Year 12 - 2025/2026: Support Thread 2

[QueenMabby]

A new thread for us to keep chatting on!

DD’s probably applying to Cambridge and Imperial. She’s just had her first meeting to discuss her personal statement and was told that the most important thing was to link as much as possible back to the degree course and to be reflective as to what things have taught you rather than talk about the things themselves if that makes sense. Even with DD’s IBO she has to talk about what she’s learnt in the run up to it rather than focussing on the achievement of getting there.
I don’t think you have to have external or additional achievements outside of A level grades in order to do that reflection. Reading around the subject and listening to podcasts etc can have the same effect.

I find it a bit sad now that the universities no longer care about them being well rounded individuals who do other things (which is what we were told at their age), and now it’s all about supercurriculars. I think it adds to sixth form all feeling very pressured.

@icanbewhatiwant I hope you can get something out of him about why he’s changed his mind, and that he can find some others that appeal to him.

I also hadn’t realised chemistry has such high grade boundaries. DS just had his mock results back and got B in chemistry with A star in maths and physics, which probably backs up his idea to drop chemistry. Because for further maths they didn’t do mocks as they had the AS, we won’t know where he is with that until the results in August. I at least want him to be sure he’s on track for a good grade in that before making a chemistry decision.

I think you have to just fake the supercurriculars a bit. DD who loves music and has multiple grade 8s and diplomas cannot talk about music for law. But she could research the AI implications on musicians and the legal implications of that as she wants to do Law and then somehow link it all together. That would be my suggestion to her. Now whether she will take it or not, is another matter. It is all really contrived. DD loves Further Maths but there is absolutely no point in doing it for law and some unis may demand a certain grade in it too, so she may have to drop it. I have got her some A level second hand law books to read the basics about Law instead. She won’t get through all of it. And we haven’t even considered the LNAT yet. Not looking forward to the bunfight of getting an exam slot before the Oxbridge deadline, if she even goes down that route. Will be a whole repeat of the driving test slot fiasco again I suspect.

agree that the 'supercurriculars' thing is a bit sad. We should celebrate those teens who do lots of different things - especially volunteering and stuff where they don't actually have to.

Not sure we want a nation of self-seekers who only want stuff that is relevant for the form or who can't cope with balancing their lives when they actually get to uni.

Wonder whether the pendulum will swing back one day.

DS decided to quit his musical instrument lessons/exams as soon as he heard the 'supracurricular' thing from Imperial. He said he needed to spend his time doing maths things instead. 10 years of lessons and ensembles, but why continue to put the effort into it when he's under pressure to do maths outreach, physics challenges, TMUA preparation etc. I think I've convinced him to 'give back' to the school in Y13 by continuing with school ensembles but I might as well save the money from the lessons/exams! I gave him a bit of a guilt trip saying that I didn't realise that the last Christmas concert would be my last so he owed me one more...

For those leading universities, as well as top grade predictions, do you think you have to have a competition win/leadership role/elite sport etc to be in with a chance as they look at personal statements?

Not sure about top uni specifically but DH is in HE and say they are either everything or nothing. Either not even read or what gets them a place if bordeline for some reason in departments and uni he worked for.

For DD1 it was her personal statement and an interview on an offer day that got her a place - her hobbies were relevant and her interest in area obvious apparently - also what she said matched her ucas satements - ( she was writting for two differnt subject areas as well - last minute change to one she ended up doing) and they'd had more than a few who seemed unaware what they'd put in their ucas statements at all.

DD2 been told to read round the subject- she reading the textile dying chemical books I bought her - also hoping she'll start experimenting with some dying over summer.

@icanbewhatiwant thanks yes unclear so I will plan to pay next year! DD had her second dose yesterday so fingers crossed.

hello infrequent visitor here again, I am sure I have asked before about online tutoring and i got the suggestion of Up Learn? I have forgotten if this is the correct title?

Any other suggestions welcomed.

I am desperate to get DS (yr12) to do a more structured programme with some support available but not necessarily a tutor as such. If he agrees that is.

Real battle to get him to realise that what he has been doing isn't working well based on the mock results this week. I don't think he is "deluded" just can't seem to think what to do instead or just doesn't want to.

I think he needs a more structured and organised resource as his approach to revision isn't working despite whatever other resources I have provided to date.

If he can go over yr 12 again and ensure its embedded then hopefully good place to start for yr 13.

So thinking an online resource that works him through everything he needs to cover and to the right depth may be the answer as I am at a loss and he doesn't seem to want to think about it but this is the time and chance to turn things around.

I can only keep trying and hope he will engage this time as I just can't give up and "leave him to it" as its clearly not working. And we have a summer to make some sort of difference in time for year 13.

Help!

We used Up Learn for DD1 In Y13.

We couldn't find local tutor who get back to us and she refused on-line tutoring with a tutor.

I think it helped - not her board - we're in wales she she re- took Y12 exams 40 % final mark though her teachers was very good and put on extra lessons and let them sit in Y12 lessons as well. DS re-sat a FM paper but was left entirely alone bar us at home helping - he went from an E to and A on paper he re-sat but that took a lot of work from him.

She had awful Y13 exam chem papers for her - but the re-takes meant her grade didn't drop further.

It's worth a look - they do a free trail for a few days.

I've no idea how to help DD2 - her Art Textile grades lower than she hoped - despite her and us talking to the teacher it's unclear how marks are assigned. I have dug out the qualifications assignment brief and do think she needs to up the welshness but beyond that really not sure.

@CatHairEveryWhereNow thank you, every child needs a different approach - the problem is working out what works best! I have had a good look at Up learn and now I have to convince / persuade / cajole him into even looking to see if he will use it. First step get him to try the free 3 day trial. He did not like Seneca so I don't know if I can be hopeful but hope can be so annoying, doesn't let you give up when it comes to your kids.

I have tried asking what he thinks he might want to try that is different to what he has been doing (passive reading and browsing questions) but he comes up with nothing. I don't think he wants to try anything but lets see!!!! See ever hopeful.

Good Luck for finding something that works for your DD2 🤞

DD1 hated senca as well - but did seem to get on with uplearn though started post august and she got her AS results then which were worse than she'd hoped - so she had the kick up the arse as it were.

Though she got very defensive - as DD2 doing - which is unhelpful.

@ThisPerkySloth2 what subjects would it be for? UpLearn covers physics, chemistry, biology, psychology, maths & economics. Both DD1 & DD2 used it for economics and both got Astar. DD2 had zero school lessons in econ in yr13 (long story) so was 100% reliant on UpLearn. It was very time consuming and most definitely ate into time spent on her other subjects. So just a word of warning re the commitment involved. For DD1 it was during Covid so no school & had time.
DD3 (yr12) is considering starting it this summer but I am warning her that the time required is heavy esp as her others are essay subjects with NEAs.

@CatHairEveryWhereNow I now have a "huh huh" from DS to take a look at uplearn tomorrow which I am taking as a yes! A kick up the proverbial at the right time is a great motivator. I'm hoping my DS will see it like this. Thanks

@NotDonna DS is doing maths and physics. noted the time commitment, did ask the AI bot on up learn and it said about 1 hour per day per subject - DS also has study sessions while in school and there was a mandatory requirement to have devices with touch screens in school so DS could use some of that time too. Sounds like a promising resource - assuming DS commits to using it. 👍

Hello a new development regards DS's year 12 mocks. DS got his marks today for Maths and he was 1 mark off getting the next grade up. DS still has some progress to make regardless but DS has raised an issue as follows which I think he is right in doing so.

DS said that the school written paper included a FM question that none of the non FM students like himself in his group had covered yet but the FM students in FM had. DS this week has covered the topic in class (they started yr 13 work since exams few weeks ago) and says he gets it / could have done the exam question. but in the exam couldn't attempt it as hadn't covered and therefore not revised.

Have the FM students who sat the same exam had an unfair advantage as apparently they have covered and it is a YR 12 FM question anyway?

DS has discussed with his maths teacher who has encouraged DS to appeal especially as DS was only 1 mark off. the question was worth 2 marks. DS has put in an appeal but may not hear till after October deadline for submitting appeals.

Just wondered if anyone has a take on this or experience of this kind of issue and any advice really regards appealing.

Is there anything I should be doing although DS doesn't want me to do anything yet.

TIA and sorry for long post

Might school have disregarded that question for maths students if it was put in to test the FM pupils? He’d need to ask the school. I know that DD’s FM set got entirely different papers to the maths pupils as they’ve covered the whole of maths A-level this year so they had maths A-level papers whereas the maths students just had papers covering the first year.
As these are school set mocks only I would assume there’s some wriggle room over how they impact the UCAS grades anyway.

The ‘non FM’ kids should raise it with school and ask for it to be disregarded but these are just end of year mocks and are informative assessments. Is he an Oxbridge candidate? If not, his UCAS forms don’t need to be submitted until mid January so no doubt he’ll have more assessments prior to predictive grades being given. If he’s Oxbridge then yes, he defo needs that to be taken into account for his predicted grades due in October.

@ThisPerkySloth2 ive just re-read your post about him highlighting the FM question to the maths teacher and the maths teacher saying he needs to appeal. It all seems a bit formal ‘appealing’ for school mocks and submitting forms and then having to wait til after October for the result of an appeal. I’ve not heard of this before. Given that’s the process, he’s done the right thing. Would it be worth him emailing his Head of Maths & Head of Year asking for his appeal to be expedited? He’s a few more weeks at school?

I read something about an Edexcel A level Maths paper this year being hard if you don't do FM but no idea if that is accurate or not.

@queenMabby not sure but he worked out his score if the question was disregarded he'd be one grade up with existing score. hopefully wriggle room as these are the grades school will use as predicted grade for UCAS. It was a blanket uplift of one grade for all, and when we look at entry requirements for his chosen degree it makes a difference what unis are open to him.

@NotDonna thanks, these are the grades the school will use for UCAS predicted grades (everyone had a one grade uplift) I am not sure they will be assessed before applications go in they were quite clear in parents letter. DS is not oxbridge but does want to do Masters 4 year degree. We did spend morning having a look at what his actual grades Vs predicted (with/without appeal) mean regards unis and courses available and it does make a difference to where he can apply / narrows the field. Nonetheless we had a good discussion today about where his focus should be and if he does better in the real exams as a result, there is always clearing if the offers are not as good as he would like. Yes quite formal the school is like that! I have encouraged DS to see if other students in the same situation will appeal, his friend has. The appeal was to Head of Maths, good suggestion regards Head of Year as they should look at it as a whole not just DS case so will suggest it to DS as he is not keen for me to step in yet (but I am itching to 😁). At least DS has agreed to do the free 3 day trial of Uplearn and hope will at least use for Maths. 🤞🤞🤞

@ThisPerkySloth2 every school is obviously different. Are your school assuming there will be one grade uplift between June Yr12 to June yr13? Without any further testing? Or negotiation? I would hate to be a teacher trying to give predicted grades especially if they are using cobbled together papers rather than proper past papers.

What I mean is IF they’d used a past paper then it’d be a fair estimate that it ‘may’ go up a grade but with a school paper it’s much harder to know how accurate they’re likely to be. Some schools also collate quite a lot of data and are pretty decent at predictions - going off one school test seems tricky!

We enjoyed Warwick today although the journey was slower than i expected. Think you have to get to these things early in the day.

I liked Earwick when I took DD2 there, sadly she didn’t!! 🤣