Is it too early for an A level support thread!

[HereWeGo2023]

Hello all, apologies if there is already a thread but I can’t find one.
May had finally rolled around and the first exam is a mere 2 weeks away. Exam stress has hit our house! It’s feels like everything is about waiting at the moment - waiting for the predicted grades, waiting for the uni offers, waiting for the exams to start, and then the long wait for the results!
This is our youngest DD but the first one in further education so would love to chat to other parents going through this

@Angrymum22 your DS sounds amazing to have done so well in spite of everything.

He has every right to worry about further disruption. I feel sorry for those who had their A levels cancelled in 2020 and now in their final year at Uni aren’t having their final exams marked due to the marking strike.

Our young people have been put through so much.

@Angrymum22 Oh, your poor ds (and poor you and DH) - what an awful lot you have all been through. Dd's GCSEs were also impacted by Covid-related mental health issues and I agree with you that their generation will find it hard to lose the feeling that things can all just be taken away from them in a heartbeat.

After her tearful sleepless night, dd reckons that English Lit was 'actually pretty good'. Phew.

I don't think most people understand (or care) at all how damaging the lockdowns were on the young and with potentially long term affects. I suspect some of it will be to do with the fact their minds are still developing up until their early twenties. No doubt they'll be lots of reports written on it in years to come but that doesn't help them now.

DD said English Lit was decent. I'm not really sure what that means but don't want to push. She's playing her cards close to her chest on how the exams are going & I completely understand why - self preservation.

Yes DS was also happy with English Lit. So much so that instead of coming back and revising for history tomorrow, he seems to be in Spoons with his mates!

Good practice for him for uni life @WednesdaysPlaits 🙂

DS has bounced back really well, his sport has kept him going along with the social life that accompanies it.
We were not in a position to do Uni open days so DS is having a gap year. I’m hoping he finds his direction so he can work out a course at Uni.
Although, if his results are better than expected I think he will try clearing. He has no reference or personal statement prepared but school are very supportive, particularly in view of his circumstances, so will no doubt help him out. If he lands a place at a Russell group they will be delighted, more fodder for their marketing ( he’s at an independent academically selective school).
I think the fact we have made it so far without a dip in his mental health is a fantastic achievement in his part and suggests he has recovered. I do worry that results day for this year, in view of the return to normal grading may well have a negative impact on a very fragile group.
Last year they were cushioned by a number of factors, all of which have been removed this year.

Dd is still distraught after yesterdays ocr biology- she says she has n hope for Durham or anywhere. It’s not helped by the fact that she can’t hasn’t seen her counsellor since nice mid May and is unlikely to be able to see her until after exams as she has sadly experienced a bereavement.

I can’t get dd back on an even keel and she has chemistry P1 on Monday (chemistry is her weakest subject).

Theres no point to this post I think I just want to cry as it’s so bloomin hard being positive and smiley with dd all the time. I hate hate hate this system - she is an amazing student but not one who examines well under this kind of stress.

@KittyMcKitty its so hard being the support person when you can’t really do anything. I hope your DD is feeling a bit better today - it sounds like that Biology paper was hard for everyone so hopefully she will be ok for her offers but I know that is easy for me to say from here and harder for her to believe.

Chemistry A level is also really hard. I am holding my breath for the papers starting next week. Hopefully they will be ok for our DC but who knows.

I think the current system is broken. Most of the top 20 universities ask for really high grades and it’s almost become like a B is a failure. That’s so much pressure. Then added to that, the front loading of the process where you have to pick accommodation so early at a lot of places means that kids (and parents) start talking like it’s a fair accompli way before exam even start. As soon as they have a bad exam it then feels like their carefully made plans have collapsed.

it won’t happen but a rehaul to a system similar to the us where they have continual assessment and then apply knowing their GPA would be better all round and a far better indicator of intelligence for the universities.

good luck to everyone with exams today. DS has history (Tudors). I’ve just pissed him off by asking what Henry VIII’s favourite colour was (he didn’t know - loser )

@KittyMcKitty hoping your DD feels better today.

DD has sociology this morning and then a few days break before the last two exams next Wed and Fri. Wishing all the best to those with exams today.

I'm sorry @KittyMcKitty that sounds really tough. Supporting a stressed kid through an intractable system while making endless positive noises is a lot of pressure. I'm sure you're helping her a lot although it may not feel like it.

AQA physics for DS2 today. Interested to see what the AQA examiners have come up with this time...

@Era I have hours of endless fun asking DS1 (heading into the third year of a maths degree) what his favourite number is, or what 2x7 is. He's run out of responses 😂

Yep, was about to post the same @PacificState - AQA Physics 1 was absolutely dreadful before half term, what on earth have AQA got in stall for them today? Still, after this exam DS will be past the half way point so that's something!

Fingers crossed @tribpot (and anyone else whose DC have papers today). I do wonder whether the response to that paper was partly nerves, because it fell early in the cycle for a lot of DC. But I gave up physics at 13, so who knows.

It’s just bonkers. There is no way all these A star predictions will be correct. The universities will need to fill their places though so perhaps they will have to accept lower.

The US system is so much better organised. I’m amazed we’ve continued with this shambles. What worked decades ago when hardly anyone went to Uni and overseas numbers were low certainly no longer makes any sense.

It would be so much more efficient and fairer all round to apply grades in hand.

AQQ Physics today here too. 🤞

Older DC went through the Scottish system, so applied at the usual time with grades in hand, and got unconditional offers. Soooo much less stressful.

@Era my daughter had the Tudors for her first History paper and was thrilled to get that out of the way! This afternoon it's the Dutch Revolt, which she feels less confident in but it's also the shortest paper. As she did Art early May and has finished Psychology, History (next week it's England snd Ireland) is the last!
And I grew up in America and yes it is a better system. I knew where I was going from early Spring, no intense pressure for exams. You still had to go to class and finish the year otherwise you wouldn't get your diploma!

Another one with AQA Physics this morning. DS completely distraught after paper 1 and struggling to keep things together. Sat with him yesterday for hours trying to do revision whilst he just said he doesn’t know it and has wasted 2 years. So difficult. Everyone in the house is affected by the stress and anxiety.
Really really hoping they make paper 2 a little more manageable.

It’s hard - so much pressure on them. We have tried to say that all options are open - gap year, working, clearing, apprenticeships etc - and decisions made now don’t have to be set in stone.

@tribpot DS hates paper 2 in Physics, it's the one he was least looking forward to, he's moaned for 2 days about it. But then went off to college this morning in a very cheery mood, I think he's just thankful it will be over with today 😂

Ds expressed most concern over this physics paper too

First impressions of Physics Paper 2 - not sure how it went. He said very cheerfully "I've either done really shit or quite bad". He didn't do very well on his timings and had to rush through (and guess) some of the multiple choices. No amusingly mad questions like on Paper 1 with the surgery on the boat etc. Overall I would say a hard paper and like your DS @Hellohah he's just thankful it's over.

The memes are already coming thick and fast on Twitter, consensus being it was another bad one.

I'm contemplating putting a big sign by the front door that says "if the paper is hard, the grade boundaries will be low" because it's the household mantra at the moment