GCSE '18s (20) - half term beckons!

[mmmz]

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/further_education/3355907-gcse-18s-19-new-beginnings

Only me here?

DS1 is driving me mad! He is so up and down.

One minute he's finding the work easy, then he can't do a question and it is sooo impossibly hard, then he takes a break for half an hour, goes back to his desk and finds the question easy after all.

It is the end-of-the-world drama, and then the shrugging, why-are-you-even-asking-me-how-I-got-on, confidence all in the same hour that is wearying on my nerves.

Oh bless you mmmz.

I'm in. Morning all. Half term already?

DD needs to learn the concept of temperature appropriate clothing. Now that drives me up the wall.

mmzz thanks for new thread - I just caught up with the end of the old one! DS was exactly like that with maths and it's the only reason I'm glad he dropped it!
His school still does an AS level system so technically he's doing 4 AS levels, then dropping down to 3. This has upsides and downsides but basically it means a pretty full timetable!

Good title - can’t wait til half term - always a busy term and made more so by lots of new things.

Much as I would love to go away or persuade DS to go out and do things/meet people I know he ll probably benefit more from catching up on work and gaming

Now I'm fretting a bit about the number of A levels. As dgd hasn't made a firm choice of career path its between geography/geoscience and neuroscience/psychologist she will need biology for both which is a subject which though she loves it finds it less interesting ( apart from molecules and genetics) than geography maths and psychology. Yes it is advised at school 3 a levels and an epq and a lot of pupils are dropping subjects at half term so a bit of a quandary really for dgd because if she wants to drop one ( it can really only be psychology and is a subject she's really enjoying) it will mean only the geography/geoscience pathway for degree, which means she had better make her mind up which way to go pretty sharpish!

Thanks mmzz for new thread.

Sost have you taken a look at the A level combinations for the degree courses she wants to do? I was surprised at how open some of them actually are. If she is forced to drop psychology, she could do an EPQ which incorporates some aspects of it. Given your DGD's determination, she could easily self study some bits.

I'm here. Day off today after a manic couple at work so just caught up with everone's news. sost and Alexander.

DS is enjoying all the work so far but I can relate to the eye rolloing and shrugging! He's doing 4 (includes FM) but like other schools, his limits pupils to 3 or 3 +FM or 3 +FM and EPQ. He has already started his STEP preparation and is finding STEP 2 and 3 quite challenging . It's the first time in literally 11 years of formal education that he has found any Maths challenging so it's an important lesson to learn.

We also have a Grade 8 looming - entries are in now so no turning back. TheThird - some serious hand holding required or drinking I think! He's got a fair bit left to do before Nov - so that's half term sorted then.... particulary as first set of assessments are immediately afetr half term also.

sost do look at uni requirements - I work in mental health and psychology A level is not required for entry to psychology degree courses.

DS school advises 3 A levels plus epq or other awards such as Crest etc and only a 4th if FM.

Start 4 to allow taster dropping either at Christmas or end of yr12. DS has already persuaded them to let him drop Maths but is havig supervised study in those timetabled sessions with a scheme of supercurricular to support his proposed degree subject.

The school had 49 go to Oxbridge, 21 Durham , 18 UCL amd 26 medics this summer so I trust they know what they are doing.

My DSS did pyschology at A level. It is not a soft/easy option.

Thay was from a cohort of 178 too.

Well we did research a lot before A level picking to allow her to have a broad choice of degrees simply because she can't make her mind up. She is going to Sri Lanka with her Beastie next July to help teach English one week in a primary and 2nd week in high school and 3 rd week will be free so we were rather hoping she would do an epq on that which will include geographical skills as she will not give up her beloved geography. It would help with biology if she included fauna and flora we thought and the social psychology angle too. I'm sure she is capable of doing what you suggest stickerocks but it is so hard. I find if you are studying something you enjoy you will do well. Trouble is dgd is an all rounder and does enjoy all A level subjects she picked.
The school got 6 into Oxbridge this year and 60% to Russell group so maybe soon they will give her the advice that will make her make a decision on what way to go.

I must add dgds school is not a super selective one and on the whole their oversubscription echoes their outstanding for 6th form and this year is the biggest cohort they have had (250)

When I was 42 I did psychology and sociology 0 levels at evening classes in a year, then went on and did the A levels at evening class in a year then an open university degree in psychology in 3 years but by the time I got my qualifications ( I was already qualified music teacher but never took it up only doing the odd private tutoring) I was too old to get anyone to give me 3 years in-house training to finish training as they deemed me too old. This was a lo g time ago as I am now 65 lol!

Sost carrying on a subject for a bit to find out whether you enjoys it and wants to take it further is good justification for keeping it - so could she keep it on for a while until she is clearer then drop it well before the exam to free up time to concentrate on others (you don’t need a level to do psychology)

Or could she keep the 4 and not do an epq. I wouldn’t underestimate the workload of an epq. Yes it’s a great qualification and good for someone who wants to demonstrate a skill not covered in their a level syllabus or does better at coursework than exams but can be a huge workload

I took sociology A level for fun after completing my professional qualifications but didn't take the exam as my Nan died a couple of days before. Then I started an OU degree by picking lots of random courses, such as Contemporary Wales, which included rugby and choirs!

Whistl It sounds as though DS is doing a classic Kevin & Perry from Harry Enfield. He just needs reassurance from you that he's doing OK when he doubts himself, but be 0repared to take cover when he experiments with asserting his independence.

@Sostenueto - sorry to have given you the wobbles, but I thought I should 'throw it out there'.
There's a really good A Level selector on the Which University site. You pump in the subjects and it shows the careers/degrees it could lead to. You can then click on another button and it loads up the Unis offering the course, the grade requirements and the % of applicants receiving an offer.
My nieces school is telling them to continue with 4 until the end of year 12 and then drop to 3, however they don't take an AS -the kids are getting nothing for a years work other than the distraction from the 3 they are continuing with. Really really bad advice (I don't think they have caught up with the impact of the new Linear A Levels and are just doing what they have always done).

Probably a bit late now but we found the Target Jobs web site really useful because it has a MASSIVE list of job descriptions (On the career advice tab). There's a pile of Careers I didn't even know existed. It then tells you the degree you need so you can work back from there.

Naturally I put together a spreadsheet that showed the optimum A Levels choice to keep as many of the options open....
......and then a month ago she did a 180 and I threw it in the bin!!!

Totally agree - shocked at the no of schools advising 4 for year 12 only and still doing AS s. There are many good and valid reasons for doing 4 and for starting 4 and dropping one but I don't think it should be advised as standard and just cant see the point of the end of year 12 as the break point

Thanks for advice bpisok will look into more unis. We know Cambridge want biology for geography degree and A*AA bristol want AAA and some Russell groups will settle for AAB. Neuroscience most require chemistry though a few will take just biology ( we couldn't fit in chemistry because if option blocks and she won't give up geography.). In my mind it will be the geographical route simply because she loves it so much. But because she's interested too in the brain which fascinates her its a humdinger to make her just pick between them. Its so frustrating! I know she just doesn't want to make a mistake in choosing but all this procrestation is driving me nuts! Maybe better to do 4 and no epq and write a book on Sri Lanka later on in life . Talk about nap her life out!

"In my mind it will be the geographical route simply because she loves it so much"

If geography is her real passion then its a no brainer

A lot of RGs will drop an offer from say AAA to AAB if you have an EPQ.

Don't forget that our year group is a low birth-rate year and they will be applying immediately post-Brexit, with a lot of uncertainty about the number of overseas students coming to the UK. You heard it hear first, but I think the universities will be making some fairly flexible offers to our bunch to compensate. After all, this year there were even placing for medicine in Clearing.

That's quite reassuring to hear stick.

Sticker I was wondering about this a few days ago. A lot of my friends dc got unconditional or pretty low 'contextual' offers last year, many from RG. It does make me wonder if Universities are going to have to work a lot harder to attract the students they want, particularly post Brexit. Conversely, i wonder what will happen to UK students who want to study in Europe.There are a lot of good Science/Engineering courses taught in English that are very attractive due to low course fees and low living costs