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 has had 2 zero hour contracts since she was 16, one was serving the formal dinners at a university college (mainly when hired out for special events) and they just give out shifts and you apply for what you want, think it was about £12 an hour and they gave them a free meal themselves. The other one is doing punting tours, and she's done most of the roles there, cashier initially but then quickly moved to sales and taking the tours, they taught her how to punt and the tour and that pays much better so she stopped first job after a year and just did this one. She did the fireworks and bat tours as well. On a good day in summer she gets about £300 a day, in winter its closer to £11 an hour though she gets tips on top and got £100 tip a few weeks back. She often gets tipped in foreign currencies. She absolutely loves it and keeps her fit as she punts about 5 hours a day when she works and she has made a lot of friends there, several of whom will be at university with her. She will continue all through university holidays. They get told shifts and bid for them, she generally gets what she asks for and also they can swap between each other if something happens.

The punting and golf club bar jobs both sound great. DD's zero hours job experience was minimum wage clearing tables at a caravan park which, as you can imagine, wasn't a bunch of fun, but all she could get at 16.

Dd has worked in the kitchen of a farm shop cafe on Sundays and Fri evenings for the last 18 months. About £10 ph at the start but £11 by the end. Has stopped now to focus on A levels. But she has saved the money she needs for her gap year which is great.

My son works at a tourist attraction - basically shepherding visitors in and around it and answering questions/taking photos of them. He was very lucky to get it, as it came up in my twitter feed and the interview day was during Y12 mock study leave. No tips allowed alas, but London living wage plus 12% uplift in lieu of holiday pay.

Another milestone this week: the first break-up. It's been a model first relationship and they've ended amicably. It's been on DD's mind for a while so I'm glad it's out of the way ahead of exams, summer and the start of uni. She's much happier without this worry. I, on the other hand, am increasingly wobbly and unsettled, chalking up another change to grapple with!

Tricky times but glad it worked out ok for them. DSs GF dumped him a few months into uni and he was heartbroken for a week….until he found out she had someone else! Living his best single life now at uni without a backwards glance.

DD has two papers done and dusted. She’s very much glass half empty, so is focusing on the questions she feels she didn’t do well enough in. Of course on topics she’s hardly revised. Sigh.

Then feels ok for a bit. Then goes on TikTok or wherever and sees something and is in tears again. It’s going to be a looooong month….

On the upside, she actually finished both papers - which is a vast improvement on any A level mocks she’s done.

Sorry about the breakup Ten

Second A level here this morning but DD is not back yet, next ones are Tues and Wed next week. Her brother has been having the TV on max volume a lot, first time he's had it on in a year, so she's pleased and said to leave him to it, but the noise is making revision challenging. Just got her noise cancelling headphones yesterday evening which seem to sort it. Her boyfriend kindly offered his for a month but she said he took them from his brother as he wasn't using them so she couldn't do that. She said they have agreed a summer holiday but not booked yet though have dates agreed as well. He still drives her home each time and comes in and cuddles the cat each time, his parents don't allow cats and he desperately wants one. Though DD says it's moved to his Mum would like a cat but his Dad doesn't allow it.

DD has two papers done and dusted. She’s very much glass half empty, so is focusing on the questions she feels she didn’t do well enough in. Of course on topics she’s hardly revised. Sigh.

Sounds like my DD too.

Your DD sounds very adult about her relationship break-up @TenSheds . Impressed by such maturity.

DD has worked out that in 19 days, she'll have finished her exams.

She's taking the afternoon off today which is no bad thing.

DDs school has last day for year 13 today (given that lots of them have already started their exams this feels a little late but DD doesn’t start until next Thursday). One of her friends doesn’t have any exams until after half term!

She was a bit despondent last night - I think combination of school coming to an end, exams, wondering whether friendships will last etc. Her last exam is one month today (then she’s getting a haircut 😃. Doesn’t want one sooner as she wants to make sure she can tie her hair properly back in her exams).

DD is back home now, stayed after exam and went out for dinner with her boyfriend and had pizza at a pub. The exam was weird but good. First one was good with a couple of weird questions. Not entirely sure what that means but she seemed to think around an A in this one and previous one was better. She needs A star AA ideally. 2 next week on Tuesday and Wednesday then a week and a half off.

Glad to hear some good things and sympathies for the troubles! Ds has done two, dislikes talking about them. High B in his NEA. We're hoping he's working flat out for the next two next week. It's so hard to keep the conversation going in the few hours we see him! Half term will feel long I think.

Dd is 3 down. Another on Monday and then none until after half term. They have been ok so far but tbh she has been v good at saying there is no point talking about them once they are over as it is too late to change anything! Just plugging through them

Ds is starting to feel a bit miserable as many of his friends are a few papers down and he's not even started yet! Nothing until Friday.

My DS has done 3 so far and has another 7 to go. He has his busiest week coming up with another 3 exams and is dreading CS paper 3 on Tuesday, as it covers so much content. Will be glad when this week is over!
Good luck all!

Ds hasn't started yet. He only has two this week, the bulk after half term evenly spread out until 21/6. I remember GCSE's being horribly packed in so this seems a bit more manageable.

DD has ones on Thursday and Friday, then 3 in the week after half term including two on one day and then tne final one 10 days later.

DD starts tomorrow, and there are three this week, Monday, Wednesday and Friday, then the break for half term.

DD also has her first 2 on Thursday and Friday and then 2 per week after half term and finishes with last one on 17th June. She is getting fed up of being expected to still go in to college during her frees and try and find somewhere quiet to revise so I have emailed to say that she will be spending her free periods revising at home. They are on study leave from after half term. Think she’s getting antsy now and just wants to get started!

It's funny how different their timetables are. By the time they finish for half term on Friday DS will be half way through but his girlfriend won't even have started.

First exam tomorrow morning and he is definitely a bit nervous, but he is well prepared. He has another one on Thursday and then the rest after half term. It does get a bit manic then as from the 4th - 11th June he has 6 exams but hopefully it will be OK with the week beforehand and the weekend in the middle for revision. It will definitely be better than KS3 exams when they crammed all the exams into 1 week. He only has two in the last week and finishes on the 20th with prom on the 21st.

He got his first choice college in the initial Durham allocation, so is very happy. Fingers crossed it is good news for everybody else.

Hey guys, has anyone (perhaps with older children) applied for special consideration for an exam?

DD has come home today crying that the invigilators were talking all the way through, so she couldn't complete the exam. I've complained to the college but it doesn't seem like there is much we can do about it. It seems so unfair after all the work she has put in, that she couldn't complete her actual exam because of the invigilators.

Another exam here today which she said was really good but weird and also complained about invigilators talking all the way through and another girl banging her shoe on the floor every 5 secs but clearly anxiety driven so DD didn't like to say anything. I don't think there's much you can do about it, it can be worth letting school know to hopefully stop it happening again but don't think you can get special consideration for it though you could ask. DD is supposed to be in a quieter room but it has all the children in it who need help and rest breaks and 6 different exams going on today in it. Its quite tight on special consideration, death of a parent during exam period I think is only 5%. I told DD to say about the invigilators and she says she will think about it but said everyone was looking at them as if you are disturbing me. She seemed to think the paper was fine though and said it was too easy but business is fairly straightforward compared to her other two. Apparently invigilators were asking one boy if he was OK and could they help every 2 minutes then they were saying about everyone rest breaks to and then papers finishing. She said she finished but with 10 seconds to go.

Next one tomorrow then a gap for a week and a half. Her headphones are at least cancelling the noise out from her brother so she can revise, sleep can be trickier but gets enough at some point. Still calm and cheerful. Last one on 20th. I think there's 3 week after half term then one then one. Tomorrow will be harder and not much time to prepare but at least the rest lots of time to prepare.

Half way now. Went 'ok' apparently but came out calm, which is all I hope for. Tomorrow we will be two thirds of the way through. I'm enjoying ticking them off the list.

@Penguinsa DD is also in a special room but none of the students needed checking on, the invigilators were just chatting. So unfair after two years work that it can be ruined like this.

That's disgraceful. Do you know if other children have also complained of the same thing? They should be silent in the exams. Don't let this drop.