Y13 support thread, anyone?

[cardibach]

I remember our GCSE one 2 years ago. It was a haven! I hesitate to start this as I'm not totally confident of wanting to post DDs results in the end, but I'll cross that bridge when I come to it.
So, how's the revision going? What are the tricky subjects for anyone's DC?
DD is revising steadily, but then she always does and has had some disastrous module results, so not filled with massive confidence. Biology is her issue - she knows and understands it but can't seem to give the examiner what they are looking for. We've had papers back and her tutor says she hasn't answered anything incorrectly, just hasn't said precisely what the examiner wants. Seems so unfair.

I'm stressing. Anyone else?

Hello everyone - good to read that things generally seem to be going quite positively for all DCs

Bit of a, how shall I put it diplomatically, hiatus here on the revision front. Leavers day last Friday so fair enough nothing done. GF round stayed til late Saturday, nothing done yesterday, and late last night he announced that today they were going to go to the city (smallish town but with a cathedral, not a real city in size terms) to go to the cinema and then on for a meal. So expect no revision today either.

Had a bit of a chat about the opportunities he has - he does understand this and hopefully will crack back down tomorrow for the final push before exams. Maybe having these few days stepping back from it all might be a good thing? I hope so.

DD is revising Bio again and is really worried that, due to thorough revision the first time (her first Bio paper is a resit) she has no new questions to attempt so has no way of knowing whether she has learned it all. There is really nothing I can say or do to help with this one :(

Can you turn it round and assure her that she has been through all the old questions and mark schemes and that she has prepared as well as she has possibly could? Has she read the examiner reports as well? DD always refused to previously but did so recently and found them quite helpful.

boys3 your post has made me feel so much better. We have had the same here - DD had an exam on Friday morning so nothing in the afternoon or evening and then has been out with friends all of the weekend so nothing at all done there. I think it is the need for a rest and also a 'reaction' to leaving school. I really wish they would 'leave' and have all the celebrations after the exams as it has put my DD and it seems most of her friends into a sort of holiday atmosphere, when she still has a load of exams coming up. She and I also had a little 'chat' this morning and she has been working hard today. I think also, they are fed up with the work by now, however, I have pointed out in a few short weeks it will be all over with. It is hard though, isn't it?

cardi what board is your DD doing for biology? My DD has been doing questions from a site she found online but it is OCR that she is doing. I can find you the link if it would be helpful?

Cardi- good luck to your Dd, I hope she gets her grades. I want all students to reach their potential and feel valued for their achievements.
We're also aiming for high grades here but I'm not totally hopeful - we may have to retake a few modules or look at new unis. However, Ds is doing his best so we just have to wait and see. My DH found out you need 88% to achieve an A for OCR Further Maths as of last year. Feeling glum - that is very tough.

As to parents where their Dc are socializing - nerve-racking for mums but probably necessary for Dc to have down-time to cope with stress.
Our Ds just tells us - I can't do more today - just can't . We feel he is doing just about enough but know some students can focus a lot more. We just have to support our DS- but it's hard. Sometimes, I feel like screaming - DO A BIT MORE!! It is their future after all.

DH confessed today he's worried , will our Ds be able to independently study enough at uni? I'll worry about that later. They mature at every stage and we just have to wait and see.

HP I tried that reassurance but she wasn't convinced! I dint think she has looked at examiner 'a reports so I'll suggest that.
Fanta it's WJEC but could you find the link? It might help...
summer thanks for the good wishes.
She has gone out for a meal and to the cinema with her (lovely) boyfriend now and is staying at his tonight (whole other thread...) so he can teach her Chem in the morning. He is very good at it, and at explaining it...

cardi here is the link for the biology - hope your DD finds it helpful

mrsmillersblog.wordpress.com/as-biology/

summer 88% for an A in further maths? Gosh, that is so high. I find with DD that the days vary, some days she can do more than others - she is very tired though, and I try and be mindful that she has to keep going for another 4 weeks so I try and encourage her to relax when she is not working. As I said upthread though, I find it unsettling when RL friends tell me their DC can work non-stop all day every day - perhaps they are locked away in their rooms on facebook while their parents think they are revising? That could be it!

sunmer I thought ( from another thread on here) that it was not quite as you say for what you had to do to get an A in maths.

It's all about UMS anyway, so you can't translate % directly to UMS. I think you need 80 UMS on average per module to get an A. That may be 88% but it can be way lower. - it changes very year.

There's a whole thread on it over that last couple of weeks so take a look ( I can't link!) and you may take some comfort - your DS is unlikely to need 88% is the way I read it.

What would the thread be called beck?

It's is only the Further pure 1 module that has that high a grade boundary for an A 2013 grade boundaries OCR Most of the others are mid 50s/72.
I was really shocked about the last physics ISA ds took and you needed over 70% just to get an E

It's like Beck says - grades are based on UMS and these boundaries are fixed (e.g. 80% for an A). Each year the UMS conversion alters to try to make the standard for an A the same despite different questions, so some years 80% UMS might be 88% raw marks, some years it might be much lower. You can't really predict by looking at past years' boundaries. We all need to do the low-boundary-mark-dance between now and August!

Thanks Fanta, I'll show it to her later! As I said she's doing Chem with her boyfriend this morning and then has a rehearsal at school for the item she is competing with at the Urdd National Eisteddfod on Thursday. No pressure on her, oh no!

And breathe, cardi........

summer, the thread that enlightened me was called 'A level grade boundaries - help!' And is on p2 of the sec ed board (ie this one). Keep reading until you get to a really useful link from a poster called hench which links to an OCR fact sheet. It might answer your questions and maybe give you some comfort.

Note to self - time to wake up the sleeping DD!

Cardi - the FP 1 seems to be consistantly higher than the rest. I hadn't realised DS had already sat it (very bad mum). Apparently he was one mark off an A.

cardi you're welcome hope your DD's rehearsal goes well. I agree, we all need to do a low-grade-boundary-dance.

I have heard that Decision maths usually has a high grade boundary as a lot of students who take further maths take Decision as one of their applied units and if you are taking further maths, it is likely that you are very good at maths in general. DD is taking Decision for her ordinary maths so I am a little worried about that for her.

Yes, thank you, have looked at other thread and taken note here. Just hoping it is only one paper where grade boundaries are higher in F. Maths this year.

How's the studying going?

Just about enough here. His spirits seem to be okay too. Rain keeps them in - more time to sit and practise!

Lots of hours being out in here. After last weeks illness, and losing five full days, she's now not emerged from her study for the last five days straight.

Thing is, it's all been Biology!! We've had this discussion here before, but she wants to get through Biology first before she moves on. Who knew there was so much Biology! Not me, for sure. I'm sure she knows what she's doing. She's a whole lot cleverer than me.....I can't even pronounce some of the words....

On a lighter note, what's everybody's current favourite mid session snack? At the moment, here it's Ben and Jerry's Karmel Sutra ice cream.

Snacks etc.

Our Ds insisted on a take away curry for Monday Dinner - we generally don't do takeaways but he rules roost right now.

strawberries and a dash of cream between sessions here!

BeckAndCall we are finding this with the Biology too -it gets a disproportionate amount of time as there is so much to learn.

The mid-session snack here is still biscuits

Snacks? DD's default is diet coke and chocolate biscuits.

How do you keep your patience?

Had a slow day today - 2 hrs plus in 40 min slots and then said he was off out.

On his way home now and we've got to try and get him to study a bit more because he is not a 6 hour a day student so we measure 3/4 hours everyday just about cuts it - which to be fair he has more or less done.

I know some Dc are totally independent by now and self motivated ( I suspect our DD will be) - if we did not interfere, not enough would get done and we feel his exams are too precious to waste.

He has worked very hard in school for 4 years according to teachers but my patience wanes when he is too interested in doing his own thing out of school hours! I do try very hard to keep my patience but it is tough. My saving grace is I moan quietly ( and sometimes loudly) to my DH not to my son.

Will just keep smiling at my DS.

How do you avoid nagging?

summer has your DS always been keen on going out and doing his own thing or is this a recent occurrence since study leave? The reason I ask is that I have several RL friends with DC in year 13 and they all report the same has happened since study leave. It is like they are finished and are on their summer holidays! We have concluded that it is a reaction to leaving school and asserting their new-found independence. It is hard though. My DD was out literally all last weekend as I said upthread, and not a scrap of work was done. This made me anxious too, so I do understand. I had a little chat with her about it all being over with in a few weeks etc etc and now she is back to working again.

A tip I saw on another thread is to praise them (not too obviously, they would get suspicious) when they are revising. It is the same theory as praising a toddler to reinforce the good behaviour.

Thank you Fanta - yes, he is in a different zone now since study leave.

He's studying away right now so I'll take in a cup of tea and drop a bit of supportive praise !! Good tip. Gentle praise.

Summer, does he have a timetable for revision and would that help him? I think I described upthread that both my DDs had lovely colourful timetables - which DD 1 followed assiduously and DD 2 treats as a general aim - but that DS, my oldest, thought irrelevant.

But your DS may be the kind that responds to a visuall of the time available and the work to be done? But his may be irrelevant to how he works best..., might be a boy thing.....