Any parents of Y12 DCs up for a support thread?

[cardibach]

to get us through AS and university Open Days etc.?

[chocoluvva]

Great idea - though I'm in Scotland.

DD is about to sit her highers - equivalent to A2s.

Have you looked at TheStudentRoom site? Lots of tips for school/college/uni.

[chocoluvva]

Doh. Highers are equivalent to AS levels.

[cardibach]

Just me and you then, choco! I'm in Wales, so things a bit different from England but not in your league.
We have booked a load of Open Days (thereby netting me some lovely weekends away) and DD is looking forward to those. Seeing the grades required has inspired more revision, too. SHe was struggling, but she's seen she is more than capable of getting on the courses she wants (Occupational Therapy) if she gets on with it. SHe is studying English, Biology and Chemistry at AS, as well as the Welsh Bac. She wants to defer entry and have a gap year, though, to travel.
What is your DD planning on doing?

[prettydaisies]

I have a DD in Y12 doing AS levels and also going to look round universities. The universities that DD wants to go and see all seem to have their open days in the week and there's no way I'd get time off work so she's either going on her own or else OH might take her - his job is a bit more flexible.
I think she has 2 more weeks of school, then study leave for 2 weeks and then back to school after half term even though she still has some more exams then. We're in England.

[Cerisier]

Good idea cardibach, I found the GCSE thread last year very supportive. I have a DD in Y12 working hard for AS's. We are in Asia so getting to universities to look round isn't easy, we can only get over to the UK in July when most open days are over.

[cardibach]

Fortunately for us, DDs Universities all have at least one Saturday Open Day. We live in the back of beyond, so they all mean a weekend away - nice, but expensive.
Anyone else's DC having extreme difficulty with Chemistry? it causes regular tears here. :(

[glaurung]

I have a yr 12 dd too. She doesn't want to go to university and is seriously thinking about dropping out of school next year. Motivation for AS exam study is therefore a bit of a problem right now.

[cardibach]

Oops, sorry notfluffy just seen the bit in your post about Chemistry - that's exactly DD's problem. Any suggestions for solving it gratefully received!

[glaurung]

..and she does chemistry too cardibach - it's a tough subject, some people say the toughest.

[glaurung]

dd struggled with timing in her Jan papers and didn't finish several. I expect it will be a problem this time around too. Looking at mark schemes very carefully is usually the best way to learn how to get the marks (chemistry is notorious for being picky about using exactly the right terminology)

[prettydaisies]

DD is wishing she'd done chemistry instead of English lit I think. Perhaps I need to tell her it's very difficult. She's talking about doing it as an AS in Y13, but I'm not sure how practical that is. Also she won't have done any chemistry for a year.

[cardibach]

Sounds tough, notfluffy. There is so much pressure on grades now, it's bonkers!
She does lots of past papers, but it isn't seeming to make much difference. It's WJEC - the new Head of Chem says it is a difficult board with questions which are not as straight forward as some. She's switching them to OCR for next year, which doesn't help DD :(
I teach at the school and so have access to mark schemes. They are less then helpful too. She has a tutor, but I'm not sure how much good it is doing. She can answer all the questions in lessons/tutor sessions but can't seem to apply it to the exam questions. They have done their prac - no marks yet, but strong hints she got an A in it. THis may pull her U grade papers up to an E! WIth luck she'll do better than that though.
She is looking good for a B or C in Bio - really needs a B as some Universities want B in Bio for Occupational Therapy. She should walk an A in English (it's Lang and Lit) as she has the right sort of flair.
prettydaisies I am an English teacher - if your DD has any problems/queries feel free to ask me! A different perspective can sometimes help.

[cardibach]

How's everyone's revision going today? DD is out at a rehearsal now, but has turned the bathroom into a shrine to Chemistry. You can't even have a wee without revising in this house.

[Isthiscorrect]

Hi, ds is in yr 12, we live overseas but he is still taking AS levels. He needs all A's as he is applying to Cambridge and Georgetown, amongst others. His course are Philosophy, History, Gov & Pol and economics. We went back to the UK for Easter and visited 7 universities over the course of the 2 weeks. It's exhausting, and along with the weather, we all came back sick. Course work appears to be finished so it's all revision and past papers. He has flash cards with names, dates, acronyms etc, everyday he adds more, so he can use the right words according to the marking scheme. I just shuffle them and then we do 10/15 mins whilst making the tea or similar. He has enormous posters he has made tuck up all over the place. Other stuff has been written on the patio windows in the family room, yet more stuff on the tiles in the kitchen. You can't turn round for seeing something. And i must admit that I know far more now about philosophy than I ever thought I would do.

[BackforGood]

Hi. My ds is in Yr12. He doesn't even know if he wants to go to University, and if he does, which subject, or where ~ not sure we'll get to a lot of Open days.
Do they all tend to be in the same couple of weeks?

[glaurung]

You can visit the campuses at any time Backforgood. If you can't make many of the official open days it still gives a feel of the place, most of them have self guided 'walking tours' you can do. I think the open days are mostly clustered in June/July - perhaps a bit longer than 2 weeks, but there will still be clashes and some get booked up rather quickly too.

It's not always wise to rush to university if unsure, especially if your ds can find a good alternative (is he thinking of anything in particular - there are some good apprenticeship schemes about). Dd is sure she doesn't want to go and my view is if she changes her mind she can always go a few years down the line instead.

[secretscwirrels]

Hi cardibach and backforgood I think you were both on last year's GCSE support thread? In fact cardibach sent me some English revision stuff which was very useful.
DS1 is working his socks off at the moment. He is doing Maths, Further Maths, Physics chemistry and Biology. Did well in the January modules but is very keen to get into a top uni to do Maths and pushes himself very hard.
backforgood the open days are spread a little. Many in the last couple of weeks in June. Then another lot in September. Then I gather there are more in the spring if they want to re- visit once they have an offer. His college are doing coach trips to some uni open days and we will do others. We also live in the back of beyond so everywhere is miles away.

[secretscwirrels]

DD has turned the bathroom into a shrine to Chemistry
We used to have the Periodic Table shower curtain like Sheldon has in BBT I kid you not. Not that DS1 is a clone of Sheldon.

[Cerisier]

I'm sorry to hear DD is disenchanted with her studies glaurung. Has she any idea what she would like to do?

[Cerisier]

I was on the GCSE thread as Astelia- I have done my regular NC since then!

[Theas18]

Mee! Please hold my hand..

It's the 2nd time for me. Eldest is 2nd year at uni. DS worries me more. He's equally able but has moments when he seems to just miss things. Not hugely, but when the profile you need to be taking forward is AAAA (plus general studies and the up coming EPQ) there isn't room for this.

Uni open days booked including Newcastle- that's £100 return on the train for me and DS booked 2 months exactly in advance, so he isn't going to be popping home and we aren't going to be popping up... (DD1 never pops home, well she's coming tonight as she's duetting with DS for his music performance tomorrow). We do go up to DD1s concerts though and it would be a shame not to be able to do so for him.

Soooo I guess the first set of vibes are for nerves of steel tomorrow for him! As long as he holds his nerve the marks should be good.

[fivefathoms]

Newcastle is very near for us hence everywhere else miles away! Open Days are going to be a pain as single parent with younger one doing GCSE's right to the end of June. Eldest will have to do what I did and go to open days by himself I reckon.

[Theas18]

I can see your problem fivefathoms! I'm only doing newcastle as it'll involve staying over - and the Nottingham day on the way back.

THe more of this juggling I do, the more I am thankful for the lucky happenstance that placed the kids 3 school years apart each time so we don't have the awful A level and GCSE at the same time thing.