Y13 Summer term: Finishing Lessons, Starting Exams and leaving Sixth Form

[catslife]

So our dcs are now on the last term of sixth form, finishing off lessons and starting their exams.
How did that happen - doesn't seem that long ago since they started Y12.
This is the thread where we support each other as our dcs revise and start their exams, finish off coursework, leave sixth form and make plans for what to do with the rest of their lives. This may involve going to uni or other alternatives.
Every Y13 parent is welcome to join in whether new to these threads or if you have been with us for a while - the more the merrier.

Lashings very good news about the apprenticeship and also good news about the unconditional as an excellent alternative.

Lobster my bookclub book had all sorts of oblique references to the French Revolution and Tale of Two Cities...mostly in the context of Brexit a mash up of some proportions

I would have loved dd to do a degree apprenticeship. Congratulations to your dd Lashings.

Sorry to hear about all the problems going on. It's going to be a long couple of months.

I'm sure that special consideration has to be applied for by the college. I was asked for the death certificate and then they swung into action, I didn't have anything to sign or fill in. I had hoped that by the time we got to the exams he'd be fine but that doesn't look to be happening so he'll be getting a small room rather than the exam hall and I'll count it as a success if he actually sits the paper.

He starts exams five weeks today and finishes a fortnight later. I would like to get out the other side without him being a hot weeping mess, draw a line under this horrible, horrible time and move on.

Fantasy I am appalled at the treatment of your daughter. Is it worth contacting the chair of governors?

I am surprised that the school are being so unhelpful as it will impact on their results. DD has been under the CFS/ME clinic for a year, and it was their suggestion to ask for an extension in her exams. The letter from them arrives a week later, which I duly passed on to the school. I received an email this week confirming her exam times and rooms - because it is in the school's interests that she does well.

I don't understand why a school would put barriers in the way of a student's success.

MrSlant I hope your DS can make up for his horrible experience in the written exams.
Well done to your DD Lashings

DD's mental health isn't great and her extreme fatigue is impacting on her ability to revise. I am taking her to the GP tomorrow. She just isn't ready for moving on just yet. She is one of the youngest in her year, and it is really showing right now. All of her friends seem to know what they want and where they are going. Her future is up in the air until results day.

Sorry if I have left anyone out. See you all in the MN pub later.

and of course I know it's exam time because his hay fever has kicked off.

The weather is too foul here for hayfever.

icouldbeknitting my hay fever is horrific just now. GP was unwilling to help last time I asked but I may revisit. I am finding great relief in adding Prevalin nose spray and Optrex eye drops and spray to my anti histamine. It usually means it is better by about 9am if I do all of that around 6.30am. It is exhausting though. This morning I scratched my eye I was rubbing so hard and couldn’t stop.

Knitting

Bit late in the day, but I have only just spotted this thread, and I haven't read it all yet. I need people to share the pain! DS's A levels are imminent and he is working very hard (for him) but stressing over the Physics to the point of tearfulness.

it is birch pollen particularily. My MIL who is German made a point of moving to Italy to escape it! (Germany land of the birch forest) We had a a sentimental silver birch in our garden and then we had to remove it. Dogwood in flower and ceanothus seem to be bad too. My eyes are running atm but I assumed it was the cats. Yesterday I sat next to a friend who is allergic to dogs, without remembering I had been cuddling an adorable black labrador belonging to my sister only an hour before, poor Book Club friend was sneezing violently all through supper although we were in a third party's immaculate dog free house.

knitting he is going to get through. He has done so well to get everything to a high standard in the coursework, and you can send him very very best wishes from my ds even if they don't know each other at all, but they are probably studying exactly the same setworks etc like the dreaded John Cage.

Ds1 was struggling last night with his (mid twenties brilliant) tutor, I think the tutor was fed up with him and wanted to bang the table in Beethoven like rage but contained himself - ds still gives the impression of not knowing the basics, possibly he knows things but would only remember if asked in a more roundabout fashion. He must have shot up 3 inches in the last few months, it feels more and more odd to be organising this lanky youth.

Hay fever is grim. Mine has not bothered me since I moved to China - probably due to pollution!
Ds had his first ib exam today - higher level maths which was apparently 'fine'. More maths and geography tomorrow.

Welcome luwack is your ds year 12 or 13?

Still no support from her teachers, loni like your dd, my dd suffers with extreme fatigue making it hard to revise! It’s a nightmare especially as it’s not a physical problem so you can’t see it making it 1000x worse to explain to people

It sounds like our girls have a lot in common Fantasy

Welcome luwack My DD is doing all BTEC courses, so no exams for her (thank goodness), but I will be here cheering you all on during the exams and as we near the you-know-what-date (the date that shall not be named)

Lonicera there are so many people whose children take Gap Years. I've a friend whose sons all went to comprehensives, and they all took Gap Years before uni, quite against the tide of received opinion from their teachers. The production line is in favour of UCAS applications on site and then straight to uni. It took that Gap Year for them to fine tune, either course or destination or retaking one A level to get into the uni they really wanted to go to. Schools are encouraged to have certain numbers going from school into "higher level education" it is a statistic that reflects well on them, and Gap Years confuse this statistic (although I notice that some of our local Sixth forms put the students down who have had success even after leaving the Sixth Form, fair enough)

I felt there was a conspiracy to get ds off to university or an apprenticeship and no allowance for the fact that he might not be ready. The problem is that he has been so "brainwashed" and convinced by the received wisdom of his institutional setting that he hasn't even considered the alternatives.

Lonicera I think you are very wise to let her take a step back from the whole process. She will lose nothing by taking a year out, only gain something. I don't think they realise how many people drop out from their first year because they didn't give themselves time to properly look at the alternatives, either uni destinations or courses or just growing up a bit more before embarking on this massive adventure.

Thanks ChocolateWorshipper and FantasyandHope for the welcome. DS is Y13, and to date has only submitted the NEA essays for English Lit; exams proper begin the week after next, I think.

Nettle I was ok with John Cage but that noise making cellist was way beyond my comfort zone. I suffered through several minutes of a Youtube performance before pleading dinner duties.

Well, it looks the A level geography shit is about to hit the fan at DD's school. Several students in the other geography class have been to see the head of 6th form about their poor mock results - mostly Us, and complained that the teaching clearly isn't up to teaching the new syllabus.

DD's teachers are saying that there are no practice questions as the syllabus is new. I have found 3 specimen papers and mark schemes for the new syllabus on the AQA website, and that is it.

DD is so stressed and worried about geography because it seems that the chance of achieving the A that she needs is vanishingly slim.

Knitting amazing, that petals piece. I've never listened to it before. I kept thinking it was going to turn into Vivaldi. Very eerie. We were discussing all that last night about the book, how it didn't read like a book ought to read (ie no proper narrative) and how it wasn't any good for that reason, but I suppose music is the same, we want structure in some form. Like a table that stands up.

But even Vivaldi goes off on a bit of a tangent sometimes.

lonicera

lonicera I can't imagine the stress.

knitting {flowers]

Mrslant My friend's daughter didn't reach her her points offer last August for Bangor, they still took her. I'm sure he'll do fine in the rest of the exams anyway, but try not to stress too much.

DD's school has just announced there is no study leave this year for A levels. However they can use lesson time for their own studies. DD works much better at home so will just try and fly below the radar on this one!

LoniceraJaponica Did you see the post I put with the links to the AQA website? It's true that we just have the 3 specimen papers but they can be adapted to fit other areas of the spec.
If I can help then please ask, I'm happy to help if I can. I teach the physical side of the A level geography course though so I'm not much use with the detailed required for the human side. What physical topics does your DD ado?

Thank you Lucycat. I appreciate it.
DD is doing the water and carbon cycle, coasts and hazards.
How can the papers be adapted? I would be very glad of any help you can provide.

That link didn't work, but I did find what I wanted here

I have a revision booklet on water and carbon but I'm not sure how to share it on my iPad 🙂
Any questions that talk about a particular hazard can be changed to put a different hazard in so for example substitute earthquakes for wildfires, questions that ask for impacts of hazards can be changed to responses to hazards.
The key for the 20 mark questions is to really focus on the question command words as half the marks are for the application of the knowledge the students show and how is linked to the question A02, just half is for actual content, the A01 component.
I'm sure that your DD knows this but the 9 mark questions are where she might encounter links between areas of the spec e.g. hazards and changing places.
If she's got any questions please ask.

Thank you so much Lucycat
I have just read your post out to DD and she says she already knows the points you have made. They all had a free this afternoon and were talking about changing hazards in the questions.