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

Thank you @JustHereWithMyPopcorn , that’s kind. Ah chemistry, so difficult. I don’t envy you. I’m sure you can sort it though 😀

I'm sure he will get it @Ventress he sounds like a very able young man. My DS has just come in moaning about the chemistry paper while I am trying to browse MN work. 😂

He did so well @JustHereWithMyPopcorn I’m sure ds2 will be just as successful 😃

DS would love an A Star for lit, although he needs an A for university so hopefully he’ll be able to achieve that. fingers crossed!

He was predicted an A @Ventress so it was a bit of a surprise that he got that but like all of their exams, sometimes it's just about the luck of the questions on the day.

That is really interesting, thanks @JustHereWithMyPopcorn I do like that your ds1 got an A Star - such a relief that DS didn’t change to maths 😂

@Fabfabfab- I can’t work the link, sorry. But it says for 2025 that 200 is total (non NEA). 187 for A Star, 177 for A, 155 for B, 133 for D, 111 for E.

I’m very sure your son will nail his exams @JustHereWithMyPopcornThe longer he has to revise the better for him!

It feels weird DS not having anything until next week, I keep thinking that he's missed an exam! He's still only doing one practice paper a day but taking forever while he moans about how much he hates physics/maths/chemistry (delete as appropriate). He seems to be doing OK in them but then again he is marking his own papers so who knows.

I hope all the exam takers this week have done well and get a little fun this weekend (for an hour at least 😁).

My DS1 did Eng Lit A level with AQA he got an A* with 92% overall mark but the boundary was at around 85%. I think the boundaries are high like that because of the way the exam questions are graded in levels, so it jumps up quite a lot between levels? Does it also depend on which books they are studying? So maybe less popular book choices have better boundary marks?

Edit: This was in 2022 so first set of 'proper' exams after Covid and he did Chaucer (which he thought was pointless).

For some reason it’s always been super high grade boundaries @Newlease. I think there are just too many texts to be able to take in everything- very much a skill to learn I think! If DS had realised he may have gone for something else

i hope your son enjoys the ice cream van and bbq @Tebheag😀

Good luck to all who have psychology today! 🤞

none for DS today but back next week for three in a row. Not sure how many he has in total, I’m still “need to know”.

enjoy half term and Eisteddfod @Muchtoomuchtodo

Hope the prom goes well tonight @MiniMidiMaxi

DD has a horrible timetable. She’s on her 3rd exam in a row now (Psych) and is living off little sleep and no energy. She says she will be up against others that are fresh as this is their first exam but it’s just the way it falls. 2 in a row from Tuesday next week (after a 3 day gap) then nothing for 2 weeks! She feels like she has been disadvantaged from having them in a row.
On a plus she will be finished relatively early compared to the majority. But knows she would have done better if had a little respite between exams.
Another reason why we hate exams - so much luck involved! It’s an endurance test and she’s one of those classic kids that knows the info and predicted high, but stress and pressure gets to her.

Hi all, just catching up with everyone's progress so far, well done to all that have done exams so far.

@Muchtoomuchtodo DD has 3 papers for each of her subjects, bio, chem, psych so 9 in all. Her first one is psych paper 1 this morning, which tbh I'm glad is finally here as it feels like she's been revising for months! I hope it goes ok for her, it is her 'easiest' subject which she enjoys, so fingers crossed for an ok paper to start the exams off for her.

DD has 7 of her exams after half term so that will be the more stressy time I guess. Roll on 17 June when it's all over.

DS said “it was illiterate mam, no one could understand what they were bloody asking but we’ve all wrote similar answers….. so either we all tanked or all got it right” 😂

I know @Newlease, it’s strange isn’t it. Definitely not like for like.

Welsh students will have sat 20% more papers than English students doing the same subjects (12 in Wales, 10 in England for Maths, FM and physics)

Last year they were all before half term, this year they’re all after half term (which is a pain as we need to trek up to Anglesey over half term for the Urdd Eisteddfod!)

@Ventress wow! That’s high grade for English, I wouldn’t think of getting high marks on essay style exams. Schools must be teaching kids exactly what’s expected from answer key to achieving the highest grades
@Muchtoomuchtodo same here 4 for Edexcel FM, and three each for Phy and Maths.
I somehow can’t get my head around the uni admissions based on different exam boards- even though technically speaking, question paper is set on difficulty level that should be same on across all boards. @Newlittlerescue hope next two papers would be easier!

@Muchtoomuchtodo
My DS has x4 papers for FM, x3 each for maths and economics. At least I think that's right. His are spread out fairly well from this week to 19 June.

DS finishes school tomorrow and is on study leave until his exams start in June 1st. For those who have started exams already, how many do they have per subject?

Here in Wales, they sat 2 papers per subject in year 12 for AS level which is worth up to 40% of their A level grade, then another 2 papers this year in year 13 for the remaining 60%.

Do students in England have 4 papers per subject in year 13, or less?

Some of ds’s friends are resitting the AS level papers this year to try to improved their marks.

Oh wow, that was high. Any idea what the grade boundary was for an A? Thinking perhaps he is doing the OCR exam board after all.

2 exams done seems to think might be OK but he is only going for Bs and a C.
Got a bbq and ice cream van next Friday as last day before study leave starts.

That makes sense - only 3 papers for AQA - two pure and one that has the combination of two out of three possibilities (mechanics, discrete, stats)

DS is v happy with his FM (Edexcel), so off to a good start for him. Now focusing on his prom tomorrow night!

@SilverBlue4 how many papers does AQA have? Edexcel has 4 just wondering whether this is the difference.

Very confused by Edexcel and OCR having FM today but AQA is next week
Usually the subjects are on the same day for all the exam boards? I've checked multiple times! AQA FM definitely not til next Thurs

According to DS, OCR Further Maths A (Pure Core 1) was hard due to the weird way of asking questions, and they all ran out of time!

Not heard back yet from my DC, but yes, some of the grade boundaries for FM are ridiculously high.

I've heard back about Edexcel FM and apparently it was great and everyone is now really worried about grade boundaries because they have been getting higher each year and you already need almost 90% to get an A star.

They are almost hoping for a harder paper 2! No pleasing them.

good luck to all of the fm students. Definitely a hard first exam!

DS wants to remind everyone of the finance applications- https://www.ucas.com/student-finance/tuition-fees-and-tuition-fee-loans he’s doing his this evening I’m told 😊

@Fabfabfab- DS is doing OCR (Oxford, Cambridge and RSA) for all the exams I think. He didn’t do Chaucer , he did Paradise Lost. He said English literature couldn’t have gone better though. That’s great as the grade boundaries for English literature are insane - it was 187 out of 200 for an A Star last year 😱