A2 Results day support

[summerdip]

Results are looming. Beginning to feel the jitters!

Best of luck to all our DC

Great relief- DD got her grades for Durham. We both had a good cry.

Good luck everyone, hoping your DC get what they need for their offers.

Dumbledoresgirl - has he phoned the Uni to check it's a no? Sometimes they accept with lower than asked for grades. Phone all his Uni choices and get into the clearing process. I've taught plenty of people who've ended up at a Uni they never even considered and loved it. Good luck

Sorry Dumbledoresgirl, I hadn't seen your update when I posted. I hope DS gets some help and advice from school .

Ms Average, A isn't awarded at AS, there's nothing in the results your son got that suggest he couldn't get A grades next year, or get into Oxbridge.

His teachers will sit down and go through a clear plan with him next year.

The situation is not helped by the fact that ds and I have a virtually non-existent relationship. If I try to speak to him, he doesn't reply. If I persist, he walks out of the room. Fortunately, dh took today off work specifically to try and help with this situation as we predicted this would be the outcome.

They have been to the school but as far as I can ascertain, the teachers just expressed surprise that he did not get the necessary Ds. No ongoing help was offered. He has definitely heard that he has been rejected by his first choice, but not heard from his second choice so I shall try suggesting that he contacts them - thanks for that advise.

Re clearing: is it worth it with only a CEE?

I did try asking him if he really wanted to go to uni, but I got no answer, which is par for the course.

Advice, not advise. Sorry.

I made a total hash of maths, some how still got on my 1st choice course (HT was a alumini from that physics dept. I hadnt known before and I'm female)

Total disaster, everyone else had As at further maths, that my school didn't even do.

Took a year out, became a biologist and absolutely loved it and stayed on as a postgrad.

Can't wish not to have wasted those two years because I wouldn't have met DH, but a total change of direction can be a very good thing.

Dumbledoresgirl. How about a foundation course at Uni? Off the top of my head I think Man Met, Coventry and Liverpool offer them. Might be worth a shot in clearing.

A foundation course at Brunel was his first choice! So he has failed to get into even that.

At the moment, he is trying to contact his second choice.

Sorry to hear about you and DS, teens can be so difficult. Hopefully your DH will be able to persuade him.
Definitely worth using clearing with CEE, but your son needs to be up for it as he may need to persuade the admissions team that he wants a place, they'll want to speak to him, not just parents. If he's unsure about Uni he needs to speak to his school careers adviser about apprenticeships/employment, they should be around for appointments this time of year.

Dumbledoresgirl. My son got onto a University of Liverpool foundation course with CD and a C at AS a couple of years ago, so only two proper A levels. He really changed his game and has just narrowly missed a first for his first year proper. Don't despair.

Thanks for the positive support and well done to your son Tinkly. It must feel so good to have that success after struggling.

So far, my son has contacted his second choice but they haven't made up their minds yet- probably waiting to see how many places get filled.

In the meanwhile, dh was checking ds's marks against AQA's website to see how close to the boundaries he was and he thinks some units have not been correctly graded, eg ds got 36 marks for one unit for which he was awarded a U but the website is saying it should be a C. That can't be right, surely? They have hot-footed it to school again but I am terribly worried that no-one will be there now. Are we allowed to contact AQA direct?

I'm hearing of lots of people who've got in to their firm choices with a fair few dropped grades.

dumbledoresgirl I think contact with AQA has to be via the school. Could your DH be confusing marks and UMS. Would you consider an urgent re-mark of the papers as they are lower than the school expected?

HPparent I have no idea what UMS is but I think you may be right there. Dh went into the school with ds and came back with some explanation that the marks we were using were not the same marks as were shown in the grade boundaries. Goodness knows why the whole thing has to be so complicated!

DD1 . ABB .'Thrilled' . She achieved the only A grade in the school this year, in Chemistry (OCR) Bs in English Lit and Sociology. She can't believe she has got an A in Chemistry. She is off to Leicester and 'forensic Science'.

The school are making a big 'Fuss' about her A grade, its a very big thing for the School.

ABCC here. Bit disappointed. Will need to resit a few modules.

Just have to move on positively.

Well done to all.

To the earlier poster whose child had low A grades and said it meant Oxbridge was no longer realistic;
It's right that A does not exist at AS level, but in terms of getting into the very top courses at the very top places, they look at how good the A is. 160/200 is needed for an A (think 80% in terms of UMS marks) but people will see 180+ at AS as the equivalent of A and what is a reasonable predictor of achieving A* at A2. The top places will be looking for this kind of mark, not just A grades. Therefore, without these kind of marks at AS, an application to Oxbridge probably isn't going to get anywhere.
Increasingly, they are reducing how many are called for interview. When everyone applying has loads of A* at GCSE and all A's at AS, they need a way to differentiate students, and looking at the actual marks is it. So a scrape A grade won't be good enough.

Except that oxford tend to look at gcse and a level predictions, rather than the AS ums. Cambridge on the other hand DO look at as.

I don't think we are disagreeing.
I think it is assumed that those applying to Oxbridge have stellar GCSEs, with the vast majority or all grades being A. These students then often get A grades at AS, but there will be a range from low A grades to high A grades. And of course, a school will predict for A2 based mainly on that AS performance....so higher AS marks in the A grade boundary, are more likely to result in a prediction of A rather than just A.
So even if the AS marks are not looked at directly by Oxford (and tbh, that has not been my experience.....of many many applicants, the ones being called for interview have been those with 90+ for each of their modules) then they are till relevant, because of their impact on predictions too. Of course GCSE grades are looked at too. I know many people believe these are a better predictor of success than AS levels.

It is a shame that many students with some low A grades at AS, but without good enough GCSEs are led to believe they have a strong chance of Oxbridge success - as ever, candidates need people in schools who know what they are talking about regarding the application process.

well Ds missed out on his first choice but got a place at his second, only thing now is getting him a place to live as the student Halls applications are closed. seems to be good support from their website etc so far.

DD has been horrifically messed around today by Coventry University (name and shame) who are playing the field with offers. She has 100 UCAS points more than her offer but not tin the exact form, and they have spent all day refusing to either give her a place or withdraw it. Bastards. They are clearly looking to see if they can get better from Clearing, but without releasing her - with no Clearing number she can't officially even talk to other Universities. It's scandalous.

Had a stressful day with DD. She needed CCC to get in our local uni but ended up with a DDD. She sup in one exam and got a U which took her grade down from a B to D. After a nightmare 5 hours of despair and changing minds she eventually found a uni which have offered her a place with a foundation year on her much wanted course, Chinese studies. Unfortunately it is the other side of the country which we had not bargained on. We now have a month to get her accommodation and everything she needs sorted out, plus rearranging a holiday and arranging to drive her there. Luckily they still have accommodation and it is cheaper than other unis.

God I am scared of her going so far away

MsAverage- there are no A*s at AS level.....

Cardibach - I think that is what my son has been enduring today too. His second offer have repeatedly told him they are 'working through the list' and he will either have an offer or be rejected by 4pm, 6pm, etc.

As of now, the UCAS site is saying they are making him an offer, but the uni's own site still has nothing on it suggesting this. And meanwhile, we are one day down in the clearing process. I hope they come good tomorrow morning.