Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. A phone that grows with your child.

Meet the Other Phone.
A phone that grows with your child.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
Secondary education

Connect with other parents whose children are starting secondary school on this forum.

Original poster

2015 Yr 12 support thread

837 replies

Needmoresleep · 08/01/2015 11:48

Mocks this week, and the reality of AS exams in a few months is starting to hit home. I don't think it will be an easy journey, so would welcome some company.

OP posts:
MyVisionsComeFromSoup · 02/06/2015 09:01

We have Warwick, Lancaster and Exeter booked (June, July and September respectively), but did several self-guided tours in February to rule a few places out. The course DD wants to do is pretty similar everywhere, so for her it was mainly a case of walking round the campuses and seeing if it felt like her.

ISingSoprano · 02/06/2015 09:15

Dd and I have a weekend open day roadtrip planned. One open day on the Friday and another - 200 miles away - on the Saturday. She is looking at Speech Therapy so not that many options. We are doing two open days in June and will leave the rest until after AS results when she has a better idea of what is achievable.

MrsUltracrepidarian · 02/06/2015 09:20

mainly a case of walking round the campuses and seeing if it felt like her.
Yes, I think that will be us for the same reason, and also that can be done at any time rather than at a time when parking impossible Grin
DS is allowed two days off this term for a visit, so we will be at Imperial & Cambridge, but like others, DS now thinks they will be off his radar, but as 'the train tickets are booked' we are going Grin

Leeds2 · 02/06/2015 09:30

Last AS - Chemistry - for DD today.

She has Open Days booked for Bath and Bristol later this month.

Narvinectralonum · 02/06/2015 10:41

DD1 is probably just over halfway through her final AS. although she has general studies A2 next week and the week after. She's already done 3 open days, she's doing the Cambridge one in July and needs to cancel her booking for York and rebook for the autumn. I don't think she will actually book anything else other than that - possibly cardiff. The weekends are so full of concerts and shows in June and July and she has used up all her open day allowance from school.

zazas · 02/06/2015 12:57

I didn't even think about school allowances re Open Days...as hotels are booked we are just going to have to go regardless! We are doing a fair few as I am not from the UK and so have no idea of any of the universities that DD is considering - haven't even been to most of the cities! DD is also the oldest of five so hoping this will help the others ahead...by the youngest I will definitely be in the know! We went to an Open Day in London earlier this year which ruled out London thank goodness (we are in the far north of England!) but have Bath, Bristol, Leeds and Nottingham to consider and the long, long shot of Oxbridge - although Oxford/Cambridge are places I am happy to go visit just for my own experience! We also have Durham - our one and only day trip! DD daughter's school doesn't organise any trips so it is totally up to us to visit. Her course is available everywhere which doesn't help narrow anything down. Our one and only 'must' and narrowing factor (apart from being at least 2 hours from home) is that it has rowing which unsurprising cuts out some great options!

Northernlurker · 02/06/2015 16:32

Dd seems happy enough with chemistry and biology. Just stats tomorrow now. She is doing Dundee open day later this month, also Sheffield. Possibly Bristol, possibly Newcastle.

hellsbells99 · 02/06/2015 22:35

Well done to Narvine's DD!

hellsbells99 · 02/06/2015 22:43

DD2 had biology yesterday, which was "not the best but not the worst" and chemistry today which went well. DD1 also retook chemistry and said it was "pretty good". DD2 has physics on Thursday and the final one, statistics on Friday. DD1 (year 13) has 7 to go.

MorvahRising · 03/06/2015 06:23

Glad to hear chemistry seemed to go OK.

Today is the worst day here - maths (mechanics) in the morning and computing in the afternoon. It'll be nice when that's over and done with!

Good luck to everyone today!

We're off to Exeter on Saturday, then Bath and Bristol later in the month.

hellsbells99 · 03/06/2015 07:05

Good luck Morvah - DD1 is doing mechanics this morning but she isn't looking forward to it.

MorvahRising · 03/06/2015 07:33

hellsbells good luck to your DD too - DS is very apprehensive about this one although he has put in a huge amount of work.

Northernlurker · 03/06/2015 08:26

Dd was anxious too. We had to go to my work yesterday evening for emergency printing of past papers because our printer chose not to work Hmm. I was slightly Hmm when she said we needed to print out 2009's papers 'because I've done all the others' but I just do as I'm told! Hope it all goes smoothly for her. She has nice plans for the evening.

KittiesInsane · 03/06/2015 08:57

DS 'had brain failure' for yesterday's music, and put the same answer down in more than one place.

He spent much of yesterday evening sputtering things like 'Oh Christ, did I put thirds? It's fifths!'

ISingSoprano · 03/06/2015 08:59

Dd very anxious about maths this morning. Thankfully this is the last exam!

Narvinectralonum · 03/06/2015 09:38

DD1 felt good about yesterday's music exam. But that doesn't always mean anything. She still has gen studies A2 to go but she feels like she's done now. Went off to school this morning with a spring in her step planning to spend all day practising (and Heaven knows she needs to, she hasn't touched her instruments for what seems like ages) and plans to go out this evening.

KittiesInsane · 03/06/2015 09:47

Good luck to her, Narvi! DS is out of his depth, sadly, and knows it. Music was always going to be a long shot for him.

MorvahRising · 04/06/2015 06:37

How did people find the mechanics yesterday? DS said he knows he got one thing wrong (was very cross afterwards!) but that on the whole it seemed to be OK, better than he was expecting anyway. Although he was expecting it to be absolutely awful so this may not be an accurate measure!

Anyone else got Physics this afternoon?

hellsbells99 · 04/06/2015 07:47

Hi Morvah. There are a few comments about M1 on the year 13 thread. My DD1 said it was ok and was better than last year's paper.
DD2 has physics this afternoon but she does the physics B syllabus which seems to be harder but has much lower grade boundaries!

Northernlurker · 04/06/2015 08:26

Dd1 and her friend both said the Stats paper yesterday was quite a tough one. Seemed reasonably happy though. Such a lovely feeling to have them done. Just hope we get the grades she deserves. Poor lamb has been working so hard all year.

Dunlurking · 04/06/2015 12:43

Ds has his Physics this afternoon as well. He spent last night learning Wave Theory, for the first time, as far as i can tell. Not looking good this end.

Tomorrow is S1, his last exam. Apparently it has been badly taught at school so he is relying on his Statistics GCSE knowledge to get him through Hmm

Original poster
Needmoresleep · 04/06/2015 13:08

The timetable pinned in the kitchen is looking messier as each exam is emphatically crossed out. Just physics today, and then a weekend spent practicing mechanics for next Tuesday.

Physics content is apparently OK, but the question style can be quite tricky. So hoping for some straightforward questions. Its been a bit of a marathon, though she's coped well, determindly refusing to think or talk about the papers she has taken. She might have put in more effort if she had decided to aim from Cambridge and so needed top UMS scores, but its been easier without that extra tension. And oddly, taking five has meant that there is a bit more room for manoevre, so less stress.

OP posts:
SecretSquirrels · 04/06/2015 13:52

Physics this afternoon here and just mechanics left for next week.
Physics is one of those where they can drop a lot of marks and still get a good grade, possibly the same one as hellsbells DD. The mechanics is his least favourite but he seems to be doing fine on the past papers.
Almost there..... although DS1 who is first year at uni still has 5 of his 8 papers to do. It's never ending.

hellsbells99 · 04/06/2015 15:51

Well DD home from the physics B unit 2 exam and said it was awful! Paper 1 didn't go very well either. For saying it it normally one of her best subjects, she is very unhappy. Told her to have an ice lolly and 10 minutes break in the garden .....and then stop wallowing and get on with statistics revision for tomorrow Grin

NeitherHereOrThere · 04/06/2015 16:06

DS said physics was a nice paper - think he lucked out in that what little revision he did covered exactly the topics that came up, he's relieved cos he hated the first paper.

Stats tomorrow and then its all over.