Year 11 - 2024/2025: It’s all downhill from here!

[QueenMabby]

New thread to help us get through the next week or so!

I hope you’re ok. 🤗

I actually thought of just quietly leaving the thread, but I just couldn’t not say anything when I know the disadvantage children are at to be awarded extra time, and even with the extra time they’re so often still at a disadvantage. The reason they get the extra time often impacts every part of their life and I will always speak up about it. Let’s hope the can get back on track to being a source of support for all.

It sounds like a lot kids will be pleased when History is over. There is such a lot to remember.

RattyRevision (yes he has been dragged back to the kitchen table claiming to know everything) “then these past papers should take no time then”

has Eng lang (paper 2 non fiction) Friday morning
and geography paper 2 Friday afternoon

so we have all day at home tomorrow to fight about revision (who doesn’t love a day like that)

but next week has (not in order)
maths 3
geography 3
biology 2
chemistry 2
Spanish reading/listening

all morning exams
think biology first…….

(we have run through biology he seems ok on that)
will run through chemistry tomorrow (see where the gaps are)

he hates Spanish so will leave it because he’s a bit down this afternoon might ambush him later with a couple of listening sections

You find it upsetting that some of us are discovering during the GCSE process that our kids may have anxiety and ADHD?

My older DS has ASD but tests genius level. The two are not mutually exclusive.
In real life, all my friends with kids with ADHD and or ASD and or OCD/anxiety have told me to get all my kids assessed, to make sure. However, like @aliceinawonderland I was put off by the extra hassle and waiting lists. And my DD masks.

And now we are supposedly being ableist? It is very normal for these kind of things to be discovered late and often during something stressful like the GCSE process itself. Which those of you with kids with difficulties should absolutely know.
All I said was that DD was overfocussing on other kids getting extra time. She clearly does know something is not quite right with her.

This fills me with so much hope for my DD going to college!

Anyway, I am out now for good. Thanks a lot for the pile on.

Yes, you're right - fine is good, I'll take fine! I believe someone was caught with a phone in a past exam, - they have been told they risk being disqualified from the whole exam board if caught.

He is revising History now (History and French tomorrow), said if felt strange to be back in the exam room.

DS said that for paper 1, later in the day, the questions and answers appeared on line (?tiktok) he's hoping that happens again so he can try to work out his grade (I think ignorance is bliss).

Hope your DC are okay after the maths. It's such a tough paper.

I did post a message of support to you when you first said you have let your daughter down, because although I was disgusted at your previous comments, as a mum, it upsets me to think of another mum feeling that way.

It is not too late to help your daughter going forward. You do need to change your thought process though as I said. A diagnosis, not a label, could help your daughter. You would get a lot of support if you posted a thread giving your situation and asking what you can do to help you daughter. Mumsnet can be horrible at times, but it can be incredibly supportive so I hope you do post about your daughter’s issues with anxiety and slow processing and that you get signposted to support. All the best.

No worries - thank you - glad it isn’t just me

I wasn't diagonsed till uni - depsite my best efforts DD1 wasn't either - then it was dsylexia,dyspraxia and inattentive adhd for her.

I'm not sure under new guidance she'd have got extra time or not - she does at uni but no exams all course work and she says time past deadlines don't help.

Last maybe 10 exams - including masters I got extra time honestly didn't help as much as I'd have expected.

DS shows clear signs of something - I've banged my head against brick walls and got nowhere.

I do feel guiltly that we couldn't afford private diagnosis couldn't get past GP/waiting lists or get the school to do anything- but have to concentrated on how we can help and support them.

The next step may well suit them much better that GCSE and schools do as well.

Your posts were offensive.

You are leaving the thread, fair enough. I would say the same to you as I said to @aliceinawonderland, seek help and support for you and your children, a diagnosis can help in many ways. All the best.

FWIW I am an invigilator and exclusively work with students who have EAA such as extra time / trelson or word processers etc. Mainly as 1-1 invigilator who reads and scribes etc. I also have a child who will be doing GCSEs next year who qualifies for 25% extra time in all subjects. I am quite au fait with how the process works and having had to provide all the evidence myself can attest that the assessment process is extremely rigorous and the exam boards don't just accept that they are needed on a whim.

best wishes to all students and families going through this exam season! I really love working with my candidates. It's such a stressful process and I really pride myself on making things as comfortable and as calm in the room as I possibly can.

I'll be the parent next year. [quivers]

Snap!! 😭

The reality clearly is that it is not just the DC with some challenges. Thankfully my work does offer a free diagnosis pathway and I am happy to report I got the all clear.
If you were meaning to be that offensive @ExamStuff

Hear hear. Thank you for saying things so much better than I could.

My daughter has extra time, lap top and rest breaks. I’d give anything for her not to need these. Her diagnoses are not a fucking label and no system playing is done. If one doesn’t/cba to jump through the endless hoops that are needed to help a child with SEN, they can’t then expect others not to.

Math 2 (Edexcel IGCSE) was not much fun for DD today, and there have been many tears. She’s spent probably 15 hrs over the past couple of days poring over papers, going over and over stuff, but said it was not good. We’ve agreed that we’ll assume she’s not passed it, so anything above that will be a win…! If she has to resit in the Autumn, then so be it.

Next up is Geography P2 of 3 on Friday, so she’s just watching crap on Netflix for the rest of today.

I’m actually lost now. I hope your children get whatever they need going forward to meet their potential and to be happy. I’m not going to continue to engage with you or derail the thread. Have a good rest of the day.

I'm so sorry to all on this. I have a foster daughter with extra time (much needed - she arrived from Ukraine just before the end of year 10, didn't have it for GCSEs, definitely needs it for A-Levels just because she's working in a new language). She was told a week before the exams, erroneously as it turns out, that she didn't have it. Discovered only in walking into her first A-Level that she did. I am beyond relieved and the GUILT I felt when I thought they'd taken it away was immeasurable. Like I'd dropped the ball, and not the exam team. She is much better with it and I'm so glad for her.

Neither of my own DD's have it.

DD1 ran out of time in an exam last week and I am ashamed to say that for the tiniest moment I felt jealous of those whose children had it, because so many do and she would have got a better grade on this one paper with it.

But it was not a helpful thought. There's no reason for her to get it and I'm hugely grateful she doesn't have the challenges of those who do. She just was unfortunate with her time management.

DD2, whatever other challenges she has, certainly has no requirement for extra time - her brain, while far from perfect, works at a speed most of us cannot match. But I WISH I'd spoken to someone about her wearing ear defenders in exams as she wears earplugs routinely in school and I had no idea she'd got to the point of wearing them so often. I'm hoping it won't affect her that she's struggled with the sounds around her.

I think it's really hard - GCSEs feel so unlevel as a playing field in many ways anyway and we're all trying to do the best for our kids, who are all individuals with such individual challenges. I hope all of us continue to find support here, as this is such a hard time.

Everyone's child has hopes and dreams that somehow relate to these exams, extra time or not.

Ratty wants a PhD in Astrophysics (something spaceships or other)
his best mate wants to not have to resit maths and eng lang.

So you could say almost as opposite as you can get.

And right now I would say the not having to resit seems like the steepest mountain to climb out of the pair of them. (We have tried on many many occasions this year to help, and think we have a bit but jeepers it's difficult getting that teenager to read a page)

So shouldn't we all be trying to raise the bar for everyone?

There are minds out there that could be part of the solutions to many problems the human race is facing out there, that just need some extra time in their GCSEs to be given a chance. And if the bar is raised for them the bar is raised for all surely?

I can say with upmost certainty that another student getting an extra 22 minutes on the maths exam will make absolutely no difference to Ratty, if he got an extra 22 minutes on his maths exam it would also make no difference to him. He doesn't need it and isn't even aware never mind thinks it's not fair on him, if others do.

I need his Steam account to be disconnected from the world wide web, that would help I reckon, but apparently that's infringing his human rights or something! Or YouTube to suffer a cyber attack apart from the videos that are quite useful for us at the moment.

I can sort of see in microcosm during TutorMum time, that after about an hour or so, no more information is going in, his Steam account is calling him, extra time in an exam for him (who doesn't need it) would most likely make everything worse, he would most likely go back and change answers to something more overcomplicated and make things worse, that's what usually happens in relation to other situations.

I truly hope that the exam time those students who have it is beneficial right now. And for those that don't have it or need it, that they get through what they can to the best they can in the time given. There is no point in worrying outside these parameters, although clearly we do all worry.

(I have resorted to feeding him coffee now to stop the yawning) still this morning we crossed the hurdle of now having sat more exams than there are left, 12 down, 10 to go, come Friday afternoon we are into single figures, quite high single figures but single figures nonetheless.

And I think if he was sitting history tomorrow I would be either a) crying or b) putting whisky in my coffee or c) both. It's bad enough that we have geography on Friday! (We do have whisky though just in case will see how tomorrow goes).

Despite being quite vocal on the thread, it has upset me. So thank you.

Sorry to hear that your daughter doesn’t feel Maths went well today. I really hope it’s not as bad as she thinks, but as you say, if she has to resit, so be it. There is always another way through. It sounds like she’s tried her best so I hope there are no more tears. Poor girl. I hate hearing about children being so upset. 😢

Crap on Netflix sounds like a plan. I watch more than my fair share of crap on Netflix and I could pass an exam on that. 😂

It is a shame you and @Araminta1003didn’t come on this thread and ask for advice if you “ feel you failed your child”. You would have received nothing but wholehearted support. But, you did not receive nastiness or maliciousness.

I tried to keep this thread a positive and supportive thread today, by carrying on the threads usual chat, after it was disrupted as it was being brilliantly handled-@ExamStuff @SuperTrooper14amongst others. However, I can’t not comment on your referring to posters as “nasty characters”.. and “being malicious”. How so? I cannot see one example of that.

Nor of any “piling on”, as @Araminta1003accused people of.

My DS is Autistic, has ADHD, has motor problems, Epilepsy and vision problems. He has “the benefit” of “extra time” in his exams. It would take a lot more than this, a “stop clock” and a laptop ( because he can’t write properly) to put him on this “level playing field” being mentioned.

The lovely posters on here are all here to support DC of varying abilities. No one has belittled me or my DS when I have mentioned his striving to get a 4 in English, for example. The posters on here are kind, supportive and are invaluable presently, in this GCSE hell. I have a DS18 who is NT, off to Uni in September and coasted his GCSE’s. I barely knew if he had an exam that day. However, with DS16, ND it is a completely different school learning experience . Yesterday, he was bullied- again- at school. Which had zero to do with GCSE’s. However, I mentioned what had happened in a post and the posters I’ve been chatting with all gave their time to me from their own thoughts/ worries/concerns about their DC to offer kindness, support and counsel to me and to my DS. I wish I had stood alongside them in handling the derailing of the thread, instead of trying to keep the usual chat going. They offered you both compassion, not nastiness and maliciousness. I do hope you get the support you feel your child requires. But, please don’t use your guilt over your perceived failing of your child to accuse others who are trying to help of such things . We all want what’s best for our DC and I get that it’s easy to lash out at others if you feel you have messed up somehow. But, please don’t beat yourself up. We’ve all been there ( I know I have!). But, it’s really not too late to get help for your DC going forward, so I’d suggest starting looking into that now, before A’Levels start .

I wish you both good luck for the rest of the exams and going forward.

@ExamStuff@SuperTrooper14

Hey, just echoing @VivaDixie.. Thank you 🙏..

I tried to just keep “ chatting 💩 “, as my DS call it,but obviously I was aware and keeping up to date. I really, really wanted to post ( everything is not a competition, but I’m damn sure my DS would rather be like his brother, breezed through , as oppose to getting extra time which most of the time he doesn’t use as his ADHD focus will have been lost a long time before, so can’t think of what to say plus he genuinely thinks putting his head on his desk to “ clear his brain” is a good use of it)..but you guys were handling it so well and I didn’t WANT there to be a “ pile on” as was alleged. However, it made me cross for accusations of “nasty characters” and “ maliciousness” to be made, so I said something but I apologise and wish I’d stood up sooner.

You guys have all been so wonderful with everything for DS and me- and I couldn’t thank you all enough 💖🙏xx

ps- now I need to play catch up to go back and find out how @ChannelLightVesselkitty is!!! 😳🤞🤞🤞

It looks like I've missed some difficult posts. I may have time to go back and catch up.

DS says maths was "good I think".

He's given me his cold.

Thank you. Yours and @VivaDixie posts have made me a bit teary! I've been sitting here thinking what I would give for my child NOT to need extra time in the first place and how sitting GCSEs are just one in a line of hurdles she will need to cross. We didn't fight for extra time to game the system, we fought because the alternative was her not passing any. As it is, we are going be thrilled with the 4s and 5s she hopefully will get!

Hey all, just caught up…supposed to be working 😬 Been quite the few hours - not to prolong the “discussion” but we need to remember we all want the best for our children but not at the expense of other people’s children. I don’t know much about it but I’d expect very few of the students that have extra time will get enough of an advantage to surpass those with no extra time that work to the same ability level. I’m just concentrating on supporting my daughter with what she’s got to work with.

DD thought edexcel maths higher was “pretty good” - thought the first part was easy, to the extent that she checked that she hadn’t been given the foundation one in error. It quickly become obvious that it was indeed the higher paper and thought the last few questions were hard but did her best. She would be happy with a 5 for maths and said it’s not her strong suit. I do remind her that she got 7 in mocks and that’s pretty damn good, she’s just among a lot of 8s and 9s! Ideally, she wants a 6 as that means she won’t have to do core maths alongside her psychology A level but it’s not the end of the world if she does have to do it.

She’s doing a bit of English language revision today and then concentrating on geography tomorrow. 5 exams next week so a busy weekend coming up!

Is ratty revision preferred to norevision 🤣🤣

Are you all finished at the end of next week or does it all go on for a third week after half term?

DD (she's 20) has a trial driving lesson in 2 weeks, just hope she copes as she needs it to get to kennels - for some reason they are all in the middle of nowhere, can't think why ... Have to wait for the maths resit to be done first, she wouldn't cope with both.