Year 13 support thread - The End.

[OhYouBadBadKitten]

Not the end of the threads, just this chapter of life. We'll keep going, don't worry!

However! Not to be used until this one is done

Dd is definitely getting a car, she's saved the money for it herself from her pub job (given up now because of the GF). We live so rurally with no public transport. Its going to be a godsend.

Welcome all today's finishers! I believe mrslant has expanded the finishers area to make more room and the bar is well stocked.
My new cooker has arrived today!
dd has restarted driving lessons too.
She is finding job hunting hard work - all that effort and no success is very unlike school/college!

Dds friends at a local private school have all been given inflated predictions. They deliberately didn't do AS levels because of this. The plan is that when they don't get the grades, the unis will let them in anyway.

C3 was tough (MEI) tbh I'm past worrying and would quite like chemistry and C4 done and dusted.
kitten I still have my copy of 'how to cook an egg' too, and my 'grub on a grant'

Congrats to to your DS Knitting.

Sorry for those DC's with papers today that didn't go as hoped. I'm keeping everything crossed for everyone and desperately hoping that grade boundaries are kind to all (DS included).

Gretol that is quite dodgy behaviour from the school. Top universities will realise quite quickly that the school over inflate their grades and react accordingly. It is also very risky for the poor child who doesn't get the grades and ends up with no place at all. Certainly at the school I work at and the one my DS goes to, the school need to have some kind of proof that they are working at that level. Internal exams etc

This finishers bench is getting quite crowded - I'm going to fall off the end in a minute

DS1 is still working for the tea shop / cake company.
His colleagues (some younger than DS1) make and decorate personalised cakes to order.
DS1's role is barista / waiter / general dogsbody.

The company is very active on social media, but DS1 has so far avoided being in any of the many behind-the-scenes photos they post.

Every post is along the lines of:
"Here's Tom putting the finishing touches to this gorgeous hummingbird cake. Dick in the background baking this afternoon's batch of delicious scones. Harry* (not pictured) completes the team."

DH & I find this hilarious, luckily DS1 sees the funny side too.

• Not DS1's actual name.

Those who remember DS1's initial attempts at using the coffee machine in early 2017 will be relieved to hear that he is now capable of making all the types of coffee on the menu, drinkable every time.

Well I think I will be last to the party as ds will be done on 2 July!

Will be the one to turn all the lights off and pop up the closed sign. Just please leave a small bottle of Pinot Grigio for me in the fridge for when I make it.

He is on a 12 day no-exam stretch and after a break over the weekend it is back to reality now.

Marmite - sorry about your dad - hope the appointment went well.

Congrats to the new drivers and learners.

Ds is waiting until he gets to the UK in September to learn to drive. Costs about a 1/3 of the price of here and he expects to stay in the UK for a few years and it did not make sense to learn here in Europe and then relearn to drive on the other side of the road a couple of months Later.

I found the article about predicted grades Interesting. The papers seem to have been tough this year I hope the unis are kind.

We don’t have grade boundaries here. So no account of difficulty is taken into account. So a student could get 85% on one year’s paper and the next year a brighter student faces a harder paper and Only gets 75%.

Ds is wildly jealous of your dc with grade boundaries.

Thanks for the hand holding everyone.

It would appear that if the rest of DD's class found the paper easy, as she said, they are in the minority judging by the sample on her. She was MEI too.

Only C4 to go ......

DD has the use of my car, mostly because she used it to drive to school. She will shortly have to share it with her brother as he arrives back from uni. Any rowing means I will have it back!

Ds1 has been driving my car and as he is heading to London (hopefully ) he definitely has no need to take one.

He's had a relaxed day today with a little revision for tomorrow thrown in. He is happy with his preparation so hopefully tomorrow will be a good day.
As a treat after finishing his exams I have organised... a trip to the dentist!
It will probably be last one he doesn't have to pay for. Just have to sort out the optician now.

Thethird, I remember you saying when he started!

Good luck for everyone tomorrow and hopefully today has gone better than thought.

We've sorted opticians and dentist out too.

We will keep the party going Downey. If we aren't all comatose by then. We are going to be going away for a few days a week after the last day to help create a bit of a cushion in between school and not school.

Well, DD has now decided she doesn't want to do medicine (she didn't get in this year). She also doesn't want to do the course she has been offered at Nottingham, and thinks she wants to do vetmed now. So we are back to square one and looking at going to more uni open days

Today she received a letter from Leicester asking her to consider other science degrees. When she was rejected from Nottingham for medicine they offered her something else straight away. I wonder why Leicester have decided to write now? Have they not got enough bums on seats?

I wish she would make her mind up. I am ready for her to move on to the next stage. All her friends will be going to university this year and she will be pretty lonely if she takes a year out. Although I think it may well benefit her in the long run.

That must seem really daunting Lonicera. Are there open days she can do before results day?

I wonder why Leicester have decided to write now? Have they not got enough bums on seats?

That's what DS1 is hoping as it might be his only chance of getting in.

I realise it must seem frustrating that your DD is changing her mind now, after all you have done to support her application for medicine. However, better that she comes to this realisation now rather than half-way through medical school.

A lot of young people take a year out. She would have the advantage of applying next year with actual A-level results (rather than predicted grades).

I can imagine how frustrating it is for you though. DS1 changed his mind about two of his A-level subjects in the October of Y12, which was bad enough.

LoniceraJaponica so she's substituting one course that is unbelievably difficult to get on to in terms of grades and relevant work experience with another course that is unbelievably difficult to get on to in terms of grades and relevant work experience. You have another fun year ahead there.

I'm not sure Kitten. She has a very busy few weeks ahead, and is away for most weekends. She may have to wait until September.

I envy people who know exactly what they want to do.

TBH I think medicine wasn't the right choice for DD, but I needed her to realise it. Of course the decision might well be made for her on results day.

Did anyone's DC do French A-level with Eduqas (WJEC)? Apparently there was an error in the listening paper (extracts in the wrong order compared to the questions) and it has hit the news today.

Lonicera do you think she might be a bit nervous about the uni/leaving home thing and by changing courses she is putting it off for awhile? I think it can be very scary for them and totally understandable if they are a bit scared.

lonicera my friends dd has done exactly the same thing - decided she no longer wants to do medicine. She's going to take a gap year now.

Dd's throat has swollen quite alarmingly today she was feeling so good as well. I guess this is what glandular fever does.

We have a couple of open days booked in the next couple of weeks. I really must try and find a year 12 thread!

Third, yes DD sat that French paper on Monday!
She thinks she managed to figure out which question went with which recording, and to answer most of them, but says she was completely thrown into a panic by it and spent the entire exam dreading everybody else saying it was fine and discovering that it was just her (they listen via headphones) - so she's relieved that it's in the news!
It was the first section of a 4 part, 2 and a half hour exam too, and she says it definitely affected her for the whole exam - she kept going back, trying to make sense of it.
It sounds like she managed more than a lot of dc - most of her friends gave up and left that section completely.

Lonicera, as someone who's been through the vetmed application process with ds1 I have to say I don't envy you.
If your dds work experience is medical based she will be starting from scratch. I can't stress enough how important this is to the process. Ds1 is predicted A*/A along with every other vetmed applicant, he had slightly more than the minimum work experience than was needed and some fantastic references.
The feedback he got was that he didn't have as much work experience as other applicants.
In your position(assuming your Dd hasn't worked with at least two different vets, two farm placements, with horses and small animals), I would be advising that if she definitely wants to do vetmed she spends the next year getting some great, relevant work experience (possibly some abroad ) and applies the following year.
It is extremely competitive -Bristol had over 2000 applicants for under 200 places.
She will need to be passionate about all things animal and really show this.
I don't envy you.

I don't think vet med is a good idea, based on what you say. I think she genuinely doesn't know what to do, as long as it isn't office work.

Lonicera I can't imagine how daunting it must feel starting all over again. Like Third said though, better now than halfway through a medicine degree. A year out to get the necessary work experience sounds like a good idea - it will give her chance to decide what she really wants to do too.

Gretol so sorry your DD is suffering with GF again - hopefully she'll start to recover properly once exams are finished and she can get some proper rest.