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.

Well done to doglovers DD for getting to the end of her exams.

My DD has slept on the lounge floor for the past 2 nights as her room is so hot (our whole upstairs is like an oven), and she had the double whammy of Psychology and English Lit today. She thinks the papers weren't great, with a few odd questions, including short ones that she saysweren't on the syllabus.

Re exam paper leaks: all schools/colleges must have a secure, lockable storage place for exam papers. Teachers do not have access to this. And exam papers can only be opened on the exam day shortly before the exam. It is not permitted for teachers to enter the exam hall and read the paper, or to take a paper out and read it. If this is happening it should be reported to the exam officer as regulations are being broken which could bring consequences for candidates in those schools.

lindor Ds had those exams too, he thought that the Hamlet question was an odd choice and wasn't what was expected, he wrote less than he would have written normally

Sending good luck to all those with the dreaded C4 today. Get through this and then S2 on Monday and it's all finished.

Drama this morning, then we're finished. DD has had a good night sleep, but is not a morning person.

Yes Penny, sending best wishes to all those with C4 today. The view here is How much worse can it be than C3; hope Edexcel don't take up the challenge!
Two alternative to practical papers next week so finish date here is next Thursday.

Ds's girlfriend has drama today, good luck to everybody doing it.

Behindthebluedoor, that's what we said about c4 too.

DD has drama today.

I don't think this exam can count for too much? It's an old scheme A level so the AS counts. Plus the A2 practical and course work have all been done.

A better mother than I would know the % riding on it.

Getahaircut I'm clearly not a better mother than you

Sounds like Edexcel lived up to their reputation with the C4 paper. 😣

Yes - DD texted DH to say that C4, which she was expecting to be the easiest of her papers was the hardest (so far) - I think she said she was ok (but she is good at maths) until the last question which was a stinker, she attempted it using a formula she found on the FP3 data sheet. (she isn't doing fp3). Something like that, anyway.

Mine didn't do FM but was hoping for and predicted an A star in maths. That's gone he strongly suspects. That means he needs an** A star in physics for uni which he is despondent about too. Hoping it is settled with grade boundaries.

Another one here, whose child did Edexcel C4 today. He said it was much worse than C3 and also said he didn't know how to do the last question. He thinks this paper may pull him down a grade.
Just two more to do, Chem and Physics next week.

Hm, well if they all think it was bad then there is hope for them all. Though I fear maybe those who've done fp3 may be unfairly advantaged.

Well DS said it was tough but not as bad as c3 as I think he had adjusted his expectations after Tuesday. He finished the paper with time to check it through and picked up a mistake so that was better than c3 at least! Whether it will be enough we will just have to wait and see.

The edexcel C4 paper may have been leaked
www.gov.uk/government/news/allegations-of-malpractice-in-edexcels-c4-maths-paper
DD is Why do people do stuff like that? They must think they will get away with it.

Yes, aginghippy Does anyone know what will happen if this is confirmed? How do they 'know' who cheated? My son sat the paper this morning and is so despondent! :-(

Lots of students very upset still on twitter - and the Edexcel messages not very clear the re Economics exam.
The last Edexcel twitter message says they will look for any spikes in performance but that seems very unfair on a student who hasn't cheated but just does better on one paper than another.

Looks for spikes is unfair. Mine had a good paper on one allegedly leaked and they definitely did not see or know about the leak nor see the paper. If they are marked down for that that would be utterly unfair. I would not imagine their difference would be C - A. It would be more like they got A* rather than A on the leaked paper they never saw and AA on the other 2.

My DD told me they will discount the standard deviation question from the first Biology paper (OCR I think, where they forgot to give the formula)

This may be the fairest way to deal with the situation but not the best outcome for DD as she knew the formula, took time to answer the question, and got the right answer. Also as she says others who entirely skipped over the question would have had more time for other questions.
And she didn't quite finish the paper ( just a 2 marker un-done I think)

Yes, that does seem unfair. The only vaguely fair thing I can think of is to 'discount' in the sense of eg only marking out of 4 rather than 6 or whatever, and giving credit to anyone who had a shot at it but misremembered the formula (but did it correctly on the basis of what they thought it was)

DD remembered the formula and got it right!
Mainly because a friend had been asking about standard deviation just before the exam so they happened to be looking at the formula to understand things, and she has a good memory.
Oh well, it is one of our smaller worries ATM, not finishing today's exam being a bigger one.

It won't be discounted as in the mark will still go towards your total mark, but it will be discounted in terms of boundaries so exam may be out of 88 instead of 90 for e.g..

Oh well that sounds much better RedHelen, that's what I was hoping for, more generosity all round.

DD just has English Lit on Thursday and she's done!
It already feels like holiday time with only one exam to focus on.

she's beginning to make plans for the long summer break and thinking about getting a summer job (she gave up her shifts at Macdonalds to focus on exams).

Anyone's DC found interesting summer work?