Thread 16 - Corona Cohort Year 12, 2021 Zooming through Summer Term

@AnneOfCleavage Not all require an A in EPQ, some universities ask for a 'B' grade, so do check the universities she intends to apply to but by all means do aim for an 'A' .

😀Thank you all. That, of course, makes perfect sense now and I should have guessed that. Am post 2nd jab and feeling a bit under the weather so brain a bit woolly. This pandemic will have a knock on affect for years it seems. Our poor DC.
Not 100% sure if DD should do one. She has an idea that she'd like to do one on and the uni she's got as her first choice goes on points so it would help give her the higher end of points but I know not all unis go on points but grades instead and it has to be an A or more if you're using an EPQ as one of the grades I believe so why not just concentrate on 3 grades with the A levels she's doing and do well in those. Guess we'll spend some time weighing up the pros and cons on doing/ not doing one.

Shimy I knew what you meant as DD is already looking nervously at a couple of girls in the year above who have pulled out of this year's UCAS after not getting the offers they wanted. They will be stiff competition next year, particularly with generous TAGs in hand.

English is not my first language so sometimes my sentences might sound a bit convoluted or use words that mean slightly something else, even though what I'm saying sounds quite clear to me, so pardon me!.

@KingscoteStaff Yes, that's exactly what I meant, you were much more succintly.

Just to add, I personally don't think doing an EPQ adds that much value and a whole load of unnecessary pressure, better to concentrate on getting the highest grades possible in their core subjects. That way, you won't need a 'reduced offer'. DS1 (bare minimum) didn't go near an EPQ even though his first choice uni gave reduced offers to those who had done one. In the end, DS1 was given a reduced offer anyway despite no EPQ. But this year and next are very different year groups struggling under the strain of the impact of the pandemic and there's been some unusual offers and rejections, so an EPQ might help a bit to distinguish oneself.

No mention of EPQ from DDs school yet.

No sign of the provisional licence yet either (but only applied Monday!). It did say one week to get the application form through to add the photo and signature and that there were delays in processing due to social distancing in the offices and reduced number of staff.

Or maybe she’s capable of explaining herself (shut up, me...)

I think @Shimy meant that our dudes will be up against gap yearers applying with (conceivably over generous) TAGs in hand, so anything they can do to make their application stand out is going to help.

Or maybe she meant something completely different!

@Crocidura Exactly.
@AnneOfCleavage What I meant was doing an EPQ might make a candidate more attractive to university admissions in a way it hadn't mattered in previous years.

Neither Ds1 nor Ds2 have ever mentioned epq's. I wonder if they don't do them at our school. I shall have to as Ds.

Maybe an EPQ will make university applications more competitive?

Hello all, just catching up with the thread, very impressed with all the drivers, still waiting for DS to apply for his licence here. I'm tempted to do it for him but he needs to start doing stuff like this for himself I think.
He has AS assessments at the moment (in Wales), three more weeks to go, then school tell him his grades, short window for appeals, then official results day with the A levels in August. No idea how things will turn out but lockdown 3 was pretty awful for him and at one point he was getting a U for the subject he wants to study at university
Luckily, he can choose whether these grades count towards his A level results or not, so could in theory write off Y12 and start Y13 with a clean slate in September. Expecting a roller coaster ride over the next few months, one way or another!

Well jel of those with dc's completing their EPQs! Ds has written half, then his EPQ lead said he need more research sources before he wrote more: he's now quadrupled the amount of research sources, but still seems to feel he wants to do more research before he does much more writing. He's done a lot of planning and structuring though and he's really, really enjoying the process. He's gone with a topic linked to his study but an area he's interested in and I think he's learnt a huge amount. It all sounds impressive anyway ;-) @EversoDelighted: do you know, we just assumed that ds's autism wasn't an issue for driving licence: I can't actually remember if we declared it or not - maybe I'd better check! We're ND-positive in this house ;-)

Evening all,

I'm nudging DS to get started on his EPQ, school have been quiet about it but his form tutor is the EPQ lead so he can get help easily enough, and things seem fairly quiet studying-wise t the moment. My thinking is get started now and finish it off over the summer. Well done to all those finishing theirs.

Re driving licence and ADHD, DS has autism and we are interpreting the DVLA guidance the same way, that we have no way of knowing whether it will affect him or not till he has tried. There was a big fuss a couple of years ago because they changed the guidance and it was unclear but looked as though all autism had to be declared, the autism charities campaigned for it to be clarified. Having said all that he's in no rush to try driving yet.

Re: EPQ, DS decided at the last minute to do an EPQ, I think next yrs entry is going to be super competitive, what with people deferring and the grade inflation. DS's school is pushing more for them to do the EPQ to be more competitive, so another unexpected workload although DS seems to be balancing it well with his core subjects.

@Monkey2001 To be honest I've lost interest in pushing him to do anything driving related right now. DS1's theory test expired this month and still hasn't completed lessons and booked a test. The pandemic hasn't helped but I'm really disappointed he just let it slide till it expired, so I haven't got the energy to chase ds2 for it plus he is so busy. I think lessons and tests will always be there, so best to leave it all untill after he has submitted his uni application.

Thanks all, he's still on a bit of a buzz about it. I think he generally had a a good day today and that was the last thing this afternoon. Good luck to the others still to do it. He is also looking forward to the 'frees'!

Piggy that's odd, do you think the lockdown had an impact on it's progress?

DS's school last mentioned EPQ about 7 months ago. Not sure what is happening there really.

DVLA still not sent back anything re provisional licence application...

Well done to all those handing in EPQs and applying for positions of responsibility - very impressive!

@icanbewhatiwant thanks for that info. I don't think £100 per week sounds too bad compared to some cities (Oxford?) but then I guess that's a 52 week contract and bills on top, so not cheap.

Well done @JustHereWithMyPopcorn DS!
DD was given a transcript of the questions asked and her replies. I think it went in with EPQ.
She’s enjoying the ‘frees’ since it’s out of the way!

Great news Justhere

Another one waiting in the wings for results of team captains (aka house girl/boy). It’s been a looong process...

Just heard from DS, he thinks it went really well. He tells me his teacher was very happy with the presentation and particularly with his answers to the questions afterwards which apparently showed his depth of knowledge. I really hope he is right! 😀. Thanks for the good wishes for him.