GCSE '18s (19) - New Beginnings?

[whistl]

Following on from the GCSE 2018 threads as our DC enter year 12.
This the first thread in our new home in further education

This thread often makes me just smile !!

whistl just read out your phone conversation to DS. It really made him laugh. Normally if I say Mumsnet he just getsa pained expression on his face

DS has had an email from school to say that the deadline for changing A levels is this Friday , he's happy with his choices so no change here, how about everyone else?

Also pleased that in DS's maths class today the teacher approached him asking if he wants to be given more challenging work, which he does so that's good, as the class ranges from pupils with a grade 6 to 9.

Love it Whistl

No planned changes here. Most people looked bemused when she says she is 5aking history, maths & Eng Language, but she seems to be enjoying them. A lot of people DD knows have dropped their 4th.

whistl

Dgds school won't allow drop outs till half term. They believe the DC should give it a chance first and tbh they get annoyed if you drop before you have tried all the help offered if you are struggling. They are hugely oversubscribed so maybe that is why they want students to perservere for a bit. I told dgd not to give up any unless school thinks she ought to. She is quote capable of doing 4. Psychology isn't exactly a 'hard' A level though biology, maths and geography are. She seems OK with them all at mo though already moaning about workload.

Whistl love it!
DS's school's deadline for changing was last Thursday and he just managed to switch music for maths in time. He seems to be loving it, anyway and not bothered by taking 4.

Brilliant whistl

Dd is sticking with her 3 A levels (Biology, Psychology and Art) and is enjoying them, although less enamoured that Biology is mostly bio-chemistry at the moment.

She did however fail to attend her 'enrichment activity' last week and her tutor berated her for it today. Basically the activity she wanted to do was oversubscribed and she ended up settling for 'Psychology extension' (couldn't find anything else suitable in the time slot) which she was pretty lukewarm about. She loitered outside the room for the first session and they all looked 'scary' and like 'second years' so she bailed. It seems a few in her tutor group didn't go to their extension activity, but most made excuses when questioned about it - other than dd who was honest about her lack of enthusiasm. Tutor told her she was leading a 'negative life' - ho hum

Not extension activity, enrichment activity (its late)

@Sostenueto - I wouldn't say psychology is an easy subject these days. I think once upon a time it was, but it looks like it has a very broad content now. DD spoke to several year 13 girls before her final choice and they all rated it as their favourite subject but said that it was a lot of work. It also sits very nicely with biology and maths

DD has fully settled on her choices and is really happy with her subjects (woop woop no more maths). She is benefiting from a subject 'overlap' in the background reading lists too. The oddest overlap is Jane Austin's Emma which has cropped up in the Politics reading list as well as English. I can get why, but it's not obvious. Tolstoy has appeared in history and English. Lots of historical essays have appeared in both politics and history. Politics have 'watch the last 18 years of Have I Got News For You and Mock The Week' on the list which are fav shows anyway!

It's looking like CS will be dropped after half term to be replaced by an EPQ.

Yesterday she was formally appointed Head of House, it was also her 17th birthday. She celebrated by going to a Young Enterprise Meeting, came home at 6.30 we had a Pizza Hut take away and then she studied until 12. The youth of today really know how to party!!!

......I didn't tell her what I did on my 17th 🤫

Actually @Sostenueto I was thinking about what you said regarding 4 A Levels. DDs school has had a major change in their advice. They now say only do 4 if the 4th is FM. They have very strong links with Oxbridge and RG and have several admissions representatives in to talk to the girls (Oxford and Durham have given a talk so far this year). Universally they say to concentrate on 3 really good ones. You are better with A star, A star, A than getting A star, A, A, B. If you do 4 they make the offer on all 4 and it won't give you a competitive advantage. So you might be offered AAB if doing 3 but offered AABB if doing 4.

DD goes to a selective Inde so they are pretty good at these things. The newish school advisor is also ex Oxbridge admissions.

I am sure there are other mums on here who have had advice - I assume it's the same?

Same advice at DS’s school regarding 3 vs 4 A Levels with 4 only being advised if one is FM.

I don’t think it’s true though that if you do 4 they always make an offer on 4. They may do but DD did 4 (through choice and not including FM) and her Oxford offer was still the standard offer for her subject of AAA. Cambridge sometimes include all 4 in their offer I think but even then it’s not inevitable that they will.

DS's new school advises 3 (including FM) but then they do an AS level too, and an EPQ so is that 3 + 0.5 + 0.5 = 4

DS's old school sixth form which says that it's one of the best in the country (it isn't), advised 3, or 4 with FM and they offered the EPQ too.

Both schools say 3 very good grades are more useful for getting good university places than 4 quite good grades.

We need a new thread urgently! Anyone??! @Stockerrocks? @Mmmz?

whistl you do the honours

Dd is sticking with 4 inc further maths. She can do it as an AS though which will make next year seem easier.

I must admit I'm a bit worried. She's not quite so high achieving as some of the dc on this thread and she has always struggled with motivation.

She seems to be coping well so far. She's had some great results in geography and computer science. And she's definitely working harder although still only doing the homework and no extras.

DS will be sticking with his 4 then taking an AS almost certainly in physics and then continuing with 3 in the final year.

Those who are at more academic schools, thanks for letting us know what the current advice is, at DS's school they are telling him he should do 4 in order to distinguish himself from those doing 3

Blue that advice may suit the school if your DS is a good bet for a high grade.

"85% of A level grades were A or A*"

Which would be fine if your DS gets the grades HE needs but not if he gets AABB when he needed 3As etc.

Of course if he is an AAA*A candidate then maybe school are right?

Maybe school is right

Advice here (and from uni open days) has always been do three unless FM. Blue it is the highest grades that distinguish a student and that will get them in not whether they have done more stuff - so as Peggy says I think that can only be true if they are all A or A* predictions.

Also we should remember apart from medicine and the very top unis many will give places almost automatically if your predictions match their requirements so in those cases what matters is meeting those predictions in the real thing surely more likely if you do three

Some dc on here have very heavy workloads. Although DS did accuse me of hypocrisy as I have before berated schools and the education system for teaching to the mark scheme and to pass a test rather than for the love of learning that subject - so in some cases if DC can cope then maybe enjoyment of a fourth subject could trump maximising three grades !

I think DS should do three but he wants to stay in th FM stream for now (effectively covering the mathsvsylabus in year 12 and FM in year 13) so double the no of lessons a week. I ll go with it for a while but will encourage him to drop back if the going gets tough. Surprisingly he seems to be enjoying 12 hours of maths lessons a week !!!!

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/further_education/3376658-GCSE-18s-20-half-term-beckons

Here we go with our 20th thread

20th thread

20th thread