Year 13 2024/2025 - support, discussion and looking after each other - continuation from year 12 thread

[elkiedee]

I've just realised that the year 12 2023/2024 thread is full - oops! - last message on 16 August - don't know if someone started another continuation thread but I can't see it. This coming year DS1 does A levels and university applications, DS2 will be in his GCSE year.

If there is a thread already started please let me know.

Notts have taken back their offer from yesterday so now no uni place here. Looks like a gap year and a rethink. Not seen ds yet but am a bit gutted for him.

Can they do that, @mumonthehill? Was the offer by email?

It was by email and I am a bit surprised but have not seen ds as he is at work.

I think I'd call (or email) UCAS to see what the procedure ought to be... Your DS might have gone and found another place in clearing if they hadn't made the offer. Did he turn down an insurance place because it? It may well be that strictly speaking they need to honour their offer, and they probably do know that.

@mumonthehillthat's really harsh. I'm sorry this is happening. I hope your DS is ok?

Ok yes he did turn down insurance. Will see.thanks

This info might be useful, @mumonthehill : https://www.thecompleteuniversityguide.co.uk/student-advice/offers/unconditional-offers
It's about unconditional offers but might be relevant regarding the clearing bit of it.
And there are phone numbers here for advice: https://www.thecompleteuniversityguide.co.uk/student-advice/final-choice/guide-to-ucas-clearing#clearingvideo

Thanks so much for this. I just spoke to ds and he is despondent but clear he does not want to apply anywhere else. I think I will get him to read above and see. The email came via ucas saying course over subscribed. I think it may have cemented the gap year really. Its all a bit rubbish but he did not want his insurance which is in clearing but I think another path beckons.

I am so sorry @mumonthehill, I didn’t think that they could do that. How rubbish for your DS, I would definitely query it. I hope that he has a fantastic time in his gap year, if that’s what he decides to do.

My DC has just got papers back from OCR computer science, they said that they can’t understand why they have been marked so low on some of the questions. The teacher said that she can have a look at it but not until early Sep. Not sure whether to wait or just send for a remark.

You need to send one paper at a time as marks can go down as well as up. That’s where the teacher’s view is useful as they will have a better idea of where marks have been missed. If you don’t need the review urgently, it would be best to wait. But I think there is a cut off date after which you can’t get remarks so if you are doing one at a time, you may run out of time if you wait.

I don’t understand why relevant teachers’ contracts don’t include them being in work for a few days after A level results as this is such a critical time. I have read on these threads that they don’t and it’s their holiday time so any work they are doing is for “free”. I don’t know of professionals in any other field who work on such a basis. I’m not inviting a pile on as I said, I have read on these threads that this A level review work during August is outside their contract, but whoever writes these contracts, isn’t centring the pupils. Perhaps another reason why the scheduling of A levels and university offers needs to change so that this intense period falls within term time when teachers are available.

Thank you, that is really helpful. DC is not super close to the next grade (7 marks, I think) but the B grade is so out of kilter with their normal grade that I feel that it is worth looking at. The teacher was shocked at how much the projects had been moderated, the scores were so much lower than the original ones, she is going to look into this.
The marking of GCSE’s and A levels does seem to be all over the place.

When we first went to ask about getting the papers back and a remark, the exams officer seemed to be going out of her way to put us off. She said that even if we got the papers back there were no teachers to look at them. They are off for the whole summer etc etc. I think when she saw we couldn’t be put off she agreed to send the papers to the teachers for when they return in September. It is only a max of 2 papers anyway.

Ah mumonthehill that sounds tough, I too did not know a uni could do that.

Here DD is going to ask to get her Edexcel Psychology papers back. All the way through she's been getting A stars and As with one B in tests/mocks but she got a D in the exams.

I went down a rabbit hole and am now completely confused. Can it really be right that to get an A star psychology with AQA you needed 77% but with Edexcel you only needed 59.6%? Surely that means that the Edexcel paper must have been so much harder or have I completely misunderstood it all?

Edited to add she was only 1 mark off a C.

@Sweetpeasaremadeforbees Sorry to hear about your DC’s shock grade, sounds like it’s worth getting a remark. Have you got your papers back yet? Good luck with the remarks.
From my last experience, GCSE, the marking was appalling. We got 2 different subject papers remarked and in both subjects DC went up a grade. The mistakes in marking were very obvious, even to me, on just one paper DC went up 6 marks! We didn’t bother getting the other paper remarked as they had already gone up a grade.

As far as I understand it, the grade boundaries are adjusted in relation to how well students have done so yes, it sounds as if Edexcel was difficult for students this year.

Thank you. I think she's starting not to care about a remark now as she got her firm place. Her 6th form college which she thought was brilliant teaching wise has been shockingly shite regarding results. Students received their results online and had to book an appointment if they wanted to actually go in and talk to a member of staff.

Their post results service consists of logging onto the students REMSpay account and choosing what service you're willing to pay for. Despite it supposedly being free to get access to exam scripts the college is charging a £10 'admin' fee per paper before you even consider a review. And the college specifically says not to email your tutor or teacher because they won't be available until the term begins.

So DD thinks we may as well save the £30 to spend on stuff from IKEA!

I however am extremely pissed off because it sounds like a money making exercise to me. Such a shame for kids where a grade change might matter but their family might struggle to afford the initial £30 per subject let alone the rest of it.

@Sweetpeasaremadeforbees sorry to hear that. Our school admin officer did try to put us off saying all teaching staff will not be available but the computer science teacher has already been in contact to express her shock regarding the project and saying that she will take a look at the papers at beg September.
All students had to go into school to collect results and the exam officer was there to help. Our school charge a £5 fee per paper to recall them, I think this is new, it used to be free. OCR also charge £60 per paper to review marking! You do get your money back though is the grade changes.
I hope your DD has a great time at uni, whether she goes for the remark or not.

My daughter’s college just emailed her papers for free so she could look at grade boundaries. She’s not looking for a review was just interested in how close. This is just a huge city college.

We have applied for a remark of all 3 papers for a subject where DD was expecting A (or B in the worst case) but got D. It was a shocker. Luckily she’s still got her firm choice and we are moving forward. But since she’s 1 mark away from C - we have applied for all 3 to be remarked. DD refused (!!) to speak to her 6th form teachers who were available on the day and could’ve advised. So we’ve just gone for the remark and hoping for the best. If she does lose marks she’s clearly away from the lower boundary so won’t matter too much.

does anyone know when can we expect to hear about remarked scores? We did not qualify for priority.

You can get a priority remark if you’re prepared to pay the higher cost I think. Those can be back within a couple of days to a week.
Others can take 3-4 weeks. If you look on the Board website it should give a guide.

@WombatChocolate thank you. When applying for remark the form said we qualify for priority only if we have lost our uni place because of the lower grade. If not, we had to select the regular remark.

@AutumnComing2 that’s good, we would have like to have a look at another subject’s papers but DC was further away from the boundary and as they are charging £5 per paper (not subject) decided not to.

@FitnessIsTheOnlyWealth Good luck with your remark.
I think we may do one paper at a time if we have time. Will be guided by the teacher when she returns in Sep. It’s horrible when they get a shock result, when my DC opened their results, the only thing they said was I don’t understand!

@Earlymornyawn wish you the same, it was indeed a huge shock when DD got her result. She couldn’t think and wouldn’t let me speak to her teachers! I hope you get some guidance from your teachers soon. Good luck.

I bring good news. We just got back our remark and DD has got a higher grade! We are pleased and it makes the result more palatable for DD. She already has her firm choice so nothing changes there. Much happier now.

That’s good news! It’s about personal academic pride as well as the uni place isn’t it.

Congratulations to your DD @FitnessIsTheOnlyWealth. It does make you wonder how often that would happen if they looked at all the papers again!

Well done @FitnessIsTheOnlyWealth , great result! I am really pleased for your DD. The marking seems to be terrible. Do you know how many marks it went up?
We are still waiting for the teacher but 7 marks off, so quite a lot.