Countdown to exam results. Anyone else feeling anxious?

[jellybrain]

Waiting for DS1's Gcses results on 22nd of August. He did really well last year but, all the talk of moving grade boundaries has got me worried. Fingers are very tightly crossed for maths as this is the subject he struggles with most.

Tree, Cambridge looks at the whole person, not just the exam results. Time was a truly amazing personality was made a 2 E offer- ie they wanted them so much they were prepared to make a preposterously low offer they couldn't possibly miss (although I have heard of a DC who dropped out in the middle of U6 to go and help save a Pacific tribe and therefore didn't make their offer). Conversely, you could have a massive string of A* and not be "right" or a fit for the college you apply to. Personality is so, so important.

We have a different understanding, duchesse although your understanding may be based on more experience than ours. dD is about to apply for Cambridge and at the various talks and chats with admission tutors we have been told in no uncertain terms that the ONLY thing they care about is academic potential - personality being utterly irrelevant.

Unless of course by 'personality '' you mean capacity to learn and potential to take on new ideas etc, in which case, yes, that right.

RussiansOnTheSpree

'I don't quite understand your problem?

I don't have a 'problem' Russian (although I think you might as iirc you took umbrage with another poster early on in thread?)

What I have is a shedload of sympathy for an 18 year old boy who just got A*'s in Maths; Further Maths; Physics; Chemistry & 2 other 'rounding' subjects; is beyond both bright and rounded himself according to DD and something just went horribly wrong for him in STEP.

As glaurung said, he must be gutted - so I have no 'problem', just empathy for a child and also I have no need try include stealth boasts about my own quals/Uni in a thread about DC's...

Duchesse - you didn't have to be an amazing personality! You just had to do well enough in the entrance exam and interviews. Then you were in. The 2E thing was to meet the matric requirement and qualify for a grant.

Amgrowing - there's no need for rudeness. I was explaining how I knew what was needed for Cambridge maths. Having a shed load of sympathy is more than reasonable. I would, too. It must be gutting. But I read your post as similar to that one s out the guy from norn iron with umpty A*s who was rejected from Oxford - you know, how unreasonable to reject - when in this case it's sadly perfectly reasonable to reject since your friend sadly didn't meet their offer. If you didn't mean it like that then I apologise for misunderstanding you.

Incidentally, the most scarily intelligent person I've ever met didn't go to either Oxford or Cambridge. He titted up the entrance exam, went to York and is widely regarded (in my profession) as being practically an alien he's so, well, clever. He mocks me constantly. It's really not only Oxbridge that produces or takes brilliant kids. And plenty of middling ones do get in - that's life really.

One of ds's friends has just been accepted at Oxford with three As - not an A* in sight. Which just goes to show I guess that Oxford and presumably Cambridge don't select on A level results alone.

This morning my Mum was telling me about her friend's grandson, 6 A grades and Oxford have rejected him.

DD1 was rejected by Cambridge and went on to get 4 A star grades. She's decided it was a blessing tbh, but it was clear that personality, ability to think creatively, and 'fitting' into the college were as important as her potential to achieve good results. I think the biggest problem for pupils from 'normal' families and 'normal' schools is that they don't know which college might be the right one to apply for, so lose out because of just applying at random, or on what they've managed to read, rather than through 'inner knowledge' of some sort.

Any school that has a regular contingent going to Oxbridge will advise their pupils that whilst only the bright get in not all the bright get in. They are used to some of the pupils they rate as the highest achievers not getting in. There are so many variables, popularity of college, popularity of course, it is difficult to predict which courses and college will prove most popular in any year, the fact that you are interviewed by the academics who will teach you, of course they are going to pick the candidates who they feel will be a pleasure to teach as well as the additional tests in place for particular courses. Every year Cambridge rates as many pupils as it admits as worthy of a place and a chance in the pool, but few get picked up.

Four years ago my 4 A DD didn't get picked from the pool, neither did the Head Girl, also 4A and in national team with experience of playing International matches. It didn't occurr to them to cry foul, they knew that was how it goes. They are now doing well at other unis that are just as prestigious internationally for their courses, picking up good internships etc.

Congrats to all who did well and lots of empathy for those who are disappointed. We were braced for DD who is capable of As but too often gets ambushed by her learning difficulties to have disappointing results, as she did last year at GCSE but now we find ourselves coping with her having 4 As including 100% in Philosophy and one Eng Lit module and the History sources paper. Now a bit nonplused wondering whether she should raise her sights higher for courses and unis?

What are people hearing about the attitudes of unis to GCSE results. I know that fees, grade deflation and the fishing for ABB has softened attitudes to A level grades but when DD1 was applying pre those develoments the UCL s etc were expecting strings of As. She got 3A, 6 A and 2B last year (including a B in Eng Lit which she regards as having closed off her chances of studying Eng Lit). She'll obviously be getting advice from school when term starts but any feedback welcome

Oh for goodness sake, not another one who thinks there is some sort of secret club that gets you into Oxbridge. The 'right' college to apply for is the one that you take a liking to, that's it and all about it. Plenty of kids from 'normal' families and 'normal' schools get in and thrive there every year. And yes, there are always going to be plenty who get umpteen A*s and don't make it to Oxbridge. It's really not that big a deal. If they are bright, they will do just fine somewhere else and can always re-apply to Oxbridge later for a Masters or PhD if they really badly want to go there.

I didn't say anything about a secret club. I was just trying to say that I thought academic potential, personality AND an element of luck are all involved in the application process. That's all. And I'm sure dd will be v happy where she's going. :)

Reluctant to join the 6A reject argument, but I can see where RussiansOnTheSpree is coming from - one of my son's best friends is reading maths at Cambridge. Had 5A but the only thig that mattered was STEP, because Maths and Further Maths are within reach of quite a few people, as re Physics and Chemistry, and he had French because he is fluent. BUT when he sat STEP, he was required to keep answering until he made an error (or something like that) and the level he reached was Postgraduate maths. (Aged 17). So unfortunately I can see that five A* may still not be good enough for limited places - remember that the colleges each have limited numbers unless you go for an Open Offer. My son's friend is one of four maths students in his college year. Two of the others are overseas students.

The thing I find quite odd about this story is that Cambridge have rejected him already. I would expect he would be put into the summer pool at this stage rather than an out and out rejection. The summer pool is where people with near misses at STEP who may be considered by another college end up, so it seems as if this lads STEP results must have been fairly disastrous.

Let's hope his insurance offer wasn't Warwick or Imperial as he could be in the position of having missed that too which really would be hard for an 18 year old.

I know Cambridge is generally considered preferable to Oxford for Maths but I think there is a lot to be said for the 4th term exam and I would opt for Oxford over Cambridge for that reason, though I suppose most candidates would still be faced with STEP anyway for their insurance offer.

ds turned down Imperial as their accomodation costs were more than the loan plus grant combined. If you dont get extra (and most dont if you need the grant) then you are stuffed.

Well DD did much better than she thought in her AS exams. Four Bs and two of them only a few marks off an A. She seems a little disappointed though- says she feels average but I am very proud of her.

She was a bit miffed about her English as her essay was moderated and dropped from 70/80 to 63/ 80. ( which would have given her an A...) Seems like quite a big drop to me. Either the teacher doesn't know the assessment criteria or the external examiner was especially harsh. We are going to have it looked into when she gets back.

Well done to all your DCs who got their uni places. We have all that to come next year. Not looking forward to it. DD Is such a stress head

Mumslife - dd2 gets her GCSE results on Thursday. Dreading it tbh - she didn't seem to do much work at all and 'hates everything' anyway. Argh.

Remus Yep, dread here, too. :(

Still waiting here too! It's hard!

Me too

Nit - at least we don't have the worries the Merricks did. But neither the money, so, swings, roundabouts......

My biggest fear has aways been to unwittingly turn into Meg Hopkins's parents. :(

DD1 is Esther, I think.