GCSE '18s (20) - half term beckons!

Alex I hope you DD makes some progress.

Campus is beautiful too

Thefirst, advantage of birmingham is all accom is on campus and all in one or two areas not dotted about so makes life simple. And is in distinct blocks each with there own character. Has proved very easy socially for DD2. We didn’t consider it for some reason until last year but have been so impressed on a number of fronts. Seems to be modernising and at the forefront of a lot of initiatives unlike some some currently higher up in the league tables that seem more unchanged and stuck in their ways.

Glad she's on the mend, AH.

Whistl as far as maths hierarchy goes, we didn't include northern unis but DS1 says Cambridge over Oxford, then Warwick, UCL then Bath. Then Bristol, then Exeter, Southampton pretty similar then Nottingham and Birmingham. After that Cardiff then maybe Loughborough, Leicester, Reading. We didn't really look at London either.

I'm sure Durham, Manchester, Sheffield and Newcastle are up there but they were too far away for us to consider.

DS1 was high ability and did STEP but wasn't quite Cambridge standard. 3 x A* not good enough alone for Cambridge! Your DS's school does send a few to Cambridge, though and supports STEP so your DS should get advice from school on which unis to look at.

My DS3 doesn't have DS1's drive, however, so we'll be looking at a different selection of unis for him in all probability. He's going to find out if the school supports STEP as even if you don't pass, the study alone helps with all your other maths.

STEP 1 is aimed at maths A level students, STEP 2 the same but harder and STEP 3 is hard FM. Some unis include STEP in their offers, e.g., if you get any STEP at grade 1 you can drop a grade in FM etc at Warwick or any STEP grade 2 can drop a grade in FM at Southampton I think. Mind you, DS1 found getting an A* in FM easier than a grade 1 at STEP. But doing STEP made his maths better.

I didn’t study there, but external people were allowed to join the university choir back when I was a student at another West Midlands uni.

So easy to get to on the train to University Station

Yes, DS was impressed by how convenient the station is. The lab tour was the best one he has been on so far and the lecturers seemed friendly and approachable.

Birmingham University seems quite big, and I worry that he would feel a bit lost. I mentioned this to him, and he just said that it would be fine because he could use a map. I didn't have the heart to explain that I was worried about potential social isolation in such a large university, rather than his sense of direction.

Fortunately he is a joiner of things and there seem to be plenty of societies there that appeal to him.

Well it’s very long and complicated - they were so thorough but the main upshot is that yes she has some challenges due to the construction of her feet and yes she has had some injuries but they have healed. However her continuing problems are not necessarily due to weakness just in her ankle but due to overcompensating in other parts of her body such as calves & hips whilst she was injured. Hopefully highly targeted physio excercises should be able to address most issues.

AH how is your DD's ankle?

Well we got back from Birmingham today but the hospital not the university. But for anyone considering Birmingham Uni what a lovely environment, so different from when I used to sing in a choir there 20 years ago. So easy to get to on the train to University Station.

And for anyone with sporty or dsncy kids, if they ever get injured or have problems the QE Sports Medicine dept is a fantastic little known about NHS clinic for serious dancers and sportspeople. I’m so glad we pushed for a referral.

DS2 really enjoyed the Debate Chamber summer school he went to.

On our way back from Physics at KCL now. DD1 is fast asleep on my shoulder. It feels like when she was a toddler ... except she just spent the afternoon in a university physics department. How ever did that happen?!

Her verdict - she definitely doesn't want to study in a big city (too noisy and overwhelming) but the physics was awesome. And we enjoyed a nice pizza afterwards. And her little sister went to Hamleys with DH and had her mind well and truly blown by the teddy bears
A constructive afternoon all round!

Well done Veiled. Seems to be a time for sorting !!!

Thanks HunkyDory. It’s the IR one day Debate Chamber masterclass that I’ve booked for DS. May look at booking the summer school too. DD loved the one she did (English Lit).

Glad you liked Durham Sticker. What did your DD think of it? Worth bearing in mind that Newcastle is only 20 minutes away on the train if they tire of the (limited) nightlife in Durham!

marycontrary I’ve just asked DS what worked for him re gcse revision. His immediate answer was ‘past papers and going through them carefully afterwards’. He did use Tassomai but now claims that it didn’t help much (it did!) but he found it very annoying, particularly towards the end, and I’m sure that’s colouring his view. His other pearls of wisdom were

• read the books more than once and know them well for English Lit (he says it’s surprising how few of his classmates did this)
• pay attention and engage in class/with homework/for topic tests in content-heavy subjects like History/Geography/RS so that you understand as much as possible. He’s another dyslexic though, so can’t rely on his short-term memory for last-minute cramming.

Ha Ha I know the feeling. Although often I suggest something and it gets rubbished but it will then resurfaced later as her suggestion 😂

Oratory I think that would interest DD too, but the moment I suggest anything it's out of the question

I did enjoy Durham today. It was definitely smaller & quieter than I anticipated.

My own university choices were limited by distance, as Exeter was the closest university to home and was still over 2 hours away. Anything above Birmingham was impossible logistics wise. Meanwhile DD's uncles have a collection of degrees with the professor having done York, Sheffield & now he pontificates in Scotland. Another has merely done Cambridge, Japan, Durham, more Japan, Oxford and a couple of London post grads. We also have a collection from Wales & Guildford. Poor old DD is spoilt for choice with a ban on London (too expensive) being the only limit. She was originally going to apply for law, spoke to her uncle and now fancies PPE/ history & politics.

Hunkydory Egham is Royal Holloway - it has a lovely main building that looks like Hogwarts!

Another thought for those humanities dc interested in philosophy and politics (thinking of Alex maybe), DD2 is doing philosophy, religion and ethics. Some religion or theology courses are based on traditional bible study but others are focused on the impact of philosophy and religion in the world today and are very current. They also allow a mix of philosophy politics and ethics (DD2 didn’t want to do straight philosophy or politics but this seemed to fit the bill and four weeks in is looking promising)

All seems a long time ago but and new challenges to face !!

Good point thefirst - I bought ds one of the revision guides then when he said he liked the format, brought the other subjects. But then he was going for minimum detail possible.

I may have said before but every one of DS grades were above predicted and most above target, with some being two or even three grades above. I put that down to his particular situation (unblocking the impact if spld very late in the day), hard work and practise (which he hadn’t put in before year 11), one to one help from his physics teacher and his sister which worked better than general lessons, and his school generally predicting low (some of his marks were similar to mocks and tests but the grade given much higher as school overestimated where grade boundaries would be). Whatever the reason it was a nice surprise - one of my best memories was the two of us sitting in the car outside the school and we couldn’t stop laughing about his English grade it was so ridiculous.

I dutifully bought DS2 the CGP revision guides and workbooks for several of his subjects. He took one look at them, said he didn't like them (not enough detail and didn't like the layout) and never opened them again. Thankfully I've been able to sell them.

I'm not adding anything useful here to the academic side of things. However, I am feeling a little bit happy today. Finished work a lot earlier than usual and went to IKEA all by myself. Bought youngest a new mattress, new bookshelf and new chest of drawers. She's just had all the junk in her room, and after 4 years I decided it was a bit unfair. Have spent the evening going through her room with her and have put out 5 bags of crap. Have to work on Saturday but OH has promised me he will put the furniture together. Happy days!