Last term of Year 13. Gulp.

[OhYouBadBadKitten]

Can you believe it?

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All welcome no matter which path your dc have chosen.

I hope you don't mind me joining at this late stage! My dd has glandular fever, she's been really ill so is only taking one a level this year and is repeating a year next year. She's so so miserable about all her friends leaving and going off to uni. She is taking philosophy and ethics this year and the first exam was very difficult. I guess she can retake next year if she needs to although we aren't sure what unis think of retakes? I am in awe of all these clever parents who use flash cards with their dcs! You all sound amazing!

Gretol welcome. That is so hard for your dd. Glandular fever is miserable in itself ( I had it in my first year of teaching.)
I think universities are generally not keen on resits but will consider extenuating circumstances like illness.

Thank you. If I'm being truthful I feel really down about it. She's not hugely academic but such a hard worker and I feel gutted for her. She's had to cancel all her gap year plans and all she's got to look forward to is more school in September

Waiting for DS to return from psychology 2. He did 2 specimen papers from last year yesterday and seems to have a good knowledge, but frustrating (as a parent) that there are gaps that he obviously didn't have time to learn.
(all this whilst in awe at the amount of revision he has done compared to what i did when i did a levels many many years ago - was obviously much easier back then!).
@Gnome i think DD is regretting GCSE drama (fortunately she's Y10 so we don't have a double whammy in this household) - it was drama or photography and she went for drama. Bit of a personality clash with teacher i think.

Today's Psychology not as good as Paper 1 apparently - but that could be down to exhaustion.

Thank goodness for the weekend and we can all have a bit of a lie in.

Oh hang on, no, I have to get up and do the bastard self-harming horse.

Gretol oh that is a shame!

There isnt a blanket view about resits for uni applications. For example I looked at Bristol Uni and for Chemical Physics and they will consider applicants with resits.

Gretol hello & so sorry to hear about your DD - glandular fever is just rotten and her health is the most important thing in all of this, although it doesn't feel like it right now. Gnome it's the sheer amount of work - 1 year squished into 2 re texts, devising, acting, portfolio work & all hitting during test & mock time in the year, plus all the after school hours! Teacher's not been very helpful at all on input & says class should be creatively able to think for themselves without help a cop out if ever I heard one! I just thank god she finished all her LAMDA exam levels last year!

Ursula some light relief from you via 'self-harming horse!' Commiserations on the Psychology paper today! ☹️ DD's just had massive meltdown about her Geography exam in about 1 hour's time! 😲 She's exhausted! Told her to sit in the garden, close her eyes & listen to all the birds whilst having lunch, meanwhile whilst I cling to my desk feeling sick with nerves for her!!

That was good advice Lashings.

Gretol GF is cruel. It's awful how it tends to hit during such crucial years. Don't worry about the retakes, it will be fine.

Good luck Ursula!

Eek Lobster, not what's needed in the middle of the night. I like spiders, but not then.

Physics seemed ok I think. An afternoon off for dd now. She's heading off for some fun with friends.

Welcome Gretol! I have no experience but would think universities should give some leeway re resits due to extenuating circumstances.

DS much happier with physics today than Wednesday's maths. He's having a chill with a couple of episodes of Dr Who, then will crack back on!

lashingsofgingerbeer DD2 found that Drama was very time intensive even at GCSE level so it must be far worse at A level.

DD2 found Physics fine this morning. Right, Chemistry on Tuesday.

Onwards and downwards!

2 years Drama work squished into one year! own brain on melt down! Roll on end of Geog exam & some tonight to attack the weekend revision onslaught!

Good to hear Physics paper was a good one!

Thank you for your kind words and good luck to all your dcs!

Dd was so very ill (hospitalised on a drip) that I'm just happy she's up and about. Everything else will work its self out in time. Ursula she also has a horse and although he can be a twat challenging sometimes dd loves him and the only good thing is that she'll have another year at home with him.

Ah yes. Horse love.

Gretol hope she continues to get better and is soon back on the horse and enjoying the summer again

DS struggled with psychology also. Apparently nothing like last years' or the two specimen papers from last year :(
Revising Chem2 now.
@lashings hope DD managed to relax and geography goes ok
12 days until they're over for us.

Glad in a bad way that others struggled with Psychology - was worried it was just DD's fatigue. She has always found research methods really difficult - and one question apparently she missed the word 'Discuss' and just described until the last two minutes of the exam. She has started taking a highlighter pen to highlight key words in the question, but forgot it today. Sigh.

Thanks flatmouse - 35 minutes until the end & counting 😬 Hopefully psychology benchmark will be lowered Ursula & Flatmouse

Well I'm hoping both psychology and chemistry boundaries are low!

High dose of neurofen and Adrenalin for DS and his tooth through his 3 physics exam.

We saw a dentist this pm and he has an infected abscess under his wisdom tooth which had not grown through yet. Supposedly it is common in exam periods to see 18 year old who due to stress and exhaustion have low immunity and abscesses appear!!!!

I can only hope he is the only here :)

We have a bag of meds including antibiotics and hopefully he will be better soon. Thank you for all your kind wishes.

On the upside He was thrilled with his physics exam. He only sits one exam per subject so was essential to go well. Felt a bit sad this pm that he will never study physics again !!!

Welcome Gretol We don't always realise it at the time, but sometimes when bad things happen, it's for a reason. Maybe she'll end up with better results than she would have done if she'd been well and taken her exams this year. Maybe this experience will teach her resilience that she'll need later in life. Maybe it's something she'll be able to use as an example of resilience in an interview for her dream job one day. Maybe she's destined to meet the love her life when she does to uni - but she'll only meet them if she goes a year later than planned. For now though I know it sucks - I remember what GF is like.

Downey sounds like the neurofen & adrenalin helped your DS in his Physics! Glad the outcome was positive.

Sorry to hear that Flatmouse

Very wise words Chocolate & very true too.

DD out of exam - text said 'awful Geog paper!' But talking it through she said finished paper with time to check but not great 6 & 20 marker questions in Diverse Places section & weird wording. Yet another scored off exam - yay 🤸🏻‍♀️Not achieved much work today!

That's the worst subject done and it was "ok I guess" later revised to "I think I did as well as I could have done". I am pleased he had recovered enough to be able to sit the paper. That's 40% of exams completed without any drama.

I’m impressed that your dcs have let you test them. Neither of my dc (a- level and gcse) have asked me to test them, apart from dc2french speaking. I have offered to helped but neither has accepted the offer. Dc 2 hasn’t even done many papers (despite spending a small,fortune on revision resources) so i’m Worried that he has spent to much time trying to get the info in, and hasn’t learnt how to get it,out (if that makes sense).

Well, geography was a disaster. DD said she couldn't understand the questions. It was as if they were deliberately trying to trip people up. She used up all her extra time, so I'm thankful that she was allowed it.