Thread 31 Covid Cohort - Hopping through Easter and Revision

[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 30

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

How's everyone's revision going? DS's head still firmly in the sand and he seems to be doing very little. I don't know if he's finding it difficult to get going, too scary or just can't be arsed. But trying to sit on my hands and smile calmly as internally I worry about how he's going to feel in August if he doesn't do well and knows he only has himself to blame.

Grrr: a quick rant on dd (my 16yos) behalf. She heard today (back to school) that they have moved their gcse speaking exam for one of her two languages forward a week so it’s now next week. She has mocks this week so little time to focus on it (unless she ignores the mocks I guess) - and as an early alphabet surname she’s on Monday. So they’ve changed her gcse exam date with 5 days notice. Fuming at school - grumpy email sent to head of languages! Languages are dd’s thing and what she plans for uni, and she’s a consistent 8-9 so loosing that prep time (& the psychological confidence) could have a grade boundary impact…

Oh no @Isthisjustnormal that’s not fair. I hope they reconsider.

@singingstones I don’t think much is happening here either. I think there are boy distractions among other things - and prom dresses to choose. She won’t let me know how the revision is going so I’m guessing not well. Whenever I ask she says she’ll be doing some soon

Ds on the other hand is sticking to his financially-rewarded 2 hours a day, strictly timed on his phone. He’s got himself a 3 month cinema pass (fantastic timing!) and said he did some great revision on his phone today during a boring film! Apparently the cinema is an amazing place to revise?! It’s dark so no distractions…

@singingstones and @crazycrofter I feel your pain.
Back to school for us tomorrow as well. DS1 has studied very hard, but he needs to. He’s a bit of a lazy bugger, so this has been a big turnaround. He is sat in the kitchen so I can see he’s working.
DS 2 is driving me mad. He has to hand in his art portfolio tomorrow and has spent all day doing it and still going on it. He’s had nearly 3 weeks. He hasn’t done much revision either.
I must try to keep calm, I keep thinking it will soon be over.

@Isthisjustnormal I don't think the speaking bit affects the grade. If it is the same as it was for DS1 there is a separate mark for the speaking which didn't matter for anything! So a 9D would be 9 for the written papers and Distinction for spoken, but you would never say your grade was 9D, just 9. @Piggywaspushed will know whether all boards do the same or you could check the syllabus.

sadly @Monkey2001 not the case for our board - speaking is worth 25% of the core grade (our English language speaking was like you described, a separate and somewhat meaningless grade!)

Revision not going as well as I would like but I am leaving it up to DD.

Has everyone heard back from all 5 unis choices now?

Morning, not much visible revision happening here but I am told it is happening 🤨 I am seeing parties, a new girl on the scene and last night a football match 1.5 hours away.

I took advantage of the Great British Rail Sale last night and booked y12 DD and me a trip to Aberystwyth in May for a unofficial uni visit. It seems too soon to be starting this journey again. Does anyone know anything about degrees in International Relations/Global Development/Human Geography?

Worse than Mummyinbeds almost no revision going on here. I calmly asked again this monring, if any help or assistance was required. No he's fine he insists. He's doing past papers. I told him I was very worried how he was too casual and not enough work was being done. He's either clever as fuck, or in for a nasty shock.

I don’t know about GCSE but for A level foreign language the speaking accounts for 30% of the overall grade.

Motivation is also flagging here.
Not helped by the disturbed nights.
DS 1 says he's doing about 3 hours - ish a day. Plus an hours Psychology phone lesson with my Dad every 2-3 days.

Ds2 did no GCSE revision yesterday.
He needs all 8/9 to stay at his school. Got 7/9×2 in mocks. So just a little extra work needed.

@Anneofcleavage yes you're correct .
Three of mine are on the same pills.
DS has only over the last two weeks started reacting to the meds. I'm hoping the others don't. The antihistamine really helped yesterday. Hopefully it's relatively containable for the time being.

Yes the good thing is we don't have fleas 😂. I've exchanged several emails with our local pest control guy trying to find solutions & sending him picture of DS's rash .... who seems lovely. I had to tell him that's it's not due to insects or bugs yesterday 😳

Not much work here either, I think missing out on GCSEs means they just don't get it!

Finally managed to remember my password - don't like this new format much!!

DD back to school today, already completely exhausted. Her Business exam yesterday (on Inset day!) didn't go brilliantly and she has Psych tomorrow. Not sure how to keep her going until the 24th June...

Part of me is thinking there’s still a long way to go and maybe they do actually need some fun and relaxation now. I think dd will up the ante once she’s back at school. And she’s only got seven exams so lots of time in between them for revision.

Ds has completed the sciences, 4/5 of Business and 2/3 of History. He’s done no Maths, English or RS at all yet. I’m still not convinced by his strategy of working through the subjects one at a time but it’s the way his mind works.

Hope the allergy remains under control @cantonet. I need to pick up ds’ Elvanse today but I’m thinking he should start it when he goes back to school.

I can’t view my watched threads in the app. anyone else have the same? It says “oops somethings wrong” it started yesterday. I hope it’s mumsnet and not me.

Yes @ monkey I think that's very true.
I remember dd1 doing 8 hours of revision a day at this stage.

@seeline are these mocks or the real thing?

The Elvanse can give pretty strong side effects in the lower doses, so it's much better to start over the holidays. The lower doses can abruptly wear off after a few hours & make you feel dreadful depending on how sensitive you are.
Ds1 had no side effects. It just didn't work until he got to 50mg. Dd2 had loads and felt dreadful in the evening when the Elvanse wore off.

Ah, thanks @Cantonet . That’s the problem ds had with medikanet and Equasym but the doctor was adamant that Elvanse doesn’t have the same effect!! I think ds is quite sensitive to medication as he really struggled with roaccutane, the acne drug.

@Cantonet still mocks. Her main mocks only included 2 papers for each subject, so these are so they have a chance to sit the paper 3s for each subject. However, they've basically shoehorned them into the weekly PSHE slot so her biology one isn't until 5/5 which seems ridiculous! She was thoroughly confused as to what to revise over Easter - stuff for the paper 3 mocks (most of which wont be needed until the beginning of June at the earliest) or the stuff for her first actual exams in 4 weeks time....

@crazycrofter your doctor is right Elvanse is much better than those other two. It has a much slower release profile, so it lasts for longer. My two boys had no issues. My two girls however complain vociferously whatever drugs they're on 😂 Dd2 feels great now on 50. Dd1 complained bitterly on Roaccutane too, ds2 not at all.

Hello all, haven't posted in a while but always enjoy getting up to date with what everyone is doing. @Cantonet I hope your ds fills much better soon.
Adhd meds have come with all sorts of side effects and one hopes in the end the patient ends up adjusting to it or one takes the attitude of the end justifies the means or finds another medication. DS certainly went through quite a very bumpy ride of adjusting to Concerta, it was with great relief.. joy even, when it was suggested 6yrs later that he starts being weaned off it.

So, DS has firmed his choices, applied for student Finance and DSA still in progress. In the meantime, he's drawn up his list of preferred accommodation (which follow no known logical thinking) but there we have it. He starts another set of mocks today but despite spending all of Easter studying said he hasn't revised all the topics

DD2 enjoyed the visit to Exeter yesterday, but decided she prefers Cardiff so is ready to firm. Probably Reading as insurance as they are the only ones that offered lower than Cardiff.
No need to worry about accomodation yet as she is deferring to do an art foundation.
Some revision has happened over Easter, but probably no more than an hour a day. She's only got 2 subjects to revise as her 3rd is art, but she does have a 15 hour "exam" to finish her coursework in a couple of week, and has some prep to do for that.
DD1 has been home from Warwick uni, but is going back tomorrow. 5 weeks sounds like a long time, but has gone really quickly.

@Pourmeanotherwine Can I ask if your DD is in 35 week accommodation and if so, do they have to move out both during Xmas as well as Easter?

Helloooo, dropped off the thread due to life being hectic. What is going on with the formatting on MN, it's weird!

DS had a revision course for Biology last week which he felt was useful (but also hated me for sending him on obvs). He has gone in to school today regarding his Eng Lit coursework which has to be handed in very soon. I just hope the teacher doesn't say he needs to re-write it all..

DS's mock results got issued formally from school and he actually got A A B (one mark off an A but they refused to look for another mark) so I am feeling hopeful that he's managing his revision OK. He's had quite a few nights out over this Eater holiday and staying out to all hours, I am letting it go at the moment but once he's back that's coming to an end!

That should have read 2xA* and B

The formatting is weird at my end too and the new format doesn't show any of the MN emoticons only the internet ones.