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

[QueenMabby]

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

Same gut punch here, I know I shouldn’t but I will on and off worry about this for a while. This was the first exam we’ve had a sad face for. He really has worked hard but it just doesn’t come easily.

My DD (year 7) has severe ADHD - her school haven’t clarified the extra time arrangements for her end of yr exams yet. She has been more worried about this than DS has about his GCSEs, not sleeping, asking for updates etc. It’s hard for her. I think I will ask work for a sabbatical when she’s doing GCSEs.

School have announced an unplanned study leave starting Monday. As of then they no longer need to be in school except for exams and leavers will be over and done with by 12:30 Friday!

I hope all of you have some lovely leavers shirts - if it’s any comfort my DS , who sees no friends outside school but lights up when he’s been with his ‘friends’ had lots of in jokes on his … so he is perhaps more integrated than I feared - fingers crossed

I’m ashamed to say I didn’t take in what dd said about English through my migraine, other than it went fine. She mentioned persuasive writing about the importance of public transport availability during major events/crises. She also wrote something about a family trip to America (which was pure fiction).

She has taken the rest of the day off for some respite, but has a full revision timetable planned for the weekend.

I totally understand social activity for a ND dc feeling more significant than an exam. Ds1 has two friends from secondary, both also ND, that he sees maybe once a year and I remember the same feeling when they first met up outside of school. I was so worried he would end up a loner at uni, but instead he found a lovely group of friends and even a girlfriend via shared interests. He has just finished his second year and it still warms my heart when he’s off to see them.

Dd is the social one of the three, she tends to scoop up the slightly awkward, shy, ND and alt kids. They are definitely the nerdy group the popular kids think are weirdos, but there’s strength in numbers and after being bullied at primary school, dd is now very confident and self assured enough to handle the haters.

Dd2 is mostly housebound due to illness and has been since they were 13, which obviously seriously affected friendships and typical teen social development. I worry about them a lot, as essentially I was their best friend through their teens. Again though, now 21, they have found their tribe via online support and interest groups and even have a partner who comes to stay a few. times a year.

For a while, a few years back, I was so worried they were all headed for loneliness when it came to friends, but they have all blossomed and proved me wrong.

Hi mums! As an English examiner I’m posting this for a few people who might pass on to their kids… if for q4 they wrote about similarities OR differences… IT DOESN’T MATTER!!! Question will be marked in exactly the same way. Examiner training stresses this intensely. Hope this helps

Thank you for this I’m not sure why but it’s made me tear up a bit. My DS is such a lovely boy and I just would like the rest of the world to understand how funny , kind, caring and loyal a person he truly is. It’s nice to hear the positive stories of your children and I hope my DS is as blessed.

DS had English then geography.

Surprisingly he thought English was ‘pretty good’. Not sure about the rest of the paper but I know he was pleased with his persuasive writing. He wrote something about bus services in the snow and weighing up safety and costs of providing services in bad weather vs peoples transport needs, arguing on balance that it wasn’t practical (or something like that).

Geography was ‘hmmm… fine?’ It’s kind of the one that we’ve said, you don’t want to do it for a level, you don’t need it going forward (in the same way as English etc), so whilst you need to pass it, it is ok to give it less priority than say history or maths which you want to do for a level. I think it’s possibly his weakest subject, that and German.

He did say they did a revision session in between. He (luckily!) helped a friend who asked what grey water was, which then came up in the exam. He said they worked in a group and one of the girls was brilliant, and clearly knew her stuff… but somehow freaked out in the exam and answered all the sections on the bit where they are just supposed to answer the questions on one of the three areas they’ve studied. I don’t know her, she’s not one of his close friends, but apparently she’s very nice. I feel absolutely gutted for her. She didn’t finish the paper as ran out of time. They still have one more paper to go so I desperately hope she can pull it back.

DD said the exact same thing. She just did a deep dive on similes and then rambled on about the subject. Hoping she found enough of the right stuff to say!

Writing about mental health and the great outdoors was ok here for the AQA English last question. I'm pleased as that sounds like something DC could write about.

Late to the SEN journey here. It can be utterly heartbreaking to have to advocate for DC, reach out for support, and then have it refused.

I take my hat off to those of you who have supported your DC for longer. You are QUEENS.

A happy and full day at school can be the easiest thing in the world for many. But for others it it can be the hardest thing in the world.

Mine would have written about similes and that would have been that. I imagine he will only have a couple of marks for that 12 marker. Such a shame as he needs to pass to do what he wants next year and the first paper didn’t go well either.

Yeah we are in the same boat. Very borderline in the mocks but needs a 5 at least for A levels. Urgh.

Underwhelmed that is so kind of you to put this in the chat. Thank you. I am sure there will be a lot of relieved Y11s!

DS said he thought it went as well as it could go. Eng Lang is not a strength of his. I was away from home last night but wish I had seen the chat with the revision advice! Anyway he did watch a Youtube lesson which he thought was helpful for today's exam. We still have a pile of school books but he never opens those books of secrets and answers.

Thinking of you all and of course, those of you with children who need extra time, and have health challenges or less of a social life than they would like. I have a DC with an invisible illness, it felt like he had an adult's illness in a child's body - so do I do understand as much as I can. I know what it's like to have a good day then the phone rings and the rug gets pulled from under you and the good day just disintegrates. It hits extra hard then when peers can't just be kind. I used to think, don't you think he already has enough on his plate without you being an absolute arse?
Anyway, wishing all of you and your DC a lovely and hopefully, calm weekend.

I think you can write about the effect of the similies to get marks too (but I'm no expert).

Ds2 wrote about a struggle. Which is odd because that boy has never burst a blood vessel doing anything tricky. Apparently he wrote about ds1 running a marathon, the training, the emotional, physical and mental sacrifices. Then there was a storm, event cancelled, and the subsequent disappointment.
I was impressed with him dragging that out of the bag. Who knew? This is the boy who did zero training for a sub 20 minute 5k, 1 minute before the deadline, with a shoelace undone, to get an extra point on his PE coursework.
He told us all this over take-away fish and chips. I said I was impressed with his hidden depth.

DS has just told me that a number of his friends wrote about differences rather than similarities- so obviously not an uncommon thing to have done - hope the DD that did is recovered

This is so good of you to post thank you;

I have deliberately not asked DS for specifics for this reason as we are where we are.

Yes mine said the same that lots of others said they had done differences.

Sorry so many have been unhappy with English, it sounds like lots of common issues though so definitely not just them

Interesting. My DD2s tutor, who is also an examiner, said the opposite. The question clearly asked for similarities, so if you didn’t address that in the answer you wouldn’t get the marks.

Ultimately they are assessed on their ability to compare the texts, use judicious quotes and analyse a range of devices.

Your post made me doubt myself but I double checked with several examiners with whom I share a network and all have said the same as me so I am 99% sure!!

I am not going to ask DS what he wrote. It won't change the outcome and may only serve to worry him.

DS has been playing FIFA "as PE revision".

I've been out all evening (race) so he's had a steak (what happens when I go out) and I am happy to say has reached the next housekeeping level. Instead of needing to repaint the kitchen after a steak ("gotta get the butter really hot"), he's washed up really well (ie not just waved the pan under the tap).

The sceptic in me thinks this might be because we're going to go out tomorrow later afternoon to get his prom suit and have a bite to eat, and he wants to keep me sweet. The tired Mum in me is cheering.

Hopefully you’re correct as I know a number of children who answered with differences only. Would it be possible to get full marks without answering the actual question? I could see if you said there are a couple of similarities, but far more differences etc that would be fine. But to not acknowledge the question would be odd. ( I am just a parent with limited knowledge of the subject, so I’m just going off what my DDs tutor said).

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I've said it before. I'll say it again.

Exam boards actively seek to reward candidates for what they can do, not penalise them for what they can't.