Nerves

What is worse than going through resitting exams yourself? Watching one of your children do it.
My eldest more than likely did not study as well as he should have done for his AS levels last June and is now resitting some of the exams. He has spent hours studying and does admit that he knows it much better, but I still worry. The exams start today and go over the next week or so. Fingers majorly crossed.
High school over in the UK is very different than the US as you do have the GCSE and then the A levels. In the US, it is grade point average and SATS. Here it is how well you have done on the course. Luckily with AS, there is a chance to resit the exam but it does add an extra work load...
One other thing I discovered this week is that BEFORE choosing GCSE courses, parents and students should investigate the university degree courses and their requirements. Several of my eldest's friends were rejected from Edinburgh because they had not read the fine print and did not know that they needed to have a foreign language GCSE. Because I believe in the importance in being able to speak a foreign language (however badly), it was a given for my children, but there will be students (and parents) who did not realize the importance of continuing with a foreign language. Many of the Scottish university science courses have a year abroad programme in an EU country. It is all about keeping your options open.

Playing the proud parent

My eldest received his GCSE results back today. He ended up with 10 GCSEs including 3 A*s and 4 As. His English literature paper was one of the top five marks in the country. Considerating that he was educated at a state school and boys are notorious for doing less well at English, I think that this is a very good result indeed.
For those of you who are unfamiliar with the English education system, all year 11s take GCSEs in a wide variety of subjects. In order to take A levels you must get 5 GSCEs at a C grade or above.
Luckily my son plans to take English Literature at A level as well as Maths, Russian and History.