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

Sorry to hear that Life

I can't see how they could enforce that either Aardvark and if they don't want to go maybe contact school to see if they can e-mail results. Or if its just the university place sounds from others like logging on to ucas will reveal if have. Going into school is great if they have the results but I still remember the very distressed children 30 odd years later crying who didn't and trying to look after one girl whilst everyone else seemed to be celebrating ignoring her.

DD was out all yesterday with her boyfriend who wants to borrow our cat for the day, trying to persuade his parents to back down and get a cat. 😂Having another pizza as DD loves them, it'll be her third this week but the first one got pretty much all refunded as they got order very wrong and were very generous on refunds and second was just DD and her boyfriend (they also got order wrong). Third time lucky. I think its ran by lots of rather lost 16 year olds. They are trying hard and very nice.

Lots more gardening done. Just one exam to go on 20th feels strange to have 8 days and just one left. A bit like its already over but its not quite but it is one she's fairly confident with. Good luck to those with exams left especially Ithink to get through that many more and to 24th. That many reminds me of GCSEs when DD had 33 exams. Not an experience I am keen to repeat.

Yes we have the same. It’s incredibly selfish of the schools I think. The reason they do it is twofold:

-apparently they can’t get the results emailed or on the school intranet fast enough
-they want pupils in so if there are any big shocks they can arrange appeals that same day ASAP

Whilst I understand their POV, what doesn’t work with this system is Clearing. I speak from bitter experience trying to phone clearing hotlines in the car as we dashed home. It would be much better to be at home with a reliable signal, easy access to laptop etc. Many unis only have a really limited number of places in Clearing that go very, very quickly so you have to be on it at 8am. Which is very hard if you are forced into school!

@lifeturnsonadime that is truly shit. There are so many things wrong with the totally inflexible system, it’s in need of a massive overhaul.

Schools or colleges can’t enforce people coming in for results day.

However, at the same time, they can and should strongly advise that people should come in and explain why that is.

Schools and colleges will help students who miss their grades and don’t get their uni choices. They can advise, show expert knowledge of processes and next steps and with a student there, can arrange priority re-marks that can be returned super-fast,meaning students might still get their uni place. Staff from different departments might be in, with grade boundaries who can advise if a student just missed a higher grade or was miles off. They can advise if review of marking is advisable or not, and if so, which paper. This kind of advice can be invaluable and make all the difference between a student securing their place at a uni they initially chose or now like the look of, and not.

Everyone should gather stuff ahead of results day for possible phone calls - UCAS details, copy of PS, phone numbers of different places etc. clearing moves fast and the prepared and well-advised do better in it.

Being on holiday or at work and not going in, simply potentially makes students disadvantaged if things do t work out quite as planned. So no, schools and colleges can’t enforce it, but they should recommend it and see it as part of their final service to their students as providing the vital support some will need. To be honest, putting yourself in a position where you can’t avail yourself of this potentially vital support is pretty daft, especially when you’ve worked so hard for your results.

I've just been re reading the results day info from our school. They prefer the students to come in but you can request a phone call or for results to be posted, though I guess you'd only do that if your results weren't going to influence your next steps as obviously it will be at least a day later that you get them. I can't imagine many people opt for post!
There's also advice to have looked at clearing in advance and have the details for courses that you are interested in with you when you collect your results. That wouldn't have occurred to me to be honest as my DD was going on to a course that she'd got on via audition so her A levels didn't matter and DS1 was having a gap year so would just have reapplied if his grades weren't as hoped for, so despite DS2 being my youngest this side of things is all new to me! I think I will wait for a bit after his last exam before mentioning clearing though as I don't want it to look like I don't have faith in him!

DD made 2 giant black sacks of rubbish from her room. 😱We are still nowhere close to seeing the floor but its a start.

I suspect there is a huge difference in the support offered in different schools! Certainly DSs school (superselective state grammar) there was no help at all.

Ours they have to get results at home then they are allowed in if they want careers advice and results are out at 8am. I hadn't realised it all happened so early and quickly.

Ours have the option, but most who have uni plans usually want to go in to be with friends. DD says she's going to check first and only go in if she's got her firm (Oxbridge). She says she'll still be happy if she's got her insurance as she knows she'll have done well, but doesn't want to deal with everyone's expectation.

DD’s school emails everyone but is open if you want advice.

That's the ideal IME - lucky!

@WriterOfWrongs an english lit Edexcel for Friday here! Will be happy to have english over tonight

Good luck anyone else finishing today! Ds thought his was afternoon til I looked it up and pointed out it was morning. I'd better replace the hoover bag in hope of a grand tidy.
No idea what happens with results here, school haven't communicated.

Ooops @aramox1 just as well you checked!
Good luck to anyone with exams today.
I am taking DS shopping today to get his outfit for prom which is in 2 weeks time so he is having a day off revising.

We have nobody going in, and I think phone calls for advice if results aren't as planned. Not sure the school is even properly open. DD to log in to her account on something called Bromcom at 8am to get results. Although DD keeps having problems with accessing her account (I suspect it is her somehow, DS never had a problem with the same system), and keeps resetting her password which is a nightmare, because it is not a straight reset (have to go through all these levels of IT bureaucracy, presumably because of data protection or something). It is supposed to be the same account that they used for GCSEs and (if any) AS levels. The accounts get locked two days before results come out, and then unlocked at 8am (it used to be 6am for GCSEs several years ago, but shifted over the last few years to 8am, which it seems to be for A levels too, presumably that is a requirement).

But relatively few students are going on to university straight away. Most are taking gap years (I think around 90%), even assuming they are going to university afterwards. So most have time to sort things out and reapply.

Biology this morning, and then two more next week. Can't wait.

This is DD’s last day of exams, and she has two. She said her first, politics, went really well. Now English… @SlenderRations good to find someone else doing it! It’s the one paper of the three English DD is least looking forward to, so fingers crossed.

So good to be nearly there now, just one left though feels like ages to 20th. DD got me to order 450g of chocolate chips as she said she is making a giant cake to take into school for when they finish. Then she was asking what else she could do over the summer though she has lots of plans already but she added in she is repainting her room. Not sure if that will happen, she tells me the floordrobe will be super quick to sort.

Nearly over for DD2, just Eng Lit this afternoon and French 2 next week.

Poor old DD1 had Biology 2 this morning and still has Biology 3, Chemistry 2 & 3, and French 2 to go next week. Bless her, she's ploughing on as determined to get her grades.

Both DDs are off to Westfield shopping after DD1's last exam!

We still have four to go too @MrsScrubbingbrush - physics 3, chem 2 & 3 (whose bright idea was that to put them both in the last week of exams??) and maths 3.

Well done to all who are finishing today.

DC finished today. They are absolutely convinced they have messed up every single paper especially today’s. I have started to look at what was in clearing last year. They have revised very hard and done a million practice essays and got A*AA in their last set of mocks. They are convinced they will be lucky with BCC. Apparently they answered everything wrong in the last paper. I am dreading results day and will have a phone ready for clearing.

Bright kids are often very self critical @Lassi and the the things that go badly in exams tend to stick in the mind more than the ones you got right. Right up until I was finishing professional exams when I was definitely a mature adult, I would always come out thinking "I got that wrong, I didn't know X, could have answered Y better" and never "I must have got virtually full marks on question 3". I was convinced I'd failed most of the exams I ever sat. But I never did. Try to relax and enjoy the break now. Things may well be much better than you and DC are currently envisaging.

chem 2 & 3 (whose bright idea was that to put them both in the last week of exams??)

@QueenMabby probably the same person who put politics 2 and English lit 2 on the same day and also politics 3 and English lit 3 on the same day, when doing both English lit & politics is a common combo.

I definitely agree Chem 2 & 3 should have been spread out more, surely that’s the advantage of now having over a 4 week exam period?!

Experienced Clearing expert here! 👋

My top tips:

Be prepared. Have a list of possible unis and go on their websites the day before and get clearing phone numbers and make a note of them

Check if there is any accommodation. First year is a very different and potentially difficult scenario if you aren’t sharing with freshers or people from your uni. It’s much, much harder to make friends.

Lots of unis let you hold clearing offers for a few days which not only allows time for consideration but also to potentially visit. We got results on the Thursday and visited at a clearing offer holder day on the Saturday. Offer was held until the Monday.

Some unis have literally only a handful of spaces in clearing in certain courses so you have to be on the phones at 8am. Some look like they have spaces but they are only for international students who pay more. Don’t rule out Scottish unis as an RUK student as they have different allocations for English students so sometimes have spaces.

Keep an open mind. A Clearing mind is surprisingly different and expectations and requirements shift.

Hope you won’t need any of this advice. x

Thank you so much @MrsAvocet and @SooperOuting. I am hoping for a better outcome than they are predicting but preparing myself for the worst.

DD has just one left on Monday - Spanish