S5/S6 support thread.

[IHaveBrilloHair]

I know I need it this year with Dd.
Everyone welcome to join in.

Thanks.

Has anyone else heard from St Andrews or Edinburgh?

Dd has good grades (5 A in 5th year) but is worrying that her personal statement might let her down..

Ds is so quiet when it comes to exams. His sister would dissect every question.

My DS has an unconditional Edinburgh law offer ((he achieved 5As and a B by end of fifth year). He received the offer just before the Christmas break.

Which subject are you waiting for? We were told on an open day by an admissions officer that generally everyone with 5As got unconditional offers, so hang in there.

My DS has unconditional for Edinburgh for chemistry. Heard late October. He has 6 As in S5.
Still waiting to here from St Andrews.

• hear 🙈

Well done with the offers!

Dd has applied to do French and Italian. Her UCAS was in late - December some time. Glasgow was within a week 😄

Dd is still waiting to hear from Edinburgh but she only applied on the 3rd January

DS just got a rejection from Strathclyde but he only put it on as he had a slot free - he's not bothered.

It just goes to show you you don't know the relative weights and/it what they are looking for in results, projected results, personal statement - and post code

They're all different.

At least he already has his conditional from Aberdeen (can't remember if he's heard from Stirling or Dundee[?]).

What does the school think of his chances for getting the results required for the Conditional?

DD2 just got an unconditional from Glasgow but it's for 1st year entry when she'll have an HND I don't think she's after being a student forever, we can't finance her for that long DDs3 and 4 are hot on her heels.

DD3 bit shocked at returning to school after study leave straight after Xmas hols, just awaiting Prelim results for her.

Thanks pb Yes, who knows how they work it all out. He's not heard from Dundee or Stirling yet. His conditions are two Bs for his 2 highers. He's been predicted two As for his highers and a C for his AH which I guess would be treated as equivalent to a B at Higher (which he already has). Dundee, prior to him applying, said they'd be looking for two As in his Highers so that would be without any allowance for anything that might give him a reduced offer. Prior to applying officially, Aberdeen had previously indicated they'd be looking for AB for his Highers and a B in his AH, so they have significantly reduced expectations in his actual offer based on his PS.

Lidl that's a real shame, I take it the HND is in a related subject? Did she apply for first year? Who else has she applied to? It must be so tough having 4 all going through it. I'm stressing enough about having 2 for the next 4 years.

Thanks Wax, I felt for her as she has been very much led to believe her progression route was 3rd of a degree . I was actually impressed with her self awareness in thinking 2nd year was wiser. Completely related subject. Still she has Caley and Stirling (and her 5th choice which I've forgotten) to hear from. I suppose Glasgow just regard themselves as prestigious.

I just think that Glasgow like to just offer unconditionals for Scottish students so therefore only offer based on what someone already has. they always seem to be the first to get their offers out and it seems it goes purely on whether you already have the requirements. From what I've seen anyway. DS1 got his first offer from there but preferred Strathclyde. DS2 didn't bother to apply as he didn't meet what they were looking for. Hopefully she gets something better or they revise her offer in the coming weeks. Both HW and Strathclyde contacted DS1 after he had his original offer with an offer for 2nd year entry but the original UCAS offer was for 1st year (which is what he applied for).

Lidi it might be worth your DD calling Glasgow Admissions to check there has been no misunderstanding in her application if the normal route from her HND would be the year above the one she applied to.

Well done to everyone in their offers for uni! DD still sitting higher prelims the last one is physics on Monday. She is a bright girl and has worked her socks off but admits they have been hard. She is not alone as she says everyone feels the same. She was doing great in the past papers but says a lot of the questions bore no resemblance to them. I have said not to be down heartened but to take notes on the types of questions that she found tricky to perhaps work on for the real thing. Do schools often make prelims difficult? It’s hard to know the right thing to say!🙈

My son, who is a hard-worker, took five Highers last year and ended up with all As. He managed to increase his marks by 10-15% for each subject between prelims and the real thing so tell your daughter not to be too disheartened if she doesn't receive the prelim grades she hopes for.

Thanks Aurea that’s really helpful to know! I will tell her if it doesn’t go as well as she wanted there is still time. At least she feels she couldn’t have done anymore prep as she said more study would not have made a difference. I think it may be a school tactic so they are not lulled into resting on their laurels!x

I think in general they usually make the prelims challenging. DS2 said that their Politics one had 3 questions, 2 @ 20 marks and one @8. He said that they hadn't covered the material for one of the 20 mark questions but he gave it a go just to practise the technique of structuring the answer as much as anything else. he's not had the results yet. However, there are only 6 folk in the class and therefore the teacher presumably knows what they've covered so I'm not sure who then sets the prelim as it would seem odd to include a question that they definitely haven't covered. maybe it was to see what they did with it?

Agreed Wax that is very odd! My dd said the same today about the chemistry exam there were a couple of questions on the unit they haven’t yet covered. Good on you lad for giving it a go and not panicking which would be my unhelpful reaction!!😂

DS found his Philosophy prelim particularly challenging. Neither paper was anything like any of the past papers. The second paper was 45 questions in 1hr 45min and he said he spent 15 minutes just on the first question, writ8ng a page and a half. Everyone came out barely able to write another word. He said it was more like a massive information dump than an exam to make sure they know the material.

He’s hoping to get results next week.

Alitte, it's his favourite subject and hopefully what he'll be studying at uni next year so he has extra knowledge from his own interest. he;s in 6th year and would have probably panicked last year, but he's matured! :o

Thank you ladies glad to know this is all normal then! Wax I think your son sounds very mature, my dd usually is but it’s a gaggle if girls after the exam that catastrophise things!! I don’t mean that to sound sexist just my experience so far!!

Thanks Alittle - he had a really poor 4th and most of 5th year and he's struggled with a lot of things but definitely seems to be on a much more positive vibe at the minute and it's lovely to see.

Just laughing at your "gaggle of girls", I do know what you mean, I was always pretty quiet so tended to slope off after exams and not get involved and DSs are definitely similar. Though I think DS was giving his friends a lift home with his lovely fresh driving licence after the exam. I think he was maybe concentrating on that rather than the exam replay.

So pleased to hear your son is feeling more positive this year. The teenage years are so hard in lots of different ways and I find it hard as a parent to not have all the answers.
Dd has very sensibly avoided social media after the exam as doesn’t want involved in the post exam dissection!!

Well done her! and all those who don't get caught up in it. When the exam is done then that's that. All you can do is wait for the results and then take any learning from those that you can. What your friends put for question 7 etc is completely irrelevant until you know who got what mark for it.