2015 Yr 12 support thread

TSR grade boundaries thread here
with the links to grade boundaries of different boards on page 1.

Thankfully I have worked them out for ds's papers and the ones I remember him struggling with appear lowish compared with other papers so feeling more optimistic now

Thanks MyVisions that's really helpful. Off to google the boundaries. Good luck to your dd. Hope she gets the UMS marks she needs.

That will be a very long morning, Lizs. DD can access her results online from, I think, 8 am. She is away at the moment, so I will have to wait until she decides to phone home.

Don't know if this also applies to AS

www.telegraph.co.uk/education/11791625/Schools-raise-fears-over-mistakes-in-A-level-marks.html

ds has read 2 of his 7 books for A2 English and completed a online History course. He's remembered to start to think about an extended essay and set up a uni spreadsheet.

School doesn't issue AS results until 2pm tomorrow, so could be a long morning. Decided not to look at grade boundaries as apparently this is more relevant next year. He doesn't seem to have made any plans for afterwards yet.

tomorrow you should get UMS marks, not raw marks (so what you'll see is the equivalent of a percentage - I think anyway - as UMS is a conversion to something out of 100). SOme of the exam boards have raw mark and UMS boundaries online - google "grade boundaries June 2015 nameofexamboard" - so you can work out what your actual UMS is in raw marks. Some are just showing UMS boundaries.

We have a DD1-written spreadsheet waiting to some data to work out if DD2 has enough marks to apply to Oxbridge. It's been a manic few weeks as she wades through suggested reading/TEDtalks/Yale Uni online lectures plus the research for her EPQ. She'd determined to get as much as possible out of the way before term starts to let her concentrate on just schoolwork, and give her some flex for being ill.

Fingers crossed for everyone tomorrow - we get results emailed "from 7am" assuming the school email system doesn't crash.

Help!

Ds away and I have to text him his results tomorrow from the school. He doesn't have access to the internet. And I won't either until the evening so was thinking of printing out the relevant grade boundaries. How do the marks on the results slip of paper compare against the marks on the grade boundaries? In other words do I have to convert them according to a scale somewhere? It's the business of raw marks and UMS marks I don't understand. What will I be given tomorrow, and then what do I do with it to show ds how close he is to the different grade boundaries?

Thanks if anyone can explain! Good Luck all!

But, where are they???

That's for DH and me by the way, not DS . . . . .
DC school put the results of public exams online accessible to DC (and parents) thru the portal, so last year I was able to see some of his GCSE results early as they put up the iGCSEs when available, not waiting till the GCSE main results day.
So did have a sneaky look this morning to to see if they might have put them up already on the basis that no-one would bother to access before the day .
Not there yet, but will be logging on at midnight - not telling DC, but just will be composed by already knowing the results when he surfaces tomorrow sometime and logs on and then tells me...

The boundaries can be reassuring or they can be like the kiss of death. They don't look too bad to me but I may be looking at the wrong exam boards

Where are grade boundaries out on line? How does it help knowing what they are? I suspect it's only relevant for eg maths where someone can go through a paper and know what they got right and not? Or, can they be useful for humanities subjects too?

DD1 is not in a good way now. I know she worked hard and she knows she worked hard but she is now convinced she bombed out in everything. And I know only too well that if she did get in a tizz during an exam it will have cost her. Sigh.

Ignore that, they are already up.

Are the grade boundaries up tomorrow?

Northernlurker I agree, I'm suddenly getting really jittery! DS is trying to pretend Thursday doesn't exist but every time he does mention it his predictions seem to get worse and worse. He also worked really hard and if he's not done as well as he hoped he's going to be absolutely gutted.

Have laid in extra wine in case we need it. That's for DH and me by the way, not DS . . . . .

Does anyone know what time grade boundaries are normally put up online on the day before.

I feel pretty anxious now. Not because I doubt dd's ability. I don't. I also don't think she could have worked harder - total effort from her. And in a way that's the problem - because if she hasn't got the grades she wants, she will blame herself as' failing' despite all she put in. She seems to think it all went ok so yes - she will doubt her own judgement too.
I just want to get it over with and then we still have to do next year too! It's blooming hard work (for parents)

Waiting for AS results here. DS had a good bit of his PS done already, but I suspect its not been touched since the start of the holidays. He has, however,been following advice to doing some extra reading in the subject he wants to do at uni. I think Thursday will focus his mind.

He thinks he has done reasonably OK, and is worried that if it has gone wrong, his judgement is out

Leeds2 don't worry. All students will have a reading list to point them towards recommended texts as a starting point for independent research around the subject. Usually issued just before the start of term. ds1 (english lit) gets his issued during the holidays to give the students time to work through some of the heavier texts. ds3's subject has specialist modules which he has not previously studied so he wanted to read up on them to see what he was in for. Reading lists will change from one year to the next depending on modules so I wouldn't bother getting anything too specific at this stage - ds3 has chosen general introductions to topics.

Thanks. I think it's a horrible test to have to take. And paying to do so is insult to injury!
She is looking forward to the shadowing and has also already done some with other departments. She's been in to theatre, done a couple of ward rounds and clinic. I agree it's absolutely the best way for them to know what they're getting in to!

Was the UKCAT awful Needmore?

Dd has hers booked for beginning of next month and is stressing over the books. We are also stressing over AS results (I feel quite churned up every time I think about it). On the plus side she is enjoying the work for her EPQ which she is doing on hip fractures and her volunteering (on hip fracture ward) is going well. She has shadowing booked this week and nest too. If awful UKCAT then her plan is to try the BMAT but all the universities she's seen so far and liked are UKCAT ones. On the plus side she did a first draft of her PS before the end of term and school were quite happy with it.

DD1 has been working her way through her reading list. Allegedly. While making notes. (I have witnessed this so it's happening).

Do unis have reading lists?

What subject does your DS want to study?

-starts to worry-

ds has just handed me a bit of paper announcing that he would like three books from his first choice uni's reading list because he ought to start researching the subject in more depth and has every intention of taking next year very seriously! There was me thinking it was the last thing on his mind. Think his friends getting AS results are beginning to panic and he's picked it up. Reassuring to see that the authors of the books he wants are academics in 3 of the unis on his list.

DD has done nothing for her Personal Statement, apart from the first paragraph which she did at the end of last term during a uni application lecture. I think she, too, feels uneasy doing it until AS results are out.

I am glad she chose not to do an EPQ!!