Thread 33 - Lovely Jubbly Jubilee Break, then back 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. Possibly a move to Parent of Adult Children Board in future?
previous thread

I mentioned A Level choices again to ds earlier and he says he’s thinking not Biology, on the basis that he really doesn’t like Chemistry and Physics, so he’s probably not a sciencey enough person as they’re a bit linked? He might do history if he gets an 8 or 9. I can see him just making a snap decision on results day. He also said if he gets all 6s he won’t do sixth form, he’ll get an apprenticeship instead as it would mean his revision hadn’t really worked which wouldn’t bode well for A Levels. I can see his reasoning…

@Isthisjustnormal dd hated maths but has really enjoyed psychology at a level. She's done this alongside English lit and Spanish. They've worked well together.

I’d suggest one MFL, Classical Civilisation rather than Ancient History as AH is ‘history’ so to speak and does not focus on culture, myth, literature etc particularly if the language she fancies picking from scratch is a classical one.
There are lots of feminist reimagining of the classical epics - in translation- but Circe is perhaps better than Song of Achilles along with Silence of the Girls , in DDs opinion.
English literature would support those two A levels.
Then again, given she’s strong in two MFLs those plus another that would support them but keep her options open for her degree subject?

Love the juxtaposition of

any words of wisdom?!?

with next post saying

Ummmm, jelly with peaches….!)

No words of wisdom from me as DSs hated languages and creative writing.

Lol: jelly is wisdom, right. Oh this is all fantastic input thank you so much: will debrief dd tomorrow and come back to you with further questions ;-). @ProggyMat , she loves all of those but song of Achilles was her first so has a special place in her heart. I just wonder whether the non-feminist originals that she’ll have to study will annoy her in that light! She’s also a massive fan of Natalie Haynes, but again she does a feminist/modernist reinvention ….

If she does a language from scratch @ProggyMat it would be an Asian language probably - she’s taught herself Korean and has a bit of Japanese/mandarin alongside.

Glad to hear Computer science was ok. Good luck to the mathematicians today and any other subjects🍀

It’s statistics in psychology and you need to be more logical rather than mathematical if that makes sense? Good on your DD with the language studying Isthosjustnormal. My DD did similar with a language and is now studying it at university.

Good luck today everyone.

are everyone’s kids still doing tonnes of revision? DD seems to have slowed down somewhat which is worrying me a bit - esp after yesterday’s exam not being good.

Good morning.

Maths this afternoon for DD. She's usually an early riser on school days but I had to wake her up at half 7, she'd turned off her alarm as she hadn't slept well. She's up and making breakfast now but does look tired. And of course this makes me worry that she'll make mistakes in her exam.

@Wheresthebeach dd is still doing quite a bit, but has fewer subjects to be revising now.

I will not be mentioning all of the talk of revision snack to dd, she will feel very hard done by! We're not really a snacky household and actually I've cut down on the few treats I would buy because I'm trying to lose a bit of weight for our summer holidays.

Good luck to all for today's exams!

@Wheresthebeach if DS cut his revision down any further he wouldn't even be doing the last minute cramming he's done before each exam so far.

Core maths for DD today. She's dreading this one.

Wheresthebeach, that chemistry does sound like yet another AI shitter of an exam paper. Ds1 has been fortunate enough to not have any AI issues so far, but it's very clear to me from this thread, and wiwikau that it's been very damaging.

I'm staying off wiwikau atm. I'm finding it very woke, and all these tears for 5 hours a day at the dred of children going off to uni, in 3 months time, I can't relate to, and their anxiety just pisses me off. I have no doubt that I will shed a couple of tears and I will miss him a lot but I'm excited for him going. I wish him all the best, I know he'll be fine. I will miss him incredibly, but all this crying all day just fucks me off. Clearly sympathy from me in this area is lacking.

Ds1 is still doing tonnes of revision, beach. But I'm concerned at his tactics. After sociology exam yesterday am he did 6 hours of business revision, but now plans to do no more business today and tomorrow, but to focus on pyschology 3 which he thinks will be his hardest paper. I think this is disrespectful to business, but hey.

I have bought protein bars, protein drinks, and offered spaghetti and meatballs. 🍝
He said my testing him was the best thing EVER Because it brought everything to the forefront of his mind and reminded him of three small sections out of the sociology? Syllabus that he needed to revisit and then they all came up on his exam so he was absolutely thrilled.

I've offered the same service again but he wasn't ready to do it last night cause he was still revising so he said we're going to do it tonight and tomorrow in preparation for psychology 3 on Thursday morning.

I can do no more!

I went to the supermarket yet again last night. Dh was teasing me : "no one buys me 15 protein snacks. Don't come running to me for attention in September when favourite 'glorious boy' runs off to Uni. "

Good luck to all sitting papers today! 🍀
@Wheresthebeach DD is still ‘at it’ revising texts as her last three papers are literature
Shes tired now though- exams kicked off on 23rd May- and fell asleep for a few hours last night when she got home from school.
Stroll on next Thursday!

DS has two exams today - Ethics and Maths. He was considering euthanasia in the car on the way to school (his potential answers to the question asked rather than his own). After today he’ll have done 6 exams and have two left.

DD has Geography GCSE paper 3 for an hour. They will both be in the same room at school this morning which I quite like 😊

@Oblomov22 DD has put business last too. Spent half if Sunday on it and that will probably be it. She has psych 3 on the same day and bio 2 the next so I kind of understand. She does AQA business, and I think paper 3 can cover everything already revised for the first two, so she is relying on that.

I too don't get the weeping and wailing on WIWIKAU. DS went off in the middle of the pandemic - yes I missed him, but he was soo ready to go. The hard thing that year was not really being sure of when I might see him again as it looked at one stage that students weren't going to be allowed home for Christmas. I know this time round will be harder as DD isn't as confident, and doesn't seem as ready to go. She's my baby too 😉😆

I can't seem to figure out wiwikau, apart from the OCR thread where they all seem to be pretty happy - wish I hadn't looked!

DD gets migraines so we've been prioritising rest and relaxation to avoid those but I'm now feeling stressed after yesterday. I'm just going to have to get over myself!

Snacks here are brownies, cupcakes, double chocolate chip cookies, sausage rolls, protein shakes and ice cream! Not exactly the healthy eating plan recommended.

Proggy DD wishes her school did Classics - it sounds a great course.

Pure maths today I think. The best one according to DS, his nemesis is stats.

Sainsburys have just delivered my weekly shopping which now includes a ton of snacks as you made me feel guilty for not providing any more than usual (DD usually pretty healthy eater but has been asking for crap recently). The treat cupboard won't know what's going on ;-)

DD has Core Maths this afternoon and I've only just realised it's 10.00am so have woken her up. I'm guessing she was revising late into the night. She went into school yesterday to spend time with Biology and Maths teacher and got some 1 to 1 which she said was really helpful. She is expecting to find the Core Maths paper 2 hard - she hasn't revised half as much as her others subjects as she knows she doesn't actually need a high grade but does want one.

Re Student Finance - has anyone whose has had notification of loads noticed that the payments dates don't match up with when the uni wants the moneny (and in DDs case the amounts aren't ideal) It does tell you what to do to make them match but just wondering has anyone emailed uni yet to ask to change payment dates or is that something you leave until you're sure they are off there (after results)?

Do you mean maintenance for accommodation @Heifer ?

The tuition fee loan will bypass student and go straight to institution. BUT they must have enroled/registered/confirmed attendance/matriculated at start of term to trigger that.

That also triggers the maintenance loan to the student which they can pay accommodation from. Lots of Uni's handle this differently. Some ask for a small amount/ deposit before start of term, some will be generous and let students pay after start of term/ when loans are paid.

Re the stress on WIWIKAU for fledglings, I wonder if it is easier if you went to university yourself? If course some people are very soppy, I have one (male) friend who will really struggle when the time comes for his DD to go! I am very pragmatic and happy to see them on their life journey, but I would love then to settle close to home.

@OrangeCinnamonCroissant yes sorry I didn't explain myself well at all! I can see the dates SF will pay DD her maintenance, but also DD has a payment schedule from Nottingham uni and first payment is due no later than 7th Sept. It does say you can request to amend payment dates so I don't think it will be a problem - I'm guess I'm wondering if worth doing now or wait until after results as we know for sure where DD is going. Just wondered what anyone else has done (who has accommodation booked and can see the payment dates)

Doh - have just noticed that the payment needed by 7th Sept can just be £250 with the rest due by 7th Oct!. Although my comment still stands as in DDs case the amount she will receive from SF for the 1st payment is considerable less than the amount owed - but the 3rd payment is considerably more than will be owed so will still be emailing Nottingham uni to ask if payment plan can be amended to reflect loan amounts.

Hope that makes sense now - I am really struggling today tbh. Damn menopause

I understand Heifer, it’s quite common and friends of mine have ended up lending them some one term then taking it back another.

I’m fine with DS going but have had a halfway house 2 years earlier than anticipated. I guess it might be easier if you have gone yourself as you know what to expect. We didn’t see DD for 8 months during covid which wasn’t easy but we coped. Would be lovely if ultimately they settled not too far from home and I’m hoping our new home is in a better location for this to happen - it is at least nearer a slightly bigger airport than here if they don’t stay fairly close plus no more driving an hour each way to the station which will be wonderful- about 3 mins in the car and a 15 min walk, can’t wait. It certainly should be easier for DD to come back for the weekend which will be lovely. I think DS is missing her at the moment and they have plans for meeting up next term when both away.

DS has statistics this afternoon. Heavy week for him but he was on good form and great company for station run earlier. When we see him Friday he will be down to final 3, currently has 7. He’s promised to let me know how they go. I was reflecting on the way back about how this college has been really good for him but the horrible start he had coping with being away for him, he agrees it was worth going through the bad bit then. I was very grateful to you all for the support.

Bacon sarnies the food that goes down well here on occasions. I did ask about snacks but he didn’t know very unhelpfully!

Thanks for all your support the other day - very emotional when your child's chance to show their best after alot of revision is being destroyed by avoidable illness - Economics was solid but not stellar yesterday but DD was a lot calmer and covid still not good but not as awful as the weekend and Exams office said they will apply for 2% for COVID for yesterday and today as exceptional circumstances. Not much but better than nothing. DD says glad she's done the paper.

Maths today but does not need for Uni so has not really revised as focussed on the ones she needs and is going for an Alevel grade rather than A or A*.

Then we have 2 bio and 1 maths left ...

@Oblomov22 DD is our third and final child - I will be emotional on the day and miss her alot but so happy for her as uni is so exciting and they become adults it is so lovely don't understand the excessive emotion at this stage regarding September. Plan a hobby to start or something else to do. We took up Italian night classes when the first left and hoping for weekend breaks now the last one is going.

As for snackage ......its like the hungry caterpillar here! :)

PLUS

Mini McFlurries on the drive home after the exams.......