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

Lovely!
Glad she has something planned. I've asked mine what she would like to do and she doesn't answer...no space in her head.

@Forestfriendlygarden my goodness what a stressful morning for you and it's only 8.30! Hope all goes smoothly for the rest of the day

Me too. Good luck everyone.
I'm sat here feeling guilty about just about everything.

Maybe it is not as bad as I think.

Once today is over there is only one biology left for us - next week Wednesday.
I'm glad, don't think I could do another week. Feels like we've been doing exam prep for four years.

thanks to all on this thread and best of luck.

Bless. DD here didn't get much sleep.

Dd left to sit biology p2. I feel sick with worry for her

Just sent DD off for Biology...she's quite nervous as it's her least favourite subject....roll on Weds when she finishes!!

(Re the discussion on 3 or 4 with FM/maths - DS did maths, FM, Physics and DT and has gone to Cambridge to do engineering. C weren't remotely interested in his DT result - only the first 3. They asked for an A star in FM though!! He was going to drop DT in Y13 but he'd done all of the hard work on the NEA so just cracked on)

Sorry to hear physics was awful, but if it was for everyone the grade boundaries will reflect that!

Hang in their kackle love. It's awful watching it isn't it?

There.
I honestly can spell and did pass G.C.S.E English!

Politics 2 this afternoon for DD and she is definitely nervous. She was most nervous about Politics 1 and it went well, so I’m hoping paper 2 is as good as the first one, then even with 2 RS papers next week, I think she’ll relax a little. She’s driving herself to school today as is going out with friends afterwards and I am panicking about her having an accident on the way in. I’ll be tracking her phone the whole way to school!

DS in for last ever lessons today, then final Comp Sci and maths papers Monday and Tuesday next week.

The end of an era.

Urgh I hate the driving @AfingeroffudgeisNOTenough Puts me on edge every time. Not helped by DS2 taking himself off my 'Find My' app on the not unreasonable grounds that it's none of my business

Good Luck to all biologists from me too - my son is at his dad's this week and I have hated not having him here but next week he still has SIX to go and will be back under my wing!

He feels biology is his weakest subject so I am praying its not too bad for him.

Good luck to all sitting papers today in this heat. DH drove a rather nervous DS to school as he was worried that the bus would be late. I don't know who's more nervous, him or me, to be honest. I'm trying to distract myself as there's no hope of getting any work done x

heavens above six,
we've got one left wednesday

@PacificState DD tried that once, and was told it was non-negotiable while we still pay for the phone. We actually don’t track her often (things like today are very much the exception, and if we do it, there is always a reason for it), but it’s a safety issue knowing of several friends whose DC have had drinks spiked while at Uni and called parents in a state and by using find my phone, the parents have been able to get trusted friends, and in one case the police, to their location. Another friend’s DS got separated from friends in an unfamiliar European city and parents were able to direct them to a meeting place while google maps was down on their phone.

I totally get the argument of it being none of our business, and I’m sure there are plenty of parents who would disagree with us still using it now that DD is 18, but we have made it a non-negotiable and explained our reasoning and asked her to trust us to only use it if genuinely required. (Which I guess today it isn’t really - other than for my peace of mind.)

Useful info.

What time does the morning exam finish people? Just wondering what sort of break she will get before English Lit this afternoon...

Good luck to everyone taking exams today.
DD is in her dreaded US politics exam at the moment. Just over an hour to go and then she will have finished her A levels 🎉

Six still to go here as well - but with 2 today that will be down to 4 by tonight.

I feel quite sorry for those still with a full on week left (and any with RS I think on 26th) with so many finishing now.

Yes, think I will stay on this thread and cheer everyone on until the last woman is finished!

I can totally see your reasoning @AfingeroffudgeisNOTenough How terrifying about the drink spiking. In an awful way I wonder whether this is an area where having boys rather than girls means a little bit less anxiety. Not that things can't go wrong (and I know we're all thinking about the unimaginable incident in Nottingham), but my usual fears for my DSs relate more to them losing their wallets or getting lost, and when you're 18 you need to start being able to cope in situations like that (probably by phoning your mum...)

I really noticed that once DS1 got to uni and I no longer knew where he was (precisely) at any given time I just stopped 'needing' to know, so I guess with DS2 I'm anticipating something similar this autumn once he goes off. But I know a lot of his female friends still have trackers on because their parents insist on it and I can totally see why.

Well that's it - A levels are a wrap and that is me done with UK school education after 25 long years (DS is the youngest). I am going to stay on here to cheer you all on before we move to the new thread of nervously waiting for results.

My list for DS includes: getting a job, resuming driving lessons, resuming chores, writing a personal statement and deciding which uni and what course he wants to do, planning his gap year. I am sure there were other things that I've forgotten but I will give him the weekend off to recover 😂

Verdict on AQA Biology Paper 2 - "pretty nice, I think it went well, best science paper by miles". The verdict on Twitter so far is the same.

well done o
may I thank all those on this thread for helping
it has been important to me at has held me up in a difficult time
thank you

thank heavens for that.
DD was in a right state

and I didn't help
much as I tried to keep my anxiety under wraps it didn't work...

Biology paper 2 got the thumbs up
here too, although DD says she finished half an hour early, which worries me slightly as she usually runs out of time. She assures me she definitely didn't miss any pages 😂