Year 11 - 2024/2025: And relax! Support Thread for the summer holidays.

[QueenMabby]

New thread to carry us all through the summer as we transition from dealing with stressed teens to dealing with bored teens!

@TeenToTwenties@TheLivelyViper….. ahhhh! Thank you so much! Yes, totally, @TeenToTwenties, I echo that sentiment! There is so much talk of “Grade 9” students, that 7’s, for example, seem a bit lost “ mid table”… and very tough for the “8’s” ( @Whoooo💕)…but they are anything but.

I feel for all of us with expectations and the relief/pride/disappointment the 21st will bring. But, think how far we’ve all come and, whatever the results, how great our DC have been. I just hope DS will get his required grades, just to pass those, and for him to be able leave the whole mental anguish of the exams behind, without need for resits. For some reason, students seem to be finding this years GCSE’s more stressful than DS18 3 years ago. Maybe that’s just my experience.

Thank you both again, for the comprehensive breakdown .. much appreciated 😸.

Definitely go back in and talk to teachers, subject teachers and anyone else, they'll give good advice. The college will likely be lenient as well so call them and see what they say.

Also exams have gotten much harder the last 10 years, more content to know, harder questions (more nuanced analysis and evaluation needed), more exams per subject and harder marks needed for each grade. So yes it's definitely more stressful now. Plus last 3 years, grades were nicer (you needed less marks for each grade due to post Covid) so teacher/centre predicted grades. The last few years the screws have been tightened and now grade boundaries will go back to 2019 (last 2 years I'd say) and now are getting slightly higher for some subjects.

Ah, right, I see! Excellent. Thank you so much for that. Ok, so essentially to find out beforehand who the best person to grab, who will be there on the day ( I have got contacts at school to find out), and then explain to DS the importance of speaking with them THERE AND THEN ( if he can find them/they are available), and that only he can do this. Good… thank you, again, @MrsHamlet.. I now have a plan in place, should he need it. 🙏

Brilliant! Thank you very much. I will do that, I’ll explain to him it’s imperative we (he) speaks to people, and we don’t just leave ( I absolutely flunked my first round of A Levels. In my case, no staying around would have helped (😳!).

Those are very salient points, and yes, the content and questions do seem to be progressively harder…. How I wish there was a viable exam alternative 🤞🤔….

Thanks again 😸!

Exactly that. The exams officer will be the person that gets the papers back - we have a form that students need to fill in for that.

As far as someone looking over the papers, that's a bit more complicated. In my school, it's me and two other colleagues who do English because we examine those papers.

I'll be working from results day, but the others may not be. In other schools, though, they may ask you to pay an admin fee or they may simply say no to looking them over.

If they say no, then it's up to you to decide if it's worth a review. And at £50ish per paper, it's a lot of money.

@Sisublondie
Heres hoping ds gets what he needs. To get to where he need to be. The next stage. That's all any of us need right now isn't it, for our dc to get to the next stage.

Not all of us are super bright. Did I tell you I failed physics GCSE and my Dad was a physics teacher? 🤣

I agree, all are welcome here. Some of our dc just need a pass. Sometimes the brightest dominate, but let's not forget all others, the 4'ers too. This thread supports all.

And OP QueenM presumably will we have a second thread open on results day, because there will be many of us who will need help and support if dc don't get the grades!

@Oblomov25
Couldn't agree more.
It's odd, as older really had to work her socks off for her (very good) grades. She went on to study her preferred subjects at A level, then into undergraduate and postgraduate.
Dd is arguably more naturally academically able, but does not have older dds work ethic! 😃
As long as she gets what she needs for her next step - that's what counts.
Neither of my dc were/are 9 x 9s across the board pupils.
But bloody well done to those dc that are! ☺️🥂

I’m keeping an eye on the post count don’t you worry ! 🤣
New thread will be done when we get towards 1000 or for the morning of results day whichever comes first!

If your DC has worked towards and is expecting a 9 in a subject and will disappointed if that's not on their results slip, what's our speech?

I'm going with the, "It's more than enough for the next steps so it doesn't matter," angle. Any other wise words I should have up my sleeve???

After a lovely holiday, I've moved on and really don't want to think about school days ever again! Hope your DC have all seen the eateries which are offering freebies with a results slip.

^ exactly that.
My dd has been predicted 2 x 9s but the subjects have to be externally moderated so that grade could go down.
(It did last year...)
I was a bit concerned about maths, but now she is going to an FE college she only needs a 4.

Wow. Which subject? Is all the marking done now or is it still continuing for a bit?

English Language. All done.

I know about Greggs (which we don’t have near us!!) any others?

I thought it would be that or maths once I’d typed. Crazy to think the lang is all marked now. Are they still deciding grade boundaries or is it all sorted? Are all the subjects all marked by now?

I'd assume it's all over by now.

Free Stuff On GCSE & IGCSE Results Day 2025

They'll all be done by now, grade boundaries are being decided based on how high people scored and how hard or easy the paper was in comparison to previous years. But I'm guessing the final tweaks are being made and it's all done unless they disagree or something.

That’s good to know. I did wonder how late the deadline extended but makes sense that they’d be sorting grade boundaries etc now. It’s gone so quickly! Roll on the 21st now - just want to know the results!

🤢…..that’s how that just made me feel!! 🙀🙀🙀…
😹….. I know it’ll be what it’ll be, and all those irritating sayings…. But I like to believe the results aren’t available to any entity until DS asks for his at school!! When the Results Fairies 🧚 will magically miss a few little passes on his slip…….. 🤞🙏🤞 🍀!!!

To be fair normally the way it is now is that a whole person isn't marked by one examiner - the questions are split up. So q1 goes to one person, q2 another. The examiners tend to mark the same questions over and over again. And they know nothing about the candidate, not their race, gender, name etc and with only making one question can't make out the mark for one whole paper - let alone the fact there's normally two or three. So you can still believe in the results fairies because it's slightly true other than centres getting them the day before.

My friend is an English examiner and she explained to me that the scripts they get are anonymous - no gender, age, name, school name, no identifying info.
She marks a couple of questions per paper, so the whole paper could be several examiners?
My friend who's dd is getting a level results this week had just asked to meet up on Friday
...she's really anxious 😕

@Oblomov25… yes!! You did!! The physics part! 😳! What DID your Dad say?! 😹

Thank you for your kind words. 🥰 That’s why I love it in our group….. it’s all very inclusive…. I reread mine, I hope it came across that I was saying just like 4’s like me are stressing about getting over the line, the “ grade boundary” 7/8/9’s are equally stressing about theirs! It’s all personal to the DC… to get to, as you so rightly said, their own next stage. I wish same to you 🤞🙏.

When my twin and I were away with our Mum for her 80th last weekend ( in a spa hotel for the first time, only half an hour away.. but felt like a month in Bali! Highly recommend it! 😈😻… stress was a distant memory and 21st was just DS18’s birthday!), I was trying to remember what, if any, A’s I got at gcse… mum says she’d try to find our certificates.. but, amusingly, we both remember we DID get an A in “typing”?, or something! “ Keyboard Communications “?!
! Don’t think I’ll mention that non-triumph to DS 😹..

Yes, @QueenMabby, thank you so much for confirming you’ll set up the next stage for us, too! You have kept very many people sane during this experience! For which I thank you , again 🙏💕x

I SO did not know that the paper is split up! I hadn’t even thought about it… That’s actually really interesting…. ( and the 👿 part of me thinks, well, if one examiner doesn’t have to mark one paper, why should our precious DC have to take it! )..

Ummm. Yes, good luck with your friend. That’s super scary. This GCSE experience has made me so grateful DS18 is August birthday and DS16 September….. I hope 🤞 calm to all on here who have the “ double” this year- I know there are a few!! 🍀

My Dad did examining for 40 years and it has been interesting to see how it has evolved from when whole papers were sent, to whole papers online to just questions
History was dividing into questions 2017/2018 I think from memory - it’s is because each examiner has a speciality (his was Cold War and Russia) and whereas he could mark the whole syllabus he was quicker in the area of his expertise so could mark more and less moderation needed. Once you sign off that they are marking a question probably it needs less oversight
also means more papers get the same people marking them so more consistency
used to love helping him check and pack the papers when I was little scanning just isn’t the same

I literally had no idea!! When I actually think about it, it does make perfect sense. And, it really does make me feel better that there can be zero bias. Because, that really could sadly exist, I guess.

YAY!! The Results 🧚 dream can live on!! Definitely how I’m going to continue to imagine it! ( DS’s 🧚 is called Fairy Meredith…. ( I wasn’t at all obsessed with Gray’s Anatomy when pregnant with DS 🤔).. and she’s not had much teeth 🦷 duty recently, so ……😻!)…

Thank you for that x