Year 12 preparing for AS levels

Eric, and Liney - when my ds was doing A-level drama they had a performance the one time and he asked me not to come as "it isn't really appropriate for Mums" and that he has some boundaries even if the drama curriculum doesn't.

Ono40 "Nicer ties" - that's the sort of thing dd1 would come out with.

:Littleham I am envious of those Mocks results..... The courses dd had her eye on are all AAAs, and she got ABCD, but unfortunately the subjects she needs for her course were the C and the D. What an excellent result with her flute though

Disquit2 Thank you SO much for that info..... dd wants to do engineering, and is distraught at her physics mock, but is going in the right direction (got a B this week in a test).. She just had been knocked for 6 in September and has taken a while to settle but we're worried she might not get good enough ASs for the courses she wants. that's interesting and reassuring to hear. Thank you.

The list will be even more useful if she does bomb as she will know which ones NOT to bother putting on the list.

I would be really grateful for a PM with the top 10-25 who may accept AAB or lower in August. She is wary of being over ambitious as she doesn't really want to go through clearing.

I suspect she will be predicted A*AA as the school goes a bit higher with predictions but it all depends on the AS results so that may change if she bombs! There is so much guess work at this stage and it is tricky to know which universities to visit. Most people on this thread are playing a guessing game.

How many of the top ten should she put down on the list of five? One or two?

I would be happy to advise by PM of RG courses will almost certainly take AAB or lower in August - and in many cases, admissions tutors will confirm this to you if you ask. There is increasing awareness that girls are disproportionally being put off by the published offers being higher than what will be accepted.

If she is predicted AAA then she really has no need of going lower than AAA for offers for subjects such as maths and physics, provided she includes universities which are top 10-25 in her list, i.e. not just the very top universities. She can also use as a guide the average entry tariff for courses to convince herself that many students aren't always coming in with the published offer grades. (Of course the entry tariff obscures this, as it is given in terms of points rather than grades in 3 A2s, but nonetheless you can often pick out quite easily which courses are allowing for dropped grades.)

Thanks disquit - Yes she wants to apply for Maths, Physics or engineering. Not quite sure yet but she is visiting different departments on Open Days.

Are you sure she shouldn't have a couple of AAB ones in the mix? It feels a bit risky otherwise. I suppose the AS level results will be the real test. Mocks are one thing but it could all go pear shaped with the new exams.

You have made me feel so much better saying that AAB Maths / Physics courses may go into clearing at ABB or BBB. If that happens she should get a place somewhere she likes as she isn't too fussy.

The gender problem is a follow on from school. Her Further maths class only has two girls (remnants from an initial intake of 300 in lower school). If that is replicated elsewhere I can see why universities are struggling to find girls.

little a distinction at grade 8 is tremendous!!!!!!

She is gloomy about the C but I think she could always drop it. Her main problem is that her subject requires three A's or AAA.*

If I recall correctly, she wants to do maths/physics. For these subjects it is true that the typical RG offer is three As or two As and one A star. However, as said on many threads, outside the top 5-10 universities, RG typically accept one or even two grades below published offers for these subjects in August. This is particularly true in physics, for which recruitment is a problem - and many physics departments are under massive pressure to improve their gender ratios so would be very reluctant to turn away a near miss girl.

There is a major gender problem for maths, physics and engineering undergraduate applications. Boys look at the three A or higher requirements and happily apply/accept offers when their predictions are barely at the required level. Girls are much more cautious and play it safe - and accordingly end up at weaker universities than they should. If she gets AABC in AS, with AAA or AAB predictions for her three A2s, then she should be applying to good RG university courses, safe in the knowledge that she will be accepted by at least some even if she drops to AAB.

She should absolutely not be applying to places with published offers of AAB or lower for maths/physics, as this means they will be filling places in clearing at BBB or perhaps even lower. If she looks like an AAA candidate then she is too strong for these courses.

Thanks. She has gone from dragging her feet around the house to humming happily.

I hope you are right HSMM . Really hard to for them to decide where to apply as it is all such a guessing game.

Well done to LittleLittleham!

Juggling, I totally agree about great options at other unis, but the whole message she is getting is that RG is the best (ie everything else is a flop) Which is just ridiculous. Not only did I go to a Poly and have managed to have a successful and relatively well-paid career, but also, so did the majority of our friends.

In other good news, her bf has finally got an offer from his preferred uni! He now has to choose his reserve, which looks like it will be at the other end of the country!

Oh well done Littleham's DD3. Fantastic

I think there are some great options out there though at other Uni's bigTilly?

Not essential to be able to achieve 3 A's, or even close to that? Still some good options for an enjoyable and valuable Uni experience I think?

Really hard to know how it's likely to pan out for DD, I think we'll be looking to hold on to a range of offers between a firm and a reserve (when that time comes) to hopefully cover most eventualities?

Congratulations to Littleham's DD - and we know she didn't event have time to practise because of the A level music so doubly well done!

Congrats to Littleham's DD. Feel free to be proud (both of you)

I'm going to apologise now but I have amazing news (and I can't talk to anyone in RL about it). Am bursting to tell someone.

DD3 just got her grade 8 flute mark back and she got a distinction. Massive confidence boost for her and perfect timing.

Wrong thread! Bloody hell.

At the sentencing hearing, the prosecution has described the Kaye Johnson social media stuff as an 'aggravating factor'.

That is exactly how things end up! Drives me nuts.

History essays are tricky but by the sound of it she is on the right track.

This whole AAA hurdle is crazy. Too much pressure.

Littleham, they are great results. It is awful how basically anything below an A is regarded as not good enough - mainly due to RG university entrance requirements.

I got out DD's History essay last night and read the teachers comments. It was actually a good essay (and would have been an A!!!) had she not have used/misinterpreted one of the sources. But his communication skills are so poor that yet again she had come away feeling that she had failed

Interesting to hear about Music Littleham - sorry your DD is finding it tough.
DS will be needing to take Music if he's to pursue his current dreams of becoming a professional musician. But whatever happens I'm glad that DD and DS have developed a love of music which I'm sure they'll carry with them through life - being members of a local community band over the last few years has been a great experience for them. In a similar way I'm glad DD has taken the opportunity to continue with her Art.

And yes, DD is hoping to study Zoology or a related subject. I think she will really enjoy that, and there'll also be some interesting trips to go on I imagine. Just hoping we can get her in and settled somewhere good where she'll be happy. And kind of hoping for no gap year though sometimes she mentions the possibility, I think mainly as a Plan B reassurance thing

Good idea to look on it as practice papers. To be honest they only got one weeks warning of the mocks anyway so it was all a bit of a panic. No comments on our report, just a grade so we don't know where she is going wrong.

What is really sad is that she doesn't hate Music. There are just so many blooming hoops to jump through to get a decent grade. You practically have to be Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart to get a high grade. It doesn't help that she is taking it alone. I expect she will focus on the two maths and physics and just carry music on for fun.

Does your dd want to take Zoology Juggling?

Those are great mocks Littleham. We are trying to put DD's behind us a bit here, looking at them as fancy practice papers or something - just so she has an idea of what to expect?! We got a report this week too and comments were quite helpful and encouraging which I was pleased to see. As always improving exam technique could make a big difference with DD. And by and large she was able to do this for her GCSE's.

I think there can be quite a strong case for dropping a fourth most hated? subject after AS. DD will almost certainly be dropping Maths, but I'm sure the extra year of it in sixth form will have taught her some useful skills, especially in statistics which will come up a lot in something like zoology I think.

Same here. Four dc and ds has only just started the GCSE's with speaking exams in year 10. It is relentless and I am fed up with it.

dd3 has her report and got AABC in her mocks . She is gloomy about the C but I think she could always drop it. Her main problem is that her subject requires three A's or A*AA. .

I was just saying on another thread that I am cursing another no-holiday-due-to-exams Easter!

I feel like exams have ruled our family life for years now. And we have it easy with twins ( where at least we only do each stage once).

Those if you doing GCSE/AS/A level two and three or more times; I salute you!

Yes, first day of the Easter break here too for DD and DS
DD full of good intentions to do some revision every day, including taking some maths papers with her when she goes on a few days residential trip in the middle.
And DS is hoping to do quite a bit of trumpet practice before an upcoming audition.
I'm still hoping we can have the odd Easter egg hunt though
I wish I could call it an Easter holiday!