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!

Combined higher Biology report from my DD is that it was meh 🫤. Lots of application and peat bog 6 marker which she didn’t revise in detail as it came last year but knew the topic at surface level. Contraception question which she didn’t like and genetic engineering 6 marker which she had revised. Sounds like mixed a mixed bag.

Brief message from DD as she’s got to stay in for French this afternoon.

AQA triple was good but a bit hard. Make of that what you will!

Biology triple - “shit”

Re iGCSE’s, I asked DD about this. She told me there is a different paper for different time zones.

Sorry to hear. Glad not just my DD tho.

Dd said paper 2 was so much better than paper 1.

@Beachforever that makes so much more sense!

Dd said aqa triple higher was very good, not 100% sure about the fish question, but otherwise happy. We had a laugh about AQA telling 16yo that young cats are called kittens 😸

Dd1 home. She was fine with bio (was AQA higher combined). Bio is her best science but paper 2 not as good as paper 1 - she was a rare beast who found paper 1 quite good. She said the ecology questions she answered but maybe not in enough depth but other than that happy enough. School are letting them out this week so she’s gone to the gym for a couple of hours then home for maths/history. It’s history she likes tomorrow but after a wobbly maths paper 2 she needs paper 3 to be ok on weds…..

dd1 had triple and never updates in the day so a bit worried to hear it was shit. It’s her least favourite science but she was well prepared so who knows and again, if they all found it hard there is some comfort in that. Then the poor poppet has further maths this afternoon but she’s the only one not doing french which starts at the same time (only 6 of them doing further maths). So she thinks she’ll be sat in the exam hall by herself unless there is an a level at the same time. Hopefully bio not thrown her too much but also it is ‘only’ further maths so if she does crash, no one needs to know she ever took it…..

DS and I have just been talking about the World Cup! First England Match is at 9pm on Wed 17th. Perfect timing.

Same here.

DD sits in a smaller classroom with about 15 kids rather than the main hall due to SEN. She said there were 4 separate biology exams being done and the invigilator wrote 1hr 15 mins on the board. She and 3 others were doing the higher paper which was 1hr 45 mins plus whatever their extra time allowance was.

She knew how long she had. After 1hr 15 minutes the invigilator said "time up" and started collecting all the papers. When she went to collect DD's she very unusually for her spoke up for herself and showed the lady the exam paper showing they had 1 hr 45 mins for the higher paper.

One poor girl had already had her paper collected which was then given back to her to complete, but she was in a right old mess by then. She was too afraid to speak up. If DD wasn't there she would have left the room with only 3/4 of her exam done.

Co-incidently this also happened on DD's biology mock paper and she was only given 1hr 15 minutes to do the higher paper. She said she was too afraid to challenge it at the time. They did apologise afterwards and took into account her reduced time when marking that paper, but it unsettled her. Fortunately we had a conversation around grown ups sometimes making mistakes and to speak up if you think something is amiss.

Son said Edexcel separate higher Biology was ok. The 6 mark questions were about the menstrual cycle (labelling hormones on a graph) and how structures in the skin can cool the body.

DS said the same. He said 'I think paper 2 was an apology from the exams board for what they did with paper 1'.

Peat bogs and cystic fibrosis which he thankfully revised for.

Now we are going to make cookies as he has nothing until friday.

@FatLarrysBanned- that’s awful!

DD very happy with AQA Higher Biology. Thought it was easy… she is planning to do it for A level and has done a lot of revision over the weekend but I think she was surprised at how good it was. She’s still muttering about ‘plants growing in the dark’ from paper 1 though

That is really bad and a similar mistake happened to my dd rest breaks. It can have such a big imapact on them! X

OCR Biology triple was ‘better than paper 1’ according to DD. She has just come home for a sandwich and just about to drop her back for FM.
@FatLarrysBannedthank goodness your DD spoke up and felt comfortably to do so!

Ha ha yes! I remember that one. That paper 1 is the only exam so far that had her in tears :-(

DD said there were four 6 mark questions in the higher AQA biology paper. Any test papers she'd done only two 6 markers. She said she was glad of the extra time because she's a really slow writer and needed it for those longer questions.

@FatLarrysBanned that's awful, well done to your dd for speaking up.

DD also commented on the four 6 markers but had done a practice paper last night, 2019 I think, that also had 4. She quite enjoyed it but did say quite a few of the subjects she wanted like the eye and genetics didn't come up. She is doing A level though.

DS text me to say AQA higher biology was "a gift" so that's pleasing. I was slightly surprised as he's never sent me an update before, but the message was soon followed by another one asking for £2 for Greggs on the way home so mystery solved.

I got a one word answer "decent"
So presume its gone OK. I may or may not get a more detailed debrief later!

Yes I have the same. GCSEs are stressful in a different way- relentless and the lack of motivation has kicked in now as it’s just so many… eldest has less exams but they are longer- many are 2-2.5 hours long and harder.. and a LOT more riding on them 😩

Big sympathy to those with both gcse and a levels going on at the same time
Waiting for ds to come home to find out how further maths went.
He found biology hard this morning so hoping it hasnt knocked him.
Im trying not to worry that lots of people have found it an easier paper this morning. Everyone has their strengths

They might also think it was easy but have completely missed the point of several questions. We'll only find out in August!

For any markers on the thread, does marking start almost straight away or do all the exams have to be finished first?