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

[QueenMabby]

Continuation of the year 11 support thread. Go!

thank you. 🤩

@Sisublondie - sorry to hear about DS - he’s probably done better than he thinks but he if it upsets him to talk about it then I wouldn’t push it (obviously you know him best though!). Maybe just some general encouragement for the next lot of exams. It’s hard though and DD is NT - my DH seems to wind DD up though but mainly because he is a glass half empty kind of bloke and she prefers to focus on the positives 🤨😆

DD was happy with her exam today - picture was fine, no forest but no snow either! She said she started off with how tranquil the street was but moved towards the dark side of why there were no people - got a few good descriptive words in! She said she got more content in than in her mocks as was better with her timings and was happy with what she wrote so hopefully it will contribute to an overall decent grade.

She came home for the last illegal study leave - she did try to tell the office about her fake headache but they wouldn’t allow any students in due to the number trying to leave 🤣 Good job it wasn’t a real medical emergency! She came home anyway and I emailed them. Least we won’t have this after half term. Bad news though, Olly Murs has cancelled so DD and friend are disappointed. DD is very resilient though so is being brave!

Dd got an award in drama and a thoughtful gift from her art teacher 😊
Both dds seem unsure what to this evening as neither has work to do!

Sisunlondie,
So sorry to hear about exam problems with your son.
I am mum of the child with ASD too. My son got grade 3 on mock exams in English.

I understand your frustration but you need to find a strategy.

Our top school did not give too much what required for my autistic child. The method offered by the school did not work. We took a tutor who has great experience with SEN children ( ASD/ADHD).

Together, we calculated the time, the order of questions, when should to get a break, told to ask for help to clarify questions,

We learned to split questions making them easier ( finding key words). We looked at different structures of the text.

We taught to make a plan ( putting important words in brackets). Then, get a short break and start to expand every step of the plan.

It was not clear a lot of things at the beginning . My child could not even to separate paragraphs.

Exam techniques offered by the school for analysis still like jungles to him.

In fact, when child finished Literature exams, 85% of both papers were skills given by his tutor, from YouTube channel Mr Everything English and at home.

I am sure, you also can manage that, you still have a time to get a strong pass.

Dd has had a lovely afternoon just doing nothing! Topped off by her big brother coming back from Uni for a few days - she adores him and she was so happy to see him

Yes my dd did eng lang AQA too. She seems ok with it. Not too keen on the extract question but she's hoping the writing pulls up the mark

This isn't the mark scheme for last year. It's the sample one for next year.

I don't think anyone was happy with the extract. DD, who is predicted 8/9 said the answer to every question was 'it builds tension' . So hopefully that means the grade boundaries may lower than normal.

DS said he used tenebrous, refulgent and cacophanous in his creative piece. At least he refrained from pulchritude.

Exactly the word my kids used. Weird, weird weird. Hopefully they managed to find beret vocabulary for their answers. It was from The Midwich Cuckoos, which is a great book!

AQA English language wasn’t good here. DS is in bits can’t sleep, convinced he’s failed. He was predicted 8, and got 7 in his mocks. He messed up the timings, so only had 20 minutes for the picture description. And in 2 of the other questions he repeatedly used the word “stanza” instead of “paragraph”. He has no idea why. Just a brain malfunction. I have no idea if this will cause him to lose most of his marks.

Does he normally feel bad after exams? Some kids just do. I don't think using stanza will lose 'most' of his marks (it was poetry only a few days ago) but I'm not an examiner. Hopefully a good rest and 10 or so days off will help him to feel more balanced and less wound up. Plus there's a paper 2 to help, and everyone found this paper hard so I think the boundaries might be a bit lower. DD was positively euphoric last night at the thought of a week of exams, even if there's revising to be done. She's found it exhausting and stressful even though she's mostly been positive after exams. She didn't sleep for 2 nights last week so this week I made sure she came home from school and didn't do the full day plus watched the football so she wasn't cramming all evening, which helped her manage the stress levels. She is predicted high but has the attitude of "I only need 5s for sixth form" which has helped her reduce the pressure on herself.

A week OFF exams not of. I'm not sure anyone would be euphoric about a week of exams.

DD also said AQA English was tough because of the ‘weird’ extract, but more about how the questions were framed. Something about a student? I didn’t want to ask too much as this can sometimes upset her more if she realises she did something wrong (and there’s nothing she can do about it now!)

English Lang is her weakest subject and she worked really hard to improve over the last year and was scoring 8’s. She is trying to be positive (happy to have a break) but was definitely the most deflated she’s been after any exams so far.

DS has been fairly positive about most of the exams - they’ve all been “not too bad”. He came out feeling a bit wobbly because of not leaving enough time for the 40-marker, but it was when he realised later that he’d used the word “stanza” instead of “paragraph” that he sunk into despair.

Marks are not deducted; they are only awarded.
So calling a paragraph a stanza or a simile a metaphor will not be penalised in any way.

@MrsHamlet really? Because that will make my son feel so much better! Thank you

Thank you, @MrsHamlet yes, the poster kindly updated me.

I am aware that for the photo, it can be used as inspiration for a descriptive piece, but does a story need to closely follow the prompt or can it be more loosely linked? Tbh it sounded more like a descriptive piece with a very gentle, quiet story within

Yes, really.

It’s always about a student for q4. As long as she responded to the statement she will be fine. They are dropping the student part next year :)

@SalfordQuays if that was our son coming home, “hey baby well you did 20 minutes on the photo there will be marks gained for what you did do” (because there will)
and “ok you used the word stanza but the markers will be looking for your understanding of the text a word out of place is not going to swing things that much if only it were that easy eh” because that’s true as well. They don’t lose marks they get the awarded and they are not going to be punished over an mis-word.

When our son got his final predictive grades in March we said “lovely the reflect the work you have put in but let’s forget them now they are irrelevant, they don’t matter”
The higher and lower grades. For him, and most, it’s 100% what he does in these exams. Harsh yes, but that is what he has to do.

And it’s the same with any exam he has just taken, we listen to his debrief, have some fun chat, then say ok, well that doesn’t matter now. And onto the next.

And we understand the importance to them of their results, he has a conditional offer for the college he has set his heart on, but the exam he has just sat, there is fuck all he can do about that, just have to park it and move on somehow.

Come results day we will all be with them to celebrate the successes and/or catch them when they fall. Of course.

The teens on here all have parents who are invested, loving, supportive, some don’t have this, whatever happens our teens are already lucky.

Oh dear, am inferring terrible news from the lack of response to my questions on the prompt 😱

Will try to support DC in maximising marks for P2; poor thing, loves English and predicted 8 but has had a pretty hands off teacher (no exam strategy teaching etc). Also cannot write fast due to low tone and dyspraxia and so some of the internet advice (write super fast and 20 well made points for 20 marks) is just inaccessible for them.

DD who has a fast processing all rounder type brain and is good at English and a very creative person, struggles to finish English in time and sometimes history too.

So whilst she wrote 1.5 pages of creative writing and is predicted a 9 she also claims she mismanaged her time a bit. It’s difficult to get it done in the time allocated for most kids. I think the fact she has so much to say is a good thing. I think the concern would be more for kids who do not have much to write at all. Just to give a different perspective on those worrying.

The picture is a prompt. They can write what they like as long as it is creative.

A couple of pages back a pp posted an Instagram video of a teacher who explained this in detail. The mark scheme is very clear that the picture is a prompt and they can write anything creative.

Your DC has done the right thing. It's not 'terrible news' it all sounds good to me