Active discussions

Please or to access all these features

Talk
Secondary education

Connect with other parents whose children are starting secondary school on this forum.

Original poster

First term of yr12 over - working at grades / workload /much holiday work?

208 replies

circular · 28/12/2013 19:49

Curious how its been for others with the 'big step up' from GCSE to to AS.

DD1 doesn't seem to have been getting much homework, possibly completing most of it in free periods. When I casually mention 'reading around a subject' she looks at me as though I'm from another planet, and says she is not interested in any of her subjects enough to do extra, apart from Music.

She would typically come home and say she got an D or U in (say) a Physics or French test, but then says half the class got a lower mark than her. This is at a school that gets around 60% A to B at A level., so selective 6th form. DD1 got 2A and 2A at GCSE in her AS subjects.

Had parents evening just after half term, and although then working well below ultimate targets, none of her teachers seemed unduly worried. No end of term report yet, but hearing subsequent test results, not expecting much change in grades.
DD1 Says she understands everything in lessons, teachers seem to agree, and think it is just more question practice that she needs. But unless work is actually set, she has no motivation to go and do any extra. She thinks past papers should be left till nearer exams, says text book is rubbish, and has found a few inaccuracies in study guides so pushed them aside too. Tried to get her to look at Khan academy site but not interested.

Does this seem normal, or should I be worried at this stage?
Anyone else seeing similar or are they all flying?

OP posts:
mumslife · 09/01/2014 20:45

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

mumslife · 09/01/2014 20:45

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

mumslife · 09/01/2014 20:43

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

webwiz · 09/01/2014 20:14

Raidne is your DS a member of the Royal Society of Chemistry? DD2 was and we used to get loads of information about chemistry events for sixth formers www.rsc.org/Membership/Networking/ChemNet/index.asp

Raidne · 09/01/2014 19:47

Do you mean the University of Sussex, mumslife? It's a nice, small campus within easy striking distance of the nightlife of Brighton!!! The architecture is quite individual (in a nice way Smile).

By the way for anyone near London, booking has opened for the University of London taster days here. Sadly nothing useful for Chemistry - ho hum........... Sad

mumslife · 08/01/2014 09:49

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

Original poster
circular · 07/01/2014 21:14

Surpridinky lol - Surprisingly

OP posts:
Original poster
circular · 07/01/2014 21:13

First day back for DD1 yesterday, she did a put 4 hours work last night, think she forgot about some set holiday homework. None tonight, but much more music practice than usual, muttering something about sorting out pieces for a competition.
Surpridinky, it was DD2 (yr6, back today) that crashed out at 5pm on sofa. Poor lamb had what sounded like a day of Sats practise tests, after no holiday homework.

Mumslife Did you click around on the which site as well as the course search? Some useful info here.

Bath Spa looks lovely. 70% female though, possible as all Arts courses.

OP posts:
mumslife · 07/01/2014 19:18

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

mumslife · 07/01/2014 19:16

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

webwiz · 07/01/2014 19:12

Got home from work tonight and found DS asleep on the sofa - he'd obviously had a hard first day back!

Original poster
circular · 06/01/2014 09:34

Curfew Is this the site you meant?

Or do you know of a better one where you can enter grades rather than points, as points can be a bit misleading?

OP posts:
Original poster
circular · 06/01/2014 09:18

Uni league tables here can drill down by subject.

Guardian subject tables here

OP posts:
curlew · 06/01/2014 09:17

Choosing universities is difficult. There is a website where you can put in your likely grades and the subject you want to study and it lists the possibles- that helps a bit. The destination of other kids from school is also worth looking at. There are also league tables of "student happiness" which is reassuring for parents at least!

Original poster
circular · 06/01/2014 09:11

Its our first time for Uni applications too.
Agree its difficult if all the courses look very similar, but perhaps there is a particular area of interest that only some courses cover?

The typical entry requirements may also rule quite a few out.

School careers teachers will become freer in a couple if weeks once the UCAS deadline for he current yr13s has passed. Worth questioning them on best courses for subject. There are league tables by subject too.

Distance, accommodation costs (halls and for subsequent years), travel costs are often big factors.
There may also be a preference by size, both of Uni and subject department.

Some students may prefer a campus, be near a large/small/seaside town.

OP posts:
hellsbells99 · 05/01/2014 22:46

Raidne - by the way, Warwick university is actually in Coventry I believe and not in Warwick!

hellsbells99 · 05/01/2014 22:43

Interesting what you are saying about target/predicted grades. Thought DD's maths target was an A but Just got her report out that she got at the end of term. Her AS targets are BBCC - not sure where these targets come from. The Cs are for physics and biology. For gcse biology she got an A* in all 3 papers but a B in her Isa so overall a high A. I would have thought biology would be easier than chemistry at AS level but her target in chemistry is a B? Her actual grades so far are AABD so doing okay.
DD's school take them to a ucas day in Manchester As a starting point I think.
We have very little experience of the university process - DH left school at 16 and I went to a local poly after flunking my A levels - but I don't actually remember applying to any universities so it was probably assumed I wouldn't do well!

Raidne · 05/01/2014 22:30

I suggested to Ds that he not apply to Durham or Newcastle on the basis that they were too far north and it would be too cold!!! He wasn't impressed by my crazy logic.

noblegiraffe · 05/01/2014 22:24

I picked my Uni based on the fact it was far away, but not too far away, and was a direct train line, no changes. And had a good student's union :)

Raidne · 05/01/2014 22:21

What happened there?

Circular, ds1 is finding M1 quite straightforward. His school is quite unusual as pupils do either S1 and S2 or M1 and M2.

Agree with all the posts about deciding which universities to visit. How do you even draw up a shortlist? Ds and I have waded through quite a number of university websites already but, really, Chemistry is Chemistry wherever you do it!!! The only differences so far are in the extra options that can be taken.

He has considered taking Warwick off the list on the basis that the information on the website is unintelligible which is as good a reason as any!

Raidne · 05/01/2014 22:11

Just catching up with

webwiz · 05/01/2014 22:08

Just a general visit circular as DH has a load of East Coast train company points that are about to expire!

Original poster
circular · 05/01/2014 21:07

webwiz Is hat open day or just general visit? I thought most of the open days were June/July then Sept/Oct. Not hat Durham is on our list anyway.

Munslife Up to 5 go on the UCAS form. How many you visit is up to you, I suspect we will look at more than 5, as for the type of course DD favours, they all want quite high grades, so she will need to choose her aspirational choices carefully. Also, as she is jittery about being away from home, no way would she go somewhere without having seen it first. Not that I would recommend anyone else to do that either.

If your DD ends up applying anywhere she had not yet seen and gets an offer, there's always the chance to visit later, before making a decision.

OP posts:
mumslife · 05/01/2014 20:39

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

webwiz · 05/01/2014 20:29

Just catching up on this thread - DD2 is home at the moment so the house is a bit noisier than usual. I did suggest that DS asked her about about any further maths that he's not sure about but DD2 said she can't remember how to do any of it (it wasn't that long since she did it and she is doing maths at university Hmm)

DS wants to do English at university so he will only take further maths to AS and will drop film studies as well (he does that because he's made on film making/script writing/ directing) so that he can concentrate on English, History and Maths in year 13. He is considering Oxbridge and school have been making encouraging noises so he needs to choose which one he prefers. We are going to Durham in half term (a trip down memory lane for me and DH Smile) so that DS can have a look round.