Y11 2025-26 Exams have started - chat, support & drink of choice if needed here.

[UncomfortableSilence]

New thread for all of us with lovely Y11s to support them and us through the coming weeks.

All the best today for all the Frenchies! Remember to use the 5 mins pre-test time, and never leave an answer blank. Also listen out for negatives (especially ne... que which means 'only' and is often forgotten).

Good luck for anyone with exams today!

DS, after not looking at the texts or doing anything other watching the football on Monday night, unsurprisingly said the English did not go well. He’s doing eduqas and said the two set text questions were completely surprising (which isn’t true - one of the themes for the text featured heavily in his notes that he didn’t look at) and he said he had no quotes whatsoever for the first question.

Will be so relieved when English language is over too - it’s incredibly stressful knowing he’s done nothing to help himself with these subjects!

Computer science seemed to go better but truly who knows.

Good luck to those with exams today. Nothing here until English Lang and Latin tomorrow.

feel like our usually diligent son is losing motivation a bit. He’s started watching Breaking Bad which k don’t have a problem with except I’m worried it’s going to be a massive distraction over the coming weeks. He’s said it won’t … I’d rather he was using down time to go for a walk or run

@whereonthestairI feel for you so much that’s very tough. I’m glad school are being supportive but these things just shouldn’t happen. DD had to move to the laptop towards the end of English and she said they are all plugged in at the back of the hall on multiple extension sockets. I do appreciate that may not be possible if there are a large number of students using them but that feels very unfair on him.

I hope today goes well for him.

(My eldest did the pre-reform GCSEs.
Controlled assessments were a mixed blessing.
They started it in some subjects in the first term of y10 and it wasn't always clearly explained (at least DD failed to understand it clearly) so you had to hit the ground running with no time to find your feet and improve. It also meant there was a constant pressure as throughout the two years there was almost always some coursework coming up.
It only really worked for her as I made sure I was very on the ball, and sent her to class with questions to clarify expectations. Even then some stuff got missed.
On the other hand she had fewer exams than these days and it was nice going in with some marks in the bag.
Eng Lang coursework got her the pass, she was A grade for the controlled assessments, but E for the exam. On the other other hand, if the English teacher hadn't been so focused on the CAs maybe she would have realised how much DD couldn't do the exam earlier)

Good luck to everyone today, half term and a desperately needed break is in sight for our DC.

@claryJust sent a screenshot of your post to DD and she said thanks!! She loves French so doesn’t seem anywhere near as nervous today.

Good luck to those with a French exam today. No exam here, but a full day of school and english revision.
I hope there's no more laptop issues @whereonthestair
@LattePatty i think English is the one subject they feel they can get away with not revising much. He will hopefully have remembered a lot from attending class.

Good Luck to everyone doing exams today. Dd has no exams today but has a full day in school!

Bonne chance pour les francophiles!

Thanks @Clary! I've sent a screenshot to DS, who is miraculously in the shower rather than in bed. I cracked his bedroom door open and the kittens took advantage to zoom around the forbidden lair, which got him out of bed nicely. Mwahaha!

All the talk of coursework has brought back memories of setting my alarm to for 4am to write about Romeo and Juliet the day it was due in. DS is also a chronic procrastinator so I'm thanking my lucky stars he only had coursework for PE (which he did at the last minute and scored abysmally in).

Good luck today all! French listening and reading and then RE Judaism here. He's pretty solid with French. We did a bit of RE last night and he wasn't amazing but I also can't get myself worried about RE.

English language tomorrow which is his absolute favourite. I want him to have an early night so he can really go for it but let's see.

I need to sit down with him and go through a half term plan. He definitely needs to do some revision but not hours and hours.

@whereonthestair I really hope school can sort it all out for your DS

I had to really really control myself not to say 'Bonne chance' to DD as she went off this morning. It would not have gone down well.

I actually did French A-level and still read French books and watch French TV but would she accept help from me? Obviously not. Sigh.

Very much hoping tomorrows english goes OK. My dd is a science nerd and not a huge english fan, and creative writing is not her thing.. her teacher has told them that they can use AI to write a generic story that could be used in multiple contexts, and adapt it for the specific scenario that comes up in the exam. So that is exaclty what she has done… she has a crazy memory so she has managed to memorise it word for word and the story is quite clever in that it can be adapted for many situations. I was slightly concerned about this so spoke to the teacher at parents evening - he assured me that it doesnt have to relate much to the picture or prompt, so what she has done is fine. SHe has used the same story for all three mocks and has got high marks in that part of the exam.. so we shall see. The teacher was more impressed that she was able to memorise a long story word for word than worrying about using AI. Really hoping that the teacher is right! 😳

@Onthesofawithmydog that is super clever - using her strengths in the right way!

I went with ‘what do you call a Frenchman in sandals?’, at least she laughed 😂

That's so clever! I wish more teachers were this helpful.

hahaha @tiredallthetimeandfedup same! An actual MFL teacher here but was I any use? I mean apart from occasionally checking endings on DD's CW (old-style exams), not really.

A question for laptop users as I’ve always been genuinely interested…. Do they get to use spell / grammar checker? If so, is that taken into consideration for the SPaG marks available, ie they don’t get them?

No it has to be turned off. As does the internet and the laptops have to be exam ready. Which is why when one goes it’s an issue.

Ah ok. So they just get the most basic Microsoft word I’m guessing?

@Bluebelle8261 I hope your DD is ok today.

we're dreading the language paper tomorrow - dd hates paper 1.

She's okay at analysis and paper two usually goes well because she has no problem with creative writing. But she really struggles with paraphrasing & loathes the transactional writing - to the point of sitting in front of a blank page & not writing anything. She can't move past the feeling that she's lying and overcome massive "cringe" about pretending to care or know about something she doesn't. It sounds ridiculous but I have no idea how to help her (& yes she is autistic which I'm sure contributes to the "but I can't lie" issue).

Hope French went well for all today!

@whereonthestair I am so sorry to hear about your DS’s laptop nightmare. We have various students using word processors or laptops but they have individual exam log ins that can be used at any terminal, and once logged on this automatically opens an exam specific word processing package, with no spell check, which enables them to set up a new document for each exam and saves automatically as the student works.

I have on occasion (during mocks tbf) had a student have a problem with a computer or laptop but there has always been a back up available and worst comes to worst we have just logged the student off one terminal and onto a different one - the logins are specific to them so they could then simply reopen their exam document and continue (with extra time added to end of the exam as necessary depending on how long it took to sort the situation out). Your DS’s school obviously doesn’t have this system but I really hope they can get something more robust sorted for the rest of his exams.

Reporting in from Reddit 😁

Lots of commentary that the listening was hard to hear and very mumbled! and something about a celebrity in the reading.

I’m really shocked that an English teacher would suggest getting ai to write a story that can be memorised. Do examiners not cotton on to students memorising ai essay? Does anyone else think this is quite surprising? In DD’s school it was drummed into them that ai shouldn't be used in any coursework unless declared.I helped ds write his UCAS form and it was strongly worded that any ai help would be automatically declined.