Oxbridge applicants 2018 part 3

[OhYouBadBadKitten]

Looks like we need a new thread.

We start here on June 5th. Revision here has been questionable!!

I've seen the exam timetable this week and i think he starts June 6th.

DD starts on 6th and has two clashes so two long exams in one day twice - she's got her head around it now. Her exams are over quickly - over 9 days. There are pros and cons to this she feels.

Revision steady here - seems good - but as said up thread - who knows?

I am glad though that she takes some 'down time' and sometimes like tonight - she does a bit of revision with friends. I always worry about the stress of this for her.

Good luck to all DC!

No exam clashes here and just the one day with two exams which is good. DD has spent today doing beautiful A3 revision diagrams and is making good headway. I think she's still recovering from watching the new Avengers, emotionally exhausting was her comment. 🙂

Maths exams seem to stretch from mid may to the end of June. It's a long old stretch to stay focused.

DS has 2 long exams in one day thrice!! Awful timetable but he just has to embrace it.

Maths exam timetabling is often tricky because of the number of different modules you can do (I think MEI has over 20 different modules in the old scheme). Usually the AS modules are earlier (so C1/C2 etc - including FP1 - have been before half term for quite a while now) and the A2 modules later, but occasionally some of the Further maths ones are earlier. This year is a bit interesting as there are some of the new A-level modules to mark as well!

Does anyone else have several piles of papers and books all over the house ? We have several piles in the front room tonight all over floor under stairs as bag was cleared out. Lots of piles on coffee table and desk and sofa in study plus a corner of discarded screwed up A4s on the floor - not in a bin! We have worksheets in several piles in dining room. Clothes teeming out of her wardrobe - not on bedroom floor today - as we have not had time to have a clear out as A levels/ interviews/ mocks/ revision have held us back.

I daren't touch all this without her advice in case she loses something! My house will be quieter next year but also tidier! Despite this, you won't believe me, she's actually very organised!!!

Poor schools Pallando

I'm astonished that none of the step papers are clashing with dds exams. Some of her maths modules seem to clash with each other. Thats slightly odd, but as none of the ones that do are very long, perhaps it's intentionally designed for them to run one after the other.

Yes voilets same here but without it being necessarily well organised. Mind you I am constantly compared to Bridget Jones so haphazard is a good description of our household generally. :)

DD keeps her work mostly to her bedroom - mostly I think because she's the only organised one in the family and fears things will get lost in the rest of the house!
Haphazard would be a good description here too!
She's a poster kind of girl when it comes to revision though - her entire bedroom is covered wall to wall and I've noticed today the posters have started to creep out of her room and along the walls of the corridor.
There has also been a history timeline on the shower screen for the past few weeks.

dds revision, by the nature of her subjects is all practise questions. My job is to keep her bin empty. Today I was talked through a particularly thorny STEP question. I got a pat on the shoulder for spotting how to do a (trivial) bit of it.

We had the shower screen notes for AS and GCSE . This year, underneath light switches are flash cards as if she gets that light bulb moment/illumination every time she hovers near Whatever works!

I also remember all the Maths papers with My DS - reams of paper used in print offs.

DD said it was her last Monday ever in school - study leave in 2 weeks and she's not too sad: ready for next stage.

Hope your DC are all okay as they wind down form school and step up for study leave - for those that do leave. I know some stay until exams.

Dd 1st exam today. She seems quite happy but my stomach is leaping around. Only two and a half weeks till its all over. Dd2 has her A level mocks and ds has end of year exams. Not exactly a barrel of laughs here !

For those taking STEP this year, there is some information about the new answer booklets they will be using this year at www.admissionstesting.org/for-test-takers/step/about-step/. There is also some clarification about some marking policies. I have double checked, and crossed out work which is "un-crossed out" (e.g. by writing "crossed out in error, please mark this" or similar by it) WILL be marked.

You must have been earwigging our conversation Pallando. I asked dd about crossings out at the weekend when dd was talking me through how to approach a STEP question from scratch.

It's hard to know how much practise they should be doing on STEP. Is an average of around 15 questions a week the right sort of level?

Just glanced at the link. Is the anonymisation an attempt to remove any female/male bias when marking questions?

Is the anonymisation an attempt to remove any female/male bias when marking questions?

I don't think it is specifically about gender bias. It is not good practice for names to be visible when marking.

BTW any bias would not be likely to come from inferring gender or other protected characteristic anyhow. IMO biases can creep in when deciding how to award partial marks - "risk takers" can get over-rewarded, for example. But for STEP papers the marking is looked at very carefully, discussed, detailed guidelines are provided etc. I genuinely think that this issue is handled as fairly as possible.

Is the anonymisation an attempt to remove any female/male bias when marking questions? This is being done to bring it into line with A-levels - as as user2222018 says it is considered best practice to mark anonymously (This has been done with A-levels for quite some time - the on screen marking helps with this).

It is very hard to say how much practice they should be doing. To me 15 questions a week feels like quite a lot, but not a silly amount. If you think of it as a couple of questions a day that feels reasonable. Plenty of breaks as well, and some time for nice stuff .

Great, thank you both :)

Offer holder day at Cambridge last weekend, had a lovely time. Great sense of nurturing from staff and students which I really wasn't expecting, though not sure why I say that. Very excited for DD, just a few scary A levels results to get first!

My goodness fatbottom. What subject has an exam so early?? Made me panic and check our timetable.

Did you say all your DDs exams are in May??

dd has two exams in May. Both maths.

DD has her first exam this morning - French Speaking though not a written paper.
She then has 3 exams in the following week for the extra GCSE she decided to do for "fun"
Then nothing else until June when she has 2 weeks of back to back exams.