Parents of Year 12s - exam time again! (oh no!)

[OhYouBadBadKitten]

Just noticed we were running out of thread!

Brilliant news MsAwesome.

DD finally pulled her head out of the sand yesterday and has applied for something vaguely relevant over the summer holidays. It is not compulsory at their school this year.

She also finally looked at Open Days and realised she's missed any she would be interested in, but she and DH have headed off to school/work to see if they can go to Manchester tomorrow. She was upset with herself as she really wanted to get to one before summer.

She also did the online application for her Driving licence. If she'd done this a month ago before her passport expired it would have been easier. This has been a thing she has meant to do for 2 months and was surprised how easy it was and how much better she felt afterwards.

Hopefully she may have learnt something!

Is anyone taking into account the new gold/silver/bronze ratings for universities? Some of them are quite surprising.

www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-40356423

OYBBK the extra curricular bit drove me mad at the beginning of the year when school were brainwashing all the DC to fill in all their leisure time!

I've suggested that dd leave all of the vowels out of her personal statement so she can fit everything in she wants to

I'll be advising dd to ignore those ratings TheSecond. How confusing. Most important thing is they are looking at courses that they want to do.

Gd pln KTN

I will also be advising DD to ignore the ratings.

Raspberry!

There are so few places that offer what DS wants to do that ratings don't enter into it. I doubt he'll be putting five places on the UCAS form because I'd be struggling to come up with five and my research beats his hands down.

I am going to Salford open day on Saturday because I have a train ticket. I have given DS the cash to buy his ticket but the internet crashed before he completed it. I am waiting to see at what point he thinks about this again, my suspicion is that he will end up buying it at the station.

Colour me surprised. The open days DS has booked/been on score as three golds, a silver and a bronze. I would have picked the bronze one out of the line up but it's his potential insurance place that is one of the golds.

Thnk wll mss t vwls t. Dd sms t hv lds f stff t ft n t prsnl sttmnt.
T's dffclt t rd ths thgh.

W wll gnr rtngs s wll.

Reminds of the posters on the tube in the 80s

If u cn rd ths msg u cd gt a gd jb.

Pretty good idea what some of your DDs extra curricular is MsAD!

Same as yours raspberry!

Didn't get any replies on a thread so thought I'd post here
Dd is interested in studying history with another subject or politics.
She has looked at sociology but according to teachers it's seen as a 'weak degree' and should be avoided as some employers don't take it seriously.

So..when looking at universities are rankings important? And what is the best number to go to? Is it choose in the top 30? Top 20?

DS1 is not as academic as your DD but is looking at either History or History & Politics.

He looked at the following:

• Typical offer: in a range similar to what he is likely to achieve
• History course: choice of modules
• Distance: more than 30 miles away, less than 300 miles away.

He looked at several online league tables for UK History courses. The universities in the top quartile give offers which would be unachievable for him. The universities in the lowest quartile had courses that didn't appeal to him. So he is looking at the middle section.

CUG rankings for History

Guardian rankings for History

QS rankings for History

Thesecond
Dd looked at Essex as it's ranked 16th for politics but she was like Essex? It's not a Russell group etc...
On good news we have a B in history and an A in R.S. Dd is a very happy child today

At the UCAS evening dds college said rankings aren't especially important, nor are russel group unis (unless you are a post grad!) Instead a) choose your subject b)look at courses you are interested in c) choose a range of unis between a little bit above their predicted grade and a little bit below their predicted grade

Then select on things like feel of the place, campus or city, distance from home if that matters, cost of going there.

What Kitten said.

When it comes to looking at courses she can look at the modules in each year, which ones are compulsory and which optional. If there are periods of history she hates/loves then it's worth knowing before she starts whether she can elect to have less/more of that module. I'd also consider the method of assessment - how much is coursework and how much is terminal exams.

Ive never had much faith in ofsted ratings or cqc ratings. I'm not convinced these new ones will be any more informative than the information already available.

Ds1 had his last exam today we got almost to the bus stop when he rooted through his bag and announced he had forgotten his pencil case which had everything he needed including calculator! I had to drop him with instructions to talk to his teachers in the hope they could help.
I got to work, told my boss and she told me to get him his equipment she would cover my role until I got back. I love my boss.
It turned out ds1 had left everything in school (I couldn't find it at home) and he collected it as soon as he got there.
Anyway, between ds1 and ds2 (yr10)having his only exam this year today I think I deserve .

How stressful LittleDrummer. Eek!

Just slightly oybbk! On a plus note I earned "mummy points" for trying to save the day. Today he thinks I'm great.

Lovely boss Little drummer. Anyone else off to Warwick tomorrow? DS currently out at Nandos for a friend's birthday, hope he gets home soon as we have an early start in the morning.

I've seen some criticism of the gold/silver/bronze university ratings, but not looked in any detail. Don't think DS will pay too much attention, he is looking at specific courses. Still.not 100% decided between maths and engineering!

dd is off to Warwick with a college group. Wish I was going too.