Corona Cohort Y12 into Y13, braving the storm of the third wave

HI all and esp @orangecinnamon21 - is your DD doing Music? Mine is. Getting her ready to go. Would love to chat if your DD is. Which halls etc.

Six is fab!

@JustHereWithMyPopcorn thanks for the recommendation of biology carol. DD did find some videos on YouTube but by then it was too late in the day and was overwhelmed. She has a real lack of motivation to start things and everything becomes last minute. She recognises it's a problem but doesn't know how to sort it and no end of suggestions from us help. She's very bright and I often wonder if she needs further help or has an issue.

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/further_education/4296515-Thread-17-Corona-Cohort-Summer-Vacation-to-Yr-13-Finding-Freedom 15 posts left before this one ends ..click here for shiny new thread in new home of Further Ed board]]

Ds1 is doing biology at university, just finished second year. He only got B in his A level biology. He needed ABB the A was in business. He's enjoying his degree, apart from the fact he only did 3 months of labs. Practicals were cancelled for 3 months due to strikes then covid struck. End of year 2 he was given a 2:1 he's hoping to improve on that for the final year.

@mummabear74 sounds like my DS, he would revise by reading his notes and g me or DH to test him but this was not very successful. I would recommend Biology Carol on You Tube, they are quite long videos but very useful I think. If that doesn’t suit, there are lots of others on there which offer advice on how to revise, definitely worth a look.

@JustHereWithMyPopcorn DD really struggled here with biology during lockdown too. One of the topics they learnt from textbook without any teaching at all. She was very stressed before exams in April but managed to get a high C so she has some work to do. She's never really found a decent revision method that's worked for her and tends to copy the textbook on to flash cards. Next exams in mid September and she's feeling quite resentful that she spent Easter trying to revise and the September exams will mean she'll have to start revising in August.

@FedNlanders that’s amazing progress, but I can understand he feels his work hasn’t been rewarded. Are they realistic predicted grades or aspirational UCAS ones? As they don’t sound very aspirational given his mock results? Surely he can improve in a year?

Dd has been given UCAS predicted grades of A* A A so she’s happy. They’re having another exam week in early October for those who feel they can improve (although compulsory for all).

@singingstones my DS also admitted to me quite recently that he really struggled with his Biology during the lockdown, just couldn't engage with it sitting on his own in his bedroom. He never mentioned it at the time but he's not one to really open up. He definitely needs some time over the summer to enjoy being a teenager. He definitely still has some work to do but I think that its essential for him to be able to be free of worries for a while and reset ready for a potentially tough year 13. Fingers crossed they get some decent weather!

Congrats again to your DS @Monkey2001!!

@FedNlanders I love your positivity, it's so easy to get sucked down when things aren't going as hoped. Here's hoping that next year - with a little bit of research on You Tube! - gets him where he wants to be.

DS has some more tests at the beginning of this week and his motivation is zero. Part of me thought just let him get the bad grade if he doesn't revise but the other part of me was yelling 'but a good mark could help improve his predicted grade!' so unfortunately I went into moaning mum mode. DH and I keep discussing that he won't have anyone to do this for him when he's at uni so he really needs to learn to self motivate.

It's difficult isn't it, Just. I am back in moaning mum mode after backing off resulted in very poor grades at DS's last report. He has loads to do over the summer to try and revive his A levels but at the moment is doing ok. I think a lot of it has to do with lockdown, huge loss of confidence from being out of school and I expect there will be times when he needs support during Y13. I try to do it as if we are a team instead of just bossing him around but inevitably there is a bit of that. I am secretly hoping he will defer, get a job and then go off and do exciting things during a gap year, think it would be great for him. And you never know, maybe the penny will drop before that 🤞

[quote Decorhate]@singingstones I had been trying to persuade my older son to sort out some driving lessons (they were supposed to be for his birthday 2 years ago!) He only realised that I was right when he found he could not apply for some placement jobs because he did not have his licence [/quote]
Snap - DS was 17 in January and I took a stand and said, I'm not applying for a licence, you can do this one yourself. He hasn't 🤦‍♀️
His friends are just beginning to pass their tests though, so hoping that might make a difference 🤞

My sons grade sheet just came in with predicted CCD (English language, politics and History) I don't think it is as bad as he feels it is but I understand his frustration. This is a boy I was once told would never speak and he never did SATS or anything as was told he would never pass! So I am delighted for him to get this far, but his effort does not feel like he is being rewarded. (His words).

The YouTube videos for essays is a wonderful idea. Thanks. I will definitely give that a shot with him.. He does seem to have picked very essay based subjects!

Well done everyone on exam results.

@singingstones I had been trying to persuade my older son to sort out some driving lessons (they were supposed to be for his birthday 2 years ago!) He only realised that I was right when he found he could not apply for some placement jobs because he did not have his licence

I’m still struggling to find the balance between doing everything for them and letting them face natural consequences.

Hear hear, with bells on

Ds has decided to drop Further Maths after getting his end of term report this week. I always thought he was a more natural mathematician than his siblings but his FM marks have consistently been lower than his other subjects.

I suspect he may have made the decision before his last set of exams going by the grade achieved...

Hopefully it won’t make a difference to his uni applications.

Well done to mini Monkey on passing his driving test. I got a minor for doing 32 in a 30 zone so v surprised at 38. I think they are being extra lenient to clear the backlog but they wouldn't have passed him if they were unsure of his ability so well done to him.

DD got a D in her sociology mock (was 1 mark off a C) so was very disappointed as got a high C in Easter mocks. She'd like a tutor over the summer to help with exam question prep as she missed crucial terms apparently. It was a mock her teacher had written and she is a harsh marker but it's not consoling DD. Not had the other two results yet as she has those lessons tomorrow and Friday.

DD's work experience has fallen through for next week so she's had to sign up to doing some more volunteering at a COVID hub. School have asked that the hub provide proof they have adequate insurance in place but as DD had volunteered there previously I think it's ott. She's done the training and done a few shifts already so knows what she's doing. Guess school have a tick list to check off but she's now 17 so seems a bit keen.
We officially break up next week but DD obv doing w/ex so this Friday is her last day. She has her birthday party this Friday so can celebrate the end of term at same time. Need to mow the lawn but it's boiling out there so will wait til this evening. Summer weather is finally here.

Congratulations to your boy on passing DT Monkey!

Thanks @JustHereWithMyPopcorn. It is possible they moved the grade boundaries as I know he only just got an A originally, but I thought it was a full set of old A level papers (the school does maths A level in one year, on to further maths next year). He was very adamant that he checked the grade boundaries many times!!

Either way I don't think it's that bad, he is predicted AAAA so that is enough for any application I think. It may even keep him on his toes which is not a bad thing. I think it's easy to become complacent with a good set of predictions and forget that his school base them 'on a good day'.

Klaxon....

shiny new thread in new home of further ed board

Congratulations @Monkey2001's ds! And sorry to hear about your ds' struggles @FedNlanders: essay writing is definitely a skill that needs to be learnt and not something that just 'comes'. DS is autistic and has dyslexia, and I was really nervous about him taking an essay based subject at A level: luckily he chose psychology where the essays are shorter and much more formulaic: he's learnt the formula and takes it very serious and it's paid off for him: do you think a teacher at your ds' school would take time to go back over the basics for him ito how to structure an essay/what the markers are looking for? Keeping that in mind could well bump him up quite a bit I'd say?

@FedNlanders I'm sorry to hear your DS is struggling with his maths and History, someone said upthread that some exams are quite formulaic in how they expect you to answer questions, my DS has only really discovered this recently and it has helped a lot. He does Biology and while he clearly knew the subject he wasn't doing that well in exams. We started looking at marking schemes to see what they were looking for but also looked at some You Tube channels where they went through exam papers and highlighted bits in the questions which helped to understand how they wanted the question answered (if that makes sense?), I found it quite enlightening and very useful for DS. Perhaps there are some maths ones that similarly break down the question for you.

@20newnames those are great grades for your DS, is it possible they moved the grade boundary for the maths exam? DS2 had his end of years and told e grades he'd got, three of them changed (for the worse) by the time his report came out as they had played with the grade boundaries.