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

FM mechanics was fine according to DS (I think this is OCR but tbh at this point I have a very frail grasp on the particulars)

The stress/heat combo is brutal. I caught DS spooning condensed milk straight out of the can yesterday - I don't think he's had a proper night's sleep for days

FM Edexcel was “ok”. Apparently there were three hard trigonometry questions and there’s usually just one, based on past papers. Physics tomorrow, thank goodness it’s the third and final one. Plenty of revision time for the last two next week, Maths and FM. How many still have exams next week? A few of DS’s friends finish this week.

DD still has 4 exams to go and finish on 22/6. 26/06 she will go travel to our country for 6 weeks. She did paper 2 Edexcel maths yesterday and according to her she got paper 1 100% and paper 2 around 85-90%. She tends to make silly mistakes, however she needs 2 A star. She tries to get A stars further maths as well as she finds very hard to get A start in CS or history, but she did not do well on paper 1. She still got 2 further papers to make up the marks. 4 subjects over 1 month exam is brutal, she looks tired now as she wears very thick glasses and doing maths and coding all the time. However she did a lot of knitting and selling old clothes on Depot for calming herself. Cant wait for exams over and 17/08 result day. Good luck anh one.

This feels like it’s going on forever! DS1 started in May 17th and has 3 left, Politics and Biology on Friday, both morning exams so he’s in isolation all day, he has a scribe and extra time so it really is hours and hours! Then final Bio on 21st. Cannot wait, especially as DS2 has his final GCSE on Friday so the weekend start of next week is really going to be dragging.

The end is in sight though and I will join you on the results thread, he needs A star A, A but has really struggled this year. Tbh I’m so impressed he made it to the exams but I do think his offer (and insurance) is a stretch.

And now he’s come back with a sore throat and hoarse voice, really not great when you have to dictate everything over 6 hours! 🙃 Have dosed him up with everything we have!

Further Maths was hard says ds, more so than other papers

DD sobbing (again) in her room after further maths. I bet she's actually done OK, but she's focussing on 8 marks that she definitely lost. Let's say 10 marks of silly mistakes, that's still 82%, she could probably have 20 marks of silly mistakes and still get an A star. Nothing I say seems to help though, so I've just left her to wallow in her misery.

Oh gosh, I'm thinking of you both.
I'm sure everyone has really had enough of this now. Me included.

Core maths could be an option here

There's definitely a case for a practical maths course, since so many people feel maths is pointless or some form of arcane torture. Like - how to calculate how much paint you need for a room, or what petrol will cost for a journey. How to choose between two car loans. Statistics - understanding that a 50% increase in a tiny risk is still a tiny risk. Why putting a tenner a month into your pension at 20 is better than £20 a month when you're 40 ...

Hugs to you all with falling-apart kids. It's so hard to help.
Ds1 appears to be getting happier as he gets through the exams, but he's pretty good at forgetting what's done and looking forward. 3 to go.

DD worked in a quiet corner of my office today to benefit from the aircon and escape her bedroom walls. I am fortunate to have a lovely employer (and lots of WFH colleagues) who meant this could happen. She has been bitten to bits by mosquitos at a friends house and was really suffering but they are just starting to ease off now, it helped having had a day away from the heat. Our house can stay quite cool even in the heat but nothing compared to aircon.

Final exam Friday

DD packed for Brownie Pack Holiday weekend that starts one hour after her last exam. She loves this role and has started looking to see if there is a pack she can help with whilst at Uni.

MenB vaccine part 1 booked by DD for next week. Thanks for whoever highlighted to us about that.

If they continue math it should be a non exam basis. Practical and useful, fine, but not something they need to stress over. I know a girl who's failed GCSE math three times.

Sky full of clouds here, so really hoping after weeks and weeks of heat there might be a break in the weather to at least clear the air...everyone else seems to have had thunder storms...

(South West)

Still five exams to go here. Biology on Friday and another four next week, finishing Friday with Chemistry. It's been a long long run in.

DS relatively calm (completely different personality type from stress head me) but sick of the whole thing - I think he’s in the running for longest exam period with first one on 8 May and last one on 23 June. Two to go now - think this final subject will be worst due to exam fatigue. - on paper should have been the strongest.

have sorted travel insurance today, am going to investigate meningitis jabs (didn’t know that was a thing).

All done! Phew!

My DS also relatively calm (and has also been at it since early May, but not in the same way - he had his Spanish speaking exam early on in May and then nothing until dear old Physics got underway just before half term). He is wobbling, though - we had to go through all the options again tonight for what if he misses his grades by a bit, what if he completely tanks it, etc. He's very tired. 2 more this week and then a final Biology on Wednesday.

congrats

So tough. Which paper did she do?

Ds found it hard and knows one question at least is out

@astuz hugs for you and your DD. DD has a friend who does maths (and is a super duper duper whizz at it and has NEVER tried, she just always even at this level, 'gets' it, including FM, seriously annoying I know!) and she 'knows' when she comes out of an exam how she has done but DD can feel a range of quietly confident to 'absolutely don't know' as all her subjects are essay ones and far less clear. I think this has built in a level of sanguanimity in DD.

DD's super duper whizz friend never revises and can't understand why DD does.

There have been a lot of tensions amongst the friendship group due to stresses, different views on revision etc. They had some they knew in the year above at Nottingham, no one DD knew who was v. close but jarring enough.

There are ten of them off to a European city come July, exams behind them and I am looking forward to DD being able to think about time with her friends rather than exams and insect bites. She is feeling guilty thinking about this when she knows some can't do this in light of recent events. I know some have said on this that it isn't a subject appropriate to this thread but it is as it could be our young people. Those who had some link, even a tenuous one, means it is affecting our young people. The sad events are also putting things into perspective for me.

Understand. I think there has been so much sadness over pandemic and so many deaths. Years and years of it.

Also - so little space in our heads to deal with anything else other than A levels and exams. I for one am looking forward to not having to think about anything serious for a while when exams finish. So much has been depressing enough for so long.

No rain here. Incredibly. Clouds disappeared. Can't believe it.

I'm still really confused about the Meningitis B vaccine. I thought 18-19 year olds were routinely vaccinated for this, but all the UK sources I can find say make sure you're up-to-date with MenACWY? I checked in with a doctor in the family who has a DD who went to uni last autumn and she wasn't aware of any requirement around Men B either. But I can't see any valid reason not to suggest to DS he gets vaccinated against it?

I forgot where I read about it I'm afraid. Maybe someone else can help. NHS website?

Boots offer it as a private vax @Forestfriendlygarden so it's definitely a thing. It's now offered as part of the baby programme but no real info on the reasons for doing it (or not doing it) as a catch-up prior to uni.

Looking at DD’s vac record she doesn’t have MenB but does have the other Meningitis ones. NHS website seems to indicate the B version is only routine in NHS for those born from 2015. But do do your own research. DD did some checks and decided to arrange it, no appointments convenient to us with Boots but Superdrug do it too so she os booked in with them. Not cheap though and DD says when she gets to Uni she will suggest to JCT or SU they help with this in some way until those 2015 born little ones are at Uni and it is no longer required.