Christmas half term - Year 13 (another original thread title!)

[OhYouBadBadKitten]

Carrying on from previous thread

I'm so rubbish with thread titles. Anyway...

This time last year there was lots of chat about tests/exams/mocks at this point. Are there fewer of them, or is everyone more chilled about them?

Ooh new thread!
Mocks at ds's school are not until March. Every subject for the IB has an internal assesement, extended essay needs to be completed by December and theory of knowledge presentations are due soon too. So no exam pressure, but lots to do!
Ds has finished his extended essay so he's pretty relaxed at the moment.

I don't think we have mocks til after Christmas. Got History and English coursework to do this term. Back to school on Monday after two weeks of half term.

We have just received a report which shows DS is engaged and working hard in all three subjects, so he has come a long way since this time last year.

It would be nice if he could extend that to completing a first draft of a personal statement.

Mocks are at the end of January, so we'll cross that bridge after the UCAS application.

Dd has regular assessments but they don't seem to carry the same stress they used to which is great. Mocks aren't until sometime after Easter.

We have parents evening on 13th. The night I am meant to be going to listen to Saba Douglas Hamilton talk about her life with Elephants. #bitter.

I think DD has Mocks in January, but they are inconsequential at present compared to a PS (no further forward) and course work!

Thanks for the new thread Kitten

no probs Raspberry.

It seems crazy that there is so much for them to fit in over the next few months. hey ho.

that’s a shame Ursula. Can you not delegate parents evening? We have parents evening coming up too this month. It seems a funny thing now they are either 18 or not enormously far off it.

DD seems to have endless tests. Mocks after Feb half term I think. I noticed the Y13 cause for concern evening is on the School calander now, and we haven’t been invited (yet) which is a good sign!

Parents evening is such a chore! I try and get DS to book his times as soon as possible after school finishes so we can be in and out - unfortunately we’re usually still there at 7pm losing the will to live.

Ursula - she was on the radio the other week! I’m sure I recall her saying that she comes over to the UK every year if she can....hope you manage to get to her talk.

DS has finally had feedback re PS. Apparently it’s an 8.5/10 as a first draft and needs a few minor tweaks -so that’ll be done over the weekend!

DS has frequent tests, but has mocks in December. Parent's evening next week.

We can't make parents evening this year. It will be the first one for any of the dc that we have missed.
Unfortunately it clashes with cadets (last before remembrance parade) and a sixth form open evening for ds2.
The school have no concerns though and neither do we so I suspect it would be another "work hard, revise well" speech x3.

DD has some heavy duty tests next week

On a negative note she has just received a rejection from her insurance choice (5th choice). I suspect she will be having to apply through clearing as her other 4 choices are for medicine and she has no work experience to boost her application. Or she will get some work experience after A levels and reapply next year.

oh bother Lonicera, I am sorry, that’s a bit poo. She will find a way I’m sure.

Oh Lonicera your poor DD, a rejection is never nice, but when it’s the first one you hear back from it must be horrid.
I hope it won’t knock her confidence too badly. Medicine might still happen, if somebody can see past the age restrictions she’s had.
Good that she has a plan B in place though, and a gap year getting experience could be amazing for her.

Oh rejection is hard

Dd1 has her first offer, she was dancing and squealing round the house! It’s her 5th choice and safety application as it wanted lower grades but still a good Uni/nice place to live.

That is harsh Lonicera. On what basis do Unis reject?

I have absolutely no idea. DD is away at the moment so I might find out more tomorrow.

Loniera so sorry to hear that. They put so much effort into the application it must be hard to get a rejection as the first feedback. Hope she is ok.

Sorry to hear about your daughter's rejection Lonicera, it's really hard for those applying for the really competitive courses. Hopefully she'll still get offers for medicine.

Thank you for the support. It doesn't help that her boyfriend is wanting to do something that isn't as over-subscribed as medicine and with his predictions has already had a couple of offers.

Lornica I hope your DD starts to get some good news. It’s tough to get an “unsuccessful” 💐

DS said the Cambridge Engineering test was really hard but tbh I’d be surprised if anyone came out of any of those Oxbridge exams suggesting they weren’t tricky. His friend doing the TSA for Oxford found the whole experience totally grim. Imperial have sent DS a holding email reassuring him they haven’t forgotten about him and interviews are held between Nov and Feb, so we’ll see if there are further developments on that front. He has his trip to Leeds on Wednesday. I wonder how long he will have to wait after that visit to see if he gets an offer. It is hard to tell how much weight is attached to the “interview” he has there. Might be nothing; might be everything!

Lornica, something I have read is that students can be rejected from the last choice because the PS is clearly aimed at medicine.
Fingers crossed on the rest of her choices.
Ds1 is still waiting to hear - apparently Bristol have 1000+ vet applications and 4000+ medicine all being checked by the same team so it might be a while.

I agree LittleDrumer. DD is not the least bit crestfallen at the rejection, thank goodness. It transpires that it was her plan C anyway. If she gets no offers but gets her grades she will apply again next year. If she doesn't get her grades she will see what clearing has to offer.

That's good. I know the feeling, I think ds1 alternative plans go a quarter of the way through the alphabet. Every path will eventually lead to vet med its just that he may need to be more resilient for some.
It's a good job he's much better at that than me.

I’m glad she’s fine with it Lonicera :)