Applying for Uni 2019 Part 7: IB and A Levels are but a memory, we're relaxing and let's not even think about the 15 August yet!

[NewModelArmyMayhem18]

Carrying on from the previous thread which filled up very quickly.

, and for everyone

🥵🥵🥵🥵

Piggy thank you. Dd now reanalysing every question again and again. 😱

@justasking111 All is not lost, she just needs to apply very strategically. There are lots of MN threads on the topic of applying for medicine.

She should definitely consider taking the BMAT and applying to unis that use it. Some unis also put more store in achieved GCSE grades but that may have changed.

The other option is to consider it a 2 year process. Concentrate on getting really good A Levels and apply again next year if necessary.

I'm not bothering with grade boundaries because DS has firmly stuck his head in the sand and hasn't gone through the papers working out what he got right (or not).

When we get up to 950 posts I'll create a new thread, but let's continue on this one until it's full, shall we?

I've not looked at clearing or grade boundaries. Not sure how it would be helpful. We are just waiting to see what she gets and where she's accepted and trying to avoid too much second guessing.

Good luck everyone for tomorrow.

DS is veering between being OK and thinking he has failed and will want to repeat the year. At the time of the exams he thought he had done OK but is no so sure now. Both his firm and insurance are in clearing as of today but he doesn't know what that means. His 3rd and 5th choices are also and I've tried to get him to think of what he would do if it all goes wrong tomorrow but won't entertain a conversation on it. What's adding to his perception that it's all gone wrong is that school have asked some students to come in for results opening and photographs and he's not one of them.

I don't know how I going to deal with it all tomorrow.

Nor me.. I have told ds1 that the reported boundaries for OCR Chem are lower though and he’s not at all surprised.. said he thought it was much harder than last year.. ds2 didn’t look at questions or answers after the exam so it’s not much use.

Heres a useful link for tomorrow published in the Manchester Evening News. It has direct links to all exam board pages where grade boundaries are being published tomorrow.
www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/news/uk-news/level-2019-grade-boundaries-ocr-16744915

Strategies for helping our dcs to sleep tonight anyone? Dd at work today but will be scrolling through social media this evening, and she’s slept badly all week. What do you suggest? She needs a clear head for tomorrow to deal with outcomes, as they all do.

We're in an 'interesting' position with DS2.

He gets his Graphic Design A level and 2 A level equivalent BTEC in Computer and Digital Technologies tomorrow; but is doing a Art Foundation, anyway, in Sept as he wants to do GD at one of the best unis who take 70% with the Foundation, 30% without.

He also wants the years' maturity as he's seen how it benefitted DS1.

In GD degrees, portfolio is all; and they tend to interview as early as January (which makes half the Foundation a bit pointless)... but I chatted to him a couple of days ago asking if he might consider uni this year but we have no idea how you'd go about it as it's obviously different than applying for Maths, say, needing an interview and to have curated a targeted portfolio.

He will get the BTEC grades (you can work them out yourself as you go along- he will get two starred Distinctions 😊); and the fact the GD A level board want to hold onto his portfolio to demonstrate what a 'top grade' portfolio looks like to examiners- bodes well!

But he must keep his foot on the gas to produce an outstanding Foundation portfolio which is where I worry, as he's done nothing about the pre-F 'homework' despite being off for 7 weeks, now! It's frustrating because I believe he'd've definitely gotten in this year.

But it's his life 🙄

Listening to a mindfulness app @Dunlurking? Or an audiobook? Reading (my preferred option for nodding off quickly!).

That link is very useful @AWanderingMinstrel.

@Coleoptera I'm not sure what the time-lines are for decision-making, although I would think they'd be quite short (maybe a week or less?).

Thanks NewModelArmy, I’ll try her on those. Miljah is GD in clearing anywhere? Can he ring around tomorrow? If he had a year off and didn’t do the Foundation course and applied for a full course would he “take his foot off the pedal” and be less likely to get in? I must admit all ds’s friends who wanted to do Art/GD did Foundations courses. The only ones I’ve heard of who didn’t, had parents who spent exorbitant amounts of money on summer courses to get portfolios to a high standard.

Failing that @Dunlurking a wee dram of whisky might be in order!

NewModelArmy that’s for me!

Bit of light relief. Who will DS shout at next month when he discovers he urgently needs clean clothes for work or something ???

I am rushing around washing and tumbling light and dark clothing, he is at work at 5.

I have just eaten a really big bar of chocolate.
I can tell I am tense because I didn’t even realise I had eaten it all!
The coffee jar in the fridge might have absentmindedly be me too.

justasking I am looking forward to no emergency washes too!

BBC reporting the leaked Edexcel boundaries now - apparently 55% for an A for maths. I'm not mentioning it to DS - no pint him stressing as well as me!

Yes, I just saw that BBC article. Pearson are not denying they are real so I think we have to assume they are. Maths has gone down by 5% which is the maximum it can change (according to DS). Further Maths is very high - first year so they are setting the boundaries from scratch. I think DS said 80% for an A star.

Indeed @Dunlurking !

Further maths ranges from about 76% to 83% for an A* depending on modules if I've understood it correctly. I've no idea which modules DS did, and we're not in that territory anyway! A "B" would be perfect...

I think calling them leaks us a bit sensationalist. They are simply password accessed grade boundaries. There is actually nothing on the secure websites that commands one not to share.

Miljah I have a couple of friends whose DC want to do art degrees, and a foundation course is very much the way to go. Taking a gap year and not doing a foundation course in art could possibly jeopardise a new application for art/graphic design. It certainly wouldn't be a pointless thing to do.