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[Ain't Nobody Here]

That's interesting . Hopefully that may mean our appeal is more likely to be successful .

 

Re the Maths, I heard from a friend that a teacher at our school said the Maths was particularly hard this year and lots of kids were really disappointed with their mark. So hats off to your niece .

 

It's such a shame when you get a year that has harder exams - kids end up getting marks lower than they might have in other years .

[Guest]

My eldest daughter doesn't work very hard. It seems to be something she fits in around the rest of her life. She didn't do too well in years 12-13 and is now s"Ooops, word censored!"ing through a degree course as well. It is very hard but I have learnt to stand back. Of course I continue to be a supportive parent and will help and encourage whenever necessary, but it's her life and she has to make the most of it her way. Maybe this will be a wake-up call for your son and he will now work hard to achieve the grades he deserves or maybe he just isn't bothered? Whichever he chooses, it will shape the rest of his life so he needs to think in the longer term and not just what he wants today.

 

My second daughter has worked very hard up till now, but I am starting to see signs of her putting education second to other things. I hope she will re-adopt a good attitude once she returns for the last time in September.

 

I am really pleased to hear you sounding brighter and encouraged ANH. I hope things continue to pick up.

[BarbaraJ]

Oh the joys of teenagers

my 3:

Eldest (now 23) had part time job since 15, got 8 gcse's B grade and 2 a's with little work

went into 6th form wasted the first year when she discovered boyfriend (nearly 6 years on go though now) and missed classes etc (which stupid school failed to tell us) redid the first year as results were bad and then did 2nd yr. got good results, went to uni , passed with honours in Australia with boyfriend for a year, hes doing a Uni swap and shes working to travel around.

so good result in the end.

 

son (20 recently) not really had part time jobs

got fairly good marks at gcse's with no work , told he was good at maths didn't surprise us as worked as little as possible but did ok and is a brght boy, school let him go into 6th form, bad move, wasted time little work and became a social event.

left after 6 months with a push as was pointless but had no idea what to do. worked in currys warehouse loved it, it closed down, did a few weeks couple times elsewhere and then was unemployed for 11mths no amount of offers of help, shouting, etc helped as very stubborn. had terrible attitude at interviews. Meanwhile we didnt give him any money, he never asked though and he was well behaved, so frustrating. much easier getting angry with them when they are being a handful

He eventually 2nd time for interview got a job at Asda picking a year ago(picking home shopping) likes it but knows he can't live on money as only £600 a month so is going to start an Accountancy course we told him if he passes it we will pay for the course for him. Phew hopefully it will work itself out but he hates you asking about it or showing much interest

 

daughter(18) worked part time since 16

not as bright as other 2 but always tried, got good average gcse results all over board. went to college for 2 years hair and beauty passed that now this september she is doing another year doing theatre make-up and starting to learn to drive.

 

sorry for the long post but just wanted to show how different they can be. 15-17 in girls for me was worst and 16-18 for my son.

[sparkysmum]

Hi, just catching up. I am so sorry your laddie doesn't seem to have done as well as you hoped but he does have another year and probably more opportunities after that too if need be. It was good of your head teacher to see you so soon. I think we would have weeks to wait to see ours. Sounds like you've been given some really sound advice. Here's hoping he takes it all on board. It's soooooooooo frustrating when they just don't seem concerned or understand that life is so much simpler if they do things the easy way.Take care. Ax

[Old Speckled Hen]

Give a tutor a go.

My daughter did this in her year between Cambridge and Drama School.

She got excellent results with her students. She tells me that a lot of the time the kids had to be taught general exam technique and HOW to answer a question.

Hope everything goes OK.

[Blackrocksrock]

I am another tutor fan - my ds now 32 years old! - failed his mock exams for maths and the school did not want to put him forward for his higher = he got a D!! - I persuaded them to put him through and got a tutor who deduced from his lack of knowedge he had been p!!!!!g about at the beg of term and not got the basics - he did get a B in his proper exam - I am still waiting for a thank you as he has rather a nice job now although he does not use his maths really.

[Ain't Nobody Here]

How do you go about using a tutor? For a few weeks before the actual exam? Or before a prelim as well?

 

I think we have to throw everything we can at this year - I think he's in denial about not having done enough work and am worried that nothing will change .

 

DA, I think general exam technique and how to answer a question is crucial for ES. I really don't think he gets it (despite me buying all the "How to Pass Higher ... " books (which were mostly unused ).

[Seagazer]

We used a tutor for our daughter as she thought she wouldn't do so well in her maths and she had a prehistoric dinosaur as a physic teacher who thought only boys could do well in the subject. I'm glad to say that she got top scores for both after having the tutor. Ours came every week for a few months beforehand.

 

YS has been having a tutor now for about a year. His comes every week and mainly does English and Maths, YS's teachers say that they have seen a great improvement in his work. I think you can't beat one to one help.

 

We had a couple of tutors for DD and YS, we didn't like the first two, so we tried again with new ones and they were great.

[Ain't Nobody Here]

Found out today that the English appeal was unsuccessful . It was upgraded but only to a D .

 

Good news about the Graphics though, he was upgraded from C to B .

 

He's still doing a good impression of being totally unfazed by it so I think we have a way to go .

 

We went to a Uni Open Day yesterday and he showed a tiny bit of enthusiasm and said he preferred it to the other one we went to. So hopefully if he's decided he wants to go there, he'll realise he has to do the work. (They have a stricter entry requirement.)

[Space Chick]

Thats some good news ANH

[Happy chickens!]

Is a D not a pass these days? Is he re-taking? Hope it works out anyway.

[ubereglu]

Well, it's a pass. Just generally not accepted. You usually need at least a C.

[Ain't Nobody Here]

It's between 44% and 49% . You can count it on your UCAS application but he is resitting it.

[Paddy]

Hello everyone,

I thought I would post on a good use of tutors.

I used to be a Maths teacher however now work in the commercial sector although family and friends all use me to get their little ones through their exams.

I have found that the best way is - providing that they have covered all the syllabus at school with no major problems is to cram in just before the exam.

I did it this year with my niece who was a C/D student.

Prior to the first paper she came up to stay and spent four days doing four hours per day.

This meant also that she could spend other revision time on her other subjects.

This 16 hours covered all the syllabus. I then spent another 9 hours before the final paper. My niece did no additional revision for her maths.

It would not obviously work if a candidate experienced problems with some of the areas - but I found even with my niece we did not spend time on a few of the harder aspects as she would never understand them so close to an exam, but meant that she could score high on the areas she was reasonable confident on.

She attained a B grade which is the highest we could possible ask for and she is delighted at never having to study it again (little does she know)

Probably it would have cost my brother £400 to get her through this exam but he would have probably spent this on a year of tutoring at least with no final cram.

I find that you can teach any with a decent grasp of maths, algebra and trigonometry in a couple of sessions each on a one to one basis.

 

I am an eglu owner with three chickens!

[Ain't Nobody Here]

Welcome to the forum, Paddy . Unusual choice of first post but I'm glad you chose my thread .

 

That's interesting to know. I was wondering whether we should get a tutor all year or just to cram, as you say. I've still to see the school but I'm hoping they may be able to give him extra work to do - I think he needs the motivation of work given and requiring handing in and marking. I need to find out where he is weak too so we know what to concentrate on.

 

Hope we'll see you elsewhere on the forum . I'm assuming all your chickens and fit and healthy so you've not needed any help .

[Seagazer]

Vicki, we got a maths tutor for DD. She had got a c in a mock exam and went into complete panic mode. She only had him for about 4 or 5 weeks before her GCSE. Intense one to one is so good. She got an A or A* (so long ago can't remember!) and then went on to take maths at A level. We also unsuccessfully got her a physics tutor but that was more a clash of personality (he was a sexist, chauvenistic you know what).

 

YS has been having a tutor once a week for about a year now just to give him a little extra help. His teacher (who didn't know about the tutor) said that he had done so well in the last year, so its all good.

 

I think if you can afford it (ours is £24) then go for it.

[Patricia W]

We've done both with some of our children. I got one a maths tutor over a period of about 3 months and that helped a great deal as she responded to the 1-1. Two of the others I sent off to " crammers" over the Easter hols. One was good but the other was not terribly organised. So choose carefully as they all cost.

 

Good luck!

 

Tricia

[Ain't Nobody Here]

Update, one year later .

 

ES got what he needed to get into Uni . He needed one C and got two (failed his Advanced Higher, but we'll skim over that ).

 

Very pleased he's got into uni but a bit disappointed they were Cs as he was pretty confident he'd got Bs in them both. We've still to hear if they're appealing for either.

 

I think I'm more excited than him, as his mind is rather taken up with his new girlfriend .

[freddie]

Hi Vikki,

arent kids great!!

Well done him on s"Ooops, word censored!"ing through, a pass is all he needed, so thats what he got...... boys.

Now for three yrs? of nagging to get the degree he needs; good luck!

[Seagazer]

Well done to your son, if he's anything like my ES he's so laid back that he's horizontal I'm glad he's got his place at uni.

[chickencam]

Better news than last year, it must be a relief. One more milestone sorted.

 

We have GCSE results a week on Tuesday, 1 for DS and loads for ED, we are having to drive back from holiday to pick them up. Note to self must check before booking next time.

[ubereglu]

I've got AS results to pick up next Thursday, I've suddenly realised it's only a week...I'm very nervous.

[Ain't Nobody Here]

We got the results by text while we were on holiday .

[debbier]

We used a tutor for our daughter as she thought she wouldn't do so well in her maths and she had a prehistoric dinosaur as a physic teacher who thought only boys could do well in the subject.

 

Oooh, that does annoy me. I had hoped this ridiculous idea had fizzled out since I took my degree. Luckily I did have a good teacher who encouraged me, but I have spoken to others who weren't so fortunate. People who have that sort of attitude should NOT be teaching, IMO.

[debbier]

Now I've calmed down a bit... ...

 

My daughter has to get a C in english to be able to study her A levels next year, and she was worried about it. So we said we'd pay for extra, private, tuition at home for about 12 hours before her GCSE this year. We are lucky that we can afford it, I know, as some aren't so fortunate. We'll find out whether it was money well spent in two weeks. Still, in hindsight I'd do it again, as it really focussed her on the topic, and the teacher definitely knew where to target the revision.