2015 Yr 12 support thread

name change failure there folks. I am generally Grassy on gardening and Hayday threads

hellsbells99 has been sitting on the fence for a few weeks (months?) about which direction
DS exactly the same. I think he was influenced by the general consensus that to go for medicine you must be supremely dedicated to your subject, also the fact that he knows several straight A* students who didn't even get offers.
He is still very much on the fence career wise, he does love Biology though and his Chemistry is strong. When he started looking at Natural Sciences I saw for the first time some enthusiasm about courses. They would allow him to keep the door open to different elements of science for at least another year.
He had a taste of engineering at GCSE and loathed it. Not that it's likely to resemble degree level but he won't consider it.

DS also has second years alongside him re-taking AS modules.

Neitherherenorthere - I think it depends on what your school say you need to carry on with a subject. State school here, and Inthink they say a D. But it makes sense to carry on with your stronger subjects unless a particular one is needed for degree choose/career. There were several students retaking C1 this morning that are still doing A2 maths this year.

DD announced that she no longer wishes to do medicine and she is now 100% sure, so she will be changing some of her open days etc. But she has been sitting on the fence for a few weeks (months?) about which direction she wants to go in. It makes this summer easier as she will no longer be doing shadowing at the hospital, volunteering and the Ukcat but I just hope she is making the right decision. Anyone know anything about engineering ?
She has a Headstart course planned and has booked a cambridge masterclass (after being adamant that Oxbridge wasn't for her). She is now trying to get some relevant work experience. She also needs to make a decision over which subjects to do next year - but doesn't drop one until after results. She may carry on with all 4 subjects, or drop 1 and do AS Further Maths, or drop down to the usual 3. Fun and games!

Ising - my DS said today's maths was horrible. Now worried as C1 was supposed to be the one where he could get an easy A as C2 is his weakness.

Can someone confirm that your AS results should not affect your A2 choices?

DS seems to be lucky in having no more than one exam a day throughout. His friend who is doing all Arts subjects has an intensive timetable but finishes before half term.

Needmore I had also heard that medical admissions like lots of extra curricular stuff. One reason I am relieved that DS crossed medicine off the list as he does very little unless you count gaming.
They have been asked to confirm their subject choices for A2. It seems a bit early to me, most would want to wait for AS results to keep their options open. DS is adamant he wants to drop Physics though. That means only 3 subjects next year.

Oh heck - just had dd on the phone in tears. Maths this morning did not go well.

DD2 has reported that C1 was good too!

Well DS couldn't force any breakfast down this morning but I've had a text saying C1 was "really good" smiley face.
I know C1 is the easiest of the exams for him so it's nice that it was first and the fact that it went well will be good for his confidence.

Gently It's not just Cambridge who are interested in high UMS. Certainly Durham asked DS1 last year for his UMS.
DS2 not applying to Oxbridge but Durham is on his list.
Predicted grades is a whole new can of worms. Teachers are rightly wary of predicting an improvement in performance because A2 is much harder than AS. In most cases you would need not just an A but high UMS to be predicted A*.

Cambridge do want high UMS at AS but Oxford go more on Gcses and predicted grades from what I understand.
For medicine, 1 B is not then end of the world

DD1 has her eye on cambridge so she needs to bang everything out of the park - not just As but high UMS As. I suspect she won't (she is predicted, and might get, the As but tip top UMS unlikey - dyspraxia is a cruel thing in this regard) and will go back to plan B (which was the former plan A anyway so not the end of the world and quite possibly better for her). History today. And not the funny one.

hellsbells I didn't know that about predicted grades. That's reassuring. Although I expect Oxbridge will still want As in everything everywhere!

northernlurker it's awful watching them get so stressed isn't it? DS was up really early too and revising over breakfast.

Fingers crossed for all of them today!

Dd1 said she didn't sleep well and has been up since 5.30 I hope, hope, hope she's happy with the way it goes. She needs the confidence boost. She is very anxious to get good grades because she wants to apply for medicine.

Forgot to say that they can the resit the paper that they got a lower mark in next summer to try and bring the marks up.

DD2 has C1 today. A few of DD1's friends are retaking this. I am hoping it will go fine.
All those worrying about getting As for uni applications, it is mainly the predicted grades that count (for most unis & subjects but always check the prospectus). DD1 got a high B in the subject that her degree will mainly be based on but as her predicted grade was an A it wasn't a problem.

Maths tomorrow here too. DS is also getting twitchy. Does revision alter metabolism?! He is eating us out of house and home. Wants food constantly, yet still looks like a beanpole!

dd seems to have had another solid day but is getting a bit twitchy about tomorrow now.

DS1 is very laid back about everything. He had Geology yesterday and the second part of his Physics Empa today. Maths tomorrow!

DD (Y10) is more stressed than him, trying to get coursework done!

AQA and edexcel were today. Next Edexcel one is on Friday.Same day as English which is a bit of a pain.

Lucky boy, Unexpected! It is unusual, I think, to take up Geography again in Sixth Form, but good luck to him. DD not home yet, but she must do a different board because her next geography paper is Friday - don't know why, but I assumed that everyone doing geography today would be doing the same board!

Leeds2 I suppose he doesn't absolutely need an A but he only took Geography up this year and has decided he was to do it at uni! He is also aiming for some competitive unis so he really needs to max out his grades. Anyway, he is home and said it went really well, an essay which he had sent to his teacher last week and which she graded highly and offered some pointers on was the one which came up so he was very pleased about that (something about coastal erosion maybe?). On to the next Geography on Thurs.

DD1 did geography this morning (Edexcel). She said it was 'fine'. But she also said (email) there were no questions on specific topics they had been expecting to come up which annoyed some people (not apparently her). She was mainly annoyed about all the admin type stuff she had to do after the exam ended (she does her exams on a computer, due to SpLD). I got one line in the email about the actual exam and half a page about how annoying the admin was. I do not know if this bodes well or ill.

Why does he need an A, Unexpected? To carry on to A2?

All I got from DD was that this morning's AS paper was a lot easier than last year's GCSE, which she found very difficult. I hope that bodes well!