Fighting our way through 1st year uni (starting Sept 17)

[HSMMaCM]

Continuing the previous thread.

Exams, assessments, essays, etc.

Support, or lack of it.

Will they all get accommodation for next year and can they cook a balanced meal yet.

DD came home for her hair do. Her undercut (which was a must have at sixth form) has finally grown out.

Her uni are moving to semesters next year. Doesn't seem like a huge upheaval though, as far as I can tell from term and exam dates.

What's a semester? Different to a term?

Semester means academic year broken into 2 parts
Term , may be 3-4 terms in academic year
My Ds is at uni with semester....hasn't made any difference to way he's taught/ assessed

So effectively 2 long terms with 2 long holidays?

My DD has only had a month of lectures this term and will finish on May 25th!

They have 2 terms, but they still have a break at Christmas and Easter, so not massively different. 2 exam periods.

DD's Uni has 2 semesters, so she had exams on 3 modules in Jan and has 3 more coming up now ( for 3 further modules) in May/ June.
Has seemed like a very good way of doing things - manageable for her with less pressure on the summer exams.

Meant she came home for a bit of an extra week at end of January, which happened to coincide with my birthday so that was excellent!

DD also had exams in Jan and a couple more next week, so not very different to the 2 semester model.

DS's exams are all end of May. They didn't do exams or mocks in January so he feels very untested against his course mates and in the subject as a whole, with really no idea how he's getting on. If he scores in the bottom x percent of the year it's a fail and he will have to spend his summer revising for retakes instead of the holidays he has planned.

God I hate exam season.

Oh that sounds scary for him. DD knows she has to get a minimum of 40% including coursework essays, so at least she has some idea!

Haffdonga, that sounds a bit arbitrary - what if they all get 70%, it's crazy!

DS came home for a flying visit to babysit DS2 as I was working and DH is off on a jolly travelling for work. Two exams this week and then he's done, not sure when he will be home for good but then he is hoping to travel to China for 6 weeks to teach English (good luck to the Chinese kids!)

I think mine are starting exams, one today.

Mine still hasn't sorted accommodation - what's wrong with him?
He's also dropped his phone AGAIN & cracked it; it was already cracked but is now even worse.

DD dropped her phone in the loo so we were out of touch (by phone) for ages til we sent her another one ( which DH eventually got for her)
Fortunately I quite like PMing chats anyway and I think she was OK with it too.
Nice to hear her voice again the other day though!

DD's presentation went "ok". One more exam to go and year one is over!

DS doesn’t start until next Monday and then has five exams over ten days. He’s working his socks off but is still rather panicky. Can’t wait for it all to be finished.

DD's first exam was "alright". It was one of her harder subjects, so I think she has done well.

Her next one is on Tuesday. She still has a few more, doesn't finish until mid-June.

Good to hear how your DC are all getting on. Ds's exams don't start until the Tuesday of the BH week and he still has lectures and tutorials up until the Friday before the BH. He's got 8(?) exams over the two weeks until mid-June. He's anxious about trying to revise and yet still learning new stuff and keeping up with those courses. Keeping in touch, checking he's eating properly and sending treats that I can. I'm sure he'll be fine but it's hard.

I don't know when mine end their exams. i will be up there at the weekend so may be I will get some information then. Not sent mine any treats. Always been so hard to keep upo with all these much better parents that are out there....laughing. I am sure mine will cope.

Dd and 4 friends looking for a house to rent and can't find one. They're so laid back about it.

No exams but essays to finish for dd. English and drama

Treats so far amount mainly to multipacks of Freddos! (I'm
not that great a parent )

For some bizarre reason DDs exams start just after everyone else's finish. So the big big club night is the night before her exams start. I offered to book a few nights in a B&B but she thinks her new flatmates will be considerate, and at least do their best to come in quietly. It is a pity. Had she been in that flat from the beginning she would have been fine.

That said food stealing is an issue, though she is not the only one affected. Her brother's wise advice was to open a packet of, say, ham then reseal it with sellotape and put a note on saying it had been licked. Those broader life skills....

Popping in to say hi, can’t believe they are nearly finished their first year - seems like GCSE’s were no time ago. I’ve namechanged a bit have a DD who was into travelling if that rings any bells (Asia and Scandinavia) .

Just wondering if I could pick your brains about what you wish you knew before they started as rather unexpectedly it looks like she off to University of S. Wales in September to do something creative and techy which came as a bit of a welcome curveball to DH and I, and I think her as well to some extent. She’s resitting Maths GCSE again finally but luckily has unconditional offer due to her portfolio.

Having got my head around her living in a different continent I’m quite amused at the idea of her going to Cardiff as I went there!

It is hardly surprising that there is a mental health crisis among students at universities with such prevalence of anti-social behaviour and lack of engagement with academic and extra-curricular university life. Chaotic and unpredictable home life has always been considered a risk factor for stress and poor mental health. Why aren’t universities getting their act together and enforcing more rigid rules in communal living environments?

DS is finished (he finished yesterday). He is staying on for the parties. Can't blame him, he might as well stay and use his meal plan allowance.

He's had no lectures or seminars since 23rd March so that means he's had a total of 5 months of teaching this whole year. I know it's not all about the number of contact hours but still....