Year 13 2024 - General support thread part 2

[Rollergirl11]

All welcome as our young people head in to their last full term before the summer exams. Between UCAS applications, receiving offers/rejections, learning to drive and taking driving tests, revising for mocks and sitting them the pace hasn’t let up for our DC.

This thread has been a lovely supportive and immensely helpful place to talk as we guide our DC’s through this challenging time!

Old thread here https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/further_education/4851165-year-13-20232024-general-support-thread?page=40&reply=132323436

DD said she’ll be getting her English NEA back today. She is definitely getting more stressed now. Has her Spanish speaking a week tomorrow and then there will be 6 exams to do. School emailed parents with their individual timetables yesterday - feels quite weird seeing it in black and white

She has one history and one English paper before half term, then first week of June has three exams including two on one day and finishes with Spanish on 17th June

@MirandaWest snap! DD2 has the same exams except she has a French speaking exam next Wednesday. She's also expecting feedback on her English and History coursework soon.

DD1 also has the French speaking exam on the same day but noting more until after half term. She has two clashes French/Biology and French/Chemistry so will need to be in isolation on those days.

She's had a bit of a confidence boost as she's just found out that she's been achieved her CREST Gold Award, with a lovely report from the external examiner. She knows it doesn't count for anything with regard to UCAS etc but as she hopes studying Biomedical Science at university it will count in her favour.

Both DDs have firmed their uni offers, finance & accommodation is applied for, so it's all down to them to get the grades!

DD has submitted tech nea (excellent mark there) and German language is on the 7th (with a mock this Friday) - will be so glad when that is past. This means 24% of her marks will have been done before starting on the 6 exams she has, with only one (a physics paper) before half term. She is working well, not excessively, but it is building now - lots of going to libraries with friends, including the local uni library - many/most let the public in on signing (ours is 5 times a year) - which is novel for them.

Oh yeah, still not firmed anything. Have an offerholder this weekend and one next week - she'll need to decide then. Also went to an A level workshop for another last week - only 5 of them there so was really useful revision while giving an insight to the dept's approach. And she realised her spoken German is as good as others, and better than some - her confidence is low!

DD not firmed yet as still not heard from Edinburgh. Not sure whether or not she would want to go there. Am personally not sure whether she might want a gap year but will bring it up at some point

Slightly boggled by all these post-half term exam weightings. DS kicks off a fortnight tomorrow. Not ready yet ....

DD had her History NEA back today. 37/40 so she’s pleased with that. Just waiting for her final English lit mark back but overall she’s done well so feels she’s in a good place going in to the exams.

DD also has History and English lit just before half term. They are her first exams so 4 weeks tomorrow.

She is also using the Flora app that everybody seems to be using and agree it does get very competitive. Although DD says she witnessed a friend start a session on the app and then proceeded to have a nap so as you say @SooperOuting it isn’t tracking ACTUAL revision but just the time that you’re not active on your phone! 😂

I got DD a Tonys Chocolonely Advent Calendar (expires August!) on Ocado for £3 today.

I have added “A revel “ to the countdown calendar writing and worked out its 27 days not 24 for her A levels but she can have a couple of days off over half term 😀

2.5 weeks here and 3 papers before halfterm, 2 on subsequent days. Printed out a calendar to alert the actual student of this... School study leave starts in a week but he plans to keep going in and has deleted TikTok! Hope everyone is not too stressed.

DD has her Spanish speaking exam this morning. She’s been very nervous about it but seemed OK as she set off.

She also gets to vote for the first time today 😊

@MirandaWest good luck to your DD.

Another first time voter here too although DS is rather unexcited about them being local & mayoral elections...

Hope your DD gets on okay with her Spanish speaking exam @MirandaWest
My DS still 17 so sadly can’t vote yet. Thankfully he is 18 just before the ‘end of school ‘prom.
Less than a week till first exam so feeling rather nervous.

Ds will be voting today too for the first time.
Good luck to those with exams starting soon. Now we're in May it all seems to have come round very quickly. Ds only has a few days left at school. He prefers to revise at home as he doesn't feel they get much done in class - for example they haven't got time to do a full paper. I'll probably take half term off to support him as the bulk of his exams are after that.

We had a very good trip to Warwick uni for the offer holder day and I actually preferred it to ds's first choice which is a London uni. The pastoral care on the course there is very good and there are lots of accommodation options even if you want to stay on campus throughout. I still think a campus option would be better for ds but I feel more reassured now that both choices will be ok.

DD just texted and said it went really well! With two exclamation marks 😃 Am very pleased for her. She also finally got an offer from Edinburgh yesterday and sounded happy with her history NEA mark when she told me this morning.

Hope Spanish has gone well Miranda

Think it starts on 14th May here and ends on 20th June so quite spread out and much less intense compared with GCSEs exams. Currently at school, don't think they get study leave though DD hasn't gone in every day.

Not firmed and insured yet though just the insurance choice between the two she has for insurance to decide between and 2 to hear from though 1 of those is for the wrong course and 1 grades will be too high to be of use.

Organising a holiday with her boyfriend for summer.

My son finally got his EPQ marks back today (handed it in before October Half-tern!) and got 47/50 which he is delighted with.

He is even happier (and shocked) with 40/40 for his History NEA as he was well and truly sick of it long before it was finished.

@Penguinsa what happened with your daughter’s EPQ in the end - did she manage to get out of it?

It is definitely getting more real now. They go on study leave at the end of next week and I just realised 3 weeks today he’d have completed 60% of his History A level!

Great marks Jax well done.

As far as I know re EPQ it was still DD was refusing to do it and school were insisting she entered and it was in her UCAS / Oxford applications with a predicted grade E as they sometimes go up one grade for predicted though why they thought an E would look better than a U not sure. 😂I asked her if school were still entering her and she said I hope so because if I don't get that U Oxford could withdraw their offer.

Well done to your DS @Jaxx and glad the Spanish went well @MirandaWest

DS has just told me that he only has 6 or 7 lessons for each subject remaining as he has two weeks before study leave (and Monday is a bank holiday obviously). Scary stuff! We've also been discussing the local elections which he can vote in today, most of the candidates seem to have very similar stated aims (in the leaflets we have had through the door) so he thinks it's very tricky to choose between them. I'll have to dig out the passports and take him up to the polling station later, I remember taking him with me in the buggy when he was very small!

Amazing results for your DS @Jaxx very well done to him.

DD is having a wobble again. Is getting stressed that the school revision sessions are opening up cans of worms about content she hasn’t considered (from what I can gather students are asking questions about random stuff). Her self belief is nosediving again which affects her retention and speed. Argh. One more day……

Glad to hear the Spanish exam went well @MirandaWest - DD has her German on Tuesday morning - some had theirs today. We also went to an offer holder day (Loughborough) on Wednesday and nearly have a decision on firming (if not insurance) so almost ready to break out the claxon on that one!! Was a really good day anyway.

Excellent news to @MirandaWest with the offer from Edinburgh and a positive Spanish exam!

And well done to your DS @Jaxx on outstanding EPQ and History NEA. It’s a weight off isn’t it? DD has heard some horror stories from friends at her college and other settings that have had very low (unexpected) marks back for History NEA and are trying to establish what has gone wrong and if there is anything that can be done. I really feel for them.

DD (and DS doing his GCSE’s) don’t go off on study leave until after half term so we have another 3 weeks left yet. The school/college have created a revision timetable for each student that ensures they have a compulsory subject specific revision session directly before every exam. This continues right to the end. It’s great for DS who needs as much hand holding as possible but I know DD would far rather be at home doing her own revision.

Bank holiday weekend and nothing going on here other then revision. DS has his first GCSE’s on Thursday and Friday. DD has another few weeks with her first exam on 23rd May.

Would be nice to have some decent weather, getting sick of how changeable it is.

Well while school doesn't want to officially give study leave (I gather this is an Ofsted no-no) they have been told (both they and the GCSE students) that they are not expected in except for the exams, although their teachers will be around during their normal scheduled classes for questions or help with revision (except for some of the science teachers, who apparently are in such short supply that they have been re-rostered, so they need to email to check when a particular science teacher is available). DD seems to be putting together a rota of study partners (both from her school and friends from other schools). I hope it is an efficient system (I suspect some of them are better study partners than others, ie more focussed on the study part of it). But given her focus issues, I suspect that is better than her trying to do too much on her own.

Just to add that for weeks before they said this, while DD was showing up to school, she was frequently one of a maximum of three in the class, and I guess the school decided there was really no point.

DS finishes on Wednesday although no lessons then only the leavers' service.

Today was "wear your old (pre-sixth form) school uniform" to school day and Tuesday will be fancy dress day.