Y11 2025-26 - Trying not to melt and pushing through the final weeks

[Stowickthevast]

I finished the thread so started a new one. Welcome all Y11 parents, support and solidarity for the next big push here!

Oh this worries me now lol. DD's predicted an 8, but all of her mocks have been made up papers by our MAT. She's done past papers and always gets comfortable 8s on them, but now if they were easy, I'm worried 😱

It’s not that the papers were easy, more that the GBs were relaxed to take account of Covid. Also in 2022 there were several concessions (eg in MFL, certain topics were dropped altogether).

So don’t worry, I am sure the school will bear that in mind. It’s just looking at the GBs for what I might call the Covid period is not perhaps representative.

Maths was 'solid' apparently. AQA higher. Paper one wasn't great so that's an improvement. I am not putting too much faith in how DD thinks she's done though as those have been way off the mark (both up & down!) in the past. I'm always just happy if she comes out pleased that she's done her best

DS reporting that Edexcel higher was "easy". I am sceptical!

DD happy with Edexcel higher. Annoyed with herself for getting two wrong but she’s hoping with marks for working out she’ll have enough to get her 9 based on last year’s boundaries IF she has a good paper 3.

Dd upset. Geography best subject and missed a 10 marker by mistake. I said to think of it as 10 marks lost over all 3 papers and if she is strong on the rest she can still do really well. She said she only just finished the paper in time so maybe if she had done it she may have lost marks by rushing all the questions. Does this make sense? 🫣

Oh and OCR higher was very hard apparently but everyone found it

Edexcel Higher here was good, she’s happy with it although she said it was definitely a harder paper but she’s always been really good at Maths and it’s also an A Level choice. Although I could hear plenty of unhappiness from the pupils walking past my office today when the exam finished. Last years grade boundaries were so high as a PP mentioned so we shall see.

That’s 9 left now for DD, finally single figures . History and French tomorrow. She’s upstairs going through History now.

@Bluebelle8261That’s so frustrating for her, hopefully she will be able to make it up across her other papers 🤞

DD said it was edexcel Pearson higher. Slightly annoyed as worked a question but didn't think it was right so didn't put the number down in the answer box.

Geography was OK wasn't keen on the 9 marker as wanted it to be about another place.

She also has 9 papers left.

DS did iGCSE Edexcel and reports it went well, we avoid looking at Reddit etc but he seems happy and that’s enough for me. He’s done for the week now and has six more exams left to go.

So sorry to hear about the troubles with the access arrangements @Moneyordream and I hope the paper went well for your son this morning. We deal with so many different access arrangements at our school and do our best to accommodate what is required and I just can’t imagine denying a student something simple like this.

Also hope your DD is ok after geography @Bluebelle8261 I think your approach makes total sense and will hopefully reassure her.

I am usually pretty relaxed about DS’s exams if I’m honest, of course I wish him luck and think about him but the good thing about invigilating for other people’s kids is that you don’t really have time to worry about your own! Today’s drama was an older invigilator whispering to me ‘I just need to let you know that I feel a bit strange’ about forty minutes in to maths this morning. He looked awful, chalk white, breathless and sweating and I was genuinely worried he was going to pass out or have a heart attack or something. Thankfully exams officer took him out with minimal disturbance and he was ok and went home. But all a bit stressful. Last thing the poor students need is some bloke collapsing mid exam 😱

DS2 reported IGCSE was alright ( he reckons he got 40% .. which is not my old person definition of alright 🤷🏻‍♀️) Geography was ‘good actually’ .. ICT tomorrow then only 4 more to go

Wow we still have ten left. History 2 and English language 2, five next week and 3 the following week

AQA higher maths was "pretty good", which is the most positive response we've had to date. Usually it's "mid" or "bad". AQA Geography was "better than paper 1", but she ran out of time. Physics was a bit of a disaster yesterday, brain freeze and lots of silly mistakes.

2/3 of exams done now though!

DS reports the maths exam well and he feels positive about it despite the stress of this morning. He really can't wait to finish this school and move on. He reckons he got an 8 possibly 9 on it so hoping to make it for paper 1. Not many left to go now!

7 to go here. 13 done! It feels good for them to be on the home straight. Though next week is tough with 3 on Mon/Tues

11 done, 9 to go, but a huge weight off DD's shoulders when history is over tomorrow. I said I'd meet her afterwards and we will grab some lunch before her revision session in school in the afternoon. Little treats to keep going!

Has anyone else’s DC kind of given up on history? DS. Failed his June mock, scraped a pass in his December ones but it’s most definitely been deprioritised for the others. He’s revising it now, but I can tell that he’s just going through the motions.
It doesn’t have any impact on his choices for 6th form so it doesn’t actually matter. But I’d love it if he managed to get a 4.
I need to be at peace with it as I’m pretty sure he is. Learning and remembering that much content just isn’t his thing. He has said previously that he quite enjoyed the lessons so I guess it wasn’t a complete waste of time even if he doesn’t pass!

Its such a huge workload! Infact alot of the subjects are. When you think about gcses, they are not easy. I hope your son gets a pass X

I'm so confused about my son's learning style and future potential. I've read that a lot of people's children are struggling with history but it is the only subject my son has completely excelled at. He's predicted a 9 and put no effort in at home. Ever.
English he loves too and does well in lit and lang.

But the sciences and maths we'll be lucky if he scrapes 4's.
5's would be a dream.

Why would this be? What could be a good career if he finds history and English easy? He hasn't a clue what he wants to do.

Not history but French has been abandoned here. It's a shame but it's one of those subjects where if she hasn't picked things up well along the way it's very hard to get back up to speed with. Probably the same with you and history as there is so much content. I'd love her to scrape a 4 but I'm not sure she will.

Dd adores English literature and history. Those along with psychology she’s aiming for an LLB at uni.

His brain is more like mine , finds the English / essay subjects more straightforward, some of the Maths and Sci are more like a foreign language. I don’t think it’s unusual to be better in one direction. I did a Sociology degree and loved it

That sounds great.
He does have a very strong sense of justice so perhaps the legal professions would be a good direction.

Thank you.

@BeasKnee is she doing the F paper? A reasonably able candidate should get a grade 4 on that for sure.

Tomorrow's French is writing for AQA and reading for Edexcel so all the best for both from me. Remember with reading to answer all questions and look out for negatives (ne ... que; ne ... jamais) and also make sure the translation makes sense!

For writing use any spare time to check your verbs and other errors that are classed as major (such as mixed up tenses, or the wrong person with the right verb) and also make sure you answer all bullet points fully (eg if it says "what you like eating and why" – if you don't address the "why" your mark for communication will be a max of 6 out of 10 for the crossover essay).