Year 11 GCSE Exam Support Thread 2

[HSMMaCM]

New thread ..... (DD not sure about the prom dress she has bought!!!!)

I feel for you Fairenuff and anyone else (Littleham? ) dealing with GCSE and A level at same time.

Agree that info on here is hugely helpful. I've spent ages on here trawling for info for friend's DD who had disaster in AS getting BCDD (from AAAA predictions) with one of the D's being subject she wanted to take at degree level . Thanks to help here plus her determinaction she managed to turn things around, submit excellent UCAS form and got offers from all 5 of her applications, including Exeter and Bath for Economics .She has also got an offer of a place at Reading which has paid placements with one of the big 4 accountants and potential job offer at end which is the one she is firming on.

She obviously needs to pull off the grades but I think without the info on here she'd have lost hope after the AS results.

Which university are you visiting *juggling?

Yes, we have one doing A2's and one doing GCSE's. To make matters worse, my dd1 has just shown me her first year university exam timetable (with exams in June).

I am most definitely not visiting ANY universities this year with dd3. After two years of traipsing around every university in the land I am having a year off! She doesn't have a clue what she wants to do yet anyway. Even the A Level choices are still a bit fluid. She is very clued up on all the university stuff (after watching two older sisters go through the process).

Littleham, that's hard going! I will have DD doing A2's and DS doing GCSE's in 2 years time hopefully I bet you are an expert on unis!

We can keep each other company then. DD3 will also do her A2's at the same time as DS does his GCSE's. The trouble is that I'm already over half way to zombie status.

DH is going to take DD to a couple of uni open days at the end of June. They're not necessarily the ones she's likeliest to want to go to but we're all a bit unclear how engineering degrees work and exactly what sort of engineering she will want to do so it's more information gathering.

Respect Littleham ! You will be able to write a book by he time you have finished. Errol I would be very interested in what you learn as suspect DS might go down that route, though bit early to say.

I have 5 years between mine so will have DD leaving school as DS starts Upper School - which means I'll get off lightly but will feel like I'm doing it for ever.

Would you mind me asking which ones you are looking at? My dd is interested in Engineering too, and I'm afraid I am clueless. I have spotted a course she can do at Kingston in the summer, but it was full this year.

Hi wordfactory - we're visiting the Uni of Salford (in Manchester) at beginning of July dd is determined that she wants to go somewhere that has the right course for her which is very commendable I think and may impress them at interview perhaps? She thinks she may want to do wildlife conservation. So paying little attention to me saying Bath might be nice why don't you go there?! - such a pretty city with nice tea shops! And has good student ratings which is another thing I feel she might take into account? But happened to stay at Bath Uni for a conference last summer so that naturally had me considering it for dd. But there are lots of attractive cities I feel - just think it would be nice to be somewhere pleasant for the 3 years (or possibly 4 with a placement) I don't know much about Manchester though I imagine it's quite lively with lots going on?!

I'm so pleased I only have one child. DD wants to go to dance college or study psychology. Undecided yet, so a couple of arts at A level and a couple of ologies. She's taken her science revision to dance today.

Sugar I've got 6 academic years between mine, so I'll get a year off Secondary next year. It will be weird having 1 at 6th form and one still at Primary!

No thoughts at all of universities here. I doubt DD will go down that route, much more likely that in 2 years time it will be job or higher apprenticeship. Hopefully by then she'll know what she wants to do!

Errol and Dingit you probably already know but just in case, the Smallpeice Trust

Juggling, everyone down here have children who want to go to Bath, about 4 people have said that in the last week. I grew up in Bristol so can see the appeal of having both Bath and Bristol on doorstep but have a soft spot for Bristol University as worked there for a bit.

HSM I did Psychology so if there are any questions your DD has am happy to help if I can (though have been out of field for years so not at all up to date )

T&T I can imagine how strange that will feel. I had one at first school and one at upper school for a year which was a little strange.

Oh thanks sugarplum. I'll tell her.

It is £££ to live in Bath
Manca is a great city - I am hoping DD might consider it - she is currently saying everywhere would be small and boring compared to London I am a Northerner and would love her to go up north -and not stay at home--

I don't know Salford but Manchester is a good city for students.

Lots going on in terms of music, theatre, politics etc and reasonably proved accommodation.

But the weather! Singing in the rain could have been filmed there .

Thanks Sugar, no I had never heard of it. Going to pass it to dh to read while I cook dinner.
Dd did mention Imperial ( sets her sights high!), and it is commutable for her, so living costs not a problem, although I think she would be better living out.

Thanks everyone - it's growing on me! Somewhere northern could work well as we're half way there already on the east coast line from say London to York. So no point treking all the way across country to say Exeter (and actually Bath or Bristol would be pretty inconvenient from here) I went to Bristol though so that's probably drawing me to that side of the country too - must resist as it would be madness! This will sound bad but north might be cheaper for things like accommodation and living expenses - a big consideration when you're a student. My DNeice had a great time in Newcastle and loved it there. York also looking appealing and Durham too - can't help noticing the quaint old towns, But mantra must be "It's not my choice this time round - it's dd's " Of course Cambridge very beautiful, good student life, and near us too - but seems a scary prospect grades wise.

dd was pleased I'd organised the visit day so something for us both to look forward to after these exams

We're north of Manchester - it's our 'big city'.

Sugar, yes we found out about the smallpiece trust last year, dd has been on one of their residential courses. It was at Southampton (which may be one of the places she'll consider even though it's so far).
The open days she's going to this summer are Loughborough and Birmingham. The latter is where DH and I went (chemistry) so he thinks it will be somehow easier to talk to people there.

Southampton is our 'big city'!

Still no revision from DD, very tired and keeps feeling ill, so I have a plan to make me feel better. At this point aim of game is to get her into 6th form on level 3 courses in things she likes and is good at ie. Art, photography and media. Media is a BTEC so no exam and art and photography heavy on course work. Photography teacher has assured me she will cope fine. My gut feeli g has always been she will come into her own in 6th form doing what she wants to do,

To do this she needs 3 C's as has JLPT which is one plus photography. So English amd English (B in mock) plus Japanese which her tutor thinks is B or above. That gets her into 6th form. Maths if she doesn't get C will need to be resat but hopefully will be during Sociology block which was 4th option and hopefully will eventually get this by end of 6th form giving her ultimately English, English, Maths, Japanese and Photography at GCSE.

After 6th form she wants to do Digital Film and screen Arts which needs 220 UCAS points so looking at Points table that is something like CCDwhich hopefully will be ok. She's entering short film competitions so will encourage her to continue to encourage that, is planning voluntary work out our local cinema/theatre. Plus has her Japan trip which may be a game changer if loves it over there this summer. have already checked with Japanese tutor whether she could do AS and she said she could, but goodness knows if school would agree - but if she does get the GCSE they should as she will have shown she can study independently. Or tutor could help her and she could continue with Japanese Langauage Proficiency Tests which probably better as set by Japanese Government and internationally recognised.

So I'm aiming to preserve her mental Heath (the two girls who killed themselves locally still loom large in my mind and I know a number of 6th form girls having to take tablets) whilst ensuring she can move onto what she wants to do. Sorry to splurge again but wanted to check with you wise lot that I am making sense. She is just about on an even keel and I don't want to go back to her nearly throwing up in the morning as she was doing befor Ethics lessons a few months ago.

Yikes, everyone seems to have much more planned than us. Hopefully Dds sixth form will be very clued up ( it specialises in Engineering)
Dd spent all day revising and we had to to stop her in the end, she was tired and not retaining information. I just hope she's not going to burn herself out. The 5th May is looming ( first exam English language)

It's worth her considering doing an EPQ too SugarPlum as they can pick up more UCAS points and, again, it would be a project to work on at home, with support and guidance from teachers.

Dd was offered her course at uni AAB but reduced to ABB if she got a A in her EPQ (which she did) so was definitely worth doing for her. If they can do it in year 12 or at the beginning of year 13 it should all be over by the time exams roll around.

With so much coursework, though, she would have to be organised, get started early and pace herself. More of a marathon than a sprint

Oh, also, I meant to say that dd has put Southampton as her first choice uni and whilst we don't know the 'city' well, from what he have seen it looks like a pretty good place to live? Not too big but lots of opportunity to get a job, handy for the the uni, good train links, cost of living not to high? Any suggestions of areas to avoid welcome

Dingit please don't worry. This is all very early to be talking things like this and loads don't have the first clue what they want to do at this point and still not in the 6th form. The school will help when the time is right. For now your DD is working hard and that is all she needs to do. I think you were right to stop her , it reaches the point where it is counterproductiive.

If DD was working and the school wasn't on chaos I wouldn't be thinking about it at this point, I'm just going for damage limitation at this point. Have seen from another friend's experience this week with AS I am going to have to be on the ball with this.

Was thinking the same about May 5th earlier and trying to relax as much as possible as last proper weekend without an exam looming the next week. I hadn't realised it is Bank Holiday next weekend until someone said.

Great for your dd to be learning Japanese SugarPlum
I had a great year out there with DP (whilst he had a kind of sabbatical year at the University) before we had our DC - teaching English on a freelance basis mainly in 1 to 1 conversation "classes" - sometimes people just happy to show me their snaps of trips to Europe! LOL Japanese people were lovely, so kind and welcoming. I had such a fab year over there
And everyone there wants to learn English!
Hope your dd has a great trip this summer -
Again something to look forward to hey?

Great to hear you enjoyed it and that the Japanese are so welcoming - makes me slightly less nervous about my PFB going all that way on her own ! She is I think a bit nervous but has wanted to do this since she was about 7 and DH introduced her to Studio Ghibli films. I thought it would be a flash in the pan but here we are all these years later with her tickets all booked ! Very grateful to local charity who helped pay for it.

Definitely good for us all to have things to look forward to