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Secondary education

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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:
MyPelvicFloorTrainsItself · 11/08/2015 23:49

Ignore that, they are already up.

UhtredOfBebbanburg · 12/08/2015 08:42

Where are grade boundaries out on line? How does it help knowing what they are? I suspect it's only relevant for eg maths where someone can go through a paper and know what they got right and not? Or, can they be useful for humanities subjects too?

DD1 is not in a good way now. I know she worked hard and she knows she worked hard but she is now convinced she bombed out in everything. And I know only too well that if she did get in a tizz during an exam it will have cost her. Sigh.

MyPelvicFloorTrainsItself · 12/08/2015 10:35

The boundaries can be reassuring or they can be like the kiss of death. They don't look too bad to me but I may be looking at the wrong exam boards Grin

MrsUltracrepidarian · 12/08/2015 10:39

That's for DH and me by the way, not DS . . . . . Grin
DC school put the results of public exams online accessible to DC (and parents) thru the portal, so last year I was able to see some of his GCSE results early as they put up the iGCSEs when available, not waiting till the GCSE main results day.
So did have a sneaky look this morning to to see if they might have put them up already on the basis that no-one would bother to access before the day Grin.
Not there yet, but will be logging on at midnight - not telling DC, but just will be composed by already knowing the results when he surfaces tomorrow sometime and logs on and then tells me...

UhtredOfBebbanburg · 12/08/2015 11:16

But, where are they???

Dunlurking · 12/08/2015 11:23

Help!

Ds away and I have to text him his results tomorrow from the school. He doesn't have access to the internet. And I won't either until the evening so was thinking of printing out the relevant grade boundaries. How do the marks on the results slip of paper compare against the marks on the grade boundaries? In other words do I have to convert them according to a scale somewhere? It's the business of raw marks and UMS marks I don't understand. What will I be given tomorrow, and then what do I do with it to show ds how close he is to the different grade boundaries?

Thanks if anyone can explain! Good Luck all!

MyVisionsComeFromSoup · 12/08/2015 11:36

tomorrow you should get UMS marks, not raw marks (so what you'll see is the equivalent of a percentage - I think anyway - as UMS is a conversion to something out of 100). SOme of the exam boards have raw mark and UMS boundaries online - google "grade boundaries June 2015 nameofexamboard" - so you can work out what your actual UMS is in raw marks. Some are just showing UMS boundaries.

We have a DD1-written spreadsheet waiting to some data to work out if DD2 has enough marks to apply to Oxbridge. It's been a manic few weeks as she wades through suggested reading/TEDtalks/Yale Uni online lectures plus the research for her EPQ. She'd determined to get as much as possible out of the way before term starts to let her concentrate on just schoolwork, and give her some flex for being ill.

Fingers crossed for everyone tomorrow - we get results emailed "from 7am" assuming the school email system doesn't crash.

LIZS · 12/08/2015 11:40

ds has read 2 of his 7 books for A2 English and completed a online History course. He's remembered to start to think about an extended essay and set up a uni spreadsheet.

School doesn't issue AS results until 2pm tomorrow, so could be a long morning. Decided not to look at grade boundaries as apparently this is more relevant next year. He doesn't seem to have made any plans for afterwards yet.

LIZS · 12/08/2015 11:57

Don't know if this also applies to AS

www.telegraph.co.uk/education/11791625/Schools-raise-fears-over-mistakes-in-A-level-marks.html

Leeds2 · 12/08/2015 12:04

That will be a very long morning, Lizs. DD can access her results online from, I think, 8 am. She is away at the moment, so I will have to wait until she decides to phone home.

Dunlurking · 12/08/2015 12:10

Thanks MyVisions that's really helpful. Off to google the boundaries. Good luck to your dd. Hope she gets the UMS marks she needs.

Dunlurking · 12/08/2015 12:46

TSR grade boundaries thread here
with the links to grade boundaries of different boards on page 1.

Thankfully I have worked them out for ds's papers and the ones I remember him struggling with appear lowish compared with other papers so feeling more optimistic now Smile

ISingSoprano · 12/08/2015 13:32

DD1 is not in a good way now. I know she worked hard and she knows she worked hard but she is now convinced she bombed out in everything. And I know only too well that if she did get in a tizz during an exam it will have cost her. Sigh.

I could have written that about my dd Sad

Fingers crossed everyone ....

Original poster
Needmoresleep · 12/08/2015 16:18

Best wishes to everyone.

We are on holiday in a different time zone and DD has failed to find out how to access her results. She has not mentioned them but has been quite grumpy over the last couple of days, something we are putting down to stress. So we need to get them and then, hopefully, she will be in a better mood.

OP posts:
BatterednotBruised · 12/08/2015 16:32

Wish I hadn't taken today off work. Wandering from room to room, just can't focus on anything as feel sick about tomorrow! DD out with friends but due home soon. We had intended to spend the day shopping together but neither of us felt like it, she is having flashbacks of wrong answers and missed questions. Her exams were in a very short time period so she didn't seem to be able to catch her breath and lost confidence after one bad paper.

I have been so calm so far and have been through this before with DD1 so can't believe I am a bag of nerves today! She just texted to say mark schemes are up but not to look as she doesn't want to know, wouldn't know where to start anyway!

Years ago it seemed as though AS results were mostly lower than even brighter kids expected but it didn't matter so much as they could pull it back in year 13. Now with unis possibly still giving places with one or even two slipped grades, year 12 results seem much more important as they won't get the offers in the first place without the right predictions. I can tell I am stressed when I ramble!

Good luck to all DCs, and hopefully some good news to share in the morning :)

Marni23 · 12/08/2015 16:41

DD foolishly looked at the grade boundaries for her papers and is now really worried. Have to admit I'm a bag of nerves too. We're off to the theatre tonight so that will hopefully provide a welcome distraction.

Good luck to all the DC. See you on the other side!

Lancelottie · 12/08/2015 16:41

Needmoresleep, we are at least in the right country, but DS similarly has no clue how to access his results tomorrow.

It also seems to be a surprise to him that the AS results will determine whether he's allowed to carry on to A2, despite three out of four subject teachers mentioning this at parents' evening.

Hey ho.

MrsUltracrepidarian · 12/08/2015 17:01

I have been so calm so far and have been through this before with DD1 so can't believe I am a bag of nerves today!
This is me too - sympathy to all - at least we have this thread - would be far worse without!
Got home form work to see DS doing Physics at the kitchen table Shock Didn't ask why, but am guessing he has discussed grade boundaries with friends as he also seemed to be typing stuff into his phone from time to time...

UhtredOfBebbanburg · 12/08/2015 17:26

We are on holiday which as it turns out was a stupid plan but these were the only two consecutive weeks when DD1 didn't have a residential, so... She can't get her results till 1pm at the earliest when she and apparently lots of others will be phoning in to the school ALL AT THE SAME TIME. It's going to be a nightmare. They say they are only there from 1-2 but surely if the single phone is ringing off the hook then they won't operate a guillotine at 2pm? I think it's rubbish - the whole morning tomorrow will be about sitting round looking at the clock, because DH is refusing to go out anywhere to 'keep DD1 company' (she wants us all to go out so he really is being mad). Ah well.

Capewrath · 12/08/2015 20:56

Life shit here. Grade boundaries have just shown what I knew/ suspected already from The Student Room. 6 am tomorrow. Retakes being prepared for,, plus gap year.

What's so agonising is nit actually how he does, but his inner confidence and resilience. Over the longer term it will be ok but is not now.

MrsUltracrepidarian · 12/08/2015 21:00

Capewrath
Sad
How do you know? How you can tell already?
I am completely confused by the boundaries/UMS etc, tho I suspect as DS was doing Physics today he may have been revisiting the paper.

Northernlurker · 12/08/2015 21:14

Dd firmly said she's not looking at grade boundaries, I hope she doesn't.
Capewrath - hope it's not as bad as you think.

Secretsquirrels · 12/08/2015 22:11

DS looked at grade boundaries in his subjects and was reassured. He could get the results on line at 6am but says not to wake him....

NapoleonsNose · 12/08/2015 22:21

Late to the thread as only just discovered it, but good luck to all DCs tomorrow. My DD is really nervous and is refusing to talk about it. She had a quick look at grade boundaries earlier and is now even more worried. I'm not expecting great results as she has struggled a bit, despite getting great GCSE results, and if she has done badly, it won't be through not trying as she worked her socks off. Am taking her to school tomorrow fully armed with tissues!

MorvahRising · 12/08/2015 22:32

All very nervous here; I've looked at the grade boundaries but DS refused to. I'm really worried about the maths but trying not to show it - he's even more worried about the maths and showing it rather a lot!

He can look them up on the college website at 9 am. I'm absolutely dreading it.

Good luck to everyone.