COUNTDOWN TO RESULTS!

[EmeraldE]

I want to do sparkles like last year!! It cheers me up

[muminTewkes]

...is that just in case we forget when they're coming?

[EmeraldE]

yes! I would hate anyone to 'pop to the shops' while those letters await unopened on the doormat (is that a real compound word?)

[Milla]

Ah, yes, love the sparkles!
Looks like everyone is in the same boat vis a vis second paper being significantly harder than expected. DS2 had "helped" at Pate's and said had he been able to sneak a look at a paper. He was quite shocked. Do-gooder! Just be grateful it's all over. V pleased for everyone.

[EmeraldE]

[Milla]

DS2 had "helped" at Pate's and said had he been able to sneak a look at a paper. He was quite shocked.

Just to clarify - as was typing previous comment yesterday on laptop with skiddy keys. I asked DS2 if he had been able to catch sight of the paper and he HADN'T. They were kept very much secret. The shock was his reaction to my asking, not shock at how horrible the paper was. Sorry if I've inadvertently misled anyone!!

[chatternatter]

5 days to go

Just to say thank u to every one for sharing there bits of info on here, helps with the overloading of questions for my daughter.
She found first paper easy and second paper challenging and when pressed she suggested she guessed a quarter of them, i nearly freaked but kept a smile on my face and said well done you, you filled in all the boxes.

Not feeling as confident as i would of hoped and five days seems like a really loooonnnnnng time.

[cairo]

Just to say GOOD LUCK to everyone who is waiting at the moment. This is absolutely the worst part of the whole process I think.

I happened to be in Tommies very early on Saturday morning (child playing rugby.) We wandered into his classroom to collect something, oblivious to the importance of the date. Looked around and saw scrap paper, pencils and rubbers on each desk. Initially confused - and then my stomach just lurched as I put two and two together....Didn't even have a child sitting it this year and I still felt sick!!

[1203tommy]

Yes 5 more nights of little sleep! Me too, not as confident, but it's comforting to know we are all in same boat. My daughter had to guess quite a few on 2nd paper, as she said she spent a lot of time on questions in the middle of the test, @45 ish.
What i'd like to know is, are there any parents with last years children who got into Pates, that came out of exam, not feeling very confident. Or do they all report good news. Just trying to calm my nerves. PLease anyone from last year I think we could all do with perking up.
I hope results arrive Saturday as we are going on holiday saturday night!!

[Milla]

Last year does seem to have been different as mine was not the only one to come out having found it "pince" - easy peasy to you and me and finished each paper 10 mins early. Let me tell you that that news is no walk in the park. The tutor had warned not to listen to people who said it was easy because it wasn't and here we were with my son all confident. The heart plummeted and stayed at ankle height for the next looooooonnnggg two weeks.
The trouble is that we pick apart whatever they give us in terms of "detail" (and why are children so RUBBISH at detail!?!?!) and then turn it into the worst case scenario and taunt ourselves (generally peaking in anxious intensity at around 4 in the morning).
Sounds to me like this second paper was a real brute this time and the standardising of scores will reflect it. Haven't heard of any children so far who found it easy.
Yes, Cairo, I SO know what you mean. Can't quite keep away from the site, feeling vicarious nausea!