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.

@Teeheehee1579 just giving you a wave as another parent whose dc is likely to get a real salad of results and will struggle to pass maths. It’s really very unusual for kids to get all 8-9s - mumsnet is not representative. I think basically all our kids are having a tough time at the moment - high-achieving, struggling and all in between.

I'm another with DD feeling lots of pressure because hoping to scrape passes in some subjects, including English to avoid retakes. Weird situation where she has self imposed pressure for high marks in some subjects where she is good at but the pressure she feels about the subjects she's not as strong in ( but needs a 5 to carry on with a levels) is the pressure that's had her in tears from time to time. Very hard for lots of not academic kids and even if they may show an 'i don't care' attitude in public it's often a self defense strategy when you see them at home working desperately hard and really worrying.

Thank you and to yours too and sorry to all for the slight grumpy post! I do appreciate in real life that the kids are stressed regardless of what grades they are going for 😀

DD is also putting a lot of internal pressure on herself, she has ASD and is a huge perfectionist. It’s exhausting. I am just trying to get her through to the end of exams without another panic attack (massive one after the first exam Monday).

The school (state) has put an insane intervention schedule together that luckily she doesn’t need to follow, but seeing it I can totally understand how children are feeling the pressure. I know it’s to support but it all feels like massive overkill and very little study leave. When did that become the norm?

Same here with weird situation of big range of expected results and associated pressure. dd is likely to come out with the (almost) full range from 4 (please please🤞) through to 7-8. Her friends are all likely to get 7+ in everything, and I feel quite protective - I want to whisk her away on results day to celebrate without her comparing herself to her pals, and I will probably be avoiding mumsnet tbh!

My DD will get a salad of grades 4-7 if she lucky. She’s not worked enough until now to get higher. Wants a 4 in least fav subjects & 7s in A level choices. Praying for the 667 she actually needs

My DD will get a salad of grades between 4 and 7 as well. Computer Science may well be a 2 or 3 but she did think the paper this week wasn’t as bad as she thought. She seems to be happy with how they've gone so far, but she has dyslexia and can misinterpret questions sometimes. In mocks she hasn’t always been a good judge of whether she has done well or not, so we will see. It’s good that she’s come out generally positive though.

She had her Art grade back this week and, like a few others on this thread, it was lower than she’d hoped for. Art is her best subject by far and she is going on to do an extended diploma in Art and Design next year. She really hoped for a 9. If the grade boundaries are the same as last year she should get a low 8, but it’s right near the boundary so could well end up with a 7, which she will be very disappointed with. In reality it’s still a great grade, but a lot of her self esteem is attached to being really good at Art, so she’s now saying she’s no good and shouldn’t keep on with it. She’ll get into the course either way, it’s just about her own expectation….

It’s so hard watching on and trying to support. Her two best friends are super academic and likely to get better grades than her in everything so it’s hard for her sometimes though I keep telling her shes doing great and all she needs is enough to go on to college.

Can you resit if you get a 4? From what I understand a 4 is a 'pass'. DS's college course says he needs 5 x 5s including maths and English. He may well get a 4 in English but as it is not a "fail" can he resit it? Sorry if that's a stupid question.

My sons mocks were as follows

English Lang - 8
English Lit - 8
Science - 4
Maths - 5
history - 2
business - 6
Spanish - 6

A good set of results for a working class boy in a very deprived, inner city state. His school has a high turnover. He has had no science teacher for the whole of year 11, just covers mainly.
He’s enjoying the process currently so we will just have to see 🤞. He gets free school meals so on paper his predictions were a lot lower. If he gets those results I’ll be very proud. He’s got great soft skills too.

I agree with those saying it’s worse for those who are hoping for 4s/ 5s (or whatever they need to get for post 16) and to avoid resits.

Yes a 9 would be great and more welcome than a 8 (particularly if your DC is a perfectionist) but whether they get one or the other, it’s not going to change the course of the next 2 years. They won’t be refused by any colleges or courses / A levels.

Another not all 9s student here! It’s good to bear in mind that MN is skewed towards private school etc.

We just say that these results are needed to get to the next stage (which is 6th form for DS at this point).

DS is clever but economical with effort 😄. He’s very young though; hopefully he’ll knuckle down when he really needs to.

DD’s mocks were 5-9, she’s hoping for 6-9s but as long as she gets 7+ for her alevel subjects she’ll be fine.

@Curlyfrizzball oooff I so relate to your comment about your DD’s self esteem being tied to Art. For my dd it’s always been a case of her friends being really academic and she is ‘the creative one’. So to get a lower mark/grade than she was hoping for is a real blow, and she is now questioning her future study/career path in Art.

Of my 2, one is grade salad - we’re expecting between 4 and 9, mostly 6 and 7. We are fretting about maths as she needs a 6 for her preferred college to do a science a level and got a 5 in her mock.

t’other one is the highly anxious, high performing one who wants a few 9s, will likely get 7s and 8s.

so a wide experience here. Encouraging one in one way, calming the other down and trying to manage her expectations in the other.

I spent an hour doing poetry this afternoon - ffs I hate poetry as does dd. She better buy me a big birthday present this year is all I can say….

History Head of Department here. No, 4 marks won't make a huge difference but I don't know which exam board you're referring to. If it's Edexcel, then the paper is out of 52 so you're looking at about 7.5%.

In terms of results, pretty sure the government are bringing out an app for this year so they can be accessed whenever / wherever.

I’m another one who’s spent this afternoon doing poetry. I soooo wish DS was doing power and conflict. He’s into history war/international relations etc and he would have got that. He has precisely no interest in romance or sexual relationships and so poetry is a bit like analysing something not only outside his interests and experiences but also something he has no interest in learning about. It’s fine when it’s family. And to be fair he can tell me structure and lots of English techniques, but feelings well… and that turns him off the subject

DD would ideally like all 7s and above. The reality of this is that although she is absolutely capable of getting them academically, she spent most of Y10 messing round / getting sent out of lessons / making minimal effort and has only really locked in since Christmas. So we will see… there are definitely gaps in her knowledge which she is frantically trying to fill and her mock grades ranged from 8s down to 4s. She’s generally an all-rounder - very good at Maths (this is her best chance of a 9), History and Sciences, everything else probably depends on getting the ‘right’ questions.

in terms of pressure, it’s definitely her putting it on herself. She does want to do a competitive degree which needs high grades but in terms of 6th Form just needs to do relatively well.

@Littletreefrog if a YP gets a a 3 or lower in English or maths then they are put in for retakes. If they get a 4 then that's not the case – but they could still retake (but would have to pay and might have to use a separate exam centre). If your DC needs the 5 for sixth form tho, even a November retake will be too late?

@MabelsBeats CAIE is IGCSE, which often have a slightly different timetable (English lang is often early and German written exams this year started in April). State schools cannot enter YP for IGCSE which is why not many will be doing the same board. It’s annoying that history clashes with maths tho. If that were regularly the case you would think the school would rethink the board as it must affect a high % of the cohort.

Thanks for this, I agree, I’ve no idea why they use this board, just go in for what the majority do, that is more than good enough! To add insult to injury, this paper could have been avoided by doing coursework instead, which DD would have jumped at, but school just wouldn’t.

@clary he needs the 5s for a T level at college. The criteria says "ordinarily students need 5 x 5s" so im hoping if he does end up with a 4 either they will still accept him or will let him resit alongside.

Oh then I cannot imagine they will reject him tbh. I mean be prepared to advocate for him but I would think they need people to enrol. Also "ordinarily" sounds like "we'll accept a 4 though" to me. Assuming the T level doesn't relate to English skills?

Got a DS who is at a selective private school but who has floated his way through the last two years without paying attention in the slightest. His mocks ranged from 4s to 8s, with the 4s being in both Englishes and Spanish. He needs a 6 in English or he won't be able to stay on at the 6th form and stupidly, we don't have a back up plan. I have no idea where to start with figuring out how to approach it!

@Garble you can look at local colleges that will probably take lower grades – I imagine there will still be options as they are usually keen to have students. What A levels is he planning? What are his likely GCSE grades in those? Is there a college course that might suit better?

@Garble we don’t have a back up plan either . Also private .

Not many places let kids do DS2s choices in combination - and if they do the requirements are the same .

I shall be thinking on my feet and being persuasive 😂

Thanks, I'm scared to explore options in case there aren't any but it is this same paralysing fear that is probably stopping DS from looking at English

He wants to do maths, physics and economics. He got 8s for the first two in his mocks and no idea about economics but I'm not convinced it's a good fit because he got a 5 in geography, which seems to be the closest comparator. It's the English that I'm nervous about because he thought the mock went really well and got a 4 and I have no idea how it will go next week.