Thread 52 - Covid GCSE Cohort - Autumn 24 - Start of Uni Yr 3

[Oblomov24]

2024 Autumn, start of year 3 for those at Uni.

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). 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.

51 Previous thread - 51.

3 pictures of maths:

@Oblomov24 I'm very familiar with the awful formatting of exam board material!

The school will already have documents like these. In nearly all schools, teachers work from a "Programme of Study" for each subject which lists the topics and how long each one should take to cover, and a "Scheme of Work" which breaks it down in more detail and lists available resources. At the place where I work, the PoS is viewable by students and parents, and we use them explicitly for revision. It might be worth asking whether you could see these documents. Your DS's Head of Year is probably a good place to ask, or the Academic Deputy.

(Some schools are unwilling to share teaching materials and I'm never quite sure why!)

Thank you so very much @Photodad. You as a teacher would obviously know all this. Thank you again. I will ask HoY your suggestion.

I helped DD1 with her exam timetable for GCSEs.

1. make a list of every topic that needs to be revised and colour code them according to subject
2. have a column for how good she already is at a topic like a score from 1 to 5
3. make a column for how long she needs to spend on each topic in total
4. add in some time to do practice papers
5. get excel to reorder the list in a random order
6. work through the list

My DD had to make a time table as part of homework but the exams got cancelled so she never actually did this for the real thing.

My DC were provided with documents like @PhotoDad describes at the start of each new unit, and they were great to help with revision. They used them for end of topic tests, which gave a great foundation for future revision.
We also relied heavily on the cgp revis@ionguides which followed a similar format.
I'm not sure it's possible to design a time table to cover everything. We allocated time to particular units, had a quick check through the subjects involved and picked out ones they were less confident on. After a couple of sessions, we did practice questions to cover everything.

We had guides like that for science after each topic which were great. English and history provided nice booklets for revision. We also had every cgp revision guide known to mam! Signed up to some online revision thing for science too which was excellent. DS had a revision timetable he did marked out in 30 minute chunks

Known to man, even...!

My two refused point blank any help with revision timetables etc but I did a great deal of revision support with DS at both GCSE (till they got cancelled but DS did take his L2 BTEC exams in Feb 3020) and A level. DD continues to refuse any support whatsoever. At GCSE she got away with it (all 7s and 8s), at A level a bit less so for biology at least but you can't force them to accept help. The CGP books largely went unused but Seneca was used a lot by both of them. DD wouldn't have stuck to any timetable anyway (undergoing ADHD assessment). It has all been somewhat frustrating.....

Mine too @EternallyDelighted. Although the last 2 had Saturday tests for revision every week & didn't want or need any more structure. I think they would have rebelled if i'd threatened any.

I'm sorry I'm completely out of the loop on this thread. But it's lovely to hear of all the overseas adventures. I do hope you're now feeling better @Craggyrat?

In other news here I'm dropping DS2 off at Uni for the first time next week. We only started shopping this week as I was waiting to see what was left by the others first.

Dd2 hasn't moved yet into her damp, smelly mouldy, dirty house yet. As after many threats her landlord is now repairing/fixing/cleaning things. Honestly the sofa looked like someone had died on it. Avoid London landlords called Giovanni!

Dd1 needs a rental dress for the Welsh baftas & is struggling to find rentals for petites. Anyone know of any?
She may well end up renting a Rat & Boa one off Hurr again. As she knows they suit her.

@Oblomov24 DS is also a no revision timetables style student. Agree with @EternallyDelighted that Seneca is the way to go and it's free!

Loving the Paris coat.

@Cantonet You can't just drop BAFTAs like that without more detail!

@Delphigirl Hope this missing rucksack is chasing her around Peru.

DS wouldn't have a clue what revision was if it smacked him in the face. He often has good intentions but never gets beyond a blank timetable.

Welsh BAFTA's @Cantonet ? Do tell more.

@Delphigirl My DD would be so jealous of the Peru trip, with or without the rucksack. I hope it's turned up.

@EwwSprouts & @mummyinbeds she's a guest of her newish boyfriend who makes programmes. At least I think that's what he does 🤔. She's already done a film showing, but I'm not sure that was a dress up occasion.
I need to send her dd2's dress. It's a silk cream slip dress that she purchased for her school ball from American eBay & took too long to arrive. So it's never been worn & can be adjusted to fit her shape.
She's more petite than dd2.
It's this one.

Anyone else's DC still not gone back? DS goes back next weekend and I am feeling a bit wobbly, i should be used to it by now but it will be strange after him being back for nearly 4 months. Also, final year, dissertation etc, seems like a big step up, having said that y2 was quite a step up as well and he coped with that.

DD's contact-hours start up again next week but she's been "back" most of the summer working on projects and volunteering. She is very relieved to find that her dissertation can be written in the style of a magazine article (!!) rather than formal academic prose, so long as it references her research. She's also arranged with the course-leader that her "crits" (weekly feedback sessions) can be scheduled to allow her to continue her volunteer conservator shifts at a museum, as those count as professional artistic practice. One of the advantages of a tiny cohort is that they know the tutors really well!

Good luck everyone! DS(Y13) is about to send off his UCAS form, so here we go again.

@Cantonet Gorgeous dress! Hope they have a fantastic evening. We need a post event review.

DS goes back next Saturday for sport and signing up freshers for sport. Lectures start a week later. DS had always had a busy timetable as a STEM student, this year it's 5 hours! I know the research project will take up a large chunk of time. The big step you're feeling @EternallyDelighted is recognised too. I don't see DS applying for any jobs soon for next year. He's mentioned a year out.

DS goes back a fortnight today. Does feel as though it's almost the end of an era. He's back in London a week tomorrow for another interview- such a pain he's not back at C by then as wouldn't have needed an overnight stay then. Company pays for trains but not overnight sadly

DS has been in France for 4 weeks already. He has friends from home visiting next weekend before they go back to their respective unis.
DD has been in Aber for a few weeks (with a trip to Corfu thrown in) but Freshers started this weekend - she's the president of a very sociable society and has organised a whole week of activities, including a wellness sea swim 🥶

DD has got that job I asked about interview clothes for, subject to a trial shift. Only issue is that it is rural so the taxi service of mum and dad is going to be required sometimes (there are buses but infrequent). Really must get her driving now, we have been lucky this summer that both DS's jobs have been on regular bus routes.

Ah well done to dd @EternallyDelighted that’s great!

Well done to your DD @EternallyDelighted .

That’s brilliant @EternallyDelighted !

Well done @EternallyDelighted dd.

Drove into London, even though it was a Mayor - annual no drive/car day (thanks for that) to Aldgate to drop ds1. He got given a nice duplex apartment so at least this is good, because these are the worst marlin apartment location, worst than last year.

Thanks for all the posts/suggestions re timetables , revision for GCSE Ds2.

Well done to your DD @EternallyDelighted - great news

Congratulations to @EternallyDelighted DD!