said they would mark any of the following:
a) Tybalt hated the Capulets bc he was an emo child and really couldn't stand his family
b) Tybalt didn't hate the Capulets and here is why; here is someone in the play who did hate the Capulets
c) <crosses out Capulets on exam paper and writes in Montagues> I am going to answer the question I think you meant to write.

The last approach requires a certain amount of derring-do if you ask me.

So at least so far the exam papers have been correct!

Joining... although DD isn't technically year 11 but she lost two years of education through illness, so is sitting 3 GCSEs this round that she's studied since September - RE, foundation Biology and History, all AQA. She did English and Maths last year.

She had RE this morning - said Christianity was ok but Islam was on stuff she didn't revise. Biology went OK.

Blimey. So the kids are working their socks off and an exam board can’t get a seven-word sentence correct. This is not funny. This is pathetic.

Thank you so much for this context - it’s all starting to make a lot of sense.

This is the story about the OCR paper btw (not including what OCR said they would mark). Unbelievable
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-40059967.amp

Does anyone know if you can still pass RS if you get 0 for a 12 marker? My DD wrote a decent essay but afterwards realised she got the the beliefs of the denomination she was writing about completely wrong!

I’m sure this is possible. If you look up grade boundaries then 12 is probably not hugely detrimental.

Thank you so much, that's really reassuring. I just had a look, I hadn't thought of looking those up.

Yes, it's possible if the other answers are very good.
Dropping 12 marks isn't that bad over 2/3 papers - but obviously will feel disastrous to your dd atm.

@WhatsitWiggle good luck to your dd 🍀

No exam for my DC today. I am glad as they woke up extra tired this morning, I think the extra hours at school and the heat is an exhausting combination.

good luck to anyone else sitting today. DD2 has English Lit. For some reason it is a paper that is only 45 minutes long so feels a bit pointless.

She's doing Streetcar Named Desire which is one of her favourite texts ever so hoping she gets a nice extract. English lang in the pm (two hours) and then that is English over for her.

Although she then has to go straight to Symphony so I won't be hearing from her for a few hours.

The dreaded maths is tomorrow and I know this could blow her off course completely. And history sources after that, where she is worried she doesn't know enough about the League of Nations.

Wanted to say @SE13Mummy how impressive your DC is trying to make decisions like that with a dodgy wrist (whether to type or write)... poor kid - sounds like they are being really sensible.

Dd has 2 exams today - some revision was done last night! 😊
Older dd also has an assessment at her placement today so she's very nervous
😬
Unfortunately for dd, there has been a lot of staff movement/supply for media, so she's not feeling overly confident.
She's got geography this morning - this hasn't been a priority for some time as she realised that a) it's got so much content to learn and b) it's not relevant to her 6th form pathway.
There have been no after school revision sessions as were promised, so I don't know what's going on there.
It's the dreaded maths tomorrow 😫

@groovylady not just us dreading maths then. DD2 had a bad mock on this - but she DOES know more now, even if she thinks she doesn't,

Fingers crossed for both of them

@achangeofnameisasgoodasarest - I did Streetcar for A-level!

Good luck to all those examinating today!

@QueenMabby so did i - and if DD did come back to the school locally where she has a sixth form place, so would she! It seems a brave choice for GCSE and I think only top set does it. She adores it though.

Yes, definitely!
It's frustrating as dd is actually quite capable but has convinced herself she is "rubbish" at maths.
We made the decision (along with her teacher who is a lovely woman) that she would sit the F paper. She needs a 5 for 6th form and has been consistently achieving that on past papers so 🤞
I hope we made the right decision! But just the thought of the H paper sent her into a tailspin.
It's frustrating for the more creative type kids...I'm not sure why you need a 5 in maths to do performing arts, drama, art, textiles, design etc...if a 4 is a pass then why can't that good enough?
As long as they have 4s in maths and English and higher grades (6 upwards) in their chosen a levels/btec then I can't see the problem 🤷‍♀️
This whole 4/5 grade thing really irritates me!

@groovylady DD sat F last year, she was consistently working at 4/5 and had potential for 6. The H paper is designed to determine grades 7/8/9 so anyone working at a 5/6 will find they can't answer a lot of the paper - and no-one wants to be in that position, it'll just reinforce the (wrong) belief they are 'bad' at Maths.

I dislike the new grades, a 4 or 5 sounds not great out of 9, but a grade C is perfectly acceptable.

@groovylady tbf that’s on the school. Plenty of settings are fine with a 4 in maths and English if not taking them further.

What is the English @achangeofnameisasgoodasarest - I mean what exam and board? (Nosy)

ETA no worries I see it is CAIE IGCSE they have to be different eh!

I'm actually surprising myself by really liking the CIE exam board @clary - as an English grad (at least 50% of me) I think they're actually testing literary ability rather than the ability to memorise macbeth and inspector calls quotes which killed english for my DD1. let's just hope the exam goes as DD2 hopes.

Whoever says their child was doing Frankenstein - she would be so jealous - it's her favourite book ever. Total Mary Shelley obsessive.

DS said AQA biology higher went OK yesterday. He proceeded to give me a forensic analysis and wants my opinion on if his answers were right. Of course he focuses on the questions he thought he didn't get right and then I start worrying! He definitely lost marks on a maths question which is unlike him because he got nanometers and micrometers mixed up.

Bit of a disaster last night as he discovered that he hadn't studied a whole booklet of Geography and associated case study which is in paper 1 today. Cue us trying to cram in a whole topic late last night, far from idea, and he was in a foul mood this morning. Usually he's not phased about stuff but this omission really knocked him and he was actually revising this morning too before the exam.

Maths tomorrow which is meant to be his strongest, but tomorrow is the non-calc paper which is his weaker one.

Oh, here you all are!

DC said same thing about biology (Edexcel iGCSE) - it was all plants! Apparently some classmates were very upset afterwards, but DC reckoned the paper was actually "fine" if you understood the principles behind the questions...

DD went off looking and sounding very worn out this morning. She has exams every day this week and next, including two yesterday and two today.

She's been pretty happy with the papers so far, though. Exception being Business last week, where some of the questions were apparently not in the same format as all the past examples, which threw her a bit. It's been her strongest subject up to now, so I'm hoping paper 2 will be better for her.