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

I can’t believe some people are STILL waiting for decisions!
Is it usually this late, or have the COVID cohorts been especially affected over the last couple of years?

Thanks @NCTDN, it's veterinary medicine (or Bristol might call it vet science)

Is the accommodation for that on a separate site or the main uni accommodation? I know the vet part is just away from the centre isn't it?

Seeline DD is constantly asking 'why am I so tired?'. The answer is unending stress. That sounds very tough for your DD.

DD isn't doing much in the evenings as she's wiped out, previously she was doing 4 hours of revision but now it's maybe an hour or an hour and a half. Then reading/relaxing/bath and early bed.

That's reassuring @Wheresthebeach . I can't help think that missing out on GCSEs has something to do with this. They simply have no experience of a prolonged period of study.

@Seeline - I agree. This is such a shock to them. DD's teachers keep banging on about how hard it is for them, and how they should have sat GCSE's as we were out of lockdown by exam time and the experience would have been what they needed. I know the teachers are trying to support with a 'yes this is tough, you aren't imagining it' but constantly being told they're having a harder time then any other year sometimes only reinforced their sense of doom and 'life's unfair'.

@Alsoplayspiccolo it is not normally as bad as this with late offers, but several of the more selective courses/universities were caught out for the last 2 years by the grade inflation which meant they could not fine-tune the student numbers by deciding where to be lenient because almost everybody got the grades. St Andrews is now full to bursting to the extent that students can't find flats to rent, even if they are prepared to pay £800/month each.

For medicine, and I expect for other competitive courses, universities are holding the borderline candidates until they know whether their early offers have been Firmed so they don't have too many offer holders in the system. I am wondering whether we will see more of the selective ones than usual in Clearing/Adjustment if the A level grades are not as generous as the universities fear.

The UCAS timetable has also been extended due to Covid. This year universities have to respond by 19th May, in 2019 it was 2nd May.

Congratulations on the offer Hatti, that’s really great news.

Revision finally seems to have started in our house, I’m hoping it’s not too late!

So, with 10 days to go until the UCAS deadline we are still waiting for Edinburgh & Durham to offer/reject……..

Some great news being posted :-) Well done @Alsoplayspiccolo DD on the English NEA - that must be a good ego boost.
@Hattifatteners good news - feels good once that button is pushed.

Also good news for @GoldenRuby & @Fruitygal re Durham colleges, considering how many seem to still be waiting for Durham (on sm generall) it's good to see things are sorted for your 2.

@Seeline DD is starting to get tired now. It does depend on how many free lessons she has at school. She much prefers to revise what she wants, when she wants rather than being given revision homework or tests. She has a full timetable today so will be knackered later, but wants to go for a run with DH and also vote with us so I don't think she will get much revision done tonight (probably 1 hr around 11.00pm) she is a late to bed anyway.

I've decided to priorise DD from now until after the exams. She wanted to eat earlier last night but I hadnt got anything ready so she cooked her own dinner quickly just so she could eat there and then and then go back to revising. I don't want that to happen so am going to doing smaller shops more often so there is always something in the house that she likes to eat (snacks too) Have a set evening meal time (I am very sporadic usually re meal times). Cook meals that can be left to reheat later to cater to everyones availability (ie curry/chilli) etc - leave Roast dinners for the days DH isn't working and everyone is home!

Is there anything that you plan to change to accommodate your DD/DS during this period? I want to make things as easy for DD as possible.

Ah, thanks for explaining, Monkey. So, a perfect storm for this year’s cohort, unfortunately, and sounds like results day clearing could end up being even more of a bunfight than before. 😫

I was chatting to a friend yesterday who has a DD taking GCSEs this summer. She is a very organised mum, rubs her own business and usually on top of everything, but she expressed her shock that GCSEs had completely caught her unawares; they seem to be here without warning.
I do wonder whether the many months of talk about whether they would go ahead, or whether TAGs would be used etc has left years 11 and 13 feeling completely discombobulated and emotionally fatigued. I also agree that not sitting GCSEs will have had a profound affect on year 13s - they have no experience of long-range revision planning, or pacing themselves effectively.

Seeline, I can relate. They are all SO tired aren’t they? DD is trying to get to bed early, literally 9/9.30pm though I’m sure phone use adds to later.

Really hoping that Monkey, NCT, Fonty and anyone else I may have missed get to hear from final choices this week. None of it seems a fair process, from a mental POV.

DD has a great dilemma, having received her first choice college choice for Durham. However Ireland is likely to push back their offers for a third year to 7 Sept or later due to a contingency late sitting. I have no idea which way she’ll go, given that both options are really great for her. But we won’t think about it (actively at least) until offers day. Nailing the exams are the focus right now, but I am endorsing the ad hoc socialising as a necessary outlet for distressing. And she’ll keep working and swimming throughout exam period.

10 working days! Sorry don’t want to freak anyone out!

DS2 keeps talking about being a vet, I don't know if this is still a hangover from when every child wants to be a vet or whether he means it. Just in case, what over and above does he need to looking at? I'm assuming grades need to be all 9s at GCSE and all A*s at A level (there's no local reason or school reason for lowered offers).

@ealingwestmum I can't remember if you have said previously but does your DD have Irish citizenship that would make you consider Ireland specifically for study, is it not very expensive otherwise?

@NCTDN it's the main uni accommodation for first three years as the lectures take place in the central uni buildings. They travel to Langford 1-2 a week and then final two years are based there.

@Fonty waiting is hard isn't it?

She's applied (2 years ago and waiting) JustHere but it's not needed to apply to Ireland Unis, UK students treated same as EU, and will continue to be so.

Tuition fees are therefore only 3K EUR per year as part of the student contribution part (rest is funded by Irish Govt) and therefore you pay accom/living costs on top. But, no access to UK Student Finance as an offset. So basically, parent pays/student savings vs student loan.

Thanks @ealingwestmum that's interesting. My two have literally just got their citizenships (email confirmation - paperwork still not arrived) and we applied at the end of 2019!

One of DS's friends is still waiting for an offer/rejection from LSE! I can't believe how some uni's behave

Once she gets it JustHere, I'd really like her to get her Irish passport asap so she's not restricted on travel. DD and DH will have that ability to apply, I'll be the numpty left on my own in immigration. As it is, I get pulled out frequently for my heritage, especially when travelling to US.

DS1 wants his passport so that when he and his friends go away this summer he can scoot through the queues and get to the bar first! 🙄😄. I have my passport, DH is the one we can all leave behind! 😂
Sorry to hear about your passport control issues, the US can be particularly nasty, I have several friends with heritages they are suspicious of and they have also been given a hard time at the border. Awful.

@justhere for Vet. Med. you don't have to have all 9's at GCSE but you do have to have predicted A's pretty much for A level.
Saying that Nottingham & Surrey normally offer AAB. You do need Chemistry & Biology but the 3rd A level can by anything I think.

We have our first exam here. Dd2 has her first As level today.
We're all exhausted at the moment.
Me with the stress of dealing with ds2 & his Gcse's, after a traumatic year for him.
He hasn't got a school six form offer so needs to get excellent grades to stay and he's refusing to even discuss going anywhere else.
Whereas with Ds1 doing his A levels there's no point worrying.
What will be will be.

thanks @Cantonet , I assumed that they would be looking for all top grades as it's so competitive.

Good luck with all of the exams, I can barely cope with one DC doing them!!

@justhere Biology & Chemistry in actuality are generally really hard A levels to get an A in.

Grade inflation has meant people achieving A's via guestimates have at least doubled or tripled in the last couple of years. Consequently nearly all courses seem to be asking for A's this year.

Vet. Med. Is really hard to get into.
Many all A students get rejected even before an interview.

Yes, I see the Chemistry students in DS's year really struggling with grades and that's in a high performing school. I noticed that a lot of the law course moved their grades up this year also, really quite unfair on this years cohort.

Dd is just getting over not-covid so she’s tired. She’s got 4 days left and would much rather be revising at home. I’m not sure if she’s finished her history notes yet 😁

Hope those awaiting offers hear soon!

Our solicitor reckons our house will complete in 7-9 weeks. We need to still be here until the end of exams though. I’m beginning to worry about trying to pack whilst exams are ongoing and the fact we have nowhere to go! 😁