Thread 32 - Corona Cohort 'May' the Mumsnet force be with them for their venture to 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 31

CONGRATULATIONS ZEBRACAT !

Ha: dd found gcse biology easy too: good point re grade boundries though. She’s been 8/9 on biology in last few tests but maybe should be ready to go down a bit (which is fine for her: not one of her priorities) - good luck to the fellow eng Lang gcse-RS ont he thread today and to little @ealingwestmum in the A level! Our first A level is psychology too- I think Ds feels almost over revised (if that’s possible?!?) for that one: it’s one of the easier ones for him and coming first too has had a lot of focus!

DD also has pyschology on Tuesday. She is starting to panic as she hasn't revised that as much as she usually gets A*/A but is now worried about missing info, she is finding things she thought were on paper 2 but in fact it's paper 1. She's been so focused on Biology. She is off ill today again so am sure will focus on pychology today.

Good luck with today's GCSEs.

DS said biology yesterday was “fine”. He’s pretty good at biology and had done a lot of revision, so it could well have been fine.
I forgot to remind him to take his calculator in, so I’m hoping he remembered - sounds like there were a lot of graphs and calculations to do.
Bit of a curveball question about cancer, which I’m pretty sure he got wrong.

He’s so incredibly chilled about the whole thing, it’s both refreshing and slightly concerning!
DD, on the other hand, is in total panic mode; every time we manage to calm her down, she goes back into meltdown 5 minutes later.

Ah thank you Isthisnormal. I do smile when she’s referred to as little, as she’s far from it :)

Good to hear the oral went well HarrietD, it’s so different to GCSE, with regards to what they need to know on such a broad range of topics, let alone to then communicate responses back in language!

DD said the classics paper was nice yesterday, but this could mean the grade boundaries are high. One down, five to go ( third subject was art, so she handed in the final coursework last week)

I've just realised it's 'my' last proper school day ever after 16 years! Although it's not really as DD has a fun sports afternoon rather than games lesson and I've got to collect her early for a long awaited hospital appointment. Just worried she will forget the time and won't be out to meet me as arranged....

She still has to go in for a lunchtime leavers assembly and BBQ on Friday 🙄

Hope ds’ skin calms down soon @cantonet as I know you don’t want to drop the medication just now. Ds is adamant he’ll take no more medication ever again, but so far extra time plus tactical use of rest breaks has worked. My mum seems to get excema, psoriasis etc when she’s stressed so it could be that?

Sorry to read about your DS's skin @Cantonet . I get various flare ups of hives, and eczema and it's just a misery. I hope it settles soon for him.

DD had a midnight meltdown last night, so we're all shattered. I think the long wait to her first exam, then half term, with Chemistry at the end is turning out to be hard. We thought it was extra revision time, but really its extra 'getting stressed' time.

Now have another thing to deal with - a family friend died this morning, he was very old (my parents are godparents to his children) but our DC have known him all their lives and we have been to stay every year since they were little. So will have to tell them when they get home 😢

@crazycrofter I used Photobox - I have been using them for years, they have lots of options. First thing you need to do is create a login as they send out discount codes very regularly.

@singingstones very sorry to hear that , sad news.

DD found GCSE Latin easy yesterday, she didn't say much about biology which is one of her strongest subjects. She's got 5 this week.

take care Singing, I’m so sorry to hear your news.

@Cantonet So sorry to hear about your Ds's skin reaction, I sincerely hope he adjusts and it calms down. DS hated being on adhd meds (which I think has caused your ds's reaction?).

Here's wishing all the big dc on here 'GOOD LUCK' in their exams! I can't believe we're here already. ⭐ ⭐

DS finally threw his hands up in the air yesterday and exclaimed, 'I'm going into Clearing, I'm going into Clearing!', it was so sudden we both looked at each other and burst out laughing. It's good to release some of that tension.

@singingstones So sorry to hear the sad news. My condolences to you & family

So sorry to hear that Singingstones, take care 💐I am going to be in the same boat soon with family friend who has been like a Grandmother to my 2, we used to go every Christmas Eve. Her DD text me earlier to prepare me. Not a fan of 2022 it must be said.

Feels so strange they are actually nearly starting exams - we’ve been preparing for it since year 10!

Well DD finally has the anticipated rejection from Edinburgh, a mere 7.5 months since she applied, and just 26 hours before the last decision point for the Unis. She is just frustrated rather than disappointed. Any other year and she would probably be sitting on 4 or 5 offers. She will now firm Durham and insure Sussex.

I am absolutely not surprised GoldenRuby. I’m spite of such a late decision, great two for her to move forward with.

Of her frustration btw, I am hating what this cohort continues to endure. And will continue to do so for a long while yet…

Sorry to hear of your loss @singingstones 😢

And how frustrating @GoldenRuby after such a long wait. It seems so cruel to make them wait for so long for a rejection. Generally speaking in the rest of life (jobs etc) you get rejections quite quickly!

Ds was so positive after his English language today, despite missing 12/13 marks out of 80 and writing about a ship that turned out to be a killer whale ….. possibly without remembering to use paragraphs 😫 He needs a 6 and has never managed one in a full paper before!

So sorry for your sad news, +singing*. Hope your DC are ok once you’ve told them.

Your DD has shown remarkable stoicism, GoldenRuby. Sounds like Edinburgh didn’t deserve her, and their loss will be Durham’s gain.

DS HAS FINISHED HIS LAST EXAM - HOORAY! Now just a 7 week wait until results. (Hasten to add he is doing IB, not A levels). He said they were all "fine" so he will finally get around to firming Oxford and insuring Durham - I'm a bit nervous about that because although Durham require fewer points than Oxford, they have the same grade requirement at HL. So he'll probably either be going to Oxford or nowhere. At the in-person offer day at his Oxford college last month they were very clear that if you miss the grades, you won't be going 😱. Overall exam period went ok except for the announcement the night before the first exam that the teachers recommended using a B pencil (not an HB pencil) and did I have one? No, I did not have one. I did on the other hand have approximately 60 HB pencils bought as spare which were all nicely sharpened and ready to be packed into pencil case so had to go dashing around London at 8.30pm trying to find one.

End of exam celebrations will be very muted as DD still has approximately 139 GCSEs to do (so I'm in the same boat as @Alsoplayspiccolo @Isthisjustnormal @PaddingtonPaddington @Delphigirl @crazycrofter and whoever else I have forgotten - sorry!).

I have been so busy at work that I haven't had a chance to post for absolute ages but I have been following periodically - although can't believe I almost missed "our" first grandchild thanks to @Zebracat . Very sorry about your sad news @singingstones . Also sorry to hear of late rejections but it sounds like all those DC have offers they are happy with so sod those universities.

Those of you with DCs doing GCSEs, how have they found the advanced information working so far?

DD has heard that the AQA Biology paper contained very little of what was listed and is now panicking as 2 of her A levels are AQA and against my advice has been relying quite heavily on the advanced info in her revision....

DD has barely said a word about her GCSEs so far @Seeline she did Biology yesterday but I can't remember what board. She's clearly tired and two more to go this week.

@Seeline DD did AQA biology and was happy with it. Having said that she said that for her subjects and exam boards very little was taken out. Also, for GCSEs the teachers had time to teach them content that was to be left out and so covered it all (on basis it is all very well not covering it but if you are doing that subject for A levels you should probably know it) so I'm not sure DD would have really noticed if the advanced information was wrong. I have heard from friends with DC at other schools say the advanced information has not been correct (so stuff they thought was left out was in the exam). Sorry not to be more help.

@singingstones I'm very sorry for your loss of your family friend.

Good to know the early GCSEs seem to be going well.

@Horace123 Out the other side! A sigh of relief no doubt.

@Shimy That brought Kenneth Williams to mind 'Infamy, Infamy!'

DS went into to school for free lessons and then the pub at lunchtime. He's still not home! There was talk of cinema.
Apparently first prank was set up after school yesterday. They collected up all the remotes for the screens (but left them in school fairly obviously) and left notes saying thanks for online lessons.