Thread 44 GCSE Covid Cohort - Countdown to Christmas & New Year

[OrangeCinnamonLatte]

This is a support thread for our young adults post GCSEs 2020, regardless of their educational setting, and their results ( or life updates for those who went into work or have had results earlier). It is respectfully requested that all are supportive and helpful to each other. If you want to start a debate, e.g state vs private, uni vs employment please don't within this thread.

Some of us have been here since first thread back in yr10, some will be new. Everyone has been friendly and helpful in the past. Everyone is welcome. It is hoped this will continue. We were previously on the secondary board and then further education, now we shall be here in 'Parents of Adult Children' gulp

Our DS/DD may continue down various pathways ( employment, apprenticeships, higher ed). Be warned there might be lots of 'Uni Freshers' chat this time of year. My experience is that everyone is welcomed wherever, whatever their child is doing we have some in work, gap years , apprenticeships etc too. Lots of contributors with different experiences and always sympathy and advice to be had

@Zebracat that sounds really tough, glad DH understands, hope you had a productive chat. I can see that gaming in her room to escape feeling rubbish is a good short term solution, but obviously not going to fix anything.

@NCTDN I don't know about cake companies as I am a very keen cake baker myself, so have never bought one for a birthday. There is a Waitrose close to the Stoke Bishop halls which would deliver. I will let you know if I think of anything better.

My son has his birthday this term and I’m thinking of sending him one of these fudge cakes. It’s going to be really strange not having him here for his birthday!

Thanks all. I thought for a minute you were offering to bake @Monkey2001
I'll keep thinking...

It's DS's birthday soon too, I hadn't thought of sending a cake, he is planning to come home the weekend after. Got DD's first though, it's a busy time of year for our family, mine is not long after DS's.

Took him back yesterday, he phoned later and said there was hardly anyone around. He's coming back on Weds once he has submitted his last semester assignments, there are no lectures this week or next. He had also got his first driving lesson up there this week so we spent the journey observing the road around us.

Question about theory tests, are there long waits and can they be done at weekends? His nearest centres are both about 20 miles away (disadvantage of being at a small town uni).

@ScarlettDarling That cake looks delish! wonder whether they will deliver to uni halls.

DD is safely back in her room (and has gone to acquire Soup, which seems to be her staple diet). A 4-hour train journey with one change doesn't sound bad at all, but a year ago her anxiety issues even stopped her from getting the bus! She has a few days to herself before friends get back (classes resume next Monday) and she's planning on catching up with holiday homework and her own projects. And spending lots of time in the Botanic Gardens.

I had been dubious about the uni's advice to postpone house-hunting until late Jan/Feb. But, over the holidays, dozens of private rentals have appeared on previously-barren listings sites, so that's obviously the right timescale for Cambridge. The all-inclusive HMOs tend to be for bigger groups; her friendship group has split into three and fours on the basis that there's likely to be less drama that way, e.g. separating some of the couples in case things don't work out!

Would you agree that £20/person/week is reasonable for utilities over the year if she doesn't find all-inclusive?

@Shimy I don’t see why they wouldn’t deliver to halls. I’m hoping that it’s a safer option than a proper cake…If it gets left lying round in a post room somewhere for a day or two it should still be fine! 🤞

@JustHereWithMyPopcorn I did read somewhere that the average time people test positive on home tests is 17 days. But can be much longer on the pcr tests. I think it lingers up the nose, as you read we are unlikely to be contagious after 5 days. But being careful is a good idea.

@ScarlettDarling Thanks.

Dd booked hers within the week (she went into Pompey) I don't know if she got a cancellation or is a quiet time of year.

Have been very quiet on here but keeping up with everyone’s news. Took Ds back up late last week with his first exam 9am yesterday! He heard straight away - has just told us he passed, not sure if he knew any more than that! That was his hardest exam so he’s happy to have it over!

Thanks @OrangeCinnamonLatte and well done to your DD. I'll look at where our test centres are, it might be easier to do it here. Unfortunately DS's new semester timetable has a full day on Fridays so no more coming home Thurs afternoon for a long weekend.

17 days?? @icanbewhatiwant good lord! I'll carry on being careful for a little longer then.

@photodad i think £20/week is included in DSs rent for bills. I'm hoping they manage to keep it within that!

DS1 is struggling a bit to understand what he is meant to be producing for his coursework essays. I have to say the instructions are quite contradictory / not clear. He is getting a bit panicky as he doesn't want to mess up his first proper submissions but the couple of friends he has made on the course don't seem any more clued up than him. Oh dear.

Well done to your DS on passing his exam @Isthisjustnormal !

Re driving theory tests, I have just remembered that as DS is entitled to extra time in exams normally, he should be able to get it in the theory test too, another thing to sort out.

@PhotoDad we're assuming around £20 a week for bills. The current tenants in the house dd is going to be in said around £10, but they've been in the house 3 years, so I'm guessing that was based on last year as they wouldn't necessarily have had a current year higher bill yet.

@JustHereWithMyPopcorn I think DS would agree that those essay questions are awful. It doesn't help that he missed so many lectures and has done very little reading. Just one French essay to go before tomorrow's deadline - supportive mum sat through two hours of a French film to help prepare for this one 😵‍💫

Not much to report here. DS goes back on Friday and we will miss him. Hopefully exams will go ok as he is worried about them.

Hi everyone, I started a thread about my DS, and a lovely mumsnetter suggested I should post here. Having had a read through, you all seem a supportive bunch!

My DS turned 18 a couple of weeks ago, and is in first year at uni (we're in Scotland). He's handed in 2 assignments already and had 2 exams, but he's only had one marked and got an E. He's absolutely devastated, as thought it was a good piece of work.

Any advice? Have any of your DC had similar in first year and turned it around?

Aside to that, having him home over Christmas, which I was so looking forward to, has been difficult. I'm a bit sad about it all.

Hello! Welcome!

Lots of us do not have Perfect Peters and we do not judge!

What subjects is your DS doing?

I take it he left school straight after Highers? (or whatever they call them these days! I was at school in Glasgow in the olden days!)

Welcome!

I think often the standard of work is not necessarily the issue - it's the change in approach that lets new students down. They are not taught how to do academic work. An academic essay is different from what they do at school eg proper bibleography, citations, referencing etc.

Has he had any feedback with the grading? If not, he should approach the tutor and ask for guidance as to where he went wrong.

There might be some student support services that could help with how to approach assessments. Library staff might be able to help with advice on research etc. Which uni is he at?

@mummyinbeds He seems to understand the content it's how they want it presented that he can't get his head around, particularly the second one (Tort?) where is seems to say no more than a page and then a bit later says no more than five pages? Oh well, it's a learning curve isn't it. I think you're right @Seeline I'm not sure how well this sort of thing has been explained to them.

Hello @17CherryTreeLane . Sorry to hear about you DSs disappointing mark but don't worry it will get better. They're just starting and there's an adjustment from A'Levels to university to make. My DS is also 18 and in his 1st yr and got his first assignment back during the hols, '58%', he was really shocked as he too thought he'd put in a good piece of work, also being used to getting top marks at school just expected it to continue at uni so rather surprised by his score. Did your son get any feedback? DS got some really detailed feedback and he now knows what he needs to adjust in his analysis which is useful pre-exams. If your DS can get feedback encourage him to request it.
DS also has exams this week, actually did one yesterday so fingers crossed they get much better marks.

Hello @17CherryTreeLane DS1 is a first year student and I don't have anyone who has been through it recently to ask for advice either. I think we've all been through a bit of an emotional rollercoaster, to varying degrees, seeing our DCs over Christmas so we can relate, I'm sorry that it's left you sad.

Thank you so much for the replies, it's such a relief to hear from other people! I'll encourage him to go and get feedback.

He's in Aberdeen, and I think he'll go back sooner than planned.

Welcome @17CherryTreeLane ! It’s early days and your ds has had a year less in education than most of ours so that must make a difference! First year marks don’t count towards their degree though so he just needs to use it as a learning experience.