Oxbridge-Aspirants-2021-New-Thread-3

[Baaaahhhhh]

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/higher_education/4016760-Oxbridge-Aspirants-2021-New-Thread-2

New Thread !

My dd still hasn’t got any offers. I’m very worried now, especially as Bath have been giving out offers. She’s predicted 5 grades above what she needs for Bath and Warwick as well; starting to wonder what the problem could be with her application.

But if they use CAGs again every teacher in the land will know to predict 3 A*s.

Maj - a few weeks ago, DS had to phone Bath because he’s applied for a joint hons there so had to send in a different PS and wanted to check they had it. He asked then when he might be likely to hear and the lady told him that there was an admissions tutor assigned to that course, but first of all he had to get through all the Aeronautical Physics applications (or some very technical and high-flown course like that) and, as this was a big course with a lot of applicants, it might take a while.
So what I mean to say is, they probably just haven’t got to your DD’s course yet. I do hope you hear soon...

“But if they use CAGs again every teacher in the land will know to predict 3 A*s.”

At DS’ school last year, A/A* grades were up, but not hugely inflated. Maybe 5%?

If they know now that it will be CAGs, at least they have time to get evidence to justify the grades, rather than having it sprung upon them at Easter.

I'm confused about the Welsh A level business. On the BBC report online it says "assessments will be done under teacher supervision and will begin in the second half of the spring term. They will be externally set and marked but delivered within the classroom"

... so if they are externally set and marked, how is that different to sitting a national exam??

Cancelled A levels in England might well be a blow for my DS. He's waiting for results in December from the October A levels. He's now left school and the plan was always that he could re-sit in June if his results weren't what he wanted. Not sure how that could work for him (or any other independent candidate) if they were scrapped in England. I'm really hoping they won't be ...

If the exams are not scrapped in England how will the candidates be compared with their Welsh counterparts? The two education ministers should have conferred and come to a joint decision

DD will be gutted - she really wants to do exams (strange child!).

An extremely selective private school local to us, is apparently being sued by some parents for NOT giving A's to their children last year. It was on another MN thread, and I did a little digging. I seems to be true. Their feeling was that as the school was so selective and successful all students should have attained A's, why else were they paying the fees!!

@Baaaahhhhh DD is a post a level applicant whose school totally screwed her over CAGs. She had decided to take a gap year and was always going to apply for 2021. This is because she was ill during 6th form. They chose to prioritise other students with offers and give them the grades they needed to make their offers. Because DD was not holding an offer she has had to resist autumn exams and is now waiting for results and applying for uni. Despite the increases nationally it wasn't all done fairly - there are people out there with grades and uni places that they never should have had and others that didn't get the grades they should have.

Hey @quiltdig! Snap.

DS bumped into a girl from last year’s U6 at his school. She had a Durham offer based on her GCSEs predicted grades of AAA, but was given a B by the school in one subject and so missed the offer. She was re-taking independently. You can pay as much as you like, but they won’t give out grades because parents demand them. Can you imagine - it would be bedlam!

Hey @kitnkaboodle - nice to see another person in similar situation. I just hope whatever they decide to do nationally they really think through all the ramifications and not just react.

Well done on your offer @MatureStudent21 great news!

@LaundryFairy my dd is also not doing an EPQ. At her school you have to apply to do it and there are only a limited number. Dd applied and didn't get it but wasn't too disappointed when she heard how much work is involved in addition to normal A Level workload.

The school she was at for GCSEs advises 4 A Levels for everyone, although some do drop a subject at the end of Year 12. Dd really didn't want to do 4 and that was part of her reason for moving schools. Her current school advises against doing 4 and I agree - 3 is enough. Dd is very aware of stress and mental health issues and saw how her older sister was affected in Year 13.

I'm pleased about the Welsh news actually and hope England will follow suit. Some Year 11s and 13s up and down the country have already missed so much school, how can a national exam system possibly be fair?

But if they use CAGs again every teacher in the land will know to predict 3 As*

I don't think they will. Teachers want their students to do well but they have to have some professional integrity, it would be awful to give a student an A* when they should be on a B.

@chopc

If the exams are not scrapped in England how will the candidates be compared with their Welsh counterparts? The two education ministers should have conferred and come to a joint decision

Yes that's a good point, I agree with you.

You are quite right about stress levels and mental health, bendmeoverbackwards . DS was reluctant to drop his 4th A Level at first, but the school persisted and he did. He was very glad that he did once the work (and essays) started to really pile up. I think he might have been able to keep all 4 going, but it would have been at the cost of much-loved activities outside of school and his anxiety levels would have been much higher.

However, universities are quite accustomed to comparing candidates from very different education systems around the world, including places with no standardised testing.

But Irma all Oxbridge applicants already have their UCAS forms in, with predicted grades, and all aptitude tests are done - so in a sense the die is cast and what happens in the summer with exams isn’t central

quest1on surely the girl’s predicted grades were given by the teachers in the first place? So why would she end up with a B using CAGS?

@goodbyestranger speaking from experience and observation, there can be a world of difference between predicted grades and CAGs. Don't ask me how or why. I just saw in the summer instances where students were awarded CAGs that were below the predicted grades that teachers had put on their UCAS forms. I can't begin to understand it ...

@goodbyestranger at Cambridge not all colleges have amplitude tests and some colleges will have written assessments at interview. So still lot to "play for". I guess Cambridge's own assessments will matter more than in other years?

“ quest1on surely the girl’s predicted grades were given by the teachers in the first place? So why would she end up with a B using CAGS?”

beetle - last year the predicted grades were given out in the summer. I guess the school decided she hadn’t done enough between September and May to still warrant that grade. I don’t know. She was going the Oct “retakes” for that subject independently anyway.

@Majaso12 Don’t worry if offers take a while. One of my DC was in exactly this situation last year. He waited til mid December for his first offer but they all came in, and he is now in his first term at Oxford. Sometimes the admissions team just take a while to get round to your form. Maddening I know but no reflection on quality of application.

Yes absolutely kitnkaboodle. AndI suppose I was thinking more of Oxford since that’s where Irma’s DD is applying, and which for humanities subjects gives relatively low offers, unlike Cambridge. So my point was really that in terms of bagging an achievable offer, the situation with exams is pretty irrelevant, and every that can be done is already done (apart from the small matter of the interview).

Thank you. It just makes us nervous when you can see those universities giving out offers. And also my dd applied to those 2 universities years ago for a similar course and got an offer in less than a week and he applied early as well.