11 Plus Exams Forum

My DS has been unwell all weekend with a cold and cough.
He won't go to bed and sweat it out as he won't stop revising.
He has Chemistry GCSE tomorrow and as he wants to do medicine/dentistry this is essential.
Seems so unfair, he has been revising so hard and is predicted an A* but will at a huge disadvantage if he is ill.
I have emailed the examination officer but wondered if anyone else has experienced this problem?

Zorro, I am really sorry to hear that but it sounds like your ds has the drive to see him through. I hope he is able to focus enough to be able to answer the questions. What board is he doing? If he has prepared well, as it sounds like he has, he will be able to answer the questions even if he is not feeling that well. How long is the exam? If he can hold the pen hopefully he can write the answer. DG

It's IGCSE and 2 hours.
I think he knows his stuff but won't be in the best state .

Send him in and take him to the doctor afterwards.

You can get special consideration but not many marks are added. Any low results can be explained in the UCAS reference.

Hope he's ok ...

Thanks, he seems a bit better this morning so fingers crossed!
Shame it's the most important exam today - only one paper, no coursework!

Hope it goes well for him. DD had to do some AS exams this week when really not great - having been very unwell during the prime revision week last week. I think the adrenaline on the day does carry them through, and if they know the stuff, then they know it and it will show. We did get a doctor's note and I made sure the school knew about it before the exam (sorry, bit late to tell you this now, but you could still call if you are looking on here in time!) so it didn't look like a case of 'oh dear, the exam went badly, what can we do to make it better?' As G55 said I think they only add on a tiny bit and even then it would only really count if they were sitting on a grade boundary. It did make DD feel reassured to know the note had gone in. She also said she thought I was more worried about it than she was, so maybe you could take some comfort from that.

Aw thanks Amber!
I have just spoken to Exam Officer at school. He said they will put in a special consideration form - the exam is this afternoon.
He said they don't need a doctor's note which would be difficult for me to get anyway as DS won't be home until after surgery is closed this evening and then he has 2 exams morning and afternoon tomorrow -earliest opportunity would be Wednesday. Did you actually have to take your DD to the doctor?
I am sure you are right about the adrenaline. He was on the phone with one of his friends last night and they were testing each other - taking it very seriously!
I think your comment about grade boundaries was helpful too. I will talk to him at lunchtime and hopefully he will feel reassured.
As to me being more worried than him - oh yes!

I have pm-ed you zorro.

Got it - thanks.

I hope your DC manages OK

Although the IGCSE is much harder the advantage is that the grade boundaries are quite low so if he knows his stuff then there is room for dropping quite a few marks due to being under par.

Assuming he is taking Chemistry on to AS level then he will have the marks for that pre UCAS application so any drop in marks at IGCSE can be seen to be a blip.