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

[OhYouBadBadKitten]

Just noticed we were running out of thread!

Does anyone know the consequences of going down to 2 courses? DD is positive that she has failed her exam. She is badly dyslexic and suffers dreadfully with anxiety too, so just can't copy with exams (despite the extra time). She is doing brilliants with the two BTECs - getting distinctions - so she's clever even though she can't cope with exams. Obviously she needs to talk to the college, but just wondering if anyone knew

Lobster it's is still Classics but she is making it awkward with the choices so we need to talk properly after AS.

She went to the Uniq Conference, thoroughly enjoyed it but I think has decided Oxford isn't for her. The reserve place hasn't come to anything.

Oxford did say, by the way, that they are ignoring AS results completely.

As regards Open Days, DS1 looked at different types offering the course he wanted and narrowed it down from there. And ended up at the only one he really wanted to go anyway.

Not much revision done this weekend, but DS1 has borrowed a guitar and learned to play a few chords.

chocolateworshipper If she is hoping to go to university then some give offers as tariff points (so perhaps two courses might be OK if she got DD or DM and those added up to enough points?) She could phone the admissions departments to check.

Thank you second. I have suggested she look into adding a one-year course which would count as half an A level and give her some more points - there is at least one with no exams. At the moment I don't see her coping with university, but obviously it is better to keep options open.

Someone said there may be a problem with funding because dropping an A level means she would be part-time rather than full-time. Anyone know anything about that?

Morning everyone. Quiet on here today.

Economics for DS1 and DS3 today plus DS3 also has Geology.

DS2 is still in his pit as he doesn't have anything until Wednesday (C2 and English Lit). I'm off to tempt him with sausage and bacon.

Hope it goes well for all DC today.

Good luck Truffles lads!!

Raspberry, thats interesting with regards to AS levels. I'd love to know Cambridge's stance on them now.

Chocolate, you could ask your question re funding in Secondary, I think that it's better populated there.

chocolate I am not 100% sure, but at dds sixth form college there have been several students in one of her AS classes taking an AS course as a top-up. So therefore I would say to look into the additional 1 year course.
If students are doing well in 2 out of 3 subjects then the college would be keen for them to stay on and complete Y13.

The ones doing the AS course as a top-up are Y13s.

I hear there was a problem with the wording of the Economics paper today (don't know which board, DD wasn't doing it) and they all got extra time! If I were a 17 year old, that would really rattle me. There probably isn't a huge difference between "discuss" and "evaluate" at that level, but for a hand written essay (i.e. not one where you can easily pop in bits here or there to change the balance) I would be stressing so much right now! Fortunately they seem to be quite confident types, and found it amusing rather than stressful.

Oh gosh Eggshell that would have rattled me too!

DD is becoming anxious about the c2 paper on Wednesday. She says she knows what she needs to do but keeps running out of time - no matter how many past papers she does she can't seem to increase her speed

I have no idea how to help/advise her apart from to keep practising.

Is there anybody still here who's dc used Tassomai for science GCSEs?
I remember a few on this thread way back then being really impressed with it.
I'm looking into it for dd2 - do you think it's worth forking out per month from now, or is it better to wait until next year and just pay for the crammer?

I'm interested in the answer about Tassomai too.

DD has History today.

Good luck for today.

dd used Tassomai after doing her b1/c1/p1 exams. She did the full course in a couple of weeks or so by working very intensively at it. Did very well in her exams. She bemoans that there wasn't one for her physics as which is today.

Lobster it's better that your dd doesn't rush it, it's easy to lose a whole question by getting a sign wrong early on or making a small miscalculation. Much better if she is methodical and banks each question she does.

DS1 used Tassomai for Chemistry & Biology iGCSEs.

Pros:
Active learning, more useful than reading a revision guide.
Tailored to the individual student and their areas of weakness.
Questions are designed for that particular exam board & specification.

Cons:
It costs money.
The amount of questions to do each day starts out being achievable, but quickly escalates. For each science subject, DS1 put in about 50-60 hours, yet only completed 50% of the course.

12 months would be too long for Tassomai.

For the CIE iGCSE courses that DS1 did, 6 weeks was not long enough.

If she has mocks in the December/January of Y11, I would suggest starting after that.

Dd has physics and history today. She is worried about the history as she doesn't think the first paper (USSR) went particularly well and has to 'nail China' today.
It is also a very long day for her as with extra time and rest breaks she will potential be in exam mode for about 6 hours.

kitten - thanks for suggesting posting on secondary - I got lots of great advice over there!

Don't worry - I'm still staying loyal to this thread

oh good, I'm glad :)

not heard from dd yet. I'm hoping it follows her usual pattern, if I don't get any messages it was fine, if I hear from her she wasn't happy.

Ds says there were several questions on the chemistry paper where he wasn't exactly sure what it was after. He's been hovering around 85-90% on sample papers, so hoping he did similar on this one...

Good luck to everyone's DC this week. DD has just got Biology left now on Thursday & after half term, so feeling more relaxed now 8 are done. The purpose of these AS exams seem more geared towards helping students to decide which 4th subject to drop in Yr13 & to provide a standalone qualification in the dropped subject. I'm sure I read on a few Uni entry requirement sites that an EPQ & sometimes an additional AS qualification can be a deciding factor in some of their offers, where students have very similar GCSE & A Level results.

Hi all. Ds1 is only doing maths this year, he may or may not drop it depending on results. He has another exam tomorrow and which he now feels prepared for.
Having been off school for what feels like forever he was worrying about a couple of bits but he emailed his teacher who got back to him very quickly.

Chocolate, have you considered encouraging your dd to continue with the subject but with no pressure to get a result in the exam? I don't know if this is even allowed.

Dd thought physics was ok today. She is unsure about history though but does has a tendency to be harsh on herself so I don't know. She will probably drop one of them but wait for results to decide which.

DD not at all happy with history.

However, she's picked herself up again and is doing some Maths for tomorrow. She has S1 in the morning and Eng Lit in the afternoon.

Another one here with S1 in the morning. DS claims it's 'not real maths'.