Some of our young people are half way through their degrees (2019/20 intake): lockdowns on repeat, light at the end of the tunnel with vaccinations (?) and the legacy of COVID-19

[NewModelArmyMayhem18]

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Plus ça change, plus c'est la même chose is all I can say!

DD's at home now, did her first exam this week.
She's not sure if it would be better or worse doing exams at uni as they're all doing the same subject. Knowing her, (and I suspect her friends from what she says) they would be ultra careful not to discuss any of the exams while they are doing them, but I'll bet that there will be groups where they will have a certain amount of discussion. With maths it's going to be less obvious than other subjects if there is cooperation.

She's nervous, because the tutors have been saying that they've never set such hard exams and it's much harder than the homework questions and other helpful comments.
She feels that it's somewhat unfair to expect them to do questions way harder than they've been set before, and I do see what she means. It also means that past papers may not be totally helpful either. I'm hoping the tutors are over-egging it because I see a very stressful month if they're not.
She has a couple of subjects she really struggles in, so if they are really hard then she may be totally at sea.
The exam she's done she was happy in, but it's one she finds quite easy, and is only worth 25% of the marks too.

She is hoping to go up after the exams to do some theatre stuff. One of her flatmates wants to go too, so it'll be nice if that comes off.

We're having a horrendous time here with online exams. DS is doing one as we speak. They are supposed to have 24hrs to complete it but he didn't start until nearly lunchtime after we had a very thorough discussion about doing it today (my preference) vs doing it as a resit (his preference) as he was very unwell yesterday, enough to be sent to out of hours doc at the hospital. This is his weakest subject, and I just felt that if he deferred the resit could clash with something else in his life. This way I could chivvy him along and make sure that he is fed. He really didn't want to do it but seems to be feeling a bit better now and has hit his stride - well, as much as he was ever going to.

I really don't think he will end up going back to uni this term, apart from to spend a social weekend. The lack of a normal uni experience is really making him question the point of it all. He hasn't said that he wants to drop out but he really isn't enjoying it.

I'm bringing DD home for a few days after she has done her presentation and observed a dissection. Her anxiety levels are sky high and she just needs a bit of parental TLC.

I'm sorry your DS is struggling @simbobs. It is so hard parenting older DC because you can't make it better for them. I hope he feels better soon.

@simbobs, my DS feels the same about his course. But he has booked his train ticket to go back the day after his last exam is submitted, to get back to his sport and socials. He is planning to stay there about 6 weeks and has bought his ticket for his college ball He is really looking forward to seeing his mates.

@bigTillyMint mine doesn't really feel the need to be there as he has more friends here and hasn't had much opportunity to make new ones there, already knowing quite a few people from school at the same place, or the other uni in the city.

He has only just finished his exam, and is now struggling to submit it!

@MargaretThursday

DD's at home now, did her first exam this week. She's not sure if it would be better or worse doing exams at uni as they're all doing the same subject. Knowing her, (and I suspect her friends from what she says) they would be ultra careful not to discuss any of the exams while they are doing them, but I'll bet that there will be groups where they will have a certain amount of discussion. With maths it's going to be less obvious than other subjects if there is cooperation.

She's nervous, because the tutors have been saying that they've never set such hard exams and it's much harder than the homework questions and other helpful comments.
She feels that it's somewhat unfair to expect them to do questions way harder than they've been set before, and I do see what she means. It also means that past papers may not be totally helpful either. I'm hoping the tutors are over-egging it because I see a very stressful month if they're not.
She has a couple of subjects she really struggles in, so if they are really hard then she may be totally at sea.
The exam she's done she was happy in, but it's one she finds quite easy, and is only worth 25% of the marks too.

She is hoping to go up after the exams to do some theatre stuff. One of her flatmates wants to go too, so it'll be nice if that comes off.

One of DS's tutors has also been egging them on saying the online exam will be a lot harder because they have longer to do it and it's "open book". It's really spooked him as he's really struggled with virtually 100% online learning and barely any F2F. The tutor also said that the exams won't be similar to past papers, so he doesn't even know the format. It's awful that they're not even going to give them any realistic specimen papers. But then again, it's just one more of a series of crap experiences for students at the moment.

@simbobs - hooray that he’s done his exam! My DS has his gf here and his “boys” so he’s been quite happy to be at home since Christmas. He didn’t know anyone at uni (other than his exgf!) when he first went, but made loads of mates in college and through his so he’s keen to get back to see them.

@MargaretThursday and @Badbadbunny, I find it horrifying that whilst Alevel and GCSE students have, quite rightly, had their exams cut and other assessment routes put in place, many universities seem to have taken pride in keeping standards up and making very little or no allowance for the effects of lockdown on their students

@bigTillyMint @Badbadbunny

The tutor also said that the exams won't be similar to past papers, so he doesn't even know the format. It's awful that they're not even going to give them any realistic specimen papers.

Dd is saying the same. It's really stressing her out not knowing.

She's also got a clash of exams. Because they have 24 hours to do it, then they're saying it doesn't matter as it should only take 3 hours. But that's not fair as most of the others (unusual combination) will be able to take longer
It's her best exam and her worst exam too, so she has the choice between potentially failing one (she really does struggle with that one) or leaving her best not done as well as she'd like which will bring down her average.

She's also struggling with a bad back. I want her to get a doctor's note, and say it's effecting her studying-it is, she can't study for longer than a short period before she has to get up and move around, but she hates fuss, and won't do it. That is going to be particularly hard for the double exam.

I agree @bigTillyMint. It is going to be even harder for next year's students who won't be used to the rigours of proper exams and who probably haven't learned enough content at A level to start their degrees. I can't see universities dumbing down.

I was going to say that I can imagine that 'open book' type exams would be harder than normal ones. However, I'm sure I've read that more students than ever were awarded firsts last year which would suggest there is some 'slack' in the assessment system? Either that or our young people are rising to the challenge?

It's a tough call though and working from home doesn't give the same vibe as sitting in a massive exam hall in total silence for a matter of hours. If you're the type who thrives on the adrenaline rush of exams, I would have thought it could well impact (adversely) on performance.

@MargaretThursday your poor DD with backache. She sounds stoic though.

You'd almost think that the young people who have had their A Levels impacted by the pandemic would deserve a 'free' foundation year if they feel they''d benefit.

On the subject of higher education, I'm a bit shocked to discover that those DC who've only done three-year degree courses (and haven't changed course or done a foundation year) don't qualify for the same level of subsistence loan if they decide to do an MA/MSc? That's fine and dandy if they're happy to live at home but I'm sure many won't be. And it's almost time for many of our DC to start considering 'next steps' already.

@NewModelArmyMayhem18 I'm surprised to hear that. What is the reason, if you know it?

@NewmodelArmyMayhem18

It will depend on the university though as they choose their own exam system. So some may have chosen to give more 1st, some could choose to give fewer.

It's a bit like the GCSE last year done by teachers. I know one local private school just put everyone in for a 9, (they're fairly unselective and normally have a range across the grades). They haven't in years had anyone with more than 4 grade A*. Last year the whole lot were 9 grade 9s.
Then another local school were very happy that they gave expected grades, and they've got their normal range.
So you can't look and say overall more got 9s, so it didn't disadvantage any.

@RampantIvy - How did your DD's presentation go?

The tutor also said that the exams won't be similar to past papers, so he doesn't even know the format. It's awful that they're not even going to give them any realistic specimen papers.

DS has also had this. No idea of structure of exam or any relevant past papers to use.
One paper had two questions and a strict word count. The students were not even told if the questions were evenly weighted! DS went down the middle and allocated half of the words to each question which turned out to be the right approach as they were evenly weighted questions, but others did not as they perceived one question as more detailed than the other.

@simbobs are you referring to the post-grad studies comment I made? I don't know but it's an assumption that I'm sure many of us will have made. A bit like having no idea that the student loan (subsistence element) for undergraduate degrees is effectively on a sliding scale (as with grants in years gone by) when you apply for your eldest. I'm waiting for someone like @Xenia to tell me that I'm wrong (wishful thinking?). SFE Masters Loans info.

I suspect that type of 'unknown' exam favours those who are naturally very bright and aren't thrown by something unexpected. It won't necessarily suit the hard grafters who rely on practice, practice and thorough scrutiny of every past exam paper going for insights and to perform reallly well (that would have been me.).

I am assuming that these open book exams are in some way different from those that would have been taken in an exam hall. There is no way DS could have sat yesterday's exam under normal conditions. It needed frequent breaks and looking things up, even messaging the tutor for clarification as some questions were badly written. One of his friends was sitting one in a different subject on the same day and had 100 questions to answer, which was likely to be an all-nighter.

That sounds horrendous @simbobs. That's not really about academic rigour as much as the stuff of exam anxiety dreams.

[quote blametheparents]@RampantIvy - How did your DD's presentation go?[/quote]
Thank you for asking @blametheparents. It went OK. DD didn't stumble over her words and managed to answer all the questions. she had practised on some of her housemates, then practised on me yesterday evening on zoom. It lasted eaxctly the five minutes it was supposed to last.

She had the first slot at 9 am so she could get it over and done with first thing today.

Rather unhelpfully her personal extenuating circumstances application for mental health reasons was rejected, along with everyone elses. DD read the email out to me and I was outraged at how unhelpful and unsupportive they were. Fortunately she didn't read the email until after her presentation.

I have told her to forward the email to student support. I am furious.

@RampantIvy, the lack of support for MH issues is terrible.
Another student at Bristol died last week. Bristol is horrifyingly under-supportive

Sorry to hear that @RampantIvy. I do wonder whether some DC are claiming mh issues to the detriment of those who genuinely have them. It must be impossible for the uni to know. Reflecting on my student days I can think of very few people who would have been recognised as having mh problems - not so much recognised then, but am astounded by how many young people I know or know of now.

I'm sure they do @simbobs, but I can assure you that DD doesn't fake panic attacks.

I also think that students weren't under the same pressures in our day that they are now.

She was worried about a dissection this morning, but apparently there wasn't a face on the corpse, and she said it was fun

I'm not suggesting for a moment that your DD was faking, @RampantIvy, I hope you know that. My happy-go-lucky DS had a "funny turn" this week, diagnosed as a panic attack, and was given medication accordingly. He is now detoxing ie no alcohol or unhealthy food. Regrettably, I feel obliged to observe the same.

It's OK @simbobs. I know you weren't
I hope your DS is OK now.