Y11 2025/26 The Final Stretch

[UncomfortableSilence]

New thread to see our wonderful DC through their exams and onwards.

Come and join for chat, support and solidarity.

I'm also dying to know which questions came up for Macbeth and A Christmas Carol so if anyone finds out please post.

@Callmejudith I'm pretty sure there is a legal injunction in place preventing people from discussing actual paper content online. I'm not sure how it is enforced, but it's probably better to find out from your DC than discuss on a public forum.

Yes there maybe people who have a clash or extra time, so we should not discuss the questions until later in the day.

Ds was hoping for kingship but we were really clear to read and then answer the actual question not the one you hope it is and half read!
Then it will be a shift in gear for biology tomorrow.i think thats one of the hardest things for gcse so many subjects that are varied and muddled up. Some people like that and it's so hard for others

I think as parents it is good to remember that the DC may not want any in depth discussion, (they might realise they have missed things which dents confidence going forward). Asking what the theme was and mentally thinking 'oh good they knew that', but asking for detailed discussion on the exact wording and what they wrote is maybe not helpful to the DC.
(Though of course this thread is a good displacement for discussing with the DC).

I know @Ifeeltheneedtheneedforcoffee , it's all muddled up, I hate the idea of that! Plus DD is still at school doing normal timetable when she doesn't have an exam or a revision session, so this afternoon she'll be doing 2 hours of Spanish, when the Spanish exams aren't until after half term. She'll be desperate to revise for biology!

They should be done now!

have a look on reddit gcse thread - there is a subreddit for english lit and people are already putting the questions on there for macbeth, CC etc.

Good point thank you

Ah, you are right thank you!

Just got a message from DD saying it went really well. And breathe. Until tomorrow 😩

You are so right. We cannot roll back time so the DC discussing something in detail or they don’t want to is not helpful. The only thing that maybe useful if there is generally things they can pick up for future exams like, reading the question correctly, time management, sequence of approaching the questions. Dwelling on the past is not useful and looking forward is.

The AQA questions were guilt in Macbeth and the spirit of Christmas in a Christmas carol.

R&J was conflict - a great extract and question
Christmas Carol also good

Not heard from my dd who did not do either of those

I think for DD the Macbeth question was ok, Christmas Carol a bit more iffy. That's from me guessing from what she's been revising as she's not back until after 3. I will have to stop myself questioning her too much!

My dc's friend mentioned the Macbeth guilt topic yesterday as a possible topic to prep for which dc had not yet revised previously. Where do people find these possible topics (bitesize etc) as dc had prepared long and broad but had not considered this before.

Yes hugs. Snacks. Rest. Some light biology and geography revision tonight. Biology tomorrow and geography Wednesday.
geography is a mixed emotion one for my son. In his end of year 10 exams, he got a 4 and his teacher said ‘he’s her most underperforming student in the school’. He then revised like a demon for his year 11 mock and got a 9! Which was mentioned in assembly as ‘the most improved student of the year’. So there have been lows and highs.

dc also hoped for kingship and had done a lot for this. I texted a reminder this wrong to FOCUS on the question, read it, read it again and only start writing when you know what the actual question is. Dc found the exam ok, not top but ok.

Mr salles. God love Mr salles

Thanks, too late for us now I guess but good to know. Any other such resources for other topics? 🙏

@hendlik DD went through all previous papers to 2017 and tried to work out what hadn't been asked recently.

She's doing more obscure texts - Much Ado and Frankenstein - which meant there were fewer videos on line about them. Just heard from her and she is very pleased that Benedick came up in Much Ado which she was hoping for and how the monster changes in Frankenstein which is one with lots to write about.

onwards to biology!

edited for all my typos!

DD msg to say
Macbeth - fab!
CC - Not good at all, very vague extract

Dd - Macbeth was amazing
Christmas carol - vague and limited extract but doable. It really threw her.

Same! It sound like it threw my dd too

Does anyone know the extract? Chapter / page for ACC?

It was describing the ghost of Christmas present I think.

DD also said that CC threw her to begin with but that it was good in the end.