Year 12 - 2024/25 - Support, Discussion and Looking After Each Other

First core AS done after being upset last night saying he is going to fail after doing badly on a past paper came home bit more optimistic.
Good luck to any other kids doing AS or ALevels.

@Teadrinker81 yes, definitely applying with known grades here. DD2 isn't sure what she wants to do so it's better for her to wait a year. She'll probably do an art foundation year hopefully alongside a part time job. DD1 applied with known grades. I have no idea what she put on her UCAS form as she refused to show us but as she got onto the niche course that she wanted it must have been ok. 😁

@Curlyshabtree that seems harsh on the STEM, a lot of it is knowledge based like all subjects but a huge amount is understanding the mark schemes and that can always be worked on. Good luck to your DS, hopefully they'll up him to what he needs for law. Where is he thinking of applying?

My DCs have their grades for the recent mocks. Apparently they don’t predict up for STEM subjects as it’s knowledge based?
DD got Astar, Astar A so all good there and hopefully enough for medicine.
DS got ABB and hope that he’ll be predicted up as he’s doing Humanities with a view to study Law.
We have uni visits booked in for Glasgow, Sheffield, Leeds, Newcastle and Hull York.
Busy times.
Good luck for all those sitting exams of any flavour!

Advertising

I wonder what MissionEmployable was saying on a support thread that got them deleted. 😂

@Teadrinker81 - my son is the same as JustHereWithMyPopcorn's DS. If he doesn't get offers he will consider a gap year and reapply with grades in hand.

@MiniMidiMaxi hopefully the open days will give your son some clarity on his course choice. I think a lot of our DC are undecided to a greater or lesser extent - I know my son is.

😂@JustHereWithMyPopcorn I shall start rifling through my cupboards. I know it's there somewhere

@Waspie might have to revive the infamous mumsnet scarf! 😁

@Teadrinker81 I have had that convo with DS who was getting himself over anxious about the June exams because that's what his predicted grades are based on. His course(s) all seem to require As and more so if he doesn't get the grades he needs then he will probably wait for results and then make decisions based on those. A gap year saving some money is a very good plan.

Anyone else considering applying once they have results?
dd is really bright but struggled initially with maths and has worked hard to get her results back on track. She is unlikely to have got the a she would like in her mocks but is determined to get it in the end! 😊 she is wondering if she’d be better having a gap year and saving some money and applying once she knows her results. She’s likely to want to do English lit. I suspect it will be too much for her to do exams and applications in the same year as she’s terrible at decision making and swaps and changes.

DS I think is booked in for open days at Bath, Warwick, Southampton, Imperial, Sheffield, Cambridge and looking at adding in LSE. It’s all more complicated as he’s not sure on subject yet, so spanning maths/economics/engineering options.

@bluefineliner ds only needs to be in when he has an exam this week and next week. Back properly after half term. He has 7 in total, 2 done so far.

The 2 1/2 hour pure maths paper this morning was apparently ‘pretty easy’ ! Let’s hope his confidence is well placed

DS only has to be in school when he has an exam next week @bluefineliner then he has half term and then work experience week. He won't be back in school until 9th June. He has exams each morning but, by fluke, none in the afternoons so he can use this time to revise. It's helpful that your daughter has half term to revise.

Those open days sound good. I hope your daughter (and you!) enjoy them. Manchester clashes with Warwick and DS decided on Warwick (closer to home). I did try and suggest we travel from Warwick up to York after the open day and then do the Sunday York open day but he wasn't keen. Open day overload

We shall have to work out a secret sign for MNers at open days so that we can recognise each other @JustHereWithMyPopcorn

Yes @bluefineliner DS has the week of exams and the following Monday off.

Yep we had to juggle open days as ours fall on 2 weekends in June and one in July. It has ended up with a sat/sun one weekend at Manchester/York and Newcastle the following Saturday and Sheffield the Saturday after that. Couldn't work Liverpool in to that mix so if she is still interested it may have to be an autumn one. Luckly none of the ones we are going to are more than 2 hours drive away, some only an hour so not too bad for travelling.

Are any of your children on study leave whilst taking mocks? DD has 2 weeks off at beginning of June whilst taking her mocks. This will really help with her revision as it runs on from May half term holiday.

Might see you at Brum then @Waspie! 😀 Interesting about the Bristol discount will look at that.

I think the Cambridge Oxford thing is probably deliberate, you're only allowed to apply for one and they rudely want you to make up your mind before attending!

We have had to juggle open day bookings too. DS is going to Birmingham rather than Nottingham. I think KCL was 28th too, so we've booked the September date. Luckily UCL also has an open day on Friday 27th so DS will go to that (the school allow a maximum of 3 days off for open days).

Bristol offer 20% off rail fares for open days if you book via their link. I've booked tickets for DS (with his railcard) and me for less than £60 return in total. Durham clashes with Bristol and Bath. Luckily (?) for DS Bath don't do his subject and he's ruled out Durham as too far away.

LSE's was during the Easter break. I'm a little surprised more universities don't offer an open day during the Easter holidays.

Cambridge have sent out online sessions to prepare for their open day and two of these sessions are on the same dates as the Oxford open days, which I'm sure they are very aware of!

Edited to clarify that the Cambridge online prep. sessions begin at 5pm so, technically, no overlap with Oxford open day timings but, in reality, students are likely to be travelling.

@JustHereWithMyPopcorn DS did say he does better in class on past papers time will tell.

Did he do the past paper at home? DS always used to do worse at home than in actual exams, I think he would get distracted. Perhaps the same for your DS?

You don't sound the e same as when you say take but with the v instead of the t.
Maths marking definitely not fun as he had a bad score 🙈

@Wehaditsogood Could he go with a friend to the London one? Alternatively they all do online tours now which is useful if you can't make the real thing. We also have multiple open days on the same weekend, we will need to decide which ones to go to but it is very annoying that there isn't some sort of co-ordination with these things, maybe unis close to each other could do the same day so you could at least get two in. I think we have Birmingham and Notts on the same day, and Bath and Bristol on the same day? He'll only do the Bristol if I take them, no way he can do both. We're only going to do Notts if Birmingham is quickish, his brother is at Notts so he's very familiar with the campus and town.

@JessyCarr DS has a railcard, it does make a significant difference on train costs.

DD has decided she wants to go to a Manchester open day with a friend in June. Both so keen to be independent, they have gone ahead and registered for the event and were just about to book train tickets when I pointed out that they’d get 50% off with a 16-17 railcard. Seems I still have my uses!

@waspie I would love to go to a lot of open days, too. But most of them are on the same three Saturdays in June 🤷‍♀️

I just chose the local LSE-type uni (abroad), so I haven't been to an open day either.

I think driving lost its priority here as well.

@JustHereWithMyPopcorn DS would go alone. My main problem is that it is one of the London unis. Hardly affordable for us anyway. DH convinced DS not to choose LSE, but he found another he likes.

DH and I cannot cancel the family event we go on that open day. It is OK if DS doesn't come, but we need to be there.