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Higher education

Talk to other parents whose children are preparing for university on our Higher Education forum.

Original poster

Results Day and UCAS

370 replies

MotherOfGirls · 06/08/2013 12:03

Eldest DD is expecting A level results on 15th so this is my first experience of UCAS. She seems to think her results will go to UCAS before they are emailed to her by her school, and so she will find out if she has made her offer by checking her UCAS account. She also thinks this happens at midnight. Can anyone confirm any of this, please?

OP posts:
ISingSoprano · 15/08/2013 17:57

Mozzamum I see you have already asked for copies of his scripts back. The best advice I can offer is for your ds to go through them with his teachers to see exactly what went wrong - lack of knowledge, technique etc. From there you will have a better idea of how best to help and advise your son. Good luck.

pannetone · 15/08/2013 17:58

Commiserations Mozzamum. 2 years ago our DS2 was in a similar position. Did Maths, physics, chemistry, economics AS levels. He was predicted (and we were told he was on target for) BAAA. He got EDCC in his AS levels. We wanted DS to be allowed to repeat the year. He is on the autistic spectrum and suffers from anxiety and panicked in the exams. School refused to let him repeat - or to continue with A2 Maths in Y13. We challenged them on the basis of his SEN and eventually the school agreed to let him stay on for an extra year to do the A2 Maths.

By retaking modules and with the help of a tutor DS has managed to end up with B grades in Maths and Physics and a C in Economics which he found out today has got him his place to do aeronautical engineering at his first choice uni - Queen Mary's in London.

I would be having an in depth discussion with the School - you say that they were shocked by his results and you had been told 'everything was going to plan'. We felt really let down by the School in our DS's Y12 that they hadn't picked up on the problems he was obviously having. And of course the problem is that with low grades it would have been hard to get another sixth form to take him on (and because of his autistic spectrum condition DS didn't want to move). I would be asking for your DS to repeat the year - whether it should be the same subjects depends on if he knows he did 'underperform' in the exams.(when we got the scripts back we saw that DS had missed out huge amounts of the exams as he had panicked). Our DS was adamant that he could improve his grades and with the help of a tutor and much more careful 'monitoring', he did.

Don't despair - 2 years ago we had the head of sixth form telling us that DS wouldn't manage to get a Maths A level or a place doing engineering - 2 years on he now has a place at a Russell Group uni.

Mozzamum47 · 15/08/2013 18:01

LemonDrizzled, thanks you should gloat - I have an older son who managed to achieve 5 A's at A level. I am really pleased for you. I have been thinking about him seeing an Ed Psychologist and am just processing this and thinking about how I manage to phrase it to him. Also wondering whether it is now too late! Please gloat!!! I am really pleased so many DS's and DD's got there places at Uni!

Mozzamum47 · 15/08/2013 18:04

pannetonne, thank you so much. i know this is a blip and I do know he is more than capable for achieving much better than this. I am now thinking that he might need to see an Ed Psyc. Its just really gutting for him and we are now on such tight deadlines to try and work out just what went wrong. Many, many congratulations to your son. He did so well and fantastic to prove the school wrong.

pannetone · 15/08/2013 18:19

Thanks Mozzamum. Hopefully a supportive school will go a long way to getting your DS back on track. Thinking of your DS and you all - it was such a stressful time after AS levels - and, sadly, as our School was not supportive the stress continued. Rather sweetly on hearing of DS's success today friends and family have been congratulating ALL of us - it has been in some ways 'a team effort' and a difficult journey but so worthwhile. DS2's results mean just as much as the 4 A*s DS1 achieved.

WetAugust · 15/08/2013 18:58

I remember reading somewhere that the LA has to allow you 3 years to complete an A level course if you have been seriously ill. That allows you to repeat a year.

FannyMcNally · 15/08/2013 19:24

That's great news green folder, well done ds

FannyMcNally · 15/08/2013 19:24

Sorry, well done dd!

eatyourveg · 15/08/2013 19:27

Mozzamum just wanted to say that this time last year ds had an english lit A2 module that was graded as a U which brought his overall grade down. School were flabbergasted as was ds. They got the script back, still couldn't work out why it was a U and sent it for a priority remark. It came back as a B (from memory I think it was 6 ums short of an A) so you are doing the right thing in getting someone to look again at the grades

FannyMcNally · 15/08/2013 19:51

Eatyourveg that is exactly what has happened to us today. U on Lit paper and completely bewildered. We've asked for a priority remark and script return. Predicted a B but this has reduced overall mark to a C. Dd2 gutted.

creamteas · 15/08/2013 20:23

I haven't had time to catch up with the thread so hope all your DC got their uni places.

Just got in from a long day taking clearing phone calls. We are in theory full now for non ABB students, but we can't be certain until all the students enter their clearing requests this evening.

Back in at work at 7.00 to make the cleaning acceptances, before the lines open again at 8.00.

LetsFaceTheMusicAndDance · 15/08/2013 20:41

Good grief Creamteas I bet you're exhausted after today. Thanks again for supporting us Smile

greyvix · 15/08/2013 22:54

Thanks to creamteas and all the other uni staff who have been on hand all day to help our DCs. I really didn't expect the phone to be answered by admission staff at 8am when I rang, but it was.

eatyourveg · 16/08/2013 08:41

FannyMcNally let the uni know you have gone for a remark - ds was lucky it didn't affect his offer but he did have to tell them that the grade went up. (he never actually went in the end - deferred, took a gap year changed his mind about the place and landed a place at another place this year) Good luck

BeckAndCall · 16/08/2013 09:09

A specific thought for mozzamum. - for your DS's maths, you will have his module UMS on the results sheets which you can then translate back to estimate the actual marks he must have scored per paper.

Then, via a link somewhere in thestudentroom , you can find the actual answers for all of the maths papers this summer - they came on line the night after each exam was taken. They've been done by a maths tutor and in each case the students who comment have confirmed that these are in fact the right answers. ( to help your search, the papers have been out up by someone called 'artsy' or something similar - I could get better details later from Dd if you like)

So your DS could look at these now and see if he has the same answeers and at least get a feel for whether he has scored as low as his results show if there may have been a mistake somewhere. It just might be an avenue to pursue today, whilst waiting fro the remarks.

JugglingFromHereToThere · 16/08/2013 09:12

Can anyone here explain the situation regarding no quotas for students with an ABB or higher. Is this a one off thing or will it apply in subsequent years too ?

My DCs are in Y7 and Y10, and it's just possible one or t'other of them could do that well one day (though obviously exams can be a tricky and uncertain thing), and wondering how this might affect them ? Seems really good for those students ?

AmGrowingAnAwesomeTree · 16/08/2013 09:15

MOST INSANE REJECTION EVER?

This is SO mad I'm gonna post it on both the threads, I don't even know this kid but livid on his behalfAngry

DD1 (who did meet her Oxbridge offer) discovered late last night that the singular brightest person she has ever met has been rejected from Cambridge even though he GOT 6 (yes, SIX) A A-levels. Most only take 3, usual max of 4?, but this kid took 6 and got A'Stars in every one of them. Cambridge has an additional exam called STEP which is for Maths, and even though he got A in Maths AND in Further Maths, they have rejected him as his 'STEP' result wasn't 'good enough...

You could not make it upSad

FannyMcNally · 16/08/2013 09:16

Thanks. We have eventually been released into clearing and dd2 is waiting for confirmation of a place at Coventry on a fantastic course that I don't know why she didn't apply for in the first place! She told them that she was having a priority remark so it may have made a difference. Off to the Clearing Open Day tomorrow. We are travelling down to Cornwall from the SE and making a 4 hour detour to Coventry - don't know how we're going to break that to dd3, the original 6 hour trip was going to be bad enough Grin

Thanks to everyone on here who helped me through yesterday, I really appreciate it.

tiredaftertwo · 16/08/2013 09:20

Tree, that does sound mad, and I am sorry for the lad, but the reason universities set extra exams is because they do not think A levels are robust enough predictors of study at degree level, and I think maths has always been a subject where this doubt has existed. It doesn't really matter that he got four other A levels on top of (I assume) two maths ones - it is only his maths ability they will be interested in (beyond the requirements of their standard offer).

JugglingFromHereToThere · 16/08/2013 09:29

That sounds great Fanny - glad your dd is getting sorted - Hope today goes well.

It's good to know this place is here with such great support from everyone for a few years down the line Smile

Can't wait to find out how my friend's dd got on - think I'll phone them this morning (Fingers Xed)

Mozzamum47 · 16/08/2013 09:30

Beckandcall: Thank you for that. DS has actually already done this and felt that he correctly answered considerably more than the marks he received particularly in C4. The school have already ordered the scripts and it will only be when his Head of Department has gone through them that we will have a clear understanding of exactly what happened. It could be that he didn't demonstrate enough of the process. Time will tell.

Mozzamum47 · 16/08/2013 09:36

AmGrowingAnAwsomeTree: DS1 was at university with a girl who attained 8A's (prior to the A* coming out) at A2 and extremely hard ones at that, she too was rejected from Oxford on a similar basis. Went to a top London Uni attained one of the highest firsts in the universities history. Applied to Oxford for an MA, they were desperate for her to join, she had tremendous pleasure in turning them down and is now just starting her PHD at Cambridge. I think that probably says it all - its not all about Oxbridge!

noddyholder · 16/08/2013 09:42

Mozza good luck for your ds for the re marks Smile

Higheredserf · 16/08/2013 09:42

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

Fairdene · 16/08/2013 09:52

STEP often scuppers Cambridge offerees for maths.