Any parents of Y12 DCs up for a support thread?

[cardibach]

to get us through AS and university Open Days etc.?

isthiscorrect I really feel for you. My DD is going over all her papers so far in fine details to make sure she thinks she's got over 90 UMS in everything.

Her Oxbridge coordinator has indicated that 90 UMS average will be good enough to apply for Cambridge: so your son should be heartened. Although, my sons school worked on the 95 average as a rule of thumb - that said, they let my son apply to Oxford with an average nearer 90 and he did get interviewed (although you don't declare UMS for Oxford)

And Cambridge interview a higher proportion of all candidates than Oxford, so all is not lost for him. And it's an average, so his other subjects will be important too.

But a long wait til August,as you say.

And, still trying to make you feel better, if he only lost 20 mins, it's quite likely he'd Already spent 20 mins on that question so Although he won't have done brilliantly on it, he's likely to have got over half marks as the first marks are always the easiest to come by in an essay. So he may have dropped 15 out of the 40 marks.

And the grade boundary might be only 80!

So all is not lost....

Oh gosh, all your positive comments have sent me over the edge and I am blubbing. I think it's all been a bit much and being so it will be ok yesterday for DS has taken its toll. Fortunately it's 6.30 in the morning and no one else is up to see me (it's the weekend here).
When he shows he is more resigned I shall delve a bit deeper into how much he did for the last question, I think you are right he should have completed 20 mins and got a good few marks.
Positive thinking and I shall speak to his tutor on Sunday to see what he thinks.
A gap year wouldn't be the end of the world, it's something he is already considering, working on the general election campaign.
Thanks again everyone, and good luck to your DC in their exams.

Thanks for the positive thoughts for Dd's Chem! Apparently it went really well - all things being relative hope it went well for others too. nothing til after half term, but lots of involvement in Urdd National Eisteddfod so organisation will be key.

Yes DD did Chemistry Edexcel on Thurs too. She also did the Jan paper, which was generally agreed to be very hard. She was 1 mark off an A, so resat hoping for a better result. Her feedback was that it went ok, a couple of odd questions that she was fortunately able to answer, but no real feeling as to whether she'll have done better than last time. I think they're trying to make the papers harder, possibly to set expectations for future candidates.

Anyone else had aDC take Maths C2 yesterday? Apparently it was horrible.......

only just found this thread. We're half way through. As are hard - it is a big jump

Hi zamantha. They are indeed hard! How is your DC doing?

Decision Maths paper went really well yesterday,it's an A2 paper. Because of the way they do Maths and Further Maths they essentially do the Maths A level in Year 12 and the FM in Y13. He did core 1 and core 2 in January and after the holidays he has Core 3 and Core 4, plus the 3 sciences.

notfluffy I think a lot of universities prefer to rely on actual AS results rather than teacher predictions which can be either over cautious or optimistic. If your DD does well she will have firm evidence of her ability to put on her application.

DS seems to be planning to hole up in his room for the week with practice papers but I am going to bribe persuade him to get out a bit.

Have a good week everyone.

Two more here, too, notfluffy - Chemistry and Biology. DD concentrated really hard on the first two papers as they were resits and now feels unprepared for these. Thankfully she got an A for her English Lang and Lit paper in January, so no need to resit that.
A2 should be a bundle of laughs
First University Open Day on the 8th! (UWE Bristol - anyone going?)

Bristol was on DSs list but it's a very long way and the open day clashed with something else.
DS has a few coach trips to open days booked through college but not until mid June.

I can see we will all need a UCAS thread in September

Secretsquirrels DD's maths is like that too, but she has mechanics after half term as well as core 3 and 4. She also has 1 physics paper left.

Ds maths seems to be diffetent
He did decision and mechanics in january. Did core 1 and 2 and decision 2 in May and has pure maths and mechanics resit after half term. Also has physics left.

I guess they must be different boards? Ours is AQA. Some do AS Further Maths alongside AS Maths and then A levels in each in Y13.
He did C1 and C2 and mechanics in January. He has done Statistics and Decision this time with C3 and C4 to go.
prettydaisies how is your DDs revision going for C3 and C4?

Ds is OCR

DD is OCR as well, but I think schools organise things differently. At her school you complete A Level maths in Y12 and then do Further Maths in Y13.
She did statistics back in January, but then does Core 1,2,3 and 4 now. The other applied module they taught this year was mechanics so she's doing that as well.
Core 3 is going well - she thinks she is just about there. Core 4 to tackle next.
How are your DC getting on?

Just Core 3 and 4 to go in Maths. Core three is first and he seems to be getting consistently good marks on the past papers. Then Core 4 on the 10th I think. He did very week on the mock last week so fingers crossed.
I'm not sure why it's done this way but at least they do have a firm A level result for the UCAS application, then further maths in Year 13.
Biology, Chemistry, Physics and C3 on consecutive days next week. He's dropping Biology at A2.

AS is such a jump. We have a uni grad. tutor here today - found on web, for Physics. Just was not doing well on practise test papers and lost his text book on last day of term!! All going well - he'll be here every day this week for electrons, waves etc - will let you know how it went.

For us money worth paying if it helps - we are not loaded by any means but without jan resits - too much could rest on next summer.

Have to say methinks it may take my son 3 years to get the A and B grades needed these days.

Nobody else going to UWE Open Day? :(
Oh well, we will have to be loners...

DD is visiting UEA on the 21st and Warwick on the 22nd. She is wanting to study Biochemistry with a year abroad. On paper these are the courses she really, really wants. I hope they live up to their billing!