TMUA

[autumndays13]

Anyone else's DC taking the TMUA test this week? DD is busy doing a bit of practice now. She'll need a fairly decent score. I wish she'd gone for the Jan sitting now!

Yes! Let me know how you get on. My DS just wants to see his script/print out of each question and his answers etc.

Totally agree @autumndays13
yesterday was a difficult day for my dc. I think they’re going to take a gap year as they’re not sure they’ll get any offers with a 2.9 from anywhere 🤯 despite consistently getting 6.5/7s on times past papers. They didn’t spend the year revising though, only really from end of august onwards as they had been working so hard on their SC work experience!
Seems crazy to put so much emphasis on this test.
dc is an all 9s and 4 a* applicant with so much passion for their chosen subject. 😫 really not enjoying being a parent at the moment!

@Upperroom I really feel for your DC (and everyone's on this thread).
It's so hard to see them knocked by something like this. I know my DD has been relatively lucky perhaps but like yours she's a straight 9, 4A star predicted kid and doing well academically plays such a strong part in her identity (maybe too much but that's the reality). And despite probably being the strongest academically in her friend group, she's also the most likely not to get into uni. It's an odd position to be in and I'm finding hard as a parent trying to support, bolster, advise!

Yes, like your DCs mine is straight 4 A*s at A level, always does really well on the senior Olympiad in Maths, 12 grade 9 GCSEs and achieving 8 to 9 on TMUA papers. DC knows the mark won’t change but wants to know want went wrong which is understandable. I have taught for 35 years and we often get surprise results and request the papers for the student and us to look at-I am hoping Pearson Vue allow him to see his answers etc. Will keep you updated and here to boosting their confidence again.

I’m so glad I found this thread. DS was pretty down about his mark as he hadn’t realised the grades have been changed this year. We live in an area where it’s not the norm for children to go to university, nevermind the top uni’s that require extras like TMUA. It’s difficult to help navigate him through it when I know so little about it, so I feel like I’m winning at parenting today by letting him know about the changes.

I hope it all works out for everyone that didn’t get the result they wanted.

Welcome @Iamamagpie : ) I hope your DS feels reassured.

@Gina555 I think you asked where else my DD had applied? She hasn't got her application in yet. She was concerned her TMUA might mean Warwick was off the cards, so she held off. I think chances of Warwick offer are probably 50/50 now (that's possibly optimistic; she thinks her chances are more like 10%) but she's also thinking of Bath, Manchester, Bristol.

I have a dc at warwick (but not studying maths) and says that it's known as a relentlessly hard course, on the Warwick uni parents face book group there are always parents worrying about how hard their dc are working. Second year maths at Warwick is regarded as the hardest course at the uni.

For Tuma reference, I have a dc at a high performing private school and someone got 7.8 yesterday. Someone else got a Cambridge economics I/v with 4.8.

@sailingsunshine I too have heard the maths course at Warwick is incredibly intense and difficult. It's making me think that perhaps not getting an offer will not be the end of the world!

Warwick has been asked to leave the Russell Group as of 2025 so my DS decided not to apply there. He has offers from Bristol, UCL and Exeter, waiting to hear about an interview or not at Oxford.

Wow, so glad I spotted this thread as dd's boyfriend was somewhat disappointed to receive a score of 5.0 when he'd apparently been scoring 7s on the past papers. He said at the time that it was a harder paper than the ones he'd used for practice.

Why on earth hasn't this been communicated more widely, although maybe it was hidden in some small print and he didn't read beyond his score.

He was surprised/relieved to be invited to interview at Cambridge (economics) given the score but now it's more understandable. He's like @Gina555 's dc, all 9s at GCSE and predicted four A*s at A level, success at Olympiad maths challenge etc.

@Gina555 , that was an April Fool!

@Gina555 just for reference, I do not believe it is true that Warwick has been asked to leave RG. Worth checking if that is influencing plan.

and so sorry everyone is having such a torrid time with the test, of course

I know it was an April fool 🤣. His real reason for not applying there was that it is not in Warwick but Coventry which he didn’t realise until we took him there 😆. I have friend with children there and they love it.

Sorry - just concerned lest you didn't know :-). The Coventry trick is often a surprise !

Just to say Warwick posted on their TMUA page that they will send out decisions for maths in April and May (so it's going to be a long wait, which is v different from previous years). I'm reading into this that so far they don't know what to make of this year's scores given the changes and, I think, the fact it seems to have been considered tougher than usual this year.

That might be a factor but also there is the second sitting of the TMUA (a new feature) for Warwick and others (exc Oxbridge) to await and assess (and for institutions to decide whether the two sittings are directly comparable) and the fact that the overall profile of candidates has probably changed substantially (both domestically and internationally) as the composition of courses requiring the TMUA has changed and broadened.

@PerpetualOptimist agree, and the site says they are waiting for all scores to be in.

Reading this as DS1's UCAS application (Maths) includes Warwick so he might do the TMUA exam in January - if he decides to pursue the Warwick application He has been to open days for 4 of his choices, liked 3, didn't like Warwick so much, has 2 offers for Manchester and York, and an interview for Oxford. He has also taken the MAT exam and felt that it didn't go well - he ran out of time, and I think the issue may have been the very different format of the exam - online from a test centre - not just the difficulty of the questions. He did do practice papers but I don't think he practiced doing online exams.

Really good luck to your DS for his Oxford interview @elkiedee I would interpret getting an interview as having definitely not done badly on the MAT 🤷‍♀️
My DD was completely set on Warwick but a large part of that was due to it being relatively close to us, and she wanted to go to a uni with a really good reputation for maths but that wasn't Oxbridge or London. It seemed to tick all the boxes but after the TMUA she's had to think of alternatives and now really loves Bath. She may still get into Warwick (and she may not get into Bath) but I'm not sure she'd go there now. Luckily we've got quite a long wait to keep thinking it over!

I'm glad to have found this thread.. my dd also got a lower score than she hoped, and lower than she had been getting in practice (4.3). She has convinced herself that Warwick is out of the question now, though she has all 9's and 4 A star predictions. She does have an interview from Cambridge but the score has knocked her confidence and she thinks there is no point. Nothing to be done but it is helpful to read that we are not alone in this situation!

Welcome @buckleten : ) and very well done to your DD for getting a Camb interview, and all the best for her interview. Presumably if that results in an offer, she'll have to do STEP and that then leaves Warwick open to her as well. I can't persuade my DD to do STEP and I don't blame her for not being up for it even though I think STEP might actually suit her better. The whole TMUA experience has not been good! Possibly my DD left it a bit late to prepare (started mid August) but she did all the past papers and felt in with a good chance of doing well enough.

Thank you.. should have said she's applying for Econ, so doesn't need to do STEP. She has an offer from Bath, which she really loved (and is only an hour or so away from home) so that is something. We'll just have to see what happens with Cambridge and Warwick..

Ah, right! Well, just in case you haven't seen the update Warwick made on their TMUA page on 6 Dec, they say they will make offers for econ below 4.5: warwick.ac.uk/study/undergraduate/apply/admissions-tests

You have to scroll quite far down the page. It's not under the specific subject links.

That's really useful. My son applied for econ too. I'm just hoping the lack of further maths doesn't hinder him too much.

I hadn't seen that, thank you.. that is somewhat reassuring.. though I actually think I preferred Bath as a university, it will be up to her if she does get an offer..!