Starting Y13 (y12 support thread contd)

[AtiaoftheJulii]

Well, I filled up the other one, so here's a nice new one to get us through dropping subjects, Uni open days, personal statement writing, and UCAS applications

Plenty of and and (nicely-intentioned) s available!

Mine is generally on top of things with school work only because she had a head start did most of reading the text books and maths for yr13 during the long holiday they had in the summer. Last year AS year was honestly complete hell the jump from gcse especially history was a big shock, she didn't want a repeat of it so devised a strategy to keep things in balance. We see how long it last???

No free lunchtimes here, all taken up with prefect duties, instrument lesson, choir, orchestra, and extra physics session. One free a week taken up woth subject mentoring, another a fortnight with even more extra physics.
Only one evening with nothing after school, fitting in voluntary work, p/t job, ensembles, instrument lesson and driving lesson.
Saturday is music school all day (although takes school work to do in breaks and on journey) and also works Sunday afternoon.

Definitely doing too much but difficult to know what to stop. possibly some of the school music stuff, as so much outside school. the p/t job is a good balance as not music related, walking distance and reasonable pay for short shifts compared to some.

Mumslife - your dd has a horrendous bus journey! Whilst dd2 doesn't have much in the way of extra help, she is really lucky to be 4 minutes from home. So she has time to come home crash out & then work in short intense bursts (30 - 40 minutes, otherwise it just doesn't go in).

Circular - my advice would be to drastically cut it down for the A2 year & perhaps keep the top two favourite activities. My dd does a Saturday morning orchestra as well, but she is stopping well before the exams (definitely not doing the summer term & possibly not spring). After all, they can start up again in university.

mumslifedid your dd struggle at AS history to begin with especially writing in timed condition 1 essay in 45mins!! Mine struggled to do the first paragraph in 20 mins??? She couldn't write fast enough and could never finish a question. She didn't really master it till February time spent 6 months stuck on E -D grade. Thought she was going to have a mental breakdown she kept on and on trying to perfect it. Such a contrast compared to her other subjects she was getting A's. Once she mastered the skills needed plus exam/essay technique she turned a corner thank goodness and now she actually likes history.

Littleham She can't quit the Saturdays as it's a full day music school and where she has lessons on her main instrument. Also supporting studies that help with A level Music. She's applying to study music.
But hoping some of the weekday school music activities can go after Xmas.

Oh right sorry - forgot she was a music student!

I remember it got very intense from about the February half term last year for dd1. Not looking forward to a repeat this year.

To be honest, I think we've come to terns with DD not getting too grades with all she takes on. Just difficult to find a balance, but DD certainly seems to be doing far less school work than last year.

Fairycakes My DD certainly has struggled with the format of A-level history essays. She has no problem with English essays, but has found it hard to get the structure of her history essays right and they take her much longer to write.

MissMillament DS is exactly the same he finds it easy to do well in English essays but still hasn't properly cracked history essays.

DS freely admits the reason he chose Maths, Chem, Physics and Further
Maths was because he didn't want to write essays.
I think he'd have done better had he taken essay based subjects...

It's a gamble mumslife, nobody really knows how they'll find it until they try I suppose.
Mus be difficult if after a year you realise you've made the wrong choices...

Quite a few taking predominantly essay based subjects take maths as a 4th.
Great if you can pulk it off, as so well resoected. But if you hit difficulties there can be just as time consuming. it onl takes one weak subject, taking a disproportionate amount if time, pulling the others down.

Also heard that the academic essay writing at Uni totally different. I know for courses like music where there is an element of essay writing, but many don't have an essay A level subject, they offer academic writing sessions and support.

Think music A2 has some essay requirement, whereas for AS they got away with bullet points for the analysis. Can see lots of tears, can't help thinking a 4th partly essay writing subject like Psychology would have helped DD there.

Isn't hindsight wonderful.

It is circular! I'd have approached sixth form very differently with DS!

ds1 reads voraciously and writes beautifully; but he does it with such angst and drama after much prevarication. I am therefore delighted that he's not doing essay-based subjects at A level!

Maths is a challenging subject though; many students with an A or A* at GCSE struggle with A level. It's only an easy option if you've a real talent for the subject.

It is going to become much worse for my two younger ones. Apparently the powers that be are dropping AS levels, so when teenagers start A Levels they will have to decide on their A2 Level subjects and will not be able to change or drop them!

Imagine if they choose the wrong ones & have to continue onto A2 in the certain knowledge of a bad grade.

That sounds awful Littleham.

Littleham Not sure I fully understand the new system. Possibly as it keeps changing, and no doubt will again by the time yr7 DD2 gets there.

But surely they can still drop a subject and go down to 3 if they are failing in something completely. Guess its worse if subject 4 is a lower grade, and they lose what would have been the AS points for it by not continuing.

Not sure I fully understand it, but from what I have heard it sounds horrible. For example the school are debating whether the teenager has to decide from the outset whether to go into the Maths or Further Maths class (with no changing, as taught differently). As you say, they could drop a subject completely, but that isn't great.

It seem like it is going back to the old system under which I took two lovely A levels which suited me down to the ground and one 'mistake' A level which I was then stuck with.

Seems to be moving back to the all or nothing exams at the end of Year 13. I gather AS will still exist as stand alone exams - hence may not necessarily dovetail with A2 course, and more critically results wholly separate and don't count, as now, towards final A level grade.

Logic behind it seems flawed and politically (Govian) driven. When LSE reran the DoE data used they found:

"substantial flaws in the government research including sample bias, missing data and poor research design. Rather than confirming that AS level results ‘add a negligible degree of accuracy to university performance prediction’, the team found that by scrapping AS-levels for examination criteria, 1-in-5 students capable of getting a good degree at the institution of their choice might not be given that chance"

Separately there is also an increasing concern that the resurgence in take up of Maths at A level will also be hit by the change. Assuming of course it happens, Labour claim that they will scrap the proposed change and retain AS as now.

Quite what DS2 in yr 10 will face year after next I really have no idea

Although to be fair in many schools there is very little possibility to change a subject after the first week or so anyway. At ds1's school the Further Maths class is taught completely separately from day one anyway, and there's no option to switch in anyway.

The new science A and AS levels have been designed to be co-teachable, so they will continue pretty much as they are doing now. ds2's school (he's in yr11, so choosing now) have said they will sit AS levels at the end of yr12 anyway, as now. The new Maths A levels will not be available for teaching until 2016 anyway, so that will be the current syllabus anyway.