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

Have you seen the WIWIKAU thread on this? Lots of people saying exactly the same. Strangely worded questions, and final qu was horrific, apparently. Lots didn't finish, or left questions blank. My son sat it too, and missed the entire final question, but he knew he hadn't done enough revision so felt that it served him right... But seems it was the paper that was the problem, not the students. Hopefully it will be reflected in grade boundaries? And hopefully papers 2 and 3 will be kinder!

Oh no, that sounds very worrying. Has anyone's dc done an AQA paper yet? I'm wondering if they are more similar to past years. I don't understand how it can happen that the exam board sets a paper where the questions don't even make sense.

We're another family with an exam double whammy. DS 3 GCSE's down and 3 more to go this week.
DD first exam AQA A level psychology on Friday and she's currently having a meltdown over revision. She's been pretty calm up till now so it's a bit worrying.

Sending commiserations and solidarity to those going through it - the memories from last year are mostly just about faded 🙄. Particular salute to those with a GCSE/ A level double whammy year; I was heading for that in 2020 so I never got to live through the horror of it (although it had its own problems…)

My v stressy DD did A levels last summer. One thing that she did that was interesting was mark on her exam timetable exactly how she thought the exam had gone (timetable was up on the kitchen pinboard). When her results came out she compared her feeling of how it went and the actual marks. There really was v little correlation and I think it was a good lesson for her that she really wasn’t the best judge. Of course it doesn’t help at the time, but she does accept now that thinking she has academically faceplanted doesn’t necessarily translate.

Dd1 did her Spanish oral today and she said it.went ok. I have noticed that she is way less stressed since she finished school last Friday.

She doesn't have the rest of her exams though until June, so still some time.left..at this stage I think the most important thing is to keep them.calm!!!

DS1 is starting to stress and flap for economics A level tomorrow. DS2 is waaaaay too laid back for history GCSE tomorrow.

DS had Core maths today and Pyschology on Friday. He has extra time so some of his exams seem really long...over 3 hrs etc

Psychology for my DD on Friday too, but she's been concentrating more on History. She finds Psychology relatively ok but History a hard slog. Predicted A star and B respectively, but did get an A star on History coursework so hoping that may help her get an A.
She was diagnosed with MS last month so has been coming to terms with that too. Treatment starts after the exams.

Yeah I saw that earlier after I posted this. It was the last question which was really awful and was just worded like a riddle so no answer would have been correct. DS said he sat there for at least 5 minutes trying to work out what it was asking.
Psychology on Friday, predicted A star but not had a teacher since Feb so we got a Tutor. It’s his favourite subject and he feels really confident so fingers crossed.

@HerculesMulligannn , I'm borrowing that idea of perception vs reality, love it.

So sorry to hear about A-level Geography. What an awful start for them - but if everyone is saying the same thing, exam board will have to take note I guess.

Aargh, I did not want to read that about Ed excel Geography! We are another household with GCSEs and A levels. GCSEs going ok, DS with A levels has a lot going on and has struggled. Geography is his best subject, hoping for an A*. He didn’t say anything more than a grunt about the exam yesterday.

my DD took the geography paper yesterday. It sounded horrible. Luckily her teacher had told them to remember the French word, but she said that so many students would have have known exactly what they would have written but were thrown. It’s so cruel, why couldn’t they have put it in English and not deliberately try and trip them up.
she did get the standard deviation maths wrong though.

• standard deviation maths question

Ds has just finished economics paper 1 which is his worst paper. Said it wasn’t brilliant but wasn’t a car crash so hopefully that means it was ok.

Am I too late to join? A levels here, DH is overseas and need something to divert me from asking DS if he needs anything about every five minutes. His sixth exam paper is this afternoon, after which he’s half way through unbelievably.

@legalalien your DS is doing 12 papers?!? What subjects is he doing? That’s a lot of papers for A level.

DD has paper 1 next Wednesday - Politics, and is working hard. DD2 has done 2 GCSE papers so far this week and another one tomorrow. She’s only in 4th year though, so only doing 4 papers this year and then just internal school exams. So far we’ve got thumbs up for the two papers she has sat so hoping for more of the same from DD1 next week

It’s the CAIE biology that does it - it adds 5 papers into the mix!

I really feel for all the kids having to get A stars. It’s clearly not possible for everyone to get them but so many seem to be expecting them.

Class Civ on Tuesday seems to have been ok - it is her strongest subject though. Waiting to hear how her Eng Lit (Cam Pre-U) unseen paper went this morning. She gets extra time and rest breaks, so GOK when she'll be out!

DS with GCSEs has basically said every paper so far has been 'alright'. He's not too academic, hoping he passes everything, maybe the odd 6 on a good day, so I'm hoping his 'alright' is actually alright!

@WednesdaysPlaits if their school has truthfully predicted A* then they should be capable of achieving them.

However, if the school has over-predicted to ensure they were in a competitive position for offers; and the DC has subsequently received an A* offer, that's down to us, as parents, to discuss with our DC as to whether it's a realistic target.

DS thought Economics 1 went ok this morning and that's coming from someone who's being doing less than 60% time in school for the last 2 years due to Long Covid.

No A*s expected here. I'll be just glad if he manages to sit all his papers.

DS doesn't start his until Tuesday. First one is Ancient History (for which he has revised by watching YouTube videos). He is so unprepared, it's unreal. He has done half a Maths paper and not even bothered with any Physics revision.

I've just had a conversation with him saying he really needs to put in some intense revision in the next few days, as his first Physics exam is Wednesday.

I am not quite sure what he can learn in 3 days (he's working at the weekend), but you know, we'll give it a whirl.

Good luck to all, especially those who need grades for University (DS hasn't applied, so he feels a little less stressed than those who have I guess - although I'm sure it makes him think it doesn't matter how he does, which is such a shame as he's really quite capable).

DS said he managed to put a diagram onto today's paper which he'd seen on YouTube yesterday so maybe it's not all bad. (or maybe he got it completely wrong).

My son is in his first exam now. 3 hours, he’ll be half way through now. He was anxious and he’s usually so laid back. Praying it goes well. Another one tomorrow and then a few days break.

I feel for all the kids doing exams, (and us parents) it’s so stressful.

Don’t underestimate the power of YouTube for this generation - there is actually a load of good info out there (or so DS tells me). He hasn’t applied for Uni either, agree that possibly reduces stress level a bit.