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

[QueenMabby]

Continuation of the year 11 support thread. Go!

Is all of Spanish still to come? remember to listen out for negatives and changes of tone in the listening paper.

Good things to practise are vocab for the reading and listening, including multiple words for the same thing and any non-cognates (they never want you to know "tennis", it will be "sailing").

For writing it's key to get verbs accurate and use a range of tenses. And practise translations (both ways as there's one in the reading) as that's a place you can pick up marks. Remember the translation to English needs to make sense (you'd be surprised!) and always put something reasonable in for unknown vocab as your guess may be correct. When translating from English, again, sometimes a workaround will be acceptable (can't recall barato? no es caro may well be fine).

Hey, good to hear your DS is having a chilled bank holiday one, and getting some R&R!

Ah. The masking…. Yes, that’s really tough and is difficult to deal with generally, and it’s making my trying to ascertain how exams have gone/ where he is up to revision wise/ if he’s overly concerned or worried about revision or generally really difficult. I know all DC are different and DS18 is NT but the trying to read DS16 is so incredibly hard at times. I read on here about some topics their DC are revising/ came up in exams/ any of this and I don’t get anything from my DS at all, he just blocks and masks things ( when he finally talked to me about the 👿 Eng Lang Paper 1, it seemed as tho he didn’t/ couldn’t verbalise pitch me, until he had a meme of it to use as a tool to broach the subject). Talking Therapy sounds good for your DS, is he finding it helpful? My DS had a nurse he spoke to in school but she felt he needed more help than she could offer, so he’s been referred elsewhere. He tried a number of different ADHD meds, his last prescribed one was unobtainable in UK for so long, ( a couple of years ago), he got used to not having them so is currently only on his epilepsy meds. Does your DS find them a benefit, exam wise? I hope they are helping.

It is a shame that his school, despite his diagnosis having been firmly in place for years when he started in Yr 7 have been of no support to him. He was only granted access to a laptop after a couple of years of us desperately trying to get one allowed, even offering to buy one ourselves, and his writing being illegible. Bullying wasn’t stopped and we had to fight for him to get extra time etc in his GCSEs.

Study leave sounds great for your DS and the class sizes and year group sizes, also. It sounds like they have done everything they can to support him, which is reassuring, despite him getting a diagnosis relatively late in the day.

Drama… ah.. I get it now! Well, he may hopefully find the writing part better than he fears, and it’s positive that he should hopefully get a good pass 🤩.. The essay writing improvement is good, too.

I think I mentioned earlier, I don’t know very much about at what point you can take functional skills? DS failed his Nov and Spring mock (3 in Spring), too, I think that’s what you mean about your DS? Can you book a FS as backup? ( I can’t imagine DS agreeing to go through this trauma again 🙄).

Your Plan A sounds very solid! Does your DS know what he wishes to do, yet? Plan B, will that mean leaving his current school? It’s good you have plans in place, tho hopefully Plan A shall come to pass!!

Goid luck starting back with the revision in the morning! 🤞

Have just read back over the thread from this weekend, but failed to remember who said what. I’m exhausted after this weekend, thanks to a ridiculous to do list and dh being ill.

Dd, on the other hand, has had a fantastic weekend. Her best friend ended up staying for two nights, instead of just the planned one. They’ve been to both days of a local music event, played computer games, done each other’s make-up, rampaged through dh’s record collection, emptied the larder and fridge and made lots of mess in my kitchen. So worth all the chaos, mess and noise to see them happy and smiling again. Such a different picture than the week before when they were both absolutely broken.

As promised, she got straight back into her revision after lunch today.

Interesting reading other people’s dc also have a problem with the GCSE Music composition. Dd did really well with the performance, but hates her final composition piece, as she felt she had to ruin it to meet the criteria. She also knows her grade will be brought down by the written exam, so she’s definitely not dreaming of an 8/9 and a 7 would be a surprise. Honestly, she loves music, writing and playing/performing, but GCSE Music made her realise she really doesn’t want to take it any further, outside of her hobbies.

thank you @clary, that’s super helpful 🙏🏼

@MrsHamlet that sounds like a punishing marking schedule- hadn’t really considered that examiners will be marking around many other commitments. Here’s praying you all get enough rest!

"Interesting reading other people’s dc also have a problem with the GCSE Music composition. Dd did really well with the performance, but hates her final composition piece, as she felt she had to ruin it to meet the criteria. She also knows her grade will be brought down by the written exam, so she’s definitely not dreaming of an 8/9 and a 7 would be a surprise. Honestly, she loves music, writing and playing/performing, but GCSE Music made her realise she really doesn’t want to take it any further, outside of her hobbies." @SilverSnaffles

100% this on ruining things to meet criteria. There are no marks for actually producing a good piece of music.

It's like cooking a recipe where actually it would taste much better if you didn't add 5 spice, and gherkins and chilli and honey... but you get points from the examiners for doing so even if end product is pretty inedible!

A level music looks even worse!

What I will say is once you are past school, it's completely different and much, much better. So don't let that stop her from keeping it up.

I honestly think DD would have been put off completely if she hadn't been working on music outside school. It's a real shame when kids are put off just to pass an exam. And we're in that same boat where the written paper isn't going to play to strengths.

@clary much thanks will incorporate into all the revision
yes all Spanish here after half term, except speaking that’s already been done, listening, reading, writing still left.

I did French so little help really but will try and apply skills

Feeling stressed reading about GCSE Music now! DC did well in performance but I realise I have no idea what they've scored for composition. They did complain about the teacher advising to add this and that, I said they should listen to him as he's got experience actually marking this stuff but no idea whether they took it on board.

No revision all weekend but I'll insist they get on with it this morning. They've not done any Music revision so far and there is also Geography, which is heavy on "stuff to remember"!

My dd2 is doing Core Maths (her A level choices are History, Geography and Chemistry) the 6th Form she is at has all pupils doing a Science but not doing a Math A level have to do Core math. She got a 8 in her GCSE math and has said that Core math is no where near as hard as her Gcse and doesn't really see the point of it, and is no where near comparable to a Math A Level.

@Poisoningpigeons really didn’t mean to stress anyone re gcse music- dd2 is in a weird position with it in that she is at a (classical) music school. The teaching and expectations are different but being excellent at playing doesn’t mean you can compose!

my dd1 got a perfectly respectable 7 with far less musical ability and very little teaching - I think it is just those top two grades that are hard to hit. Dd2 joined late too - so hasn’t benefitted from years of teaching to a good standard- in fact she had no music teacher at all until year 10 as her old school kept losing them.

it is an a level compulsory choice for her which is why I’m worried. Fair enough that it is- she’s funded to do this and genuinely loves music, but the composing has been a slog. Don’t think she’s going to be the next John Williams!

Instead of Music A level my daughter's school offers the RSL Music Practitioners qualification which is 100% assessed with focus on playing, performing and composing.

Just logging in, struggling to keep up with so many posts, but trying to read all.

Good morning all, DD’s refusal to take any days off revision has had predictable results - spent all day yesterday being miserable over Latin verse - so she’s off out with DM today.

That's very useful to know, thank you Clutter.

DD is in two minds whether to do Maths A level and her plan b college offers Core Maths, so she was considering to take that as a 4th A level. But from what you say, it may not be worth giving up on her preferred plan a college (which does not offer Core Maths).

DD has taken the whole BH weekend off, which I think is fair enough, she was exhausted. Meeting a friend today for "revision".

About Music, DD is determined to take it as A level. I actually think she shouldn't, simply because with only 3-4 A levels that reduces her future options. She knows getting a high grade is hard and that she could study Music outside college, but still wants to do it. Fingers crossed it'll be fine.

Other than music A level what other subjects is she choosing? With regard to core maths it’s nothing like A level and as clutter highlights it’s not hard. My DD2 also got an easy 8 at gcse maths but would have struggled at A level, yet found core maths straightforward and very useful for psychology & economics (plus the data analysis modules in her degree). Also very useful for social sciences especially if they offer the ‘maths in context’ one. The regular Maths A level would better support sciences. However, I wouldn’t let that solely dictate choice of 6th form. DD3 would have chosen core maths if she was staying at her current school but her new one does not offer it, which is a shame as all her choices are social sciences!

DS is also doing Music GCSE. He got full marks for performance and did ok for the composition (he actually enjoyed doing that) but got to put in a lot of work if he's to get a good grade for the appraising. He's working through the set pieces now but needs to do a lot of listening practise.

He's feeling a bit under the weather these days, and it's a struggle to keep him motivated too, so things are going slowly here. I did some PE revision with him with flashcards yesterday and he responded well to that and to DH working with him for Chemistry. So, it's been a bit of a collaborative effort while he's not 100%, trying to get something done. English revision is still looming and needs to be tackled soon as it'll be his week point.

OK then NoRevision is up (finally)
Will let him have 20 minutes with brother before I staple him to a revision chair!
I might be nice, lull him into a false sense of security, and go through all science paper 2 topics to see where the gaps are.
Then hit him with Spanish!

@DataColour well done to him! DD2 really needs to get on with actually listening to her set pieces - though it is a while away so she's finding it hard to get motivated. Most of her friends actually did GCSE music in year 9 as if you're a specialist at her school you take it early, but she hadn't joined, so she's a bit on her own studying it. Different board too, so she can't even nick their notes.

Here, maths is happening, and a smidgen of biology but it feels so hard to keep the momentum up!

@NotDonna she wants to do Music, French, English Lit and Maths, but she'll need to negotiate with new college to be allowed to take 4.

She's unsure what she wants to do in the future, so she's picked subjects she enjoys. But A levels being such a narrow choice, we're worried she may be closing too many doors. Hoping Maths helps with that.

@stickygotstuck I don’t think core maths will be that useful with French, music & eng lit! They’re a broad combo esp if takes maths too! Obviously an all rounder.

DS is allegedly getting stuck into some Q5s for English. He started 45 mins late so will prob only get one question done, he is faffing, but the way I see it is at least he is looking at it and sort of doing something.

He asked 'whyyyyy' we are doing this. I said because we can't go back to cramming in revision the night before the exam!

No arguments yet though so that's a winner 😂

Can anyone point DD in the right direction please?
She has emerged from her slumbers and Vietnam is today’s task apparently. She says there’s hardly any sources. Not entirely sure what she means by that. She’s doing IGCSE edexcel (Vietnam & medicine in paper 2) if anyone out there can point her in the right direction re ‘Vietnam sources’ - I’m thinking she means questions, maybe 🤔

You always close doors with A levels, but if those are the subjects she likes then it’s good to keep them going. Tough to take Eng lit degree without the A level. Great that she is doing French!

I would say tho that while maths is always a good A level to have and if she loves it, great, in itself with those others it won’t keep any doors open. It’s a great science support but she has no other sciences (science degrees often prefer two sciences); and many popular unis will want FM as well for a maths degree (they don’t say so, but if you look at the stats, most will have it). Tho a less popular uni may be fine with just maths. I would take it only to “keep doors open” tho.

My Dd is very similar and an all rounder. Chosen Maths, English lit, German A levels and a btec in Music which I think keep her options open. The latter is just for her own interest as she loves singing. Doing 3 other A levels on top of the btec as some unis accept the ucas points from the btec but not all. School is fine with 4 subjects.

Thanks @clary

She likes Maths and she feels there's no point doing Core Maths. However, I doubt she'll get a 8/9 in her GCSE.

Can I just check whether you meant you would or wouldn't take Maths to keep doors open?

DD is now very worried about the fact that she has no idea what to do later in life. She's simply too young to decide now.

She needs guidance and I feel totally out of my depth to provide it. The more I look into it, the less sure I am.