Applying for Uni 2019 Part 6: exams, leaving school/college (the end of an era), a long summer holiday and Results Day on the horizon

[NewModelArmyMayhem18]

Just when exam season gets fully underway our previous thread has almost filled up. Everyone welcome .

DS could have done physics and maths at A level based on GCSE results. He is so glad he did not opt for maths it sounds like a nightmare this year

It's all been said re: the maths exam. I know they need to have harder questions, but it shouldn't be a case of making them virtually impossible. My friend's son has said he doesn't see any point in revising for tomorrow's exam!

I think that is the problem, the odd hard q to stretch fair enough but to the extent of demotivating students not on. It will inevitably impact on any further exams . Luckily dd did AQA which had its moments but seemed ok overall.

Not surprised by that zanda. I have a GCSE Film top level exemplar with a wrong fact, too. That one is a plot fact and - I suppose- given the number of film choices might be excusable.

That said, they emphatically do not need to know waves of feminism for A Level Lit so that is also interesting!

All I’ve had from Dd after biol (OCR A paper 2) this morning was ‘it was aight’ ... which tbh could mean anything. I’m not looking at twitter until I’ve spoken to her.

She’s running out of steam - it was a struggle to revise for this one on the plus side she got the job she was interviewed for yesterday!

(Eta: just spoke to her - it was a typical paper 2, designed to fuck you up. There was a 6 marker on coppicing & non of them knew what it was so that wasn't great but grade boundaries are notoriously low on this one - usually). Two more to go.)

None of them (despite the fact they all did COEN in years 7 & 8 and really should’ve remembered!)

This basically.

I think there’s grade deflation happening. God knows what delights p3 will bring.

Or this

Just collected DD from her OCR biology and she feels it went badly. As it says on Twitter, she revised a lot but most of the topics just didn't come up. The 6 marker on coppicing was 'a joke' they hadn't been taught anything about it and in the CGP revision guide there is one single sentence about it so she 'waffled'
Two more to go and her resilience is rapidly decreasing, I hate it.
Hoping the grade boundaries won't be dissimilar to last year!

DD said law was rubbish and there was lots of things she just didn't know - that's positive then . I think she's completely run out of steam. Three exams in three days has totally finished her. She's gone to the library to revise for psychology tomorrow.

On a slightly different note, does anybody find themselves yearning for times 10 years ago when life seemed much simpler with pre-teen, primary aged children? This progression into adulthood is tough and is tough to parent.

A song came on the radio earlier which reminded me of a dance performance dd did when she was about 10, I found myself yearning for those years when the biggest worry was what to wear on non-uniform day. Exams, careers, which uni, travelling solo, not to mention drink, drugs and relationships...it's so hard at times.

Piggy it was context for Ibsen v Rossetti (I believe)!

In theory, zanda, the boards have been encouraging teachers to move away from mechanical applications of 'a second wave feminist might think that'. But a lot of exemplars I have seen do suggest that hasn't happened.

Dd went to speak to her biol teacher to ask about the coppicing - the teacher didn’t know what it was either ffs

the unis are going to be fun grade wise if some students get knocked back a couple of grades thus affecting their points.

@juicyO dd also felt ocr biology was pretty horrible, though she said some bits were OK. She says she now feels ready for a career in botany

Such a shame that they've all revised a load of stuff and all that seems to have come up is plants and more plants.

The twitter hashtag is amusing.

Sigh. 3 to go...

Another one her with two exams to go. Music tomorrow, 2.5 hour exam. Theology part of RS on Monday, which all the way along DD has said will be a hard one.

Trying to be positive here, I'm hoping they're over analysing how the exams went as they're the real thing.

Dd2 has now finished thank goodness and fingers crossed thinks shes done enough to get into her chosen uni.

madhairday DD agrees that the question emphasis has definitely been on plants. Question now is what to focus on for the final paper, topics that haven't come up yet or more on the ones that have???

On a slightly different note, does anybody find themselves yearning for times 10 years ago when life seemed much simpler with pre-teen, primary aged children? This progression into adulthood is tough and is tough to parent. Definitely

Agree re the children growing up. I still miss the days of watching CBeebies and CBBC. Everything just seems so pressured for teens these days.

My first two DC`s did their A levels in 1999 and 2001. It was much easier then, less but longer exams. Getting into uni. was a much simpler exercise, school did a lot more then rather than the parents. There was clearing but again school sorted that out rather than the parents. Perhaps less children went to uni. then than now. Whatever the reason it is much more stressful for parents, schools and pupils now.

justasking111 The stakes seem to have got a lot higher in the past decade or so, don't you think? Or maybe it's because more young people go to university than previously was the case?

DS has just told me that the OCR geography paper was "good" - which has been his answer to just about all of them.

I do think UCAS is a bit of a monster now, schools have handed over responsibility and parents are kept out of it all. UCAS deal directly with the students even though it is we who are responsible for the finance packages being arranged.

Good luck for the music Ifonly, my DD has that too tomorrow..

NewModelArmy I gather your DD's paper sidestepped the Nazi regime completely?
Not at all! The theme was Dictatorships and Democracy, so the rise of the Nazis was the central focus.

To all those with exams today - good luck!!