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 .

Good luck to all those still taking exams, roll on Friday!!

Yes, good luck to those DC still revising away. It must be difficult to focus when one's friends are already chilling. And aren't there a few papers still to sit next week too?

Dd’s just left for her final exam - yay I think!

All her courses are on that clearing list - again yay I think!

She’s got stuff organised for the weekend, prom next week & two weeks before to work starts to get back into normal life.

Her friend who withdrew from UCAS before the deadline (largely because of the chemistry situation at school) was contacted directly by his preferred university (Swansea) yesterday with a unconditional offer for the course he originally applied for. He’s very happy!

Last one for us ...and so far this morni g has been a disaster !
Against my advice ds booked his brace tightening appointment for yesterday evening.
He said it will be fine. It never hurts ...just feels weird afterwards.

Famous last words !
6am he asks me for paracetamol.
I said there is a box on ds3's desk in the front room.
When i asked if he fpund them he said yes ..but there was just 1 in the box and showed me a small round tablet.

2 second delayed reactipn from me to scream ...no don't take that !!
It was ds3' anxiety /beta blocker tablet.
Paracetamol blister pack was next to the box .

Anyhow 2 tablets taken by grumpy ds.
With strict instructions to take 2 more just before exam even if it is only 3 hours !!

He is then at the front door putting his trainers on instead of school shoes !

Well good luck everyone ( off now to pinch one of the beta blockers 😂)

This is hardly going to be able to be done for 60000 pupils! Imagine taking in all those mobile phones!

Do you seriously think that one would actually need the mobile phone to track what it's been used for? You still seem to think that this is going to be handled the "old fashioned" way, of just checking things, one by one. The tracking will be via the spread of information over social media, with data provided by the social media companies themselves or using analytics already accessible. Such analysis is standard practice these days for so many purposes - whether for analysing the effectiveness of online ad campaigns or for influencing the outcomes of other countries' elections.

Chem 3 - oh dear - at least Dd could say it wasn’t as bad as physics B1 but that’s not saying much. She managed to finish - barely - lots ran out of time, consensus seems to be it was hardest of the three.

Exams started with a shit paper & ended with a shit paper ... cheers OCR!

Oh & all the maths kids have to go into school tomorrow to be questioned. None of them seem to know if it is just by the school or someone else?

Worst thing about the paper was timing - there was a lot of reading for each question then the maths ... unless you were very quick it was a nightmare, Dd finished but didn't have time to check anything - lots of the rain out of time with the last two pages still to go.

This has not been fun. Dd’s my eldest of four ... arrrrrggggghhhhh

Hi I've been checking in most days reading everyone's posts and taking comfort from you all. Thank you it has really helped me.
My DD had her last exam chemistry today and she has also been hit by the maths fiasco. I feel more stressed now than I did leading up to the exams which is ridiculous because its her who's taken them! There is a sense of nothing more can be done. I keep thinking of things I wish I had said to her but it's too late now. She needs to get an A* in maths so that's going to be a challenge so already looking at options come August. She has said she has no idea how she has done and said really it didn't matter what she felt about an exam, it's irrelevant if she doesnt get the grade. None appeared to be complete disasters but all had their moments.
Its come at the end of a challenging year of depression, therapy, autism diagnosis, so whatever she gets she's succeeded.
Well done to all your DCs and you getting to this stage. Now time to relax, earn some money and watch as many box sets as they want!

DS2 is now finished, last Chemistry exam this morning, he was a bit stressed out and it sounds like it didn’t go that well, he only just finished, so as said above, exams started and finished with tricky chemistry papers 😢
Still his course is on the UAE clearing list, he put it as his insurance so hopefully he will be able to go there if he misses the gades for Birmingham.
Now he’s got some travel plans which seem to mainly consist of visiting tanks/world war 2 sites/ in Germany and Russia.... 😳 fun fun fun 😂

@Laniakea is your school is East London? Poor kids they must all be terrified.

Chemistry sounds like it was hard going.theyve all done their best, we can only wait now.

Nope nowhere near East London & no suggestion that they are in anyway involved!

Shimmy was that edecel ?

Change the c for an x !!

@Laniakea I thought it was implied when you said the Maths students were being summoned for questioning. Sorry if I’ve got the wrong end of the stick.
I also just saw the bit about your DD’s friend being given an unconditional from Swansea. How marvellous that it is. How did your DD & mates get on with Chemistry? It’s just clicked they were the bunch with no teacher.

@Bizzey we didn’t sit Chemistry here. My comment was in reference to previous posters talking about it, so I’m not sure which exam board.

Well done to all those who've finished.

bizzey my DD had three years plus of intensive dental pain (and soreness from braces) so hopefully your DS won't go through that. Worth stocking up on paracetamol and ibuprofen.

blametheparents does your son have any feel for how he's done?

Oh ok shimmy
Concerned becaused he errr finished with 9 mins to go .
He went back to another question he wanted to check ...and still had 3 mins !!

It has never happened before.
He has got the negative thoughts now ,that becaues he found it ok/doable ..

He might have miss read all the questions ! 🤣

Oh well he is on the PS4 for the first time in over 2 months and i am not regulating it !

I have just told him to go for it

Don’t worry Shimy - I assume it’s the school trying to figure out what has been going on ... definitely alarming for the kids though.

Yes they’re the bunch with no chemistry teacher ... there’s been an awful lot of stress right the way through the exam period. They are all about shell shocked now. So happy for dd’s friend, his parents weren’t in the position to help with a tutor or anything so this is an incredible chance for him (he’d be very pleased with getting even an E in chemistry so had pretty much given up hope of uni without resits - Swansea was one of his first choice too :) )

Dd’s tidied her room - packed away all A level stuff, charity shopped the school clothes & been shopping for new non business smart stuff they’ve got a group minecraft game going now & all celebrating because one of them just passed her driving test. Nice to hear happy rather than desperate laughter!

@Laniakea I love it when good things happen to those who really need it or just getting that break that this person DD’s friend really needs. They must be over the moon. Hopefully others in the same position will get some leniency too.
Re: Maths questioning are they just trying to see what they can find in case EDEXEL contact then? Is that wise though? Poor students must be frightened to death. Reason being I’ve some experience with these type investigations from when ds did GCSE Computing. DS was so stressed, we couldn’t sleep worrying and not knowing what was going to happen.

mum2eim well done to your DD for overcoming all the obstacles over the past year or so.

What happened when your DS did GCSE Computing, Shimy?

Whoever leaked those maths papers must have been a dunderhead, given that it's been well broadcast this year that all the exam boards would be micro-chipping the exam packs.

DD’s course available in Clearing, and she had a reduced offer anyway so hopefully we can breathe a bit more easily (famous last words......)

When is everyone going to start preparing for them going away - do we jinx it before results day??

How do you know if a course is in clearing? I thought it came out 5th July?

I tried to explain clearing & results day etc to dh last night - he’s completely clueless ... oh so do we need to go into school? Wow she might need to make phone calls! Should I book the day off work? (yeah cos me taking in an autistic 12yo & feral 10 & 8 yos while trying to stop Dd completely freaking out is ideal). He did actually go to university & got in via clearing because he utterly dossed all through 6th form but thinks he school must’ve arranged it all for him, his parents were oblivious & he doesn’t remember doing anything.

Oh & I also had ‘but exams are so much easier nowadays’ ... from a woman whose greatest academic achievement is a school handwriting certificate. Yeah, no, yawn, piss off MIL.

Then she complains that Dd1 isn’t close to her. My parents have their moments but they aren’t living in some wannabe 1930s fantasy world where everyone knew their place & men wore hats. (And my sister is only 24 so my parents have been through all this in recent memory & are helpful & sympathetic).

Arrrggggghhhhhhhhhh.

Found a place on clearing where she could get in with CC (they count the EPQ & the AS she already has towards their tariff points). She was at the gym at 6:30 this morning, going to register with another couple of employment agencies & I’m going to teach her how to use my sewing machine.

When I hear more about the maths stuff I’ll pass it on!