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 .

DC1 was v keen to learn to drive, so lessons were 17th b'day present from MiL. Passed Theory at 2nd attempt. But they're dyspraxic, so the practical learning has taken a while! 2 fails of practical so far (hesitancy & indecisiveness causing serious faults). Had a break for exams and we have holidays soon. Plan is for concentrated lessons after the family holiday with 3rd test booked for late August. If they don't pass, I'm not sure what the plan will be!

DD is on a gap year, and I had hoped she would learn to drive during this time, but nope.

DD didn’t have much free time at school, they worked on a compressed timetable with all academics in the morning rather than over a full school day, so didn’t have the usual free chunks of time when she could take a driving lesson.

DD is an August baby and she took her test in October last year after an intensive course. We opted for an intensive because she was frustrated that she was the last one of her friends to learn but she didn't pass first time. She also wanted to get it done before a level revision took over her life and is pleased she did. Her aim was to have everything (personal statement, DofE gold, young enterprise, driving test) done by Christmas so she was totally focussed for exams.

Dd sat hers a few weeks before A Levels but I set a time limit as I didn’t want her disappointed too close to exams. She passed . All her friends have too. We are semi-rural with a lack of public transport.

We are semi rural, but it still hasn't given DD the incentive to learn.

I was hoping DS would start learning this summer, paid for by the part-time job which is looking increasingly unlikely to materialise.

Can you share your going rates for lessons? DS found two, locally both charging £22 per hr. When I did mine in the 1900s it was £12.99 per hr although I remember BSM we’re charging £25 an hr & £18 for students . Does £22 sound about right?

£22 sounds quite cheap!

Mine pays £27 to a friend's mum!

@Piggy

£55-£65 for 2 hour slots (need to be 2 hours here so you can get to a city).

It’s the ‘thing’ to get your licence before you’re 18 round here. Dd isn’t 18 yet!

Lesson fees are peanuts compared to insurance costs.

DS has passed his driving test. We’re semi-rural too, so that was an incentive for him. He passed within 3 months of being 17.
It’s certainly made it easier for him to get a summer job as he can get to more places.
We paid £25 per hour, with a 10% discount for booking and paying for the lessons in groups of 10.
Again, 2 hour lessons needed here to get to the test routes.
He has a car, but will leave it here when (if!) he goes to university - in halls for the first year so it’s definitely not needed then. And he doesn’t want to be everybody’s taxi driver!!

My 5 actually allpassed at 17 including the twins and took the car down part way through first year which has been quite useful. This year I have not collected them for example. I passed at 17 too.

I don't think my boys are the driver for all although one did take 3 friends to a 21st by car the day he got back from our holiday which was quite tiring. On the other hand he says he likes having other people in the car to talk to. Also at least one other housemate of my other twin also has a car at university.

£31 per hour here!!!
£290 for a block of ten.

Very fortunate that MiL is paying.

Hey Bring - not long til results day! DS is pretty chilled about it at the moment, but when it reaches less than a week to go I think he will start to feel a bit worried.
DS has his 18th birthday between now and then so it's a busy couple of weeks.

Another here boarding. She is committed to school until 9pm (often does music practice at 7am) and then on Saturdays until after pm sports, so hasn't even got a licence (although will need a provisional one as she's a petite late August girl, so is going to get ID'd everywhere).

DD had a holiday job, but the place is badly run meaning constant almost harrassment that they have to justify why they can't stay late, drop everything and come in, so she's packed it in. Does us a favour, as they sometimes finish at 11pm, which could be midnight and we'd have been sat outside waiting for her. Her DC started there a few weeks ago, and has just handed her notice in. So no summer job. She's back in a couple of weeks, so will have to hope something is still around.

Have we got any last exams this week?

There's a F. Maths Mechanics paper today and then that's it, isn't it? I would imagine about 99.9% of the A Level students have already finished. Tomorrow is the contingency day so everything should be over by then.

Don't student railcards count as verifiable ID these days? I seem to recall using mine to prove that I was well over 18 when buying cider when I was an undergrad?

No they don't unfortunately

Mind truly boggles at these rates and embarrassed I thought £22 was expensive.

DS is at that FM paper this morning. Then he is done thank god! It has seemed endless!

On taking a car to school, not all universities have parking for students. Must be great if your uni does though.

Wiifitmama, does that make for about seven weeks of exams then? Or have your DS's been more clustered this side of half-term? Hope it goes well for him.

He did not start until the week after half term. He had two weeks with almost all of his exams in, then last week off and just today. So they were mostly clustered with the exception of this one today.