Year 11 - 2024/2025: Half way, half baked, half term!

[QueenMabby]

Continuation of the year 11 support thread. Go!

My DS said English AQA was ok, but the extract was a bit creepy. I think he’s just relieved it’s over. He got 3s and 4s in his mocks and he thought they were ok, so we just trudge on and hope for passes in English lit and lang so he can stay on for 6th form.

So far this week we’ve had orphaned chimpanzees in the Congo (French) and creepy villages.

I’ve told him he can take the rest of today off

My DS started further maths but without physics found the mechanics tough. He dropped to AS further maths. Did all the exams last week and seemed happy.
Also think it helped him get his uni offer of econ at Bath. Although they don’t ‘need’ FM he can drop a grade if he gets an A in his AS and I read that the offers were going to people with FM of some sort.

Dd says it was "ok"
Have a good half term, folks x

DD2 said it was easy - so all the kids expect high grade boundaries. She's had a good English teacher this year so should be fine.

Oh @Sisublondie your poor DS. I feel for him. I think it is pointless going over today's exam again. There is nothing he can do now. Get him to chill today and tomorrow and move onwards and upwards. An old manager of mine used to say in situations like this 'we are where we are' which means we can't deal with what has passed - lets move on.

He has got a couple of weeks to focus on paper 2. And if he doesn't pass then he can resit in November - what I have said to DS is that the benefit of that is that it is the only exam he has to resit (unless there is maths too). So he can totally focus on the Eng Lang aspect. As another pp has mentioned - there is also functional skills which I dont know much about but it sounds like a similar qualification which gets you onto the next step.

Sending you and DS calming vibes and a hug 🤗

@MackenCheese thanks much needed 😂

Aww dd has been very emotional , as it was her official leavers day today. I think her school have played it very clever with having an official leavers day , doing the whole shirt signing /assembly ice cream van thing right before the holidays, calling it an official end of year , however they have compulsory sessions not only after the holidays to attend but also during the holidays 😂 but the kids seem pretty happy with what they think is 'study leave' so I'm happy as long as dd is happy ! It will be nice for them to go in and see their friends anyway. It's a long stretch till 16th June yet!

We went to Costa after and had a good look at her year book, talked about everything. She seemed fine after. given her a lush bath bomb and told her to have a nice bath and get into some comfies and then we can go out for meal later. Probably a Chinese. She doesn't seem as hungry today as normal which is worrying to me because she's been hoovering up food since revision started. Hope this leavers day hasn't thrown her and she's back to her focused and self driven self tomorrow.
I have to say this whole process has been an absolute dream with her and I think she's well and truly spoilt me - I'm bracing myself for dd2 who is the opposite of dd1 in every way possible

Which exam board certainly DD girls grammar did not like AQA

@Sisublondie hope your DS does get to relax over the half term.

My DS failed AQA English Language mocks twice in November and February (grade 2). He already dropped English Literature as his mock papers were lower / could not be assessed. He tends to write cryptic bullet points, gibberish or jokes, if he does write anything at all. Could be some kind of block or disorder or written expression. He was diagnosed with ADHD and ASD in December.

Other mock results were 8s (Chemistry, Maths, Physics) and a 7 in Biology, a 9 in Drama coursework but a 1 in two sets of Drama mocks (again hating writing essays), so he just needs to get through English as a subject at this point.

We’ve booked a Functional Skills Level 2 Edexcel English Language test for him in early August, where a pass would be equivalent to grade 4. Hopefully he can pass that one!

My DC (who always does well in English) also didn’t like AQA much…

Does anyone know how closely the prompt needs to be followed for the story (rather than the description)? My DC sounds like they may have gone off on a tangent and although referenced the prompt, it wasn’t integral to the story. Haven’t mentioned anything to them but am feeling a bit anxious for them

My DS seems pretty happy with AQA English, I have mainly heard about the creative writing which he seemed happy with (as he said he went for a less obvious route than he thinks others would… not sure if this is actually a good thing or not!!), he hasn’t mentioned the extract part.

His school did their leavers bits and shirt signing then finished at lunch, so he was out with friends for a bit,

Sorry to those who aren’t happy with it.

I hope they can all now have a bit of relaxation and break over half term to reset themselves for the next round, alongside revision.

WJEC .

DS A-level was home from college as so many GCSE English resits and they needed the space and DD2 says there were about 15 sixth formers re-sitting - so clearly an issue passing so maybe it's an odd easier than normal paper.

All her friends thought it was easy to okay and some really struggle with English - and there the ones who've sat the previous years past papers in class.

I just had a look at the mark scheme for last year’s paper, it says if they don’t directly address the focus of the task, their marks are capped at 12 (out of 24) for that element. I don’t have any expertise in this, but I would have thought as long as they have shown some link to the prompt they would have directly addressed it?
https://cdn.sanity.io/files/p28bar15/green/fb6dbb8251d51d68c42c9d9ab798324d5d782c38.pdf?_gl=11517ly9_gcl_au*MTA1MDQ5NjA4MS4xNzQ4MDE0MDc2

DS2 was happy with his igcse - got the extract he wanted and said he had to write about people that inspire him - now just fingers crossed he got the right end of the stick ( not a given ) and wait till August - happy half term everyone - hope everyone’s DC benefit from a bit of a breather

She initially chose those thinking she’d use the chemistry but she fell in love with economics. She had offers for Economics at university but also got a school leaver apprenticeship with a Big4, so did that and in December qualified as a chartered accountant. It’s been a tough 4 years with lots of exams whilst working crazy hours AND it’s really not her bag. She’s now trying to work out what she does actually want to do. She wants something more altruistic - but pays ok (an oxymoron, I think!) I wonder if she’d have been better off with something like PPE or Global Development or something. Good luck to your DS.

Wow, that's fantastic. Even if it's not her thing right now she has it in the bag for the future. My ds is young in the year, good academically but no idea what he wants to do really, so we've postponed all further discussions until after results day, when he can tweak or change his choices. Good luck with her next steps!

DD had a Bath Econ offer without FM but it was 4 years ago!!

Actually I have just realised I picked up a sample mark scheme for 2026 onwards when I was looking, this is one for the 2023 paper, and doesn’t seem to mention anything about linking to the prompt
https://cdn.sanity.io/files/p28bar15/green/947e2457145ee9e0e9646b895a28a51bbb8ed516.pdf?_gl=1zxgsem_gcl_au*MTA1MDQ5NjA4MS4xNzQ4MDE0MDc2

@NotDonna that's brilliant - the not for profits are crying out for numbers people if that's a good fit for her ... my DH is COO for a charity and wishes he had the accountancy qualifications as it would be so useful!

She’s a mid August ‘baby’ too so still only 21. The world of work has probs made her grow up quite quickly. There’s something to be said for a bit of fun at uni (like my middle DD is having). But she’s planning on some time out for travel and work out next steps. Definitely ask your questions on the HE board revs levels.

What were the transactional questions for iGCSE English language? DD did something about schooldays? Can anyone confirm what the exact question was? Thanks

Thanks so much- it talks about linking to purpose at various levels - I guess the question is how well they managed to do that…

I was thinking of purpose in those terms being about fitting with a story/description as appropriate, so hopefully if it fits with that it would be ok? It seems quite open to interpretation from the marker

DD said there was a choice of two.

1. a ‘speech’ about inspiration
2. a ‘guide’ to ensure school children are happy at school - or something very much along those lines. DD did not fancy writing a ‘guide’ so chose the ‘speech’ despite not being inspired by ‘inspiration’.

AQA English seems to have been ok here (from limited information elicited). Dd had a story outline worked out in advance and thankfully managed to adapt it to the question (the one about technology failing). I think in response to previous posters it is fine if you start writing a description but it turns into a story, or if the connection to the prompt is a bit vague - obviously there has to be some connection, but I think the topics are deliberately quite broad.

Very relieved that is over, as English language is dd's nemesis - she has extra time and a computer reader due to dyslexia with very slow processing, and also had a tutor which has helped, but keeping everything crossed for at least a 5!

@Sisublondie so sorry for your DS. That’s so very hard for you too! Teens are so tricky as sometimes whatever we say (ask) will be wrong! But at the same time it’s hard to back off when we just want them to feel better! Do hope he starts feeling ok about it all soon.