Year 12 - first half term DONE.

[OhYouBadBadKitten]

new thread so we don't get lost. Well done to all our dc whether doing btech (or breach as autocorrect prefers to call it) or a levels. 1/6 of the way through this year. (blimey)

I did a gap year :) It was fabulous for chilling out and deciding what I wanted to do. Apparently what I wanted to do was continue traveling while working in minimum wage jobs to fund my travels, so I did a second "gap year", and would have just carried on like that if dd hasn't come along and made traveling so much more difficult. So I thoroughly recommend a gap year traveling, but I'd also recommend having a uni place sorted to come back to do there are plans in place to avoid the whole dropping out and becoming a traveller thing.

Dd has 6 exams this year. She doesn't have any study leave though, they're allowed the morning off before afternoon exams, but gets are all morning exams so she doesn't get any study time. My y12 class go off on study leave this Friday, then their first exam is next Wednesday. That's making me a bit panicky, as I've only got 3 lessons left with them!!

Well dd is home!
But she feels very fatigued and has completely lost her appetite she had a McDonald's and threw it. She loves strong Ribena she took one sip and threw it down away...
Unsure whenever to mention to opthramolgist tomorrow or leave and book a gp appointment but will be waiting in excess of 3 weeks

You could mention it tomorrow, then if it's something they can help with they can start helping. If they can't help with it, or if it's not connected at all, then they'll be able to tell you who to talk to and possibly how urgent it is. It's a good job your dd doesn't have exams this year, this would have an awful effect on exam performance.

Ms
She's shattered and even her favourite bread focaccia she isn't interested in tasted it and didn't eat no more. It's definitely worrying. She's experiencing migraines too.
It is worrying, she has internal exams which are the sole basis for predicted grades in 5 weeks and it's just one week of exams so she should be revising but cannot concentrate

Dd1 was ill over the weekend and wasn't happy with her oral following it. Pragmatic though as it doesn't impact on A level just AS

Ds1 has been home I'll this week, gp today gave him a prescription and told him to go back Monday if he's no better.
He has a maths AS paper on Wednesday!

Fortunately his teachers have emailed some work and he's done some revision, just had plenty of rest in between. It's very frustrating for him though.
I hope your Dd starts to feel better soon fantasy.

so much illness on this thread this week. Poor everyone's dc :( Maybe I should start offering dd vitamins? I hope everyone gets better soon.

dd has c1 and fp1 maths exams next week. Neither are a worry, so it's pretty chilled still. Long may that last.

Her college don't do study leave. I don't remember if I said that already. The revision seems carefully targeted and as dd is happy with it, I'm happy.

Scary MrsAD! Good luck to all of your students :)

The child has brought home a six page booklet with the arrangements for the summer term and continuation into next year. I now know the answers to the questions that I thought of weeks ago. It is a wonderful document and would have been even more so if they'd issued it earlier. As DS hasn't read it he doesn't know that he can have the morning off when he has an exam in the afternoon. I suppose that I ought to tell him although I'm tempted not to.

DD has her AS in Biology in a couple of weeks then internal exams after half term.

littledrummergirl does he have other as exams or is it just maths? Personally, as a maths teacher of recommend doing a past paper each day from now till the exam (that's 6/7 papers which is a fair amount) if he can manage it. And to do it properly, so do the full paper himself, then look up the mark scheme (physicsandmathstutor is great website that has all the past papers and markschemes easily available) and check his answers. Any he has got wrong, find worked solutions online (Google the question, often someone has done a video of how to do it on YouTube). If he can manage that for c1, then that's a decent amount of revision, and he should spend the rest of his time concentrating on getting better, then he can catch up on anything else once he's feeling back to normal. If he's ill on the day, will he be able to just get on with it and go in for the exam? With a doctor's note you can get school to apply for special consideration.

Good luck to anybody starting exams next week!

Dd has c1 on Wednesday, she's feeling pretty chilled about that one. Then c2 the week after, then the rest (S1, fp1, m1 & M2) are all after half term. It's one per week, which is fine. The only one she's a little concerned about is M2, and that's because they haven't finished it all yet!! That's the last one though, so they've still got time to finish the last 2 chapters and do some revision. I can't even help with that one as I've never taught that module so would need to teach myself before I could help. This year is much less stressful than last year.

My class of y12, are not quite as chilled as DD though, and neither am I as I sit and mark their last lot of homework before the exam.

MrsAD which applied modules is your dd doing next year? dd doesn't know yet. She is doing d1, m1 and s1 this year.

Dd has C1 next week and then history in the afternoon. Maths she is fine about; history they haven't finished the syllabus yet though it is the second paper stuff they haven't finished.
She has had a massive spike in pain this week. I don't know if it is exam related or not.

kitten, dd will be doing C3, C4, FP3, FP4, D1 and M3 I think, but they might swop M3 for S2 depending on results this year. The D1 is a definite even though it's not a very interesting module because that's the one they all do, single maths and further maths. I find the order they do their modules quite strange, particularly doing M2 this year when they haven't done C3 and C4 yet. I'd have done D1 this year and left M2 for next year (when they have the pre-requisite knowledge from c3 and c4!).

My school manages to timetable the further maths group together for all of their lessons because our timetabler teaches the majority of the further maths modules and prioritises them, so they do A level maths in y12 (c1-4, m1,M2) then 7 A level FM modules in year 13 (FP1-3, M3,M4, S1) so they can take the best scores from them, sometimes they scrap M4 depending on how the group is coping with it all.

Recommend this website for those studying A level maths - you can select a pack of questions by topic so great if you need to focus on a particular area. You have to check the individual papers for the answers - not so convenient - so that was my job!
www.physicsandmathstutor.com/
Ds is taking the German exams from the IB early and papers went well on Monday and Tuesday so now just has end of year exams which start on Monday .

Shanghai the answers for the questions by topic are normally at the end of the questions -they are for the edexcel ones anyway, might not be for other boards. I use physicsandmathstutor a LOT for the convenience of someone else having chosen all the questions I want my class to do, if the answers weren't directly there it wouldn't be nearly so convenient.

Dragon - would have been useful if ds had told me that last year!
All behind us now as he took AS early and has now switched to the IB (new school does not offer A levels) and the joy of higher level maths.

It's interesting how differently maths can be taught in different colleges.
I think at dds, what modules they take depends partly on as results. I think some are given the option of doing extra. Decision is being scrapped isn't it? It has the potential to be interesting, but seems to be very uninteresting the way it is done at a level.

Sorry about your dds pain nohaudin. Rotten for her to have to do both exams on one day.

It is unfortunate that both her history papers are in the afternoon after another exam.
They do C3&4 next year and then choose from S3, or M3, possibly more.
DD can't decide whether to carry on with history which she enjoys but means dealing with the frankly not very organised FE college or physics. She doesn't have to make the final decision until after the AS results though.

which other subjects is she doing NoHaudin?

She will obviously carry on with maths and FM. She is also doing physics and history this year. The maths school do assume that they will carry on with physics (or computer science) but it isn't compulsory. Dd isn't enjoying some aspects of physics hence the uncertainty. The history A level involves a massive piece of coursework otherwise she might consider doing all four.

I agree kitten that decision does have the potential to be interesting, but at A-level it REALLY isn't, it's the dullest module I have ever taught and I begged never to have to do it again. It is being scrapped, but I believe that the new A level has bits of it incorporated into the applied side, not loads but some. I'm going to be teaching the applied modules for y12 next year and honestly some of the stuff in it, I have never done as it wasn't covered in my Alevel or in my degree (because I chose not to do those modules).

NoHaudin, that really is rotten for your dd. It's rubbish when you have to do 2 exams in one day, and even worse when you are already in pain. I hope the pain gets better soon

Thanks Mrsad. Ds1 has made good use of his time at home to do some revision, hes been going through past papers each day and has a revision guide we bought through the school.
It's C1 on Wednesday and I've mentioned the one practice paper a day, he thinks it's a good plan.

How is he doing in general ldg? Is he feeling better? One paper a day is a reasonable amount of revision (assuming he's been working reasonably well all year and not left it all for now), and it feels doable, whereas more than that often seems overwhelming.

Hrs doing ok, had a wobble last week on the back of a test result-I wander if some of his illness is stress related. He has been working in the garden this week though in the good weather, did a physics paper sent from school and did pretty well so he's a lot more relaxed. Just need the meds to work!
It's really frustrating, my goal was to bring up my dc to be happy fulfilled adults doing jobs they enjoy, he has settled on a career path that involves a lot of stress, starting with excellent results.
Aghh, positive thinking. He will be better by Monday!

Thank you for asking though (and letting me vent)

DD is the antithesis of the person she was to live with this time last year. She is smiling, chatting, looking utterly gorgeous every day when she goes off to school. I'm almost frightened of what is going on under the surface tbh. I'm not usually pessimistic, but she is just soooo relaxed. Her first exam proper is on Monday. I suppose we'll find out soon enough.

Hoping everyone's illnesses and the like at least diminish if not disappear over the weekend!