A2 Results day support

[summerdip]

Results are looming. Beginning to feel the jitters!

Best of luck to all our DC

It's disgraceful, Dumbledoresgirl. Should be banned. They should make an honest decision and stand by it.

Dumbledoresgirl what subject is your ds wanting?

Oxford tutor here, and just wanted to say that our decisions about who to select for interview are made on the basis of a number of factors in combination: UCAS personal statement, school reference, AS grades and UMS scores, predicted A2 grades, written work, aptitude test, plus some basic contextual information about the school. I would not want to raise hopes unrealistically, but a less-than-perfect performance at AS could be compensated for by brilliance elsewhere. In my college we have interviewed plenty of students with less-than-perfect AS grades, and have admitted a few of them if they have showed sufficient potential elsewhere and can make their A2 offers.

I would not want any students to rule themselves about on the basis of AS performance alone. We are aware that students can improve markedly between AS and A2. We are interested in achievement, but also in potential. If the lower AS grades turn out to be part of a pattern (i.e. consistent with the quality of the rest of the things we look at), then an interview is unlikely, but if they are the anomaly, and the other things listed above are of the necessary standard, then an interview is a possibility. It makes things less likely, but not impossible, so it may be worth an application nonetheless if this is really something they want to aim at.

virelai fine, but we are all A2 parents
What is your position on Universities gaming the system by keeping kids who have made the points but not the grades waiting so they can look at potentially 'better' candidates in clearing?

Eatyourveg: computer science.

I have to say, I am not impressed so far Cardibach. Apparently it is now unlikely ds will be in uni accommodation which is something I consider very important for my ds. He has social difficulties and is very young for his age so I am really stressing now that he will be lodged in some anonymous private rent, with no contact with other students.

Mine was offered a place first thing in the morning, even though her grades were lower than offer (CCD instead of BBC). I totally don't understand why, but I guess she is very lucky!

Some students have been incredibly lucky this year; I know of someone who secured their BBB offer place with CCC.

DumbledoresGirl. Would your son have the option of private halls? Basically pretty much indistinguishable from Uni owned halls.

If you are going for a remark it is very quick, my first papers came through at about 6pm yesterday. A lot of schools decide who they think should be remarked on Wednesday so it is auctioned first thing Thursday. I am marking now and already 3 have gone up a grade and one two! Since examiners are usually current/past teachers we know the time pressures.

Why do so many remarks result inn better marks? Are you trying to give the benefit of the doubt, or are you genuinely spotting things that were overlooked before?

We positively mark however I have marked 12 and only 4 have gone up and 3 have gone down in marks not grades. Plus I am marking a more subjective subject. I would imagine maths or the sciences would be different.

Cardibach - such a tense waiting game for you. Wish your DS luck.

We're worried as Ds is having gap year they may be harder on the offers/places towards him next year. He will resit a few modules but hopefully will also work and travel. He has ABCC - needs ABB really or higher.

Feel some comfort that lower grades were accepted but on other pages some students were not despite doing better but just not getting the exact combination required.

Cardi and Dumble, best wishes for today. I hope it does not go on too long and your DC get the places they want.

Thanks Needmoresleep. I could do with borrowing your nickname today - I didn't sleep well again last night.
She's just come in from her night out so back to work!

Thanks needmoresleep.

Cardibach I hope you have good news today.

My son has been offered a place at his 2nd choice with the addition of a foundation year. I suppose it is that, or spend a year re-taking but this is less injurous to his pride so he is going for it.

And I underestimated the uni re accommodation last night. Although there is no guarantee of a place in halls, they have actually frozen the accommodation page of their website until tomorrow to allow all students coming through clearing an equal chance of a place. Which is fair, at least.

You're not all A2 parents, though, cardibach. MsAverage's son has been doing AS (plus Maths A2) and there was a lot of discussion upthread about whether his AS grades ruled out Oxbridge and what weight was given to AS grades vs. other factors. So an Oxford tutor coming onto the thread to give insight on that is wholly relevant and not deserving of your face.

The way your DD is being treated is just wrong, but it's not virelai' s fault.

We are not all A2 parents, and some of us are lurking here gratefully observing your experiences so as to prepare ourselves for the ordeal in the future .
My DS is going GCSEs, so we parents were not expecting to hear results this week.
Surprise 1 - he did some igcses and the results came out this week - found out only when he called us to tell us.
Surprise 2 - we did not know he was doing an AS Maths module, until he just came in to tell me his result. (Apparently he forgot to look yesterday )

DD peed off today- got her first choice Loughborough place yesterday which she is thrilled about- went online at the a alloted time this morning to book her halls place and the site crashed so that by the time she finally managed to connect all the places at her preferred halls had gone and she has to take what she is given. Hoping she is not given a room with shared bathrooms...

All our flats had shared bathrooms, never a problem, even when we had three girls and one lad.

Shared bathroom really will not be the end of the world. Personally, I would say go for a shared bathroom to save money.
To me it seems one of the reasons for such student debt, is what seems too high expectations of the standard of living of students. Living in rather crowded accommodation, where the heating can only be on for 2 hours a day due to cost, was all part of the experience. I know things move on, but really, is sharing a bathroom a big deal?

Hi. My daughter failed her AS level in chemistry and not quite sure what options she now has. She got an A in GCSE chemistry and was predicted a B in her As level. She got a U. she is terribly disappointed as you can imagine.As are we (not in her, but for her). She put in so much hard work. She has always loved chemistry, and we cant understand what went wrong, but we now need to correct this. To stay on in sixth form she needed to get EEE, but she got CDDU. Any help please

Ds received halls accommodation confirmation yesterday - he applied a few weeks back, even though I wasn't hopeful at the time he would even be going to his first choice.
But it does make sense to freeze new applications to ensure fairness to all clearing applicants.

The thing that has struck me about reading all these threads is that from the anecdotal evidence from ds, many of his friends have got into their firm or insurance choices with grades a fair bit lower than their original offers. RG unis for popular courses, too. Doesn't make sense to me.

What's wrong with a shared bathroom? Standard in my day. Dare I say that she sounds a bit precious if her own bathroom is a deal breaker?

mollie your dd has got higher than EEE so staying on in the 6th form shouldn't be a problem should it?

Might you consider a remark? ds2 had a module in his A2 go from a U to 6 points short of an A a couple of years back. His overall grade was affected although thankfully his uni offered him the place anyway (which he later turned down to trade up)

Remarks in science may not move as much as more subjective subjects but it may still be something worth considering

Mollie
Many schools won't allow students to continue to A2 unless they have a C at AS in that subject. Allowing students to continue to A2 (which is harder than AS) with only EEE sounds like it I setting pupils up to fail. I am a firm believer in being realistic about what the likely outcomes are from different starting points and whether it is worth continuing to the next stage in light of that. Doing A levels,to achieve EEE is not great. Doing a degree course which requires EEE is not great. A levels and degrees at such levels have very limited value and it might be better to do something else, if this is the likely outcome.

What you do next depends on the school and yourself. If she had aspirations to go to a RG Uni or course with high grades, then she needs to re think, as her grades don't suggest she will get the predictions or necessary grades. If she is prepared to go to a lower tier place, then scrapping chemistry and continuing with the other 3 is an option. Totally taking the year again is another option, but most people dont see a significant improvement when they do that.

Sounds like the 6th form will keep her as she meets the minimum requirement. She probably needs to re think chemistry and stick with the other 3. Gaining CCC at the end of A2 would be possible from that starting point, or possibly slightly higher, depending on the schools success rate with re takes.

Mollie, check your dd's individual chemistry modules and find out why exactly she got a U. It might be something she can re-take.