(17 May 2017, 7:12 pm)Michael wrote What novel did you do?, I did Of Mice and Men, and i thought it was great. 

Yes we did Of Mice and Men too, alongside An Inspector Calls as the play. It was the poetry section which caused my overall grade to suffer and was probably the only grade which I was disappointed with.

(17 May 2017, 7:24 pm)S813 FVK wrote Yes we did Of Mice and Men too, alongside An Inspector Calls as the play. It was the poetry section which caused my overall grade to suffer and was probably the only grade which I was disappointed with.

I didn't do a play with mine, i can't remember much tbh, it was 10 years ago :

It happens, don't worry yourself over it!

(17 May 2017, 7:11 pm)R852 PRG wrote Are you on Edexcel or AQA for English? I don't mind some of the poems for Edexcel, and some I actually really enjoy, but then others such as 'Catrin' and 'Half-caste' aren't my cup of tea. 

Chemistry is the one science I really struggle to see the light with these days. I didn't mind it at one point, but now, I just find it pretty irrelevant and confusing. 

Do you have any ideas for Sixth Form etc yet?

We are on AQA for everything other than Maths (Edexcel) and Business (OCR). I just don't find poetry interesting at all. And yeah Physics is the worst for me, can't even see my getting a C on that unless there is a lot of equations on there.

And yeah I am going to sixth form - hopefully Business, Geography and Maths but need a 7 in Maths to do it at Sixth form - you doing sixth form too?

(17 May 2017, 7:12 pm)Michael wrote What novel did you do?, I did Of Mice and Men, and i thought it was great. 



Can i say, i got all bad GCSEs expect for in 2 GCSEs (ICT, Graphics)... and i still went to uni and came out with a BA Hons 2:1, so if you fail, it's not end of the world.

We done A Christmas Carol (boring) and An Inspector Calls (ok I guess) - even my teacher said he wishes we could do Of Mice and Men or Great Expectations.

(16 May 2017, 3:21 pm)R852 PRG wrote This afternoon's exam was okay. The only 6 mark question was one on drug trials for Biology and it threw me a bit because it was such a brief topic and I hadn't really studied it in depth, but things came back to me and it went alright I suppose. A few Chemistry and Physics questions were a bit confusing.

I luckily just revised for the drug trials before the exam, so i was chuffed when i got that! I though I did quite well in the exam, only slipped up with convection currents near the end but it should be pretty good. My science teacher reckons its only 60% for an a*! I hope so lol

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(17 May 2017, 7:55 pm)Tom wrote We are on AQA for everything other than Maths (Edexcel) and Business (OCR). I just don't find poetry interesting at all. And yeah Physics is the worst for me, can't even see my getting a C on that unless there is a lot of equations on there.

And yeah I am going to sixth form - hopefully Business, Geography and Maths but need a 7 in Maths to do it at Sixth form - you doing sixth form too?


We done A Christmas Carol (boring) and An Inspector Calls (ok I guess) - even my teacher said he wishes we could do Of Mice and Men or Great Expectations.

One of the best books I have ever read - I'm so glad we chose it.

(17 May 2017, 8:16 pm)Jackamcardle wrote One of the best books I have ever read - I'm so glad we chose it.

I have never read the book, but I did read the poem 'Miss Havisham' by CAD for a piece of coursework to compare to Romeo and Juliet. 

I understand she is just called 'Havisham' in the book itself, due to her not wanting to be known that she is not married due to being jilted (or something along those lines!)

(17 May 2017, 8:26 pm)S813 FVK wrote I have never read the book, but I did read the poem 'Miss Havisham' by CAD for a piece of coursework to compare to Romeo and Juliet. 

I understand she is just called 'Havisham' in the book itself, due to her not wanting to be known that she is not married due to being jilted (or something along those lines!)

I don't recall her being known as Havisham, but there is a sense of malcontent (thank Miss Foggin for telling me that) all thoughout with her character. It was funny the other day because my teacher wrote on a powerpoint a list of characters to analyse, and she put 'Mrs Havisham' down for one. *facepalm*

(17 May 2017, 7:55 pm)Tom wrote We are on AQA for everything other than Maths (Edexcel) and Business (OCR). I just don't find poetry interesting at all. And yeah Physics is the worst for me, can't even see my getting a C on that unless there is a lot of equations on there.

And yeah I am going to sixth form - hopefully Business, Geography and Maths but need a 7 in Maths to do it at Sixth form - you doing sixth form too?


We done A Christmas Carol (boring) and An Inspector Calls (ok I guess) - even my teacher said he wishes we could do Of Mice and Men or Great Expectations.

Maths is a good one to have, but not for me. Stopped enjoying it years ago when it began to feel more and more irrelevant, and no teaching of how it can be applied. For instance, trigonometry and Pythagoras' theorem are essential for things like architecture, but we're not told about anything like that. I imagine more would understand the logic behind it if they knew what it could actually be useful for. I have no idea what use algebra is.

English Literature, History, and Sociology are the three I am looking to do, but the option blocks are a bit of a pain. There are four blocks, A-D, and History is in A, as is Business, so I can't do Business (not that I would like to, I haven't minded it at GCSE, but the teaching isn't great), however, there are two English Literature classes in B and C, while Sociology is in block D. Geography is in block D too, so another one ruled out, as I find it a bit boring at times, and I think I would prefer the discussion element to sociology. Maths and Science mainly occupy the rest of the blocks, which I have already decided are not the direction I intend to take. Option four is as yet undecided, but I could always attend some art classes over the summer and present my portfolio to the art department and go with Fine Art if all else fails. 

(17 May 2017, 8:16 pm)Jackamcardle wrote I luckily just revised for the drug trials before the exam, so i was chuffed when i got that! I though I did quite well in the exam, only slipped up with convection currents near the end but it should be pretty good. My science teacher reckons its only 60% for an a*! I hope so lol

I was told in the region of 50% for a B and between 60-70% for an A, so hopefully I have hit above 50%.

(17 May 2017, 8:44 pm)R852 PRG wrote Maths is a good one to have, but not for me. Stopped enjoying it years ago when it began to feel more and more irrelevant, and no teaching of how it can be applied. For instance, trigonometry and Pythagoras' theorem are essential for things like architecture, but we're not told about anything like that. I imagine more would understand the logic behind it if they knew what it could actually be useful for. I have no idea what use algebra is.

English Literature, History, and Sociology are the three I am looking to do, but the option blocks are a bit of a pain. There are four blocks, A-D, and History is in A, as is Business, so I can't do Business (not that I would like to, I haven't minded it at GCSE, but the teaching isn't great), however, there are two English Literature classes in B and C, while Sociology is in block D. Geography is in block D too, so another one ruled out, as I find it a bit boring at times, and I think I would prefer the discussion element to sociology. Maths and Science mainly occupy the rest of the blocks, which I have already decided are not the direction I intend to take. Option four is as yet undecided, but I could always attend some art classes over the summer and present my portfolio to the art department and go with Fine Art if all else fails. 


I was told in the region of 50% for a B and between 60-70% for an A, so hopefully I have hit above 50%.

The option blocks are one of the main reasons I'm not staying at my current school (along with quite a few other people) they are mainly catered to people who want to take science and maths. But yeah I agree most of the stuff in Maths is completely irrelevant so is putting me off next year.

With our Biology being so easy it wouldn't surprise me if 55 marks was a A*

English Literature and Geography tomorrow morning and afternoon respectively. Feeling a bit uneasy about them. Quotes are starting to sink in for Literature, but it is the uncertainty of what exactly you're going to be assessed on that is stressing me.

(21 May 2017, 8:24 am)R852 PRG wrote English Literature and Geography tomorrow morning and afternoon respectively. Feeling a bit uneasy about them. Quotes are starting to sink in for Literature, but it is the uncertainty of what exactly you're going to be assessed on that is stressing me.

What are your sections for geography?

(21 May 2017, 8:24 am)R852 PRG wrote English Literature and Geography tomorrow morning and afternoon respectively. Feeling a bit uneasy about them. Quotes are starting to sink in for Literature, but it is the uncertainty of what exactly you're going to be assessed on that is stressing me.

My reaction when you said Geography.

(21 May 2017, 4:44 pm)Tom wrote What are your sections for geography?

Coasts, rivers, and tectonics. I don't mind the volcanoes etc. - but I lose interest with some of rivers and coasts. 

For the human content, we do globalisation, tourism, and population change. Our coursework was on tourism.

(21 May 2017, 5:47 pm)R852 PRG wrote Coasts, rivers, and tectonics. I don't mind the volcanoes etc. - but I lose interest with some of rivers and coasts. 

For the human content, we do globalisation, tourism, and population change. Our coursework was on tourism.

Yeah I do the exact same - I lose interest with the whole of physical geography pretty boring.

(21 May 2017, 7:11 pm)Tom wrote Yeah I do the exact same - I lose interest with the whole of physical geography pretty boring.

That said, I do think Geography is a nice subject if you like some variety - a lot of the human content I find is linked to some of the stuff I have studied in Economics, such as population change, LEDCs and MEDCs, and globalisation.

(21 May 2017, 7:26 pm)R852 PRG wrote That said, I do think Geography is a nice subject if you like some variety - a lot of the human content I find is linked to some of the stuff I have studied in Economics, such as population change, LEDCs and MEDCs, and globalisation.

Did you find the geography really hard? I though the 8 mark questions for costal Zone and water on the land were unclear. I hope it was relating to Kielder even though it is not a river...

(22 May 2017, 3:08 pm)Tom wrote Did you find the geography really hard? I though the 8 mark questions for costal Zone and water on the land were unclear. I hope it was relating to Kielder even though it is not a river...

I did Kielder for the Water one. My teacher said that was right when i got out as i mentioned it to her...its the only case study i could think of! Trust me, the ice 8 marker was much worse!

(22 May 2017, 3:56 pm)Jackamcardle wrote I did Kielder for the Water one. My teacher said that was right when i got out as i mentioned it to her...its the only case study i could think of! Trust me, the ice 8 marker was much worse!

Pretty glad about that then - pretty badly worded question!

Grade boundaries will be very low I would have thought!

(22 May 2017, 3:08 pm)Tom wrote Did you find the geography really hard? I though the 8 mark questions for costal Zone and water on the land were unclear. I hope it was relating to Kielder even though it is not a river...

Yeah, it was bloody awful. Everyone came out saying how bad it was. Like Jack, I did Kielder for the 8-mark question on issues with river management. Didn't even know what to put for the 8-mark question on coasts, I just put down what a spit was and left it at that. :s

(22 May 2017, 3:56 pm)Jackamcardle wrote I did Kielder for the Water one. My teacher said that was right when i got out as i mentioned it to her...its the only case study i could think of! Trust me, the ice 8 marker was much worse!

The only time I used a case study was for the 3-mark question on tsunamis in unit 1, and then Kielder. Quite irritated at how much time I spent revising the case studies then barely used them. 

Likewise, my English Literature could have been better this morning. I was fine for the 20-mark theme question for The Tempest, as it was one I knew fairly well, then the 40-mark character question for Lord of The Flies, although I ended up rushing the latter a bit so that I could at least make a start on the 20-mark extract question for The Tempest as I only had 15 minutes left... Not the best start, but still got Friday's exam to pull things around. 

(22 May 2017, 8:09 pm)R852 PRG wrote Yeah, it was bloody awful. Everyone came out saying how bad it was. Like Jack, I did Kielder for the 8-mark question on issues with river management. Didn't even know what to put for the 8-mark question on coasts, I just put down what a spit was and left it at that. :s


The only time I used a case study was for the 3-mark question on tsunamis in unit 1, and then Kielder. Quite irritated at how much time I spent revising the case studies then barely used them. 

Likewise, my English Literature could have been better this morning. I was fine for the 20-mark theme question for The Tempest, as it was one I knew fairly well, then the 40-mark character question for Lord of The Flies, although I ended up rushing the latter a bit so that I could at least make a start on the 20-mark extract question for The Tempest as I only had 15 minutes left... Not the best start, but still got Friday's exam to pull things around. 

I'm glad your exam went well! I think we must've had different literature exams today, as i didn't see the Lord of the Flies question. What was it about?

(22 May 2017, 8:09 pm)R852 PRG wrote Yeah, it was bloody awful. Everyone came out saying how bad it was. Like Jack, I did Kielder for the 8-mark question on issues with river management. Didn't even know what to put for the 8-mark question on coasts, I just put down what a spit was and left it at that. :s


The only time I used a case study was for the 3-mark question on tsunamis in unit 1, and then Kielder. Quite irritated at how much time I spent revising the case studies then barely used them. 

Likewise, my English Literature could have been better this morning. I was fine for the 20-mark theme question for The Tempest, as it was one I knew fairly well, then the 40-mark character question for Lord of The Flies, although I ended up rushing the latter a bit so that I could at least make a start on the 20-mark extract question for The Tempest as I only had 15 minutes left... Not the best start, but still got Friday's exam to pull things around. 

I skipped the 8 mark question for coastal Zone - I done next to no revision for it so couldn't remember the formation of a spit (English was more important to me as it is so hard to revise!) - thought Macbeth went pretty well but didn't get a chance to finish Christmas Carol. Wonder what poem will come up on Friday. Teacher was thinking London for some reason...

And can't wait for Physics on Wednesday   Hopefully an easy paper or I've got no chance whatsoever.

(22 May 2017, 8:58 pm)Jackamcardle wrote I'm glad your exam went well! I think we must've had different literature exams today, as i didn't see the Lord of the Flies question. What was it about?  

Significance of the character of Ralph. He is the protagonist and Golding uses him to represent civilisation and argue his point against this, that and the other. Don't think the two questions on themes/characters could have been better yesterday.

No exams today thankfully, got a free period too.

Business Unit 1 wasn't too bad this morning, but made a few mistakes here and there. The Science this afternoon was pretty dreadful.

Maths tomorrow (yay...) followed by a 2h15m English Literature on Friday morning...

(24 May 2017, 3:44 pm)R852 PRG wrote Business Unit 1 wasn't too bad this morning, but made a few mistakes here and there. The Science this afternoon was pretty dreadful.

Maths tomorrow (yay...) followed by a 2h15m English Literature on Friday morning...

Yayyyy maths... Said no one ever

(24 May 2017, 3:44 pm)R852 PRG wrote Business Unit 1 wasn't too bad this morning, but made a few mistakes here and there. The Science this afternoon was pretty dreadful.

Maths tomorrow (yay...) followed by a 2h15m English Literature on Friday morning...

Can't wait for that 2h15m exam  . Hate not knowing what poem will come up too, ridiculous having to remember 15 or so poems!

Physics was okay, and so was business but wrote about the wrong thing for lateral integration annoyingly.

Thought Maths was actually quite a decent paper thought the first 10 or so questions were easier than expected - after that were a bit mix and match.

Not looking forward to Poetry and an inspector calls tomorrow though...

(25 May 2017, 7:16 pm)Tom wrote Thought Maths was actually quite a decent paper thought the first 10 or so questions were easier than expected - after that were a bit mix and match.

Not looking forward to Poetry and an inspector calls tomorrow though...

Our Maths was shocking today. I left about half the paper blank as I didn't have a clue, we've not been taught vectors and the lot. Everyone aired their complaints about it, it would seem not a single person in our year answered the last question...

There was also some really awkward simultaneous equation that, upon review, I suspect was actually a quadratic. 

Hopefully, things can be pulled around in the big Literature exam tomorrow.

(25 May 2017, 8:53 pm)R852 PRG wrote Our Maths was shocking today. I left about half the paper blank as I didn't have a clue, we've not been taught vectors and the lot. Everyone aired their complaints about it, it would seem not a single person in our year answered the last question...

There was also some really awkward simultaneous equation that, upon review, I suspect was actually a quadratic. 

Hopefully, things can be pulled around in the big Literature exam tomorrow.

Was it edexcel you were on?

For the simultaneous equations I gave up as I couldn't factorise it (for 8x^2+78x+144 or something).  Vectors one was quite confusing but eventually came with 2.5 which I don't think was right.

(25 May 2017, 9:10 pm)Tom wrote Was it edexcel you were on?

For the simultaneous equations I gave up as I couldn't factorise it (for 8x^2+78x+144 or something).  Vectors one was quite confusing but eventually came with 2.5 which I don't think was right.

Yeah, had my Edexcel English Literature paper 2 this morning. 

The unseen poetry was centred around cats. The two poems were a bit difficult to get a grip on, but I managed to get some language/form/structure points for both of them with a bit of an interpretation. The poetry anthology question asked you to compare Belfast Confetti with one other poem, I was a bit miffed by that one as Belfast Confetti was one of my least favourites out of the fifteen, and a bit of an awkward one to draw comparisons with. For the Jekyll & Hyde section, the extract question was quite possibly the most awkward one they could give us, then rather than a theme question that carries on from the extract (a letter from Dr Jekyll to Dr Lanyon begging for help), it asked us about how characters help others throughout the novel. It was more an understanding of the whole novel than any particular themes inside-out that was necessary for that section. Got through it, just. 

On the whole, though, not a terrible exam. Everyone seemed to complain about the Jekyll & Hyde section, including teachers, one of whom couldn't believe they had put such a question about help in the novel for the first year of this specification. GCSE English Literature thankfully now out the way.

9 days of no exams now.

(26 May 2017, 5:37 pm)R852 PRG wrote Yeah, had my Edexcel English Literature paper 2 this morning. 

The unseen poetry was centred around cats. The two poems were a bit difficult to get a grip on, but I managed to get some language/form/structure points for both of them with a bit of an interpretation. The poetry anthology question asked you to compare Belfast Confetti with one other poem, I was a bit miffed by that one as Belfast Confetti was one of my least favourites out of the fifteen, and a bit of an awkward one to draw comparisons with. For the Jekyll & Hyde section, the extract question was quite possibly the most awkward one they could give us, then rather than a theme question that carries on from the extract (a letter from Dr Jekyll to Dr Lanyon begging for help), it asked us about how characters help others throughout the novel. It was more an understanding of the whole novel than any particular themes inside-out that was necessary for that section. Got through it, just. 

On the whole, though, not a terrible exam. Everyone seemed to complain about the Jekyll & Hyde section, including teachers, one of whom couldn't believe they had put such a question about help in the novel for the first year of this specification. GCSE English Literature thankfully now out the way.

9 days of no exams now.

I meant Edexcel for Maths not English
I am on AQA for Literature Paper 2, so had completely different poems etc.

Romeo and Juliet GCSE exam question cock-up may affect thousands of teenagers - http://www.sunderlandecho.com/news/educa...-1-8566497

Oh oh