Thread 46 - GCSE Covid Cohort , Searching for Summer Solstice

[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.

Previous Thread

I had never heard of 24 (let alone 72) hour exams till last week, all mine at uni (poly) were traditional sit at a desk in a room for 3 hours style. It wasn’t an essay based subject though, maybe that makes a difference. I did some OU modules a few years ago and realised I had very little knowledge of essay writing, referencing etc.

@Delphigirl my DD is dragging her feet WRT Open Days, she is a bit “rabbit in the headlights” about it all. She has booked Leicester and is planning to book Lincoln for the day before as they can be done in one trip with an overnight stay. We have been to RHUL (at my suggestion as it is local). That’s it. I have made a few lists for her but she seems to have her fingers in her ears when I mention it. But she is adamant she wants to go to uni, so we’ll see.

@OrangeCinnamonLatte I’m sorry about Southampton, my DS had basically the same geographical radius of choices as your DD (although didn’t apply to Southampton) and it does limit things a bit. Hope one of the others comes up trumps.

@estherfrewen you have inspired me to get out heron-watching! I decided to stop at the town pond on the way home from work and see the birds, don’t normally get so close to the heron.

Another one that's never heard of 24/72hr exams. How does that work? do they spend the night in the exam hall? all mine like @ExtremelyDetermined were 3hrs but this was at a Poly.

I've doing an online course for the last few years (not OU). Pre-Covid I had to go to London for the exams. Recently, I've had a variety; some were 3 hours "real time" and some have been "2 weeks to do a 3-hour exam" (so, effectively, more coursework). To be honest I prefer doing them in person.

Yay for wildlife photography! I have dug into DD's files to find a heron shot from when she was experimenting with some of the high-speed modes on her current camera. I think this could be used to teach Pythagoras' Theorem.

@ExtremelyDetermined - really lovely photos

DS took 23 hours to do his exam 😱 He was exhausted and then I couldn't wake him up this afternoon for his French exam. I called security as I was really worried about him. They went to his room and woke him up with 10 minutes to go. His exam was on the other Notts campus for some bizzare reason so he has to get an Uber and was late. He says he was so tired he kept forgetting to write 🙁 The lady who came to his room is trying to help him sort some support out - better late than never. He's thinking of asking to resit the year - does anyone know how this works with student finance on what's already a 4 year course?

DD says her politics was fine and I'm now sat outside a Harry Styles concert wishing I was in there. There are pink feathers as far as the eye can see out here 🤣

72 hour exams entailed in my case three essays to write and then cycle madly back to uni to put them jn a postbox. A stout lady came out at exactly 9am and removed it. We were able to eat, sleep etc...

Tbh the 8 hour ones were the killers.

I actually liked my OU degree exams , taking them in Southampton Football Club not so much. These were essay based exams though so you just sit and write waffle.

I feel for the 72 /24 hour examiners. I thought Unis tended not to do exams for the sake of it. Unlike flipping A-levels.

I would not have liked that either @OrangeCinnamonLatte PUP!

I took my OU exams at Newbury racecourse.

Exams in sporting venues thread - I did some of my internal audit exams at Swindon Town’s ground.

Ha @ExtremelyDetermined PPU! Except we are 'keep the blue flag flying high' for our sins. MIL goes with her friend occasionally , she is the most sophisticated 73 yr old ever so this makes me lol..and we do keep an eye on how the local teams do.

@DontCallMeBaby @ExtremelyDetermined were you in some kind of banqueting suite too? I imagined rows of chairs in the middle of the pitch 😂

I haven’t done a sporting venue I don’t think but I have sat exams in the rather spectacular art deco main hall of Porchester Halls in Bayswater (which has Turkish baths attached!)

I’ve also sat exams in a Hilton near Paddington (not good - had a dodgy curry the night before and had to run to the loo 4 times in a 3hr exam) and in the Leonardo Hotel Knightsbridge… very nice loos there.

I had exams in twickenham rugby stadium back in my day.

DS2 (year 12) cannot decide what he wants to go at uni or where so no open days for us yet. He’s insisting he wants to go to uni though. He’s just getting back his results from end of year exams and so far he’s got a D and an E so not looking great for him.
one of his teachers has “written his name down” to look at getting extra time but nothing else has been mentioned. I’m not even sure why he would qualify for this?

They might think he has slow processing skills or some other specific leaning disability if his exam results do not reflect their expectations of him. He would need an Ed psych assessment.
why don’t you take him to literally any uni open day that’s not too far away and go to various subject talks, look around departments, see what catches his interest. You never know he might like the look of urban planning or linguistics or anthropology or materials science or whatever fits his A levels that he hasn’t heard of or considered before. Even working out what he definitely doesn’t want to do, can help!

@Fiddlersgreen my DD has been being apathetic about uni too (see my earlier post) so we carted her off to RHUL and she did enjoy that. Still dragging her heels a bit. She gets extra time in exams due to dyslexia, she has got a formal diagnosis but the school also observed that she consistently took considerably longer to complete the same work as others and that was the evidence for getting extra time. The formal diagnosis is needed for university DSA though, I would have a chat with the SENCO. We also now think DD may have ADHD so we are about to launch into more assessments.

@OrangeCinnamonLatte I had a season ticket at PFC before the DCs came along, my friend now has it and I borrow it back occasionally, the same group of us have been going since we were 18 or so. DS used to play for CFC disability team at the training ground in Cobham do we have some loyalty to them too. My OU exams were in a vast grandstand room with picture windows overlooking the race track, there were hundreds of us. It is a bit weird being in sporting venues when there is no sport going on but I find them interesting, we have taken DS on a few football stadium tours.

Thanks @Delphigirl and @ExtremelyDetermined I think I will persuade to visit the two local universities so he can try and get an idea and maybe rule things out too.

He doesn’t have a diagnosis of anything and never struggled at school at all, was always near or at the top of the class until year 9 or so when he stopped really trying I think.
his GCSEs were not bad but lower grades than expected which was a shock to him at the time. Instead of it pushing him to work harder I think he may have lost motivation

Well sometimes having something to work for in terms of finding a course he likes and envisaging himself at a particular uni can really help turn grades around. It’s not too late.

I too like ED and Shimy had never heard of 24 or 72 hour exams before. 3 hour standard papers in an exam hall is clearly now not always the norm.

Wouldn't suit me. I eat regularly as a diabetic, and sleep for England. Dh and I on holiday last week had a 2 or 3 hour siesta every single afternoon!

Did you have diabetes when you were a student @Oblomov23 ? DH developed T1 as a student, years before I met him. I assume they allow you to test blood sugar and eat if necessary.

My DS has just finished his second year having done a foundation year first (thanks covid), and hasn't done a single in-person exam. Nearly all he has had a 24 hr window in which to complete, I think only one has been an actual timed exam.
I like others did the 3hr essay papers at the former poly. Have to say my finals were probably the easiest exams I have ever done - way easier than my A levels.

@OrangeCinnamonLatte I honestly don’t remember, but it must have been something like a banqueting suite - I’d remember if it was on the pitch 😂

BTW my origins are Pompey-adjacent - when I was our uni kids’ age it was quite normal to have to get on a ferry to go clubbing …

Dd is really struggling with getting started with work, and is convinced she has ADHD (I think she’s probably right.) She pulled an all nighter last night and had just 2 hours sleep 😱 She wants to get a diagnosis and some sort of help.I’m convinced that she needs coaching /to find out what works for her, rather than meds, but who knows?

Ds is year 12 but is adamant he doesn’t want to do to uni so no more open days here 😢

@DontCallMeBaby I worked for ten years on that side of the ferry crossing, but didn't live there (I'm further inland). Thankfully work was at the northern end because the traffic was horrendous.

@crazycrofter I'm inclined to think my DD does have ADHD too, she has been saying so for years, we have a lot of neurodiversity in the family, she did an online screening that said "it would be a good idea to be assessed" - when I did it it said "don't bother". We need to start the ball rolling with our GP and an e consult but both of us keep putting it off.

@crazycrofter DS has come to the same conclusion. I'm planning to go up to Nottingham next week ( last exam tomorrow) and take over/help him navigate student support etc. The lady who came to his room yesterday has sent him some forms but he was so tired and overwhelmed after almost missing his exam that he couldn't tell me what they were.

@mummyinbeds they are all entitled to an extra year, however long the course, so if doing a 4 year course they can have 5 years of funding.

We have the A level results day stress this year - DS needs an A for Chemistry. He was hoping to get an offer from Newcastle, which would have been unconditional as he already had the grades they need, so a great Insurance choice. And DS1 gets his degree classification tomorrow, will be very sad if he does not get a First, so fingers crossed!

@Fiddlersgreen Please don't be disheartened by the D and E at this stage (yr 12). DS1's grades at this point were abysmal and when he retook them he got a 'U' where he previously had an E! he went on however to pull something out of the bag on results day and got into a decent university. He's done brilliantly and graduates this yr, so there's still a lot of time for your dc to pull their grades up.