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Original poster

Post GCSE’s 2022 - Year 12 2022/23 General support thread

999 replies

Rollergirl11 · 02/09/2022 14:57

This is a thread for supporting all young people post GCSEs 2022, regardless of their educational setting.
Our DC’s may continue down various pathways ( employment, apprenticeships, higher ed)
Everyone is welcome!

OP posts:
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8
MrsAvocet · 26/04/2023 20:59

I think all the exam boards do the same subjects on the same day. If it doesn't change DS's last exam will be Thurs 20th June. It will be nice for them to have a proper long Summer break, after Covid scuppered that for GCSEs. I think DS' s last GCSE was less than 2 weeks before the end of normal term.

PaddingtonPaddington · 26/04/2023 20:59

Thanks @Naem also googled and found OCR dates. Much better spread than GCSEs!

spacechimp79 · 26/04/2023 21:44

Gosh it seems early to know their exam dates. I need to look up what board he's doing each exam with as I think it's a mixture.

DS has exams in three weeks time which I believe will be the main indicator of his predicted grades. Still not much work appears to be happening unfortunately.

He's booked to go to Liverpool, Warwick, Bristol and Lancaster open days in June/early July. Will maybe go to a couple in autumn too if he's still undecided.

spacechimp79 · 26/04/2023 22:16

So far DS's first exam will be the 15th May and his last exam on the 20th June. Cambridge international don't seem to have released their dates so I can't check computer science. They seem very spread out and I always thought A-levels finished before GCSEs did?

Naem · 27/04/2023 00:25

spacechimp79 · 26/04/2023 22:16

So far DS's first exam will be the 15th May and his last exam on the 20th June. Cambridge international don't seem to have released their dates so I can't check computer science. They seem very spread out and I always thought A-levels finished before GCSEs did?

We are also waiting on Cambridge International for Geography - they don't co-ordinate with the other boards, but I think they are usually early (if you look at this year's they are all before half term - they also always seem to publish very late, this year we were waiting on AS dates, and they didn't come out until around November I think). I am therefore assuming she will be done with Geography by half term, while only one AQA exam is before half term and the rest all afterwards.

MirandaWest · 27/04/2023 10:24

I mentioned to DD the provisional exam timetables were out. She already knew. She is much more on the ball about those things than DS ever was!

sheepdogdelight · 27/04/2023 11:09

Hmm, 2 of DD's subjects are timetabled on the same 2 days so she'll have morning and afternoon exams on both these 2 days.

They don't actually clash so it's doable but not really ideal (both essay subjects so a lot of writing). Anyone know how likely it is that the provisional timetable will change? I know there's a few at her school doing both subjects.

singingstones · 27/04/2023 11:44

Gosh it's strange to see the 2024 timetable - 22 May-19 June for DD. That will be the last of six years in a row when a DC has been taking public exams. I won't know what to do with myself in May/June 2025!

We have open days planned in June, unis on consecutive days in a single trip twice, plus a day trip to Bristol which is fairly close to us.

Before that AS exams are looming and revision is in fits and starts depending on how nervous she is feeling. A bit of handholding required but it will all be over in 4 weeks 😱

LouisCatorze · 27/04/2023 14:39

@sheepdogdelight ditto with DD. All exams are currently clustered between 13 May-3 June, with half-term to revise for the final two (both on the same day).

mushroom3 · 27/04/2023 19:33

Hi @Naem , we did Glasgow and Edinburgh on a Friday and Saturday and same with Liverpool / Manchester and Leicester/Birmingham. In each case we travelled for about an hour between university towns on the Friday night.

QueenMabby · 27/04/2023 22:29

Does anyone know when the grade boundaries for the EPQs are released? DS got his EPQ score today but we don't know what grade it might translate as!

legospringqueen · 28/04/2023 08:07

That's insane about the 2024 timetable...will look at the weekend, along with helping DS compile a spreadsheet of favoured universities & work out open day schedule - as DS works on Saturdays it will be a mix of June/July & September/October.

DS may apply for slightly different subjects depending on courses at individual unis, ie economics but also business & I think one PPE. I assume it's one personal statement for all applications so it may need to be broader in that case - does anyone know?

singingstones · 28/04/2023 08:32

Yes, one personal statement. Durham and I think Cambridge let you do a substitute one just for them as part of your application. It is a bit tricky when applying to different courses.

www.ucas.com/how-write-personal-statement-works-multiple-courses

Original poster
Rollergirl11 · 28/04/2023 09:56

We are also having to work around DD’s Saturday shift at work when registering for open days. So far she has Exeter for 2nd June which falls in half term, Durham 16th June that she is allowed a day off college for, York on 2nd July which is a Sunday and she’s hoping to book Cambridge for 6th July that she will also get a day off college for. She’s interested in Lancaster and Warwick but we will leave them till the autumn term. She will probs have to take annual leave from work for those.

One thing we’ve found is that a lot of the above uni’s have the same entry requirements for the course she wants so she needs to work out what her realistic choices will be.

OP posts:
sheepdogdelight · 28/04/2023 11:17

DD also having to take leave from work for Open Days. She's was a bit torn as she also needs her leave days for exams and actual holidays.

Slightly annoyingly she's also doing extra shifts to cover those taking Y12 exams at a-school-that-is-not hers and those taking A Levels, but those are counted as extra/overtime. It would be handy if there was a "swapping shifts" option so those she is covering could return the favour!

Notagardener · 28/04/2023 13:19

DD had actually visited some places outside of open days. She is sure she will want to apply for one of them anyway so won't go for the open day. If she gets an offer she can always go for an offer day.
For Cambridge she went on a subject day, so not planning to go for the official open day.
So at least a few ticked off the list to visit....

spacechimp79 · 28/04/2023 17:28

My DS is also a bit worried about work and how to fit in the open days as he already has his holiday used up for actual holidays. Think I will get him to ask if he can just work on a Sunday instead and if they say no he will have to resign unfortunately.
Have a good weekend all!

Original poster
Rollergirl11 · 30/04/2023 09:27

I don’t think DD realises how thinly she’s spreading herself to be honest. We have booked the Durham open day on Friday 6th June. We are in the south east so it’s a good 275 miles away. Don’t really fancy driving all that way so will probs get the train. And given that it’s a 4 hour journey will likely have to go up the night before. She then has tickets for Harry Styles on the Saturday and Arctic Monkeys on the Sunday and then a full week of work experience starting on the following Monday. She is going to be absolutely shattered. And she hasn’t even worked out what she’s going to do about work on the Saturday as she hasn’t requested annual leave yet. I’m hoping that she will come to the realisation that she can’t do it all and will sell one (or ideally both!) of the tickets.

OP posts:
Notagardener · 30/04/2023 10:00

I learned my lesson with dc1 , so dc3 already went to open day last autumn 🙂

sheepdogdelight · 30/04/2023 11:33

Notagardener · 30/04/2023 10:00

I learned my lesson with dc1 , so dc3 already went to open day last autumn 🙂

To be fair, we did go to an Open Day last autumn but at that point DD had no clue what she might study, if she even wanted to go to university, or have any idea what she needed to be looking for, so other than her being able to see what a university was (we don't live anywhere near one; she literally had no clue) it wasn't particularly helpful. So I don't think that's the answer for everyone (and clearly too late now for those of us without time machines). Now DD's totally engaged in the process and knows what she wants.

I suspect if you're down to child 3 you have the advantage of them observing what went on with their older siblings. This is our first time through as my oldest knew he didn't want university (but we are very knowledgeable about apprenticeships!)

Notagardener · 30/04/2023 13:09

No time machine....but yes for dc1 we ran out of time, although in the end he was sure he wanted to go to London..
Dc2 was lockdown but did visit one uni after she got an offer.
Lucky for those that have DC who know what they want, none of mine were too sure at this stage. It did help to some degree to still visit unis, to have something to compare with later, and also so they know what to do when they go on open days on their own.

spacechimp79 · 30/04/2023 13:36

Thankfully we did go to a couple of open days last autumn. It doesn't help that my DS has changed his degree choice several times and even now is not 100% sure. Don't intend on booking any for this autumn so if he changes his mind again, it'll have to be online open days or waiting for offer days to help him decide.

MrsScrubbingbrush · 30/04/2023 16:10

DD1 has booked 4 so far for Biomedical Science (York, Warwick, Sheffield & Cardiff and is waiting for Imperial to open for bookings next week)

DD2 (History & English Literature) is coming to York & Warwick as well but is still making her mind up about others.

TwinkleToesStrikesAgain · 30/04/2023 23:44

DS1 has no idea what subject or even if he wants he wants to go to university so we haven't started thinking about open days. I'm hoping his college will start to talk them through it all after they finish their exams at the end of May - since he won't get predicted grades until then, it wouldn't be easy to choose open days anyway?

SoTedious · 01/05/2023 09:04

DD is undecided about what she wants to study too - she is hoping that subject talks at open days will help her to decide. It's very difficult to get started if they don't know subject or a rough idea of predicted grades.