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Secondary education

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

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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:

Original poster

Needmoresleep · 06/08/2015 12:10

Oh Uhtred.

Honestly, and DD has had the "advantage" of having spent her secondary years surrounded by the super confident, super accomplished, whilst struggling with dyslexia, is that a lot is superficial. With a bit more time your DD would have discovered some are quite brittle, that she is just as good, and that there is a lot to be said for being grounded and being able to get on with things.

It's going to be a lot year. Fingers crossed that AS results are what our DC want/need.

OP posts:

UhtredOfBebbanburg · 06/08/2015 12:41

DD1 has dyspraxia and AS and has also struggled with unrelated health issues, so it's not like she isn't used to being the odd one out (she goes to a school full of super confident brain boxes but it's a state school so she doesn't feel socially disadvantaged other than due to her issues). But I think the supreme sense of being a master of the universe in waiting of some of the kids she was with over the last two weeks has phased her a bit. I guess they expect things to work out for them because things always have in the past. She also doesn't see how she could compete with people like that if it even got to interview/audition stage. Sigh.

Dunlurking · 07/08/2015 08:41

Anyone else find they are revisiting those tricky questions in certain papers with their dcs all of a sudden? Maths C2 springs to mind. Was it enough to get an A or a B? Could they persuade their teacher to bump the A2 prediction to an A even if they got a B at AS, on the grounds that they always got As in practice C2 papers etc etc.

This next week will drag. We can't seem to focus on anything in our house atm. Wish we'd planned to be away until the day before the results.

hellsbells99 · 07/08/2015 15:50

Dunlurking - DD1 got her chemistry teacher to predict an A for the reasons you stated and has retaken 1 of the AS papers alongside the A2 papers. We will find out next week whether she has done enough to meet her offer which states an A in chemistry is required (offer AAB).
DD2 is waiting for her AS results too and says she knows that she hasn't done bad but is not sure how well she has done. She is quite laid back about it all having seen DD1 go through applying to universities etc and knowing that as long as teachers will predict good grades then most courses/universities are possible as long as you then get the A2 grades

Dunlurking · 07/08/2015 16:37

Thanks hellsbells I will pass that nugget onto ds. Good luck to BOTH your dds for next week. Glad to hear dd2 is relaxed about it all. Hope dd1 makes her offer.

Secretsquirrels · 07/08/2015 16:58

DS felt reasonably okay after the exams but has just started that process of doubt which seems to precede all exam results days. He is also dithering again about his subject choice for university and has yet to write a word of his PS.......

hellsbells99 · 07/08/2015 17:46

Thanks Dunlurking.
Secret - DD2 hasn't done her PS either. She is on work experience next week and says that once she has done that and got her grades, she will look at it not holding my breath

eatyourveg · 07/08/2015 18:21

ds3 not written a word for his PS either - think he's waiting to go back to college before thinking about anything serious - he's just ambling the summer away gyming, cricketing, footballing and doing the odd shift at pizza express - oh to be young and carefree

MadamArcatiAgain · 08/08/2015 18:46

DS2 has started the self doubt process too.He had no idea results were out on Thursday,bless him!
But they do seem to be very early this year, don't they.

hellsbells99 · 08/08/2015 19:34

Next year, the results are almost a week later I think, which will be an awfully long wait.
I did encourage DD to try and spend half an hour on her personal statement today but it didn't happen! Instead she has been practising her driving, we have been out for a walk and then played on bikes. It's very rare for her to have a whole day free for me....and tomorrow she is back out with friends for the day.

MorvahRising · 08/08/2015 23:25

DS is also getting very stressy about next week and is convinced he has completely messed up his maths. He has his heart set on a course which is perfect for him at Southampton and is now certain he's blown everything.

Glad to hear others are behind on their PSs too. He has jotted down a few things and done a couple of draft paragraphs but says that they've been told so much that they shouldn't say that it doesn't leave much else.

He has also done a teeny bit of his EPQ and about half of his maths and about a third of his computing work. And an awful lot of flopping about on the sofa watching YouTube videos, playing golf and getting up just in time for lunch.

UhtredOfBebbanburg · 09/08/2015 10:28

I strongly suspect DD1 has done somewhere between very little on nothing on both her EPQ and her PS. I think she is waiting till the AS results come out. Not hopefully. More in dread. Sigh.

Leeds2 · 09/08/2015 18:44

DD has done nothing for her Personal Statement, apart from the first paragraph which she did at the end of last term during a uni application lecture. I think she, too, feels uneasy doing it until AS results are out.

I am glad she chose not to do an EPQ!!

eatyourveg · 09/08/2015 20:40

ds has just handed me a bit of paper announcing that he would like three books from his first choice uni's reading list because he ought to start researching the subject in more depth and has every intention of taking next year very seriously! There was me thinking it was the last thing on his mind. Think his friends getting AS results are beginning to panic and he's picked it up. Reassuring to see that the authors of the books he wants are academics in 3 of the unis on his list.

Leeds2 · 09/08/2015 21:58

Do unis have reading lists?

What subject does your DS want to study?

-starts to worry-

UhtredOfBebbanburg · 09/08/2015 22:32

DD1 has been working her way through her reading list. Allegedly. While making notes. (I have witnessed this so it's happening).

Northernlurker · 09/08/2015 22:45

Was the UKCAT awful Needmore?

Dd has hers booked for beginning of next month and is stressing over the books. We are also stressing over AS results (I feel quite churned up every time I think about it). On the plus side she is enjoying the work for her EPQ which she is doing on hip fractures and her volunteering (on hip fracture ward) is going well. She has shadowing booked this week and nest too. If awful UKCAT then her plan is to try the BMAT but all the universities she's seen so far and liked are UKCAT ones. On the plus side she did a first draft of her PS before the end of term and school were quite happy with it.

Original poster

Needmoresleep · 10/08/2015 00:59

Northern lurker it was not too awful but not the best result she could have got. She found her results in test papers/Medify were bouncing all over the place. It's tough. They do all this work for AS plus the extras such as volunteering and shadowing, but so much then hangs on the results of this one off test. UKCAT requires you to work very fast, which even with extra time is a challenge for my dyslexic DD.

My understanding is that UKCAT scores can vary from year to year so she does not know how her results are in comparison to others till next term. Looking at student room some universities only consider those, say, with scores in the top 25% whilst others look at scores in each section.

She did not have a disaster in any section, so hopefully scores are low this year and she will have enough options without resorting to BMAT. And fingers doubly crossed for decent AS results.

Perhaps just as well DD did not set her heart on a particular University. She is getting feedback from friends who have done the rounds and once she knows where she might apply, we might manage some flying visits.

I hope your daughter enjoys her shadowing. Mine got a lot out of it though had her eyes opened to the challenges facing the NHS.

OP posts:

Northernlurker · 10/08/2015 08:15

Thanks. I think it's a horrible test to have to take. And paying to do so is insult to injury!
She is looking forward to the shadowing and has also already done some with other departments. She's been in to theatre, done a couple of ward rounds and clinic. I agree it's absolutely the best way for them to know what they're getting in to!

eatyourveg · 10/08/2015 08:35

Leeds2 don't worry. All students will have a reading list to point them towards recommended texts as a starting point for independent research around the subject. Usually issued just before the start of term. ds1 (english lit) gets his issued during the holidays to give the students time to work through some of the heavier texts. ds3's subject has specialist modules which he has not previously studied so he wanted to read up on them to see what he was in for. Reading lists will change from one year to the next depending on modules so I wouldn't bother getting anything too specific at this stage - ds3 has chosen general introductions to topics.

RaspberryLemonPavlova · 11/08/2015 11:24

Waiting for AS results here. DS had a good bit of his PS done already, but I suspect its not been touched since the start of the holidays. He has, however,been following advice to doing some extra reading in the subject he wants to do at uni. I think Thursday will focus his mind.

He thinks he has done reasonably OK, and is worried that if it has gone wrong, his judgement is out

Northernlurker · 11/08/2015 21:30

I feel pretty anxious now. Not because I doubt dd's ability. I don't. I also don't think she could have worked harder - total effort from her. And in a way that's the problem - because if she hasn't got the grades she wants, she will blame herself as' failing' despite all she put in. She seems to think it all went ok so yes - she will doubt her own judgement too.
I just want to get it over with and then we still have to do next year too! It's blooming hard work (for parents)

MadamArcatiAgain · 11/08/2015 22:10

Does anyone know what time grade boundaries are normally put up online on the day before.

MorvahRising · 11/08/2015 23:11

Northernlurker I agree, I'm suddenly getting really jittery! DS is trying to pretend Thursday doesn't exist but every time he does mention it his predictions seem to get worse and worse. He also worked really hard and if he's not done as well as he hoped he's going to be absolutely gutted.

Have laid in extra wine in case we need it. That's for DH and me by the way, not DS . . . . .

MyPelvicFloorTrainsItself · 11/08/2015 23:48

Are the grade boundaries up tomorrow?

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