Thread 27 Covid Cohort Snow or Like Spring? Let's Do This Thing!

[OrangeCinnamonCocktail]

This is a thread for supporting all young people post GCSEs 2020, regardless of their educational setting. It is respectfully requested that all are supportive and helpful to each other. If you want to start a debate, e.g state vs private, please don't within this thread. Please also be sensitive when responding to threads about grades.

Some of us have been here since first thread back in yr10, some will be new. Everyone has been friendly and helpful in the past. Everyone is welcome. It is hoped this will continue.

Our DS/DD may go down various paths (such as employment, apprenticeships, higher ed) We have decided for anyone interested they will most likely find us within the Further Ed board.

previous thread found here

Congrats @Isthisjustnormal on the EPQ, and @Piggywaspushed on the Bath offer. Its hard when several uni's all have the same grade offer, but then I guess the decision really is about which course/uni is preferred.

Re Mocks - I'm definitely going to tell DD to check out the published grade boundaries from Nov 2021 exams. I'd like her to use both 2019 and 2021 as a guide esp as the school is following the 'make it hard' policy.

WestEaling - Hope you get to the bottom of the McGill offer, and at least you're on it now, rather than finding out after you hit 'accept'.

@Wheresthebeach the November grade boundaries might be odd as it is a strange cohort - just the ones who weren't happy with their TAGs and probably small numbers for dinner subjects. I think it is worth estimating where the grade boundaries would have been in 2019 in the grade statistics in 2019 had been what they will be in 2022. If you give me a subject and board and the grade she is targeting I will explain in numbers as it is complicated!

some subjects, not dinner subjects!

Oh thanks @Monkey2001. I thought the government had said that grade boundaries weren't returning to pre-pandemic levels so 2019 would be harder? Whatever the case I better stop looking at November 2021 as it will give a skewed impression which isn't going to be helpful!

Thank you for your offer of help - she's Biology and Chemistry OCR, and Geography AQA. She needs AAB so that's what we're looking at, as we think her prediction in Chemistry is a bit, ahem, optimistic so we're keen to understand what a B might look like.

Thank you x

@Wheresthebeach is it OCR A Chem?

@Monkey2001 - Yes that's the one (had to check!).

@Monkey2001 - ah just reread your post, after coffee, what you're saying makes complete sense. Thank you so much.

Well done for all offers, Bath. And A's in EPQ's.

People with Nottingham offer days lined up - what dates are you going? 19th for us.

12th February at Nottingham for us

@Monkey2001 good point about Kent being in clearing.

Does anyone know if it's possible to see which courses were in clearing on results day last year?

We have 16th March booked for Nottingham, but at the moment Southampton and York (and Bath but no offer yet) are ahead in DD’s pecking order, so I’m thinking if she likes York and Southampton at offer days, we’ll cancel Nottingham.

@ChristopherTracy

People with Nottingham offer days lined up - what dates are you going? 19th for us.

23rd for us as that's half term

Thanks Monkey - I think for now I will book everywhere I can and decide what to do as we go along. If Aston's offer holder days are later at least they have stuff online and we can visit the campus on our trip to Nottingham.
Nottingham want AAB and I have no idea whether he'll get that, he could get anything from Astar Astar A to BCD. Results day is going to be fun..

Congrats on the Bath offer @Piggywaspushed ! Ds1 is there & very happy. Yes the rent is higher than northern unis (though probably cheaper than London & Brighton) but it was important he would be somewhere he felt comfortable as he can be anxious about change.

At my school only a third of applicants have had all their replies so far, so much slower than previous years. Hopefully it will pick up now - the unsuccessful Cambridge applicants could do with some good news.

singing, results day could be as surprising for us too, but probably not in as good a way as A*s, unfortunately!

It’s sooooo stressful!

Nottingham open day on 16th Feb for us.

Excellent news about the EOQ, BlueMarigold

Wow Volterra, she's had a proper rough ride, I hope SOAS/current uni MA manages to plug the gaps and get her back on track.

Good luck to you all on the forthcoming open days, and with the positive feedback on parents' evenings translating to productive final pushes towards the end of subject curricula.

@Alsoplayspiccolo

singing, results day could be as surprising for us too, but probably not in as good a way as A*s, unfortunately!

It’s sooooo stressful!

If I had to bet on DS, I'd definitely go for the B/C/D end of things! He is convinced he's going to sail through, based on what I'm not entirely sure given that he got ABD in his mocks and is not exactly straining himself at the moment Hope he's right but I'm expecting a bumpy day on 18 Aug!

Fingers crossed @singingstones and @Alsoplayspiccolo! Dd is fairly consistent but could still come out with anything from A star AA to ABB. Fortunately for her, she’s got some ABB offers she likes.

Ds is totally confident about his GCSEs and I have no idea on what basis! Certainly not his mocks!

We have mocks results days and parents’ meetings for both DCs over the next couple of weeks.
DD doesn’t think she’s met her predictions in 2 of her 3 subjects, including her degree subject. She has offers that would fit, but thinks she’s failed if she doesn’t make her predictions in August.
DS seems to have done well in his mocks, at least in the subjects he’s chosen to tell us about (8/9s). Still to hear about the dreaded maths…
He has his specialist school audition and interview tomorrow 🤞🏻

@Wheresthebeach I am afraid I got distracted by dog walking and various jobs, but here are my estimated grade and boundaries for OCR Chem and Maths. I have also included AQA PE for a laugh at the RIDICULOUS 385% increase in A*s!

Bottom line is that I think an A in Biology would have been around 54% (2019 58.5%) in 2019 with the planned grade stats for 2022 and a B in Chemistry around 54.5% (2019 59.6%)

Ooh best of luck to him Also

@Monkey2001 Thank you so much. Really kind of you. Gives me a good idea of what to expect.