Year 13 -2025/26 - Support, discussion and looking after each other (new thread from y12)

I don't love his persistence so much @ComingInByAnsible 😆

@Fabfabfab, thank you! DS really didn’t want a black box (which I can understand). DH managed to find a quote (Admiral) that was reasonable (relatively speaking!) without one. I think the fact we waited a couple of weeks after the test and that DH also added himself to the policy as a named driver helped.

@ArchitectureMum, glad the art exam is going well so far, same for my younger DD. Hope they both manage to complete well today.

@postitnot and @Echobelly, hope the trips to Newcastle and Manchester go well. @Echobelly, love your DH’s persistence!

DS got his history NEA result and is a bit disappointed. It’s an A so not a disaster by any means but he was hoping for an A star. He doesn’t have much wriggle room with his favourite offers so it would have been nice to take some pressure off the exams.

@Echobelly it's a shame they're not in Manchester this weekend, it's a gorgeous city in the sunshine!

We're off to Newcastle to help decide between there and Leeds...

Well DH has arranged to take DC to Manchester for a visit next week in a last ditch to convince them not to stay in London.

They missed the offer holder's day there on the excuse of music coursework , but I wish they had tried as it's all grist to DH's complaint that they're just not trying to look anywhere else. IMO, they're entitled to have fixed on one place if they want and I think they have decent reasons, even though, as I've said, I think it's a shame not to take the opportunity to live elsewhere and I think Manchester is a more stable institution than their first choice. DH accepts that he can't force them at the end of the day!

Mine has her three days art exam 4-6 May. Fingers crossed for her. Good luck to yours.

Thanks everyone. The first day went to plan I think. Just a minor issue of needling to wait for paint to dirty before moving on. Hopefully it did overnight!

yes Art will be over but the rest of her exams are after half term until the last on 18th June so a later finish. Lots of time to focus on two subjects though.

@ArchitectureMum hope the exams go well! I guess if they start this early your DD will be finished early as well. My Dc has another 3 weeks until his first exam which doesn't feel that long.
@ComingInByAnsible hope your younger DC's exams go well. We are also finding it such a relief not being a constant taxi service. Has your DC got a black box? DC keeps checking his rating on the app and is now in the 90s (after it dropped to low 70s...)

Hope the art exam is going well, @ArchitectureMum. My younger DD starts her 2-day GCSE art exam today.

@Echobelly, well done to your DC on the EPQ and the music performance! DS didn’t choose music a level but he is a singer too. On firm/insurance offers, we were advised that if you meet your firm offer on results day but want to go to your insurance choice, you’ll have to write to your firm and ask them to release you. It will be up to them to agree to do so. I guess the likelihood of them agreeing will depend on how over- or undersubscribed they find themselves on the result day.

@MiniMidiMaxi, your younger DS sounds like my DS, who also didn’t have a clue and in the end applied for several different kinds of multidisciplinary degrees. They’ll get there eventually (fingers crossed). DD by contrast has been set on medicine for quite a while. She’s signed up to chemistry, biology and psychology a-levels, MFL AS, and EPQ. It’s quite a lot and subject to GCSEs going well, and if she does start with all of these she might well drop one or two things if she doesn’t like them.

@Ventress, UCL firm and Exeter insurance sounds like a great combination and a sensible decision. DS is still trying to decide between Exeter economics and politics and Warwick PPE. Hopefully the Warwick OHD next week will give him some clarity.

DS is on study leave from beginning of May, although they do have some optional revision sessions in school after. He has eight exams between 11th of May and 8th of June.

We also managed to sort the car insurance and he’s really enjoying the independence of being able to drive himself wherever he wants to. And we are enjoying the independence of not having to give quite so many lifts!

@ArchitectureMum hope the art is going well. We don’t have a single artistic bond in this family - 3 day long exams sound awful!

Ds had just said over breakfast that he’s well on track with his revision. They finished the maths course just before Easter, further maths yesterday and Physics should be next week so there’s plenty of time for revision at school now too before he goes on study leave.

He played in a rugby tournament all day on Monday and is carrying on his sports training and coaching, and maths tutoring. Raking in the spending money for his long simmmer ahead! I think I must have the most relaxed child in the world atm!

@ArchitectureMum hope your DD's first day of the art exam went ok. My DD is doing mainly sciences so the majority of her exams are first two weeks in June. Finishes school in 2 weeks but it still seems an age until she can breathe and say they are done! The stress levels are rising daily atm in our house so I am trying to remain as calm as possible for the long weeks ahead 😂. I am getting GCSE flashbacks now so know this is normal for DD we need some nice warm sunny May weather so she can sit out whilst revising.

@Lalux DD's dates are pretty much the same your as Ds's.

Good luck to your dd @ArchitectureMumthat’s a tough exam. At least it will be over by Friday.

DD has gone in for the start of her A level Art exam. Three long days ahead. That’s one subject finished on Friday afternoon.

Anyone else doing any creative subjects this week or soon?

@Echobelly- I might be telling you something you already know, but my dc is in a similar position. Their first choice is really realistic and the positive for firming is that we’ve already been able to sort out accommodation. Obvs it depends on the uni though

Very best of luck for everyone taking exams 🤞

DS is similar- exam leave only from half term with first exam on 11th May and last on 4th June. It all seems so compressed compared to GCSEs.

DS has study leave from 7 May. His first exam isn’t till 2 June and last one on 18 June so also crammed together at the end. I think he’d prefer to get one out the way before half term.

DD has study leave from 7 May. First (written) exam is on 11 May and last is 17 June. Mostly they are decently spaced.

No study leave until after half term here, but other than human geography content is done, so I presume focused revision in class time.
We only have 5 exams, 2 geography and 3 history. Business is done ✔️

Arh that explains it @Muchtoomuchtodo !
10 exams in total here.

How many exams does he have @AuntyBulgaria?

DS only has 6 this year - 2 for each subject as he sat AS levels last year which count towards 40% of the overall A level grades.

His other Sixth form option was Welsh Baccalaureate which is 100% coursework so that’s been handed in already.

He’s on his 4th summer in a row of exams as they did 1/2 of maths, all of English lit and Welsh lit and a paper for each of the sciences in year 10. Then rest of their GCSEs in year 11, and AS levels in year 12 so he’s pretty relaxed about the whole thing tbh.

Goodness @Muchtoomuchtodo that feels like a short exam period. Here the first exam is 11 May and then last is 19 June! That feels like quite a stretch but does mean that there are gaps between them.

Mine is on study leave from 11th. First exam on the 20th May and last one 20th June I think.

ds finishes school on May 15th.

His first exam isn’t until June 1st and it’ll all be over by June 12th. He’s got lots of plans for that weekend!

Yeah, seems to be common not to have it now. They didn't get any for GCSE at previous school.

@Echobelly interesting that you mention study leave. The expectation from my DS' school is that they're in every day even after exams have started. So no study leave.