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

@mondaytosunday I hear you the contrast with dd and her older brother is immense. She so desperately wants to get into her first choice university I am just keeping everything crossed 🤞🏻

We have spent this morning doing biopsyc flash cards.

Good idea re dogs - I’m hoping to tempt dd out with me later. She’s also doing biology and chemistry so her exams stretch right to the end 🙁

Thank you. Things have been really bad in the run up to these exams, and I think this paper ( and it being the first exam she has sat has just made it all overwhelming.

I’m so sorry- A levels are brutal. Dd is very anxious at the best of times and was in floods of tears the day before. At least it’s 1 paper down and they will have learnt from that - dd panicked in the exam and we’ve talked through calming methods. I just keep stressing to her that none of us can change what’s happened so we just need to let it go and not give it any more headspace and focus on what’s to come.

Yes my dd has also been struggling with anxiety for months, not going to school for a lot of lessons etc. She is also doing biology which is her worst subject, so we are dreading those exams, she has seemed to give up on the biology a long time ago. She has no applied to Uni for this year but was thinking that if she got half reasonable grades ( unlikely now) she might apply for something through clearing. DD is one of the youngest in the school year, not 18 until the end of June and I keep telling her it is not the end of the world if she has to re-sit or do some kind of access course. Nothing I can say seems to console her though, it is a very difficult time. I think it hasn't helped with them not actually sitting GCSE's due to covid. I also have added stress of ds having done one year at Uni and very unhappy and wanting to start all over again at a different Uni so I'm worrying about his too and the cost implications of another year. Such a lot of stress !!

That sounds super tough! Have sent you a dm.

Oh gosh @Babyroobs what a lot to deal with. Sending 💐.

DD was doing some uni admin after lunch today, it has to be done by 15 June and as her last exam is 16 June she has to do it on a quiet period in-between revision. She is finding it tough to do on a mental level, just in case she misses the grades for her first choice. It involves picking a meal plan, scanning certificates, learning about fresher week (well for her college I think it is more like four days!), picking accommodation duration (won't know what room or building until she arrives!). etc. I know most are going through this too, so nothing unique but it does seem so back-to-front to be doing all this paperwork, feeling invested in the university and no certainty. She 'should' get the grades, it would be a bad day for her if she didn't, but we all know there are no guarantees despite predictions. DD says she feels like it is almost bad luck filling out forms as if she is definitely going there.

Yeah I wish we had the same system as in Ireland where you apply to uni once your results come out. Admittedly it's hard to imagine how this would scale to the UK but would eliminate all the hassle of making a certain number of conditional offers with the expectation that only a percentage will be firmed and only a percentage of those will get the required grades

Not quite how it works in Ireland @tribpot, but I agree it is a better system.

You apply January, but can have up to 10 choices rather than 5 and they can be a range of choices from level 8 (degrees) down to things more like vocational courses. You have to put them in order of preference, BUT, you can submit a change of mind right up to early July, so if you have a change of heart, or think that you’ve bombed/aced your exams and want to apply to something at a lower/more aspirational level, you can do that. (DD has only applied to 2 courses, but is seriously considering adding a 3rd in before the July 5th deadline)

No offers are made until after results however, and they are based purely on results, not on predicted grades, or personal statements, or teacher references etc.

(unfortunately results are expected to be delayed again this year, and therefore offers will also be delayed, so there will be a bit of having to hold your nerve between A level results and CAO offers)

Ah thanks @AfingeroffudgeisNOTenough I only had a brief conversation with an Irish friend about the system and he didn't give me the full run-down! That sounds a lot more sensible than total mayhem on results day.

Difficult all round with the results being delayed, I assume they won't be able to confirm any offers to A level students either until all the results are out?

Yeah all Round 1 offers will be a few days after Leavers Cert results are out, then Round 2 offers will be (I think) about 5 days after that, and Round 3 after that.

It’s a slightly more complicated system and you could end up getting an offer from your 2nd/3rd choice in Round 1 and then get a higher up offer in Round 2/3, which can make it hard to plan, but I still think it’s fairer than basing it on the hypotheticals of the UCAS system.

Leavers Cert results have been delayed the last few years and we’ve been told to expect them to be delayed again this year, but there’s still no date released yet. It’s been raised by senior academics that it’s far from ideal - there will be a shorter first term for first years (10 weeks instead of 12), and it’s much harder for anyone coming in to Ireland from the U.K. or Europe who gets their results much earlier, and also for Irish students hoping to go and study outside of Ireland, but there isn’t any indication that results will go back to pre-pandemic timings.

DD is having a complete day off today, and has taken it upon herself to sort her room - so.much.crap.

She has just given me a heart attack by appearing laden down with school work for the recycling bin. (And when I say laden down, I mean the pile was almost 50cm high!) I told her she couldn’t get rid of stuff yet - exams haven’t even started! Started to mildly panic that she was having some kind of breakdown when she said it wasn’t A-level notes, but all all GCSE/AS Level stuff which she has kept for the last 2/3 years and has suddenly decided that now is the time to get rid of them! I despair! Who knows what we’ll find come September when we’re packing her off to
uni!

I grew up in the US and it's coursework grades, not exam grades. The pressure is over by now.
Unis look at your GPA, Teacher references (from third - out of four - years), SATs (in English and math), boards (exams in particular subjects), personal systems and extracurriculars. You get firm offers early Spring. At least that's what they did, though it probably hasn't changed too much. This does mean the last semester is a bit of a wash, but most kids use getting out in May to get a job to save up!

Sociology this morning and DD already up, I'm guessing she wants to go over a few things. Good luck to those with exams today.

DD's first exam this afternoon - History of Art, a 3 hour epic. She's up and coming in to school with me this morning as buses are completely unreliable at the moment and she'll just fret otherwise.

Good luck vibes to everyone with exams today.

Second Economics exam for DS this morning. First went well so keeping everything crossed.

Good luck to all your DC! DS has his most difficult (human geography) exam this afternoon, can’t wait to have that out of the way - will be more than half way by this evening.

Following. DS2 doing Maths, Biology and Chemistry so another two weeks before his first exam. Seems to have been revising forever.

will be more than half way by this evening

Wow @legalalien we haven't really got started yet. DS has done his Spanish speaking exam but first written exam is this Wednesday. Teaching is still going on! But he's opted out of it. I don't blame him - the teaching has been poor to non-existent, so what's the point at this stage.

Another with economics paper 2 this afternoon. Its very strange how they schedule the exams. DS would have benefitted massively from an extra 3-4 weeks of revision.

@WednesdaysPlaits are his other subjects early too? DS has Economics early and then Chemistry late with Maths sprinkled through the middle. I feel he has been quite lucky that way. Good luck to everyone with Economics 2 today.

Good luck to everyone with their exams this week!
DD has one tomorrow afternoon and another Wednesday morning. She is stressing about what to revise as they are close together. Pointed out that at least she doesn’t have 2 on the same day!

DS has two on one day in a few weeks' time, but on the plus side they are very different subjects (I feel like that's helpful!).

I think stress levels have increased here today. DS had a terrible time in the run-up to his GCSEs with the stress of being back in school after lockdown leading to a bunch of physical problems which then made being in school even more stressful. The school were very helpful and the exams officer particularly was superb. Some of the same physical symptoms have started to present themselves, so we will be keeping a very careful eye on things, but at least now we have the reassurance of knowing that the exams officer will be wanting to help if needed.

Scheduling is very odd. DD has 3 this week, sociology today, English Lit Wednesday (key subject as doing it at Uni) and psychology Thursday. That'll leave 5 for after half term so a decent spread.

Good luck to all those sitting Economics today. Politics paper 1 tomorrow then Psychology paper 2 on Thursday and then a well earned break (for me as much as for DS!). Politics is a beast - it has a massive syllabus and they only have two questions (plus a question on ideologies).