University offers for 2017 start (Part 2)

[EnormousTiger]

Continuation of the original thread which is now on to 40 page maximum.
Original thread (part 1) here: www.mumsnet.com/Talk/higher_education/2759621-Uni-offers-for-2017-start?

Most offers now received. My twins have had offers from their 4 and are currently deciding which will be firm and which insurance. One twin
( possibly two of them) is going to an offer holders' day coming up at Bristol next month with his friends from school.

DD's leavers' do was going to be at the end of June, but they realised a lot who'd already finished exams would be away on holiday so it's going to be the Friday before half term. I think that may be when their final assembly is too. As DD is an only, it really will be the end of an era for us.

DD also finishes in 2 weeks. She has just finished her A level music assessments. Despite needing AAB for her choices she's has spent the last week going out with her boyfriend and planning an outfit for
comic con.
Th dining room is full of revision material but she doesn't seem to be there.

Two more weeks for Ds, his first exam is on the Monday after half term.
I think it's safe to say that he is feeling very stressed and concerned about the AAB that he needs. I'm concerned too as he so wants his first choice and I feel that he's sold himself short on this second choice. It's not helped by the fact that his girlfriend has an unconditional place on an unpopular course so she doesn't have the same motivation to work, though she's not discouraging Ds from working.

DS had last day on Friday. Great fun and excitement but tinged with sadness. He's loved his time at school and the realisation of moving in is now hitting him. He'll be fine and is ready for the next phase but it's thrown him more than he realised. Their ball is at end of July so all exams finished by then and most of them seem to still be around for it. He's v focussed on revision and I hope he does himself credit for all the hard work he's put in. You never stop worrying about them though.

Dd has her first exam on Wednesday.A retake of Maths C1 as she wants to get as close to 100% as possible.She has been doing so much Maths revision and practise I'm worried she has neglected the others,But she says Biology and Chemistry are easy to remember whereas Maths isn't without the constant answering of past papers.
I'm starting to get nervous, don't know about her!

My dd says the opposite teta. Chemistry is the hardest because there is so much contact to remember. Maths is easier because it's only a matter of practice. She is also retaking a couple of maths modules because she is trying for an A*.

so much content to remember

Yes,I agree with you Aginghippy.She's good at memorising though and finds Biology easy but yes I am concerned about Chemistry.Especially as she needs A's in both ,but only a B in Maths for her insurance.Also the Maths A level results last year for the school were not good whereas the Science results were better.So I guess their might be some deficiency there that she is compensating for.

teta and aging my ds was at this point last year- taking maths, chem and biology. He felt that chemistry was the most difficult too. He too re-took either C1 or C2 which I was surprised about as I didn't know it was the done thing. He too wanted to bump up the UMS. His strategy worked and he comfortably gained the A* that he was after.

He took a gap year and is off to uni in September. This is his first year after three summers of public exams where he doesn't have to sit any. I feel for all of you, it's so stressful, so good luck to all.

That's reassuring waiting. Dd is also resitting the C1 paper, she needs her As to be in maths and physics. chemistry I fear, will be her downfall, needs B minimum.

Strangely enough, the subject DD is least likely to do well in is the subject she wants to study at uni!

She hasn't chosen one of her natural talents to take further, preferring to keep them as leisure activities.

No resits here of AS levels. Anyway one of my twins is doing 2 out of his 3 which are new style A levels ( history and economics) all on the coming exams and the other (I think) 1 of his 3 (history) is the new style exam.

DD says loads are resitting C1. She isn't - I think she was happy enough with the AS modules. Instead on Wednesday she's doing mechanics 3, as an extra. I think they discard the weakest of whatever modules could go into the FM, so I guess it's insurance against a nasty stats paper. (and she wanted to learn it - well, it's fun stuff like simple harmonic motion, I seem to remember enjoying the copious amounts of light inextensible string when I was doing mine )

This is his first year after three summers of public exams where he doesn't have to sit any. I feel for all of you, it's so stressful, so good luck to all.

ds is on a gap year too and its the first summer in 10 years that there isn't a veg offspring sitting a public exam - I almost miss the post it note decorations that come this time of year. Wishing all the dc the very best

Dd only has Maths thats the old style modular exam.The rest are based on the final exam .I don't remember many people getting A's when I did the old A levels .I'm concerned this year that the results might be somewhat different than previous years.Certainly Maths papers have been becoming increasingly more difficult.Dd had two school mocks today and has come home demob happy.She enjoys cooking to relax and hence has made the Healthy Gut diet recipe of Chocolate Mousse with Advocado and Coconut plus dates to sweeten it.........Umm, not sure we will be doing that one again.

I'm not totally sure that altering your gut in any way just before exams is entirely the best plan....

My boys cook every day (I don't cook for them) and I think they find it a nice distraction from school work too. They came home via M&S food hall yesterday (they drive themselves to and from school and have for a year which certainly makes it easier for the rest of us)

Friday is their leavers' day. I heard last night something about boys hiring an entertainer/actor to come into school on Friday as a joke, in costume. At my daughter's school that day was known as "muck up day". Like someone above the end of term is really the proper end. Speech day probably i f either of them gets a prize and a pop concert if that's the right word one is playing in - his last even as a music scholar and music prefect. End of a school era for me as they are the last of the 5 to leave school. My daughter left 13 years ago.

Ha ha Errol, yes it's probably not a good idea at this stage.But this morning she had mashed advocado on toast with a poached egg.Instead of a chocolate sugar fix last night she had baked apple sliced with coconut oil and pistachios which actually taste really nice.So anything that makes her eat more healthily and makes her better able to cope with stress is a good thing in my book.A diverse gut fauna has been implicated with all manner of health benefits too.A matter close to my heart because I have had Ibs since a bad food poisoning episode 4 years ago.

Not exactly following on from teta's post, but in case it is helpful for others, DD picked up a nasty bug a couple of days before her final exam (physics). High temperature, nausea etc. The school's advice was for me to march her to the GP, where the practice nurse confirmed in writing that she was very unwell. She then had to get up the next day and sit the exam, or as much as she could manage. She then stuck her hand up and was sent to the school nurse who was expecting her, and who was able to confirm again to the examination officer that she was very unwell.

She had no idea how she did, indeed had no idea whether she wrote anything coherent, or just rubbish. In the end she would up with an A rather than the predicted A*, but enough. My understanding is that the exam board can only award a small number of discretionary marks, so assume the point is to try and get as many as you can in the exam itself. The point though would be that she would have had something to present to the University had she narrowly missed the grade she needed. Another DS we know, kept quiet about the fact he had a flare up of a long term chronic illness, and missed his offer and place but a very few UMS, with a visible and massive drop in marks on the most affected paper. He got in on reapplication, and the University said they would have taken him first time round, but by the time they knew, all the places had been filled.

DD far preferred physics and maths exams to biology. The memorising was fine, but the getting down on paper was a problem.

Fingers crossed all our DC will keep well.

Ah yes muck up day. This morning dd wanted to go in dressed as cat woman, and wanted me to look for her Halloween costume ( she wanted the cat ears) at 7.15 this morning and seemed surprised when I said no. On Friday they are all going in their old school uniforms, which should prove interesting later as they are straight off to the pub...

I will be invigilating the C1 math school AS tomorrow at an outstanding Grammar school. Not that I will understand a word of it.
I am told this paper was really tough last year.
Best wishes to all your DC who are sitting this exam.

Thank you Travelledtheworld.Yes my Dd is doing C1 today in an effort to get as close to 100% as possible.Lets hope it's not too hard.Was it Hannah and her sweets last time?Or have I got everything muddled?
Good advice Needmoresleep.I hope they will all be fine.

One was talking about lifting a teacher's car and carrying it into school. Hiring the actor in costume sounds a bit safer to me. Also if too much risky is planned then schools tend to cancel that whole last teaching day so best to tone it down.

Need, yes there is some discretion. Last summer my sons' last grandparent died a few days before one exam (luckily the funeral was not until half term) and the school did notify the exam board. I don't know if it helped their marks or not but it was certainly upsetting and immediately before the exams so particularly awful timing.

Teta - Hannah and her sodding sweets were GCSE.

DD and I reckon A level maths exams should be hard (some of it, anyway) else it all hangs too much on the odd daft mistake - but that they shouldn't be too time pressured. Sometimes the approach to solving a tricky problem doesn't occur to you instantly; IRL you wait a bit for your subconscious to do its thing and the the solution presents itself - like it does with crosswords.

DS is very deflated tonight, he sat his FP3 paper and said it was a nightmare. At least it's 4 weeks to his next exam so he has time to build his confidence back up. DD is stressed about her AS levels and is rethinking the wisdom of taking the Computer Science A level in one year.
Feeling trapped on the A level to Uni merry go round with no end in sight! I just keep smiling encouragingly for the DC who brush themselves down and carry on.
Good luck to everyone's DC.