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.

Hello
New to the thread
We've had german speaking and then spnish tomorrow. A bit of a break and then english lit on the 11th may and I think 4 that week.

Hopefully a few done before may half term.
Its a hard balance between being supportive and not nagging and just trusting them to get on with it (and to not react to the grumpiness!)

I'd second this. While it was a good 30 years ago for me now, I still remember both my French and German speaking exams being way easier than I feared. My German teacher even said to me after mine... "you revised!" in amazed and happy tones. 😆

Ooh the grumpiness.... My son is a very chill young guy but one weekend he was watching a film and I popped my head round the door to tell him I was going to bed and not to be too late.

"CAN'T YOU JUST LET ME WATCH MY FILM?"

Next day. Sat with him and said "I can understand things are a bit stressful but I felt quite upset with how you spoke to me last night."

He then profusely apologised. But he's being completely out of character for him.

Yes there has been a bit of this but he does reflect and say sorry.
A few "I KNOW What im doing"
But I am aware we haven't started properly!!
Big sympathy to mums with dds with more hormone swings plus exams! Extra wine for you all

Ah... I'm 8 months sober.... so that's challenging!

Coffee and ALL the chocolate!

And I'm dieting including cutting out all refined carbs...

I feel like the guy from airplane... I guess I'll drink ALL the coffee! 😆

Yes, i always think it's so poorly designed. (Humans and society I mean). We give the poor sods the most extreme amount of stress right at the time their hormones are going wild and they have no personal agency at all.

DS1 is a lovely gentle little guy. We have an agreement that when he explodes I walk away without reaction and he comes for a hug and a sorry when he is up to it. Did not quite work last night though to be fair.

Congrats.

I decided to not drink from yesterday to the end of exams. That is challenging for me tbh, even more so now!!

Counting down to DT submission on Friday, that cannot be gotten out of the way soon enough. Art is the following week but DC1 is hazy on what date, her blasted art teacher keeps "suggesting" other bits to do, it never seems to be enough and she's spent the whole of Easter on three subjects. Her Art exam is not until after the bank holiday weekend so I am envious of those for whom it is behind them and they can focus on other things now.
Spanish speaking also next week, it's going to be a long week !

Completely agree. It was a shock to find it was only 25% of the grade given the stupid amount of time it requires and how much of the coursework is just a dull grind in the end. It seems a bit mad as though someone went out of their way to make it "academic".
It's made me very sceptical of Art A level. I'll be paying a lot more attention early so the boring but necessary stuff gets tackled a lot earlier.

Agree that the Art exam consumes a disproportionate amount of time and effort, given its contribution to final grade. IMO schools should make sure it is done and dusted before Easter. Tbh I’m feeling similarly about the Spanish speaking exam atm - it’s my dd’s weakest part of her weakest subject, yet it’s dominating all her time as she’s so anxious about it. Roll on Wednesday when it’ll be done! This whole experience makes me think the GCSE system should be overhauled, with assessments spaced out over Y11. I say that as a teacher and a parent. This bottleneck of pressure is so stressful for them (and us).

Speaking exam done and dd is really pleased with how it went. She was asked all the questions she memorised and the roleplay and description were topics she was confident on.

1 down. Ten thousand to go.

10 thousands to go made me smile @36and3. Well done to your DD for her spanish speaking exam.

I agree regarding the art subjects. My DD does dance and drama and the course work took so much of her time... in addition, it's all box ticking, and as a result I dont think it's that artistic. She is a great choreographer but her piece for gcse was possibly one of my least favourite because it has to fit the curriculum and include so many random elements... she was forced by her teacher to do a group piece, because so many of the boxes cant be ticked with a solo. This added the pressure of working with others, not always as committed as you are... she was put off dance and drama A levels for this reason.

Heartily agree about art. I thought DD had finished as her exam was last term but apparently she never completed one of her other projects so cue panic this week - it needs to be in on Friday - and random painting of jars to final it off.

Slightly worried that she's now decided to do it for A level too - switching from economics!!

Wow art sounds brutal. Dd hasn’t done any creative subjects.

Is it as brutal at alevel for those who have chosen it?!

Art is as brutal as it sounds for both GCSE & A Level, we knew it would be a lot but my god it has been all consuming. Glad it’s in the bag now.

@StowickthevastEconomics to Art is quite the switch!

DD had a History mock after school today, they are still to finish the course which is worrying, she said she has taught herself what is remaining of Cold War from her teachers notes which have been shared with them, not sure how I feel about this.

Well done to all getting their speaking out the way. DD is still practising daily for this. I did French and Spanish at GCSE and still remember clear as day, even though it was over 30 years ago, standing in the corridor waiting to go in for the speaking exam and being so nervous.

DS has French tomorrow. My French is currently better than it has been for 30 plus years! I have also done DS PIP application with him which makes GCSE revision very very easy in comparison. It does help put things in perspective.

German speaking tomorrow here. Really feels like the first proper one - though he does Drama too so has done 60% of that already so it’s not the absolute first thing. Then next he has German (reading?) and citizenship on 7 May.
I’ve bought him some rescue remedy spray as thought it might be at least a placebo to calm him tomorrow but he’s a bit reluctant to take it to school! Will give him a spray before he goes…

I think im glad it’s close now just to get it all over. Child is very very bright but cramming at the last mo is not going to get fantastic grades. I agree with others that this experience has only taught me That I think it all needs an over haul. Too much content, finishing topics right before exams etc. everyone who takes art seems to say the same. But tbh even PE coursework was huge hours for very few %

Ah good luck for the speaking! Dd was petrified but her teacher was super lovely and she said smiled at her throughout her chat. I think that’s the best part, it not being a total stranger.

If it's any consolation DS1 also had to finish off swathes of history himself as they just didn't have time to teach it all- and they were having an extra hour after school a week on it. I think he finally has, but it was only in the past couple of days.

Agree art is brutal. DS1's best friend is doing art and his mum told me that it's really as if he has no time for any other subject.

So glad I found this thread, DD has art today and french speaking tomorrow, only done 1 mock of the higher paper which is adding to her stress

My son still not finished learning history in class!! The content is enormous

My son still not finished learning history in class!! The content is enormous