Thread 36 - Covid Cohort from GCSE 2020 - The Final Countdown to Results Day for Some?

[CinnamonOrangeCremeBrulee]

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. It's all relative!
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 continue down various pathways ( employment, apprenticeships, higher ed) We have decided for anyone interested they will find a thread within the Further Ed board.
Possibly a move to Parent of Adult Children Board in future? Post Results?

Previous Thread

@Cantonet - hello! Yes, Bangor is so good! Hope your DS get his firm, mind! The ups and downs of it all! After exams, apart from one moo of a paper, DS felt fine, then decided all us, then did fine..and on we go.

Golly - Canada! Will he be up in the middle of the night pressing UCAS refresh?

Hi all re grading. DFE has been forced to put out a statement due to analysis of SQA results. They say will be different here: around a mid point but not the same (hmmn). DFE should have dealt with all of this way before now.

A-levels: Students told most will get first-choice university place www.bbc.com/news/education-62518040

A little more hopeful 🤞

@seeline I think this will be more or less the case. Ofqual met with uni bosses last week. But the DfE is scrambling about.trying to sort everything...it as if we don't have a functioning government....

I can't keep up with this thread. It's moving so fast. Dh, ds3 and I are on holiday in Cornwall. Arrived yesterday. 380 miles from home. Leaving ds2 to deal with results on his own. He won't listen to advice on checking emails etc. so I just hope he gets his firm. He's already decided if he doesn't get his insurance he will re take A levels.

Probably not @tryingmybest13 🤦🏼‍♀️
I shall tell him what to do & prime his twin sister. They will have to stay awake until things are sorted. I'm concerned that he may miss any emails or accommodation slots. Or if he fails to get into his insurance, then he's totally up shit creek ...
My family motto here,when it comes to exams, always expect the unexpected.

@Cantonet great moto! Exams are random!

@Heifer - Cheers Heifer. Re Notts 1 hour slot info. I'm supposed to be away that weekend with the girls so hope ds gets the Thursday or Friday. If not I'll cancel Dorset and take ds at the weekend.

@Heifer regarding the accreditation, being a biologist isn't in itself a protected profession in the same way as being eg a pharmacist, you can get chartered status but many don't and it will vary depending on career choice. Are you on the WIWIKAU FB? There was a useful post on 26 June if you type "accredited" into the search box you should find it.

@Heifer We decided accreditation was not a significant factor. DS has Sheffield biology as insurance too and his firm of Durham isn't accredited either. Both rate well for research and we felt links with industry are also more important.

I can’t get @Seeline ’s link to work, is it just me?

DS’s university plates are very handy as can’t find the other ones. Very relieved as the file I had packed to take passports, birth certificates and exam certificates plus student finance letter has turned up after one of the packers shoved it in a box. Very relieved.

Thank you all for the little tips and but did information, everything and everyone here is so helpful!

bits of information

@Heifer Biology courses can be accredited but it’s not that important and often makes the course more limited in scope to satisfy the criteria for accreditation.

Neither if my daughters courses are accredited.

I checked clearing before everything closed down and a fair few courses were in clearing in biology, zoology and biological science.

have a list I made on my phone - happy to check the unis - is it Nottingham?

BBC News - A-levels: Students told most will get first-choice university place
www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-62518040

I've tried again @Volterra

@Fruitygal please let me know which unis have Biology/Biological science in clearing. Was Birmingham on your list?

Thank you very much @Seeline 😊

Thanks for the Notts info @Heifer, I was trying to find out about start dates myself yesterday but couldn’t find anything.

@Seeline thanks for the bbc link, again they've peddled this simplified suggestion that they’ll be marked easier and grade boundaries will be lower which we now understand is not universal.

@tryingmybest13 thank you for your further explanations, not going to pretend I fully understood everything but got the jist!

I have been trying to force DS to look at Plans B and C. His preference is to stay with Notts and they have their history degree in clearing at AAB but with a grade drop for an EPQ of A or above which he has. Sn potentially ABB but needs the A in history. The idea being he takes the GDL after the degree. Plan C is looking at Cardiff for law, it appears to be in clearing at lower grades than current offer, so depending on his grades, that might be an option. Not a perfect solution but some ideas should the worst happen on Thursday. Still hanging on with my finger tips to the fact that his school marked harshly and so maybe his predictions are not impossible. 🤞🤞

@JustHereWithMyPopcorn it is beyond over-egged and so complex now that analysis is divided. Still, DFE now forced to speak out - with some fudging!

The DfE said: “The pattern of grades in each subject in England will be based around a midpoint between the proportion of each grade in that subject in 2021 and 2019. This is not the same policy employed in Scotland. Ucas expects the majority of students to secure their place at their firm choice this year, and our focus has been on working with universities to ensure offers reflect the grades students will receive this summer.”

DATA HE say differently.

Please ignore over-sensational headline where this is taken from (use SQA and Data HE). There will not be chaos because unis are used to making adjustments.

www.theguardian.com/education/2022/aug/14/fears-of-clearing-chaos-as-a-level-results-predicted-to-be-unexpectedly-low

I am sure all will be well for yours! Cardiff do drop offers. Indeed, where unis have a range of possible typical offers and spaces, they always adjust. The modelling was hard this year for admissions because everything so unknown! The work is going on right now at every uni: no one will want to disadvantage students!

But again: there has been some right fudging going on: standards are weighed across grades, so some subjects will look different to others. And annoyed there is still guff in other reports about grade boundaries!

All will be well :)

He has an offer for law at Notts which is where he really, really, really wants to go. The offer is 3As so a tough ask but I praying to all the gods!

@JustHereWithMyPopcorn So hope he gets it!

DS has gone off for his trial shift at the pub. Having first taken his girlfriend back home after around 24 hours with her 😃

DD and I have been discussing results generally (she’s getting GCSE results on 25th). Always a fun conversation 😂

DD is just trying not to think about it all - it will be what it is on Thursday. She hasn't got an offer anyway but really needs 3xA's or indeed A Stars to get in medicine next year. UCAT booked for September.
Good luck to all those waiting- it's a tough year.
Other DD has GCSE results the next week - I thought it was tough when I had 3 under 6 - it's nothing compared to now.

Thanks @EquallyDivided, @EwwSprouts & @Fruitygal re accredited info - that's really useful. I've read all the info you mentioned etc and we've decided that should the situation arise that DD decides to reject Insurance and try to go for Sheffield we won't try to discourage her (even though we think York would be better for her). Fingers still crossed that none of this checking is needed and she gets Nottingham and off she goes ;-)

@BlueMarigold LOTS of unis in clearing for Biology, but not Birmingham. In fact Birmingham only has 5 courses currently in clearing.