Thread 30 Covid Cohort, Mad March Hareing Towards Exams

[OrangeCinnamonCroissant]

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 29

I've made this one a little bit earlier as things are so busy, at home and on thread, so please feel free to use up previous thread first

Sorry to hear that 22 . Think I'll get dd to check on ucas track in case hers has been updated that way.

Really sorry to hear about Durham @22Newnames It has been brutal this year. I’m certain once he’s been to his offer holder days he’ll feel much more positive about it. Just rubbish right now. 😢

@22Newnames sorry to hear that, channelling the Mumsnet power for Bath! You are, of course, right that for all things STEM Warwick is academically fantastic.

Thanks all. It’s really nice to see how many of you care 😊 and that the mumsnet power is in play for Bath!

@22Newnames fingers crossed for Bath!

@Cantonet what’s the course at Surrey we have a few friends with kids there plus I speak to one academic department there in one of my jobs do maybe able to help.

Sorry to hear about Durham @22Newnames. Fingers crossed for Bath!

@fruitygal that's really kind of you. Actually Surrey is the only one that upfront has stated it's 25 hours a week.
I've requested this info. from Oxford Brooks. Plus I've received an answer to my query from Bangor telling me the annual credits and it's 2 or more hours for each credit. Then telling me essentially to work it out as the lecturers dont know ?! Surely that's basic info.we should know bearing in mind we will be spending vast sums of Money on these courses 🙋

@Cantonet what’s the course? The 25 hrs sounds like a great amount

Sports & exercise science @Fruitygal.
I think that's including practicals & tutorials as well as lectures. Aberystwyth was 12 we were told on open day. Plus they're expected to do twice that amount of work themselves. DS has ADHD & dyslexia and hence a more structured course will be much better for him. Surely I'm not the only one asking these sorts of questions ?

I love the sound of that Cantonet. At least they are getting a reasonable amount of teaching for their £9k. I had loads of language lessons, then economics, literature, history etc. Now all the courses seem to be 12 hours, with extended reading. Pfffttt. These part time peasants.

@Cantonet We ask about contact time plus if in person or online at all the unis for all 3 kids- structure is great for all mine so they chose courses that weren’t the 8hrs of contact time that some are.

Cantonet - totally with you on the contact hours, it was one of the important questions for us too, the more the better for DS who needs a lot of structure. It it one reason why I was concerned about the prospect of him taking a History degree.

So this morning DS has pressed the button and firmed RAU (with Winchester as insurance but higher offer so unlikely).

After letting off steam here last week I decided to talk through the pros and cons with him one more time, let him go to the Chichester offer holder day and come to his own conclusion, which he has done.

@22Newnames sorry to hear re Durham - Fingers and toes crossed for Bath.

Totally agree re contact hours - Nottingham have stated on their website DDs course will be 18 hrs contact time + 18 hrs self study expected.

Well done to your DS @EventuallyDelighted .

Well done @EventuallyDelighted, it's a relief when a decision is finally made!

Hope you can get the necessary information @cantonet, because there's a big difference between a 12 hour a week course and a 25 hour one in terms of student experience.

I think dd will have 12 hours or less but that will suit her. She likes to be in charge of her own learning and do things her way.

Yey to @EventuallyDelighted that must be a relief.

Will definitely ask about contact hours at offer days. Engineering tends to have high contact hours but the more f2f study rather than self-study the better for DS I think.

DS will still only have about 12-15 hours at RAU (compared to 8-10 on the history degrees) but it's quite a difference and his best option for a variety of other reasons. I'm hoping that will be enough. Having looked at the first year modules he should be able to hit the ground running from doing a similar subject in BTEC now which most won't have done.

Happy Days ED - nice to be settled.

Hmmm Contact hours...hmmm...Not sure if I should wade in with that now, DD still quite ill, so def missing Swansea open day and she seems set to confirm Portsmouth. Its a very good question, but not sure I want to muddy the waters now.

Yay, ED!! What a relief, and fab that he came to the decision on his own in the end.

Contact hours is a real concern for DD’s course choice. Less than 12 hours for her unis, which isn’t great for someone who can’t structure their free time.

@wheresthebeach yes not muddying the waters is eminently sensible at this stage. I think I'm overthinking it all.
Looking at Surrey the course credit numbers are similar to Bangor, so I'm assuming it's a similar no. of hours.

Well done @Eventually & Ds for making a final decision.

Anyone Southern based know how much extra time I should leave for traversing the M25 between the M40 turn off & Surrey this Saturday?
Current timing is 3.5 hours to get there & the start is 12.20. Or am I best setting off at the crack of dawn?

We're fairly near Guildford. It's a bit anyone's guess Cantonet depending on accidents etc but I don't think you should have too many problems on a Saturday morning. Keep a careful eye on a satnav app with traffic alerts if you can.

Sounds amble Cantonet. The M40 to RHU doesn't take hardly any time at all.
I myself had to take the M40 to get to Swindon (don't ask) last weekend because the M4 was closed, so no access from M25.

Well done ED 🔲

Sorry, you meant Surrey.

I'd think traffic would be okay on a Saturday morning Cantonet, but I'd add 30 minutes to whatever the sat nav says in case of issues. The M25 can go down to 40 or 50mph on Saturday's. I believe they reduce speed to limit emissions so it happens at random times.

It's not just the M25 that can be problematic, that stretch of the A3 at Guidlford is a bit prone to accidents and breakdowns, usually it's fine at weekends but when there is a problem it is bad, so I agree with allowing an extra half hour just in case. Satnav does a good job of alternative routes around there we've found (we drive it every weekend).