2015 Yr 12 support thread

Dd was happy with history as she was pleased with the questions. Seems fairly happy with maths though time was quite tight.

dougierose hopefully your DD hasn't done as badly as she thinks. There are threads on the Student Room website about each paper and I found it very reassuring this afternoon to read all the comments when DS was in a state about the maths. Your heart just bleeds for them when they've worked so hard and don't do themselves justice.

to all those feeling worried or disappointed. Best remedy (after a bit of a wallow) is simply to get on with working for the next one, so all the best

That is exactly what I said to dd at lunchtime today. Onward and upward!

OCR C1 maths here today.DS has been consistently getting 100% on practice papers.So hopefully will have done that again today.

FP1 tomorrow though which I think is harder.Hoping to read maths and/or physics at a good university so looking for stunning UMS scores.Very little margin for error especially in physics and chemistry where the EMPA pulls everyone down.

DS just turned up earlier than I expected, to say he knows got 'a couple' of questions wrong he knows already (apparently they had a post-mortem in Nandos at lunchtime....)
Still, its over & done, move on....

Dd2 did Edexcel history today - she was fairly happy, phew. Not much point comparing whether individual children thought it was tough or easier, as there are so many different options within each board, and then different titles to choose within those options!

Now she has a nice break until next Tuesday :)

to all those feeling worried or disappointed. Best remedy (after a bit of a wallow) is simply to get on with working for the next one, so all the best

Envious of those who have heard from their DC today re how the exams went..
DS had C1 this morning - and sent me a text a lunchtime to say he would not be back for dinner he and friends are going out... (He does not have any more till next Tues) saying he would not have been revising today anyway - but not a word about the exam he took...

Really sorry your DD's upset dougierose. There's no real way of knowing with a subject like History though-it may well have gone a lot better than she thinks.

DD thought it was 'ok but you can never really tell'

DD1 reckons history was 'alright'.

What's the Student Room Mark Scheme? DD probably knows about it but I don't. She's currently in pieces because she thinks she's flunked her History today

DS did AQA maths which is not, I think, an international paper so there would not be a 24 hour embargo. DS and all his friends found it very straightforward so now they are thinking grade boundaries will be high.

hellsbells thank you for mentioning the Student Room Mark scheme! I looked it up and wasn't sure whether to mention it to DS who has been wandering around with a stomach ache looking miserable.

So I casually mentioned a few questions and he looked at the first question . . . . and the second . . . . and so on . . . and he seems to have done better than he thought! He dropped nine marks on the question he missed out but pretty much everything else looked OK, even stuff he thought he'd got wrong, and that should just about get him an A. Hopefully other DCs who found it tricky might find the same.

The stomach ache has miraculously disappeared and two large slices of chocolate cake have been consumed!

On Student room, the consensus is that C1 was difficult. DD says it was fine but she did take her sisters's advice and did some Solomon/gold papers to practise.

I am (probably misguidedly) reassured that others found the maths difficult. DD kept saying that it was supposed to be the easier paper. Ho hum.... Keep hanging in there everyone - only a few weeks more.....

I haven't heard from DD1. This Does Not Bode Well.

I do find it reassuring hearing other parents and their DC going through the same things...DD is the first of our children to sit A levels so we are learning (rapidly) as we go! After a migraine on Sunday which meant all day in bed (her first ever) and then a mixed Economics exam on Monday...C1 maths went well today and in her words "the questions in the history paper were really nice exactly what I wanted!" I feel there will be less anxiety tonight for all within the house. We certainly could do with a little less tension in the air!

Ising and neither DS wasn't very happy with the C1 Maths either. He did his usual and ran out of time so missed most of one question. He said it wasn't one of the high mark questions, but reckons he got around 75% and he's absolutely miserable because he got 92% and 95% in the last two practice papers and in plenty of time.

C1 was meant to be the easiest one and as he has very little confidence when it comes to maths it was so important that he started well.

Utter bugger.

I think DD would make a good doctor too. She is fab at maths and finds it easy....and loves it. But her school have not done Further maths this year due to lack of interest. She has self studied some of it but not put herself forward for any of the module exams this year. I think for her to make the decision to drop biology does seem like firmly closing the door on medicine, but to go down the engineering route that would seem like the most logical one to drop and then do AS maths too.
DD has just informed me that the mark scheme for C1 is already on student room for those DCs that may be interested (I thought they weren't supposed to post it for 24 hours?).

Secret/Grassy - I am glad she is not the only one! She has looked at Cambridge and you can apply for engineering through the natural sciences route - so no decision needed until the end of the first year. But I have told her to assume she won't get an offer and therefore the other 4 choices are more important. No one from DD's school got an offer for Oxbridge this year.

Secret DD1 not interested in Durham (and, to be fair, Durham not interested in her either since they don't accept her instrument). Plan B is conservatoires who don't care about UMS. DD1 cares about her grades qua grades and always wants to do her best, but if/when Cambridge goes out of the picture they won't matter so much to anyone other than her.