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

English lit is one of the A Levels with the highest grade boundaries. It’s tough to get an A star.

DS has his first exam this week (economics paper 1). It’s his worst subject and he’s feeling very hard done by given that most of his friends don’t have any exams until after half term. He also has two days where he has two different exams in different subjects on the same day - so much for them being more spaced out this year..

Bit late to my thread, but thanks for joining me!
sorry to all of those whose DC are ill, I hope they all feel better soon. My DD keeps feeling rough in the night but ok in the morning, so I hope it doesn’t get her
I can’t imagine having a household where there are A levels and GCSEs going on, you all have my sympathies!

Single mum here with an A leveller doing fuck all and a GCSEr totally overdoing it.

Plus an XH phoning up with pearls of wisdom from afar like ‘tell eldest if they don’t get out of bed and go to the exam they have thrown away their entire future’ 😬 Helpful, not.

Much as I love them they have tagged teamed me all their lives taking turns to be the stressful child, I absolutely cannot wait for this phase to be over.

Yes mine. I don’t really get it. Study leave doesn’t start until after half term when she will have done half of the exams!

Our DDs sound in a similar situation. DD was also asked to speak to year 12s about her oxbridge journey. She has massive imposter syndrome so wasn’t sure how it went but the teachers said it was useful
Im also having trouble to get her to down tools and go out and do something. Life is revision, revision, revision!

@HereWeGo2023 yes our DDs do sound similar. Good luck to your daughter on her journey!

DD tried to convince us she allowed herself two evenings off in a row, Friday night helping as young leader at the Brownies and last night she went out to babysit which involved an hour of reading to some lovely neighbours children, putting them to bed and then once they were asleep studying for three hours, albeit not at home!

It's hell here. DD is so stressed, crying all the time, not eating properly, won't leave the house. It just seems like too much stress they are put under. I feel like she has given up on them before they have even started. First one on friday.

DS's first A level is on Thursday. I think the school has been tactical in giving them difficult papers for their official mocks and then going a bit easier on them in the tests they have had running up to the exams. Or perhaps he is just working a bit harder now. Either way I think and hope that things are looking up a bit before the real thing.

@CrapBucket ive got the same dynamic with my dds. How many weeks until we are out of this situation? Starting to count them….

I have a countdown widget on my phone to make sure I know at all times 😃

@tribpot i NEED one of those …

I don’t know if I can bear to count down. Feels like that will be jinxing something even more stressful to happen, somehow. Just sort of holding my breath instead. I have done a pile of ironing tonight like a very normal steady Sunday night. Good luck all for tomorrow.

I'm trying not to get stressed but I have two doing exams (one doing GCSEs and one doing ALevels) so I'm struggling a bit!

DD has done her graphics and coursework already thankfully so only has 2 to concentrate on and one of those only has one exam as the other 3 were done across the 2 years. First exam is on Friday (psychology) then one on 26th, 5th and finally 7th June. She needs AAA and I am worried she won't get it (I'm not sure she will have managed it for graphics but nothing can be done now). She'll be devastated if she doesn't get into her first choice so my main stress is there but she has been revising for months and has been so organised. I don't think she could have done more.

Good luck to all DC with exams this week.

Hi, hope I'm not too late to join. DD starts on Wednesday with a clash so will be in isolation over lunchtime. School finishes on Friday with a traditional fancy dress pub crawl. Judging by DS's experience last year, it will be messy. Another three exams next week with a Harry Styles concert thrown in for good measure. Inbetween planning outfits for last day, Harry concert and Prom she's done about an hour's revision. I'm trying not to panic. That's an hour more than her brother had done at this stage 🤷🤦

Good luck to all dc with GCSE Biology or Combined Science today (I'm invigilating it)!

DD spent yesterday in high dudgeon because her boyfriend had had a letter to say he'd won the prize she was secretly expecting...only to come home to a letter telling her she'd won two different prizes she wasn't expecting at all. Phew! A messy break-up is not what you want before A-levels .

(Apologies for the not-so-stealth boast - it was a lovely confidence booster for her just when needed.)

What a rollercoaster @ZittiEBuoni !

My daughter has hit the books hard. Doing at least six hours revision a day and has sent her History teacher three essays to mark - I think the teacher told them to do one that she'd mark but my daughter does tend to go over the top! Such a contrast to her older brother who barely scrapped through GCSEs and went to a vocational college (during covid - terrible time).
She's found out her EPQ that she completed last November has been sent out for official moderation- I don't know if that's a good or bad thing? I think it's the 'spot check' they do to make sure the school is adhering to the marking scheme, but don't know if they choose at random or what.
And yep STILL waiting to hear from UAL. She's accepted another place as they had a deadline and so now really just wants the validation of getting an offer from a competitive course, but I do not understand the delay (they do say they'll get offers out by end of May). We suspect they are waiting for the international students to decide as it's free for domestic students but about £20k for foreigners.

DD’s first Classical Civilisation exam today. We went through some of her home made revision cards last night and she aced all the quotes and themes. I now know about oikos and pietas and all sorts of things I am sure will be useful to me in a pub quiz, scrabble or crossword in the future 😅

@PettsWoodParadise Yes my DD also doing Class Civ today - her first exam. She was nervous, but this is her strongest subject and the one she's pursuing at Uni as well. She confidently told me this morning that she was going to focus on the Aeneid [shrug], but that she'd also learnt quotes for the Iliad in case she preferred that question. Going in now...

She was timetabled with 3 exams on one day on 6 June, so we've agreed to push one into the next day, and she'll be on lockdown!

Also GCSEs here for DC2. He's got German today and seems pretty happy just plodding along each day. He's already got History and Drama now under his belt which is nice at least!

I think DD did have 3 exams on one day when the draft timetable came up but it got changed fortunately and she now has one one 8th (I think) English, History, CC, all three with different exam boards. Good luck to your DCs @EmmaStone

Ha @EmmaStone - I remember my daughter having fits of giggles when I was 'helping' her with the oral part of her German GCSE! I did Spanish at school back in the Dark Ages and have never done any German. At least it gave her a break and lightened her mood! She got a Distinction in the exam so it must have helped (at least I'm taking a tiny bit of credit)!

Dd's friend thought the Classical Civ. paper yesterday went pretty well - hope the other dc on this thread taking it felt the same.

Invigilation yesterday was enlivened by a live maggot falling from an air vent on to a child's head (not envy). Hope the caretakers have sorted that out...

DS has revised constantly and to a very high standard for months it seems, but came out of his first exam today (Edexcel Geography) absolutely broken. He said none of the questions made sense and were worded really strangely. Doesn’t bode well for the rest of them tbh.

Oh no - what a nightmare. Remind him they all sit the same exam and boundaries adjust accordingly.

DS is in a buzz I have never seen him in before actually feeling prepared for his first exam tomorrow. Hope it goes to plan…..