Continuing Year 13: January 2016

Sorry to hear about your bereavements Snowy and Leeds. Did you know that there is a chance your DDs can get special consideration? It needs to be noted at the exam office of the school and sent in with the Paper for consideration. Info here www.jcq.org.uk/Download/exams-office/access-arrangements-and-special-consideration/regulations-and-guidance/a-guide-to-the-special-consideration-process-2015-2016

Sorry to hear that Snowy. OH and I went to the funeral of DD's great grandmother yesterday - she couldn't go because it was the same time as her Chemistry paper. You can only hope it doesn't affect them, and that they can worry/grieve when it is all over.

We have had the worrying news today that my MIL ie DD's grandmother has suffered a massive heart attack and is in intensive care so I don't know how that will affect DD. Exams are probably a good thing to distract her from worrying .
Tomorrow we have STEP 2

Gosh, BethanKate. That is a tough schedule.

My DD has done two, and has five left. By Friday lunchtime, it will be two left!

Bloody hell, that's tough. I told dd that she had it relatively easy with just 5 papers to sit, compared to the scientists. Unsurprisingly, this didn't go down brilliantly! But really, such a difference.

OCR Chemistry here (think earlier I mistakenly said he was doing AQA Chem & Phys). DS said it went ok. Sorry AQA Chem was so horrible. We had a nasty AS Chem paper last year.

Glad S2 went well Ellen, it's probably hard to judge how he's done in STEP., hope it's better than he thinks.

Good that your DD enjoyed her birthday Atia.

Day off exams today, took him to Pizza Express to take advantage of their 2 for 1 offer then back to work for STEP 2 tomorrow. Going to be an exam every day now until 28th.

DS1 said S2 was nothing unusual and feels he did well. Phew! His friends doing AQA chemistry yesterday thought it was horrible, though.

So sorry for the AQA Chemistry candidates. Ds said his friends were in despair over it

a hard exam means low grade boundaries and tends to favour those that are actually good at the subject as they are not hammered as much for silly mistakes.

S2 (OCR) was a piece of cake DD finished after 40 minutes. checked carefully and then had a long boring wait.

Thanks also Atiao and belated happy birthday to your dd

So sorry for the AQA Chemistry candidates. Ds said his friends were in despair over it. Very relieved to hear your ds was doing the OCR one Squirrels , and that it went well

Ds says thanks for all the birthday wishes yesterday. He has just used his nutribullet for the first time and is very pleased with it.

OCR Salters Chemistry here. It went well and was DS's first exam. It has taken the edge off his nerves I think.
It seems that whether it's GCSE or A level, every year there is one exam paper that is such a stinker they come out shell shocked. In the end if marks are low the grade boundaries will also be low. Apparently one of the Chemistry papers was like that last year (students weeping, petitions to the exam board etc). DS's teacher gave them it as a mock as an example of worst case scenario .

Cambridge produce, and we have, a document showing 'standard offer' for each college.

But this is just a guide - it is a typical offer, rather than a standard offer.

BTW it would be rare for even Trinity to ask for S grades from students from low achieving schools i.e. Trinity does not have a standard offer of S grades although it is true that quite a few applicants are asked for S grades. (However, a number of such applicants come from top private schools and highly selective state schools, have Olympiad experience etc, so definitely have a head start in getting Ss. Unfortunately applicants from low achieving schools are less likely to apply for Trinity maths int he first place.)

Snowy, DS's school are paying for his STEP as well, but he was given a sheet with log in details at the exam. Maybe get your DD to check with school? Is she doing more than one STEP paper, it's probably the same log in for all 3 and she might get it at the end?

Stats 2 paper for DS1 today. He seems quite positive about it, though it's his least favourite maths topic.

Good luck anyone with exams today. DS2 has GCSE chemistry.

OCR Salters Chemistry here too - it was "tough" apparently (according to both Dd and the Student Room) with some odd mark requirements - only three marks for something which has six points worth of answer. DDs teacher reckons everyone comes out of this paper in tears, next one should be a bit better.

The student room thread on Aqa chem has a link to a petition complaining about the paper!

Ocr salters chemistry here. I haven't asked, dd hasnt said how it went today. We have agreed it is best that way. I deduce, from the fact that we have not had tears or swearing, or claims that she may as well give up, that it was ok!

My DD did the OCR chemistry rather than AQA. Anyone else?

DD hasn't got a password to get the results online, but I am wondering that as her school has paid for her STEP papers maybe they get the results.
She is the only one doing STEP papers this year from her school but there is an external candidate too.

The 2010 paper needed 84/120 for a grade 1!

Thanks, esornep. Fingers crossed here. DS has done a lot of STEP 1 past paper questions and a few STEP 2 questions. The last past paper he tried was 2010 which apparently (ie according to the student room!) is a fairly easy paper which gave him some confidence before the exam, but this paper seemed harder. Dissecting it now is a pointless exercise, I suppose. I'm sure his judgement of how he's done isn't particularly accurate.

As no mark scheme is published I don't see how anybody can judge how they have done.Just looked at the grade boundaries for 2014 STEP 1 and you only needed 63/120 for an 1. That must have been a tricky paper!
DD has learned today to be very careful in reding through questions as she spotted a much easier one with only a few minutes to go that she wished sjhe had done first!

Cambridge produce, and we have, a document showing 'standard offer' for each college. The most popular colleges ask for 's' whilst the majority ask for 1,1

DS1 found STEP 1 quite hard, he answered 3 questions fully, but with some errors 2 questions 3/4 complete and about 1/4 of a sixth question. They give marks for the best 6 questions I believe. DS thinks he's done enough for a grade 2 but maybe not enough for grade 1.

Grade boundaries are adjusted according to the difficulty of the paper, but typically 4 almost complete answers suffice to get a 1. Three almost complete answers and two decent attempts would also get a 1, but it can be hard for students to judge accurately whether their answers are 3/4 complete.