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.

I’ve been at the office all day and DD has worked through at home. She is in a foul mood now and I said to her that she should have taken today off, but of course, as her mother, I know nothing. Sigh.

She’s stomped back upstairs after supper and is now doing more work. We do not put this on her, the work she’s doing is what she’s taken upon herself.

My boy too but this is his last session of the day and then he will be horizontal on sofa for the rest of the evening. Too right!

I reckon 5 hours max Tuesday-Friday. Sundays and BH Monday off and 2-3 hours on the Saturdays. We have a theatre trip booked months ago for the second Saturday.

Oooh seeing what?!

4.5 hours a day here. Treading the line between enough revision and enough relaxation

4 hours/day. 2-3 days off over half term. As a teacher and a parent, I think there’s a real risk of burnout for y11s at this point. As well as the effect on their wellbeing, this could also mean they crash out in exams. So working all hours, imo, is counter productive.

Maybe 5-6 hours over the course of the whole break?

Ds tried is trying to reason that if he's halfway through his exams, he only needs to do half the revision he was doing before.

(He will probably end up doing 3-4 hours a day)

I would say a couple hours a day, Mon-Fri? Dd is having a weekend off!

my son chose geography and history so it’s heavy for him the final two weeks with 3 history topics and a massive human geography topic so he can’t take his foot off the gas too much….

The resistible rise of Arturo Ui at the RSC in Stratford.

Taking the long weekend off then 5-6 hours a day from Tuesday.

DD only has 2 exams the week after half term. Then the rest the following week.

Dd has lots of exams left for those final 2 weeks. 3 days of 2 a day coming up.

She will do half days revising with trips out and exercise every day. She is very capable of winding herself up and burning out and I want to keep her on an even keel. She hasn't slept brilliantly in the last week or so so will definitely be encouraging good rests too.

Please come back and update!

DD has 6 exams week commencing 1st June with no exam free day that week so she will be doing a fair bit of revision from Tuesday. This weekend we have a cinema trip, a 1/2 day music festival and a trip into town planned. Hopefully she can take her mind off exams for a few days and enjoy some family time.

Anyone else still not even half way with exams yet? Dd has completed 10/22 so she’ll be doing at least 5 hours every day all half term. It’s her birthday on Wednesday so she’ll defo have some time out then though!

@MayasJamas says watch out for burn out - I know I keep on banging on but DS1 did burn out … the scores for the last weeks exams were considerably lower for him . Think 9 in paper 1 and 6 in paper 2 .

in contrast DS2 did a grand total of 1 hour yesterday … 🤷🏻‍♀️… I’ve set up the outside umbrella and put out loads of cushions - hoping to entice garden revision

DS is nearly halfway through his exams.

He’s said that he’ll do 3 hours of revision per day next week. I think school have put on a couple of revision sessions, so he’ll probably go to those.

DS is exactly half way through 9 down 9 to go. I do think it's a very good thing them having a break but it's a balancing act between keeping the foot on the gas and potentially burning out or letting off too much steam and not doing as well as they could.

DS1 had lower results after half term then before but that wasn't due to burn out but because they had all their leavers things etc before half term and went from in school as normal to study leave and he just couldn't keep his head in the game for the second half.

Hopefully DS2 can keep it a bit more level but his level is don't do too much, watch some YouTube videos and hope for the best so...

Son didn’t do any work yesterday which I think was sensible. He went out with friends on Thursday night too. Also a good idea I think.

I hope he’ll be back on it today. He said he aims to do 3 to 4 hours solid work when revising (not all in one go). I think that feels about right.

The way DS sees it as he has a break of 2.5 months coming up with 2 foreign holidays plus a camping holiday with friends plus going on a yachting residential…

I put zero pressure on him aside from getting him up at a decent time in the morning!

Very well deserved break (and weather) for all year 11s. We are taking a day off today and going shopping. My DD will start revising again tomorrow but I’m keeping an eye on proper rest breaks, sleep, walks etc as don’t want her over tired for the remainder of exams. The whole process is very stressful and my otherwise cheerful girl is looking pale, dark circles and oh so tired! Can’t wait for it to be over.

DS also not halfway through with 13 exams still to go, including Geography and History. He intended to do 2-3 hours yesterday but managed 90 minutes. I think he’s aiming for 3-4 hours a day but once he starts again he’ll need his energy and he was basically on fumes Thursday.

DS is just over halfway through, with 13 done and 11 to go.

The school is putting on half-day revision classes for a few days over half-term so he'll be going to those, plus tutoring for the second PE paper. Otherwise, it's all on him to decide how much revision he does. He really wants high marks in maths and physics so he'll probably do quite a bit for those subjects, but the rest is evens whether he'll do anything at all. He has all the materials, a quiet room, good food and air conditioning and he doesn't want my help or my management.