A Level Anxiety

[Toffee22]

Only 4 more "sleeps" until the A level results come out - not that I will be doing much sleeping...

Eldest son wants to study medicine. 3 "A's" required no slip ups allowed. Have just checked and most medical schools don't accept re-sits. How can I face looking at the cold hard facts at some point on Thursday. I'm sure it will be difficult for my son too! When I tried to talk to him about it today instead of a response he said he would do an "impression of a tree". It wasn't even a very good impression. What does this mean?

Think you only don't have to pay if the remark means your grade is raised but if it comes back higher but still the same grade you do.

Do hope that is the case with the re marks Custy, I really have no idea though. Just had to write a cheque to the school and didn't pay too much attention to what happens next.

I just agree ith JGBMum who said this is a supportive thread and should stay that way in my opinion.

Sorry, only just caught up with all these comments on the back of my 'pushy MC mother' comment.

Of course NLonherwayhome is right, I can't buy a higher grade, and therefore a better outcome (that's been proven well enough!) but I felt a tinge of regret that somewhere there is a child who was also 3 marks of the A they needed and their parent either didn't have fifty quid, or didn't feel incllined/equipped to even ask for a remark. It was one of those 'penny dropping' moments for me that here was a situation where the MC child has a better chance of gettting ahead purely because of the parent's interest/aspirations for them, and because of the access to funds, albeit a relatively smallish amount.

That said, there are hundreds of complex reasons why middle class children tend to do better than working class or disavantaged children, and few of them are transparently about money.

I have been supportive and ive received support in return - I dont object to remarks at all and whilst I may not be middle class and be able to write a cheque for remarks without some financial juggling, if I were in that position then I would find resources to fund it.

My moan was about the comments that went with it.

This thread is a supportive thread and I dont want to cause ripples equally I dont think that 'class' should come into it.

After all,all our dc are all working towards the same thing regardless of social class.

Personally I thought it was nice to see FN have the smallest twinge of conscience about her "sharp elbowed MC ways". That said, I'm sure most of us would do the same for our DC's, and I've been quite sharp-elbowed myself to get my DD into a good secondary school. But that doesn't mean I don't have a conscience and awareness about the unfairness of the system at times, or that I don't wish everyone else well in their endeavours to raise their children.
NC you say class shouldn't come into it. Idealistically probably many would agree. I think FN was just sharing her awareness that sometimes, for a whole variety of reasons as she says, it can do.

agree Jugglingwithshoes,very well written :)

Fellatio I remember having to juggle quite a lot one year so as to be able to afford a remark if it was necessary. In fact I think I postponed a utility bill!

Your point is a valid one and it isn't just about being pushy - there is affording textbooks, stationary, computers etc which all isn't that easy in our household and we don't come anywhere near an EMA threshold (not that that is relevant anymore)

I read somewhere that the Bullingdon club burned money in front of tramps. I'm not saying this government is deliberately cruel but that they have no idea of the level of cruelty which inequality generates.

Thanks for the support, and I agree that if you feel a paper may have been marked unfairly/wrongly then you should feel no guilt about asking for a remark.

The thing is, I had no such feeling. My son is quite self-contained and does not like my interfering in his school work, so I have precious little idea about the ins and outs of exam content, coursework content and marking boundaries. It's all greek to me. All I knew was they he had been predicted at least one A and felt confident enough at the time to apply to his first choice on the basis of achieving at least one A.

So, actually when two subjects came back a whisker off an A, I decided to enter a £100 lottery - because I could. Not because I suspected he'd been done down.

For a variety of reasons it suits the whole family best if he could go to his first choice of uni, and so I took a punt because I could afford to, and thought 'Why not?'

I am painfully aware that some wealthy people may do this as a matter of course with every subject that comes back in the middle of a grade, in the hope they can nudge a handful of them up a grade, just for the hell of it. It struck me that only very affluent parents could/would do this, although in practice I'm not sure many actually bother unless something important hinges on the outcome. It just occurred to me that some kids might get better outcomes because their parents were able to throw loads of money at it, without batting an eyelid.

Having said that, we know that the universities' grade requirements are weighted/flexible according to the efficacy of the school they attended /parents socio-economic staus and educational background, so I suppose this goes some way to rectifying any perceived 'unfairness' in the system.

some parents do not even realise that remarking is possible. I do know one family where one child achieved something like 10 A* and one A at GCSE (forget exact numbers, may have been 9 and one) and the parents had the paper remarked because the child was upset about not getting a perfect set. There are, unfortunately, many things wrong with our educational system - including that it turns out children with that sort of need for perfection.

ellisbell that happened at my DD school. I was gobsmacked. It hadn't occurred to me to get DD's solitary A remarked. However, there is always a silver lining- because all the other pushy parents asked for a remark, DD's teacher said to DD she would send her paper off too ( I didnt pay or fill in a form or anything) and lo and behold they all (including DD) came back A star. This was 2 years ago of course.

We all got remark form in the envelope with the results etc,and there was an email from school mid August mentioning it also.

Hi all - quick update. DS got a phone call from his college this morning to say that he has gained enough marks in his English re-mark to push the exam paper itself up to an A grade, but it is still not enough marks overall to push the whole thing to an A, although he is now even more infuriatingly close than before. So he now has to live with the fact that he is only three/four marks (I think, not sure now, after all this faff) off an A in two subjects!

Fellatio, that's too bad but at least you have done everything you can. There has to be a cut off and it's unfortunate when this situation arises. DD was told she was just off the grade up in a couple of her modules but at least these aren't final grades. Can imagine your sons' frustration. FWIW if this was mine I would have paid for remarks.

Going off topic but can anyone tell me if there is any mention on the UCAS application form about the defunked G&T body that was NAGTY or such, in fact is there any mention of G&T at all? It was this age group that was put on lists for what it was worth.

DD1 can't remember if there was a space for NAGTY membership, but she definately slotted it in via summer schools/other courses on the UCAS form, and it went into her PS as well.

funnyperson not the same class as it was not 2 years ago. FellatioNelson did you get your money back or did you still have to pay? I've never paid for a remark, I'm intrigued to know if you pay if it goes up a grade/ if it stays the same grade.

Ishall, thanks, DD didn't get chance to do anything with NAGTY as they scrapped it soon after she enrolled. Shame as it might have proved an advantage after all the flipping hype!

She did go off for a day with a couple of others on the G&T list to a science day maybe she can mention this on her PS .

adamschic there is a section in additional information on the UCAS form for "Activities in preparation for higher education" where you can mention summer schools and taster days. The science day might fit there if you need to save words in the PS.

shame Fellatio, so very close .

Just catching up with the thread

Fellatio I'm sorry to read that the grade didn't go up. At least you know you have tried everything. Unfortunately this year is such a bulge with the fees increase next year. I hope your DS can now start to look forward to the Uni he will be going to.

Reading reading at Reading ? ( as someone said - I'm sure it will be fab anyway! )