GCSE Summer 2020 - Thread 11 Carry on Corona Cohort - Starting New Terms and Settings

I know, he's quite stubborn and opinionated! He definitely needs an end goal to motivate him. I don't mind if he doesn't go to university as long as he's got a decent alternative plan lined up. We'll see, he's an August born so still quite young!

I’m surprised he can’t see how Maths and English would be applied in real life, I get not the whole Maths syllabi’s but numbers, statistics(COVID figs) graphical representation of performance, metrics etc there’s so much in there that is applied in everyday life. Engineering, Accounting, Retail, plumbing, carpentry etc they all use a Maths. He probably takes English for granted because he can speak it, but English is the lingua Franca in so many countries.

I think as he gets closer to GCSEs and his friends start talking about what they want to do afterwards, career talks at school etc it will all click into place for him. You could also get him to look at some virtual university open days to get him ‘in the zone’ if you see what I mean.

Thanks @shimy! Ds is adamant he wouldn’t want to go to uni at the moment but he’s only just 14 so things may change. He very much can’t see the point of certain academic subjects like Maths, English - he only likes subjects which have a practical real life application! He’s taking Business GCSE and seems interested already and he often asks questions about the economy, hence why I think these subjects might appeal.

@ACMEincThank you very much for that link. Very useful.

@crazycrofter There is a bit of overlap between Economics and Business studies. Economics is the more traditional subject that underpins business studies. I was a bit concerned because some universities regard the two as too similar so would prefer you chose just one of them. However, we’ve looked at the universities (which DS has in mind)for any preferred subjects and found no such Clause. Also looked at past offer data on Uniguide.co.uk for most popular A’Level subject combination for his proposed course and surprisingly quite a lot did the two subjects together. But it depends on the Course & university. DS is thinking of Management or something along those lines, if your dc is thinking of e.g Economics they might have be slightly more fussy about doing Econs & Bus studies together. Some have more specific subject requirement eg LSE, so pls check the
university websites first to see if they have a list of preferred subjects for what your DS wants to study, or if there are any subject clauses.

Last but not the least, DS chose Business studies as a fourth subject together with Politics, so might yet drop it by xmas, we don’t know or continue with it and drop Politics. His two main subjects are Economics & Geography.

Welcome ACMEinc. Always lovely to see new faces; especially those who are also in the knowledge camp

I'm a bit of a lurker (DD just started year 12) but I also work in a school library.

Brilliant that a student wants to read round their subject - I would advise a google search for reading lists for their subject. Lots of sixth forms and unis publish them online. And Exam boards sometimes have lists of teacher resources:

www.aqa.org.uk/resources/government-and-politics/as-and-a-level/government-and-politics/a-level/teach/resource-list

Newspapers and magazines like the Economist are great sources of info and they all have content online.

Hope that helps

I shall to join in a bit more and not lurk...

@shimy sorry, no idea about books to help with politics but hopefully someone else will! Just curious about your son’s subject choices as my son (year 10) sounds a bit similar. Presumably there’s no issue with doing Business and Economics together then? There’s not too much overlap?

Can you please tell me if this is a silly idea - DS has mentioned that out of all his subjects Politics is the one that seems to be going over his head a bit and asked if there’s a book I could get him to help a bit. I had bought him the book ‘The lean startup’, during the hols/lockdown because he is entrepreneurship mad and this book was apparently a best seller if you’re interested in that sort of thing. Since he has started doing Economics and business studies he’s been raving about how concepts he read about in the book are also mentioned in lessons and he could contribute so much yadda, yadda.

So I thought perhaps he would benefit from reading, ‘Life in the UK, test handbook’. It’s the book that you’re supposed to read for the citizenship interviews (to become a uk citizen) but in there it describes key things like government structure of the UK, etc etc I thought this might give him like a bride dummies guide to politics in the UK but in a fun way.

Do you think this is a good book for this sort of thing? He doesn’t want another academic book he’s already got those but just wanted a ‘fun read’.

I recommend the revision work books too. DS's school advises us to buy them (they do Edexcel so it is www.amazon.co.uk/Revise-Edexcel-Mathematics-Revision-Workbook/dp/1292190612)?tag=mumsnetforu03-21

They can work through everything by topic whilst revising and identify any weak spots.

My DCs would not have opened a text book unless told to by school!

@greenele My DS had the CGP revision book for his Maths A level syllabus. He had text books from school but they were so large it was quite overwhelming trying to find anything in them. The CGP was the bare bones of the topics so easier to look things up, refresh your memory etc (much cheaper too!).

Morning!

Wow lots to catch up on. Belated Happy Birthday to @KingscoteStaff dd! Hope she had a lovely time celebrating. Dds is in a couple of weeks, she's accepted that its going to be fairly low key this year. 17 does sound quite grown-up, I certainly felt very grown-up when I was 17, although my life was quite different to what dd's is now!

Re. all of the food chat, there's only me and dd and I'm pleased she seems to have outgrown most of her fussiness. My focus now is on teaching her to cook.

Dd really enjoyed her first week, I was impressed, and surprised, that her energy levels stayed high all week. I really expected a full week early mornings, walking to school and back, lesson etc would have her flagging by Wednesday but maybe lockdown hasn't had as much of an effect as I anticipated! She was even up and rearing to go on Saturday morning for getting back to her theatre group. She's still really enjoying Sixth Form, seems to be making friends with some nice people, enjoys that they have more freedom than school and the work seems to be off to a good start.

I'm wondering about buying her a Maths text book, not on the instruction of the school I just wonder if it would be beneficial for her to have the 'rules' written down somewhere to refer to. Maybe I'm overthinking it but I'm just conscious if she does go onto study Maths at a higher level it will be easier if she hasn't formed any bad habits.

Hope everyone has a good week this week.

No tracking, just a bit of match-making!

Ds must think mumsnetters are always tracking their dc's. We have never had a conversation about tracking apps. 🤣

Sarahbeans is that the same one Monkey suggested? The DVSA one?

Icanbewhatiwant hilarious 😆

@icanbewhatiwant

DS turns 17 at HT so driving lessons for his present. I’m not anticipating him taking his test until next summer so no rush on the theory, etc.

ASUS vivobook laptop & new backpack have arrived. Good spec for £500 budget considering it’s just to use his free study periods more efficiently. Booked UK HT break on our nearest coast. House right on the seafront. Looking forward to it despite it being just 1.5 hrs away. We normally visit on day trips but we’re pretty desperate for a change of scenery.

That's really funny @icanbewhatiwant

My daughter has the £4.99 guaranteed pass one and it seems really good.

Except every time I drive her, I now have her pointing out all the road signs, hazards etc....

I was just reading about the learner driver apps when ds came into the room. I said "I've just been reading on mumsnet, there's a good app..." at this point he starts shouting "no, no, no" I told him he hadn't let me finish and didn't know what I was going to say, he said "no way are you using a tracker app on me" I've never before mentioned a tracker app. 🤷‍♀️

The £4.99 one will take a lot more time to master than the £2.99 one as it has all the content they need to learn (rules, road signs etc). The hazard perception one is more about learn using the technique to get the marks in the test. I think it is a good idea to dip in to the £4.99 one for a couple of 10 minute sessions every day and you gradually see your scores going up as the same questions come up.

A friend of DS1 did the theory and failed the first part, said he had not come across some of the knowledge, his mum then opened the app and did some questions, got one wrong and he said "oh, that was one of the ones I got wrong in the real thing", so he wished he had spent a little more time on the app.

Thanks Monkey think I'll get both. Definitely worth the money as like you say it's peanuts compared to lessons. DD has had a couple of under 17 driving lessons on private land set up as real roads etc and was meant to have more this summer but instructor was so busy catching up on proper driving lessons. May be able to resume in Oct half term / Xmas hols.

We got both the £4.99 one and the £2.99 one, I think there are some hazard perception clips in the £4.99 one, but may be more in the other one. I would start with the £4.99 one. I don't know about the free apps, but the DVSA one has the actual questions which are used in the test, so I thought it was worth £5 - which is peanuts on the context of the cost of learning to drive!

Happy birthday to all those turning 17 🎂🥳

Monkey which app is the one to download? The DVSA app looks like it's £4.99 but there looks like there is a separate app for £2.99 that is the hazard perception test so does the £4.99 one also have the hazard test included too? Also there looks like there are other types of driving theory apps which seem free so are they not as good as the DVSA one? Sorry to bombard you specifically but you seem so knowledgeable on this subject

Thanks all - she has just got in, wearing all the items of clothing/jewellery her chums have given her (5 necklaces, 2 rings, 1 fluffy jumper, a beanie, 2 stripy t shirts) OVER her elegant party dress. Should I phone your friends' mums to check they've got home safely, I ask. Groans of hideous embarrassment.

A very happy birthday to mini Kings*. Hope she had a fabulous day. 17 is definitely way more mature than 16yrs.