GCSE Results thread and starting 6th form

[WitchofScots]

Follow on thread from the GCSE exams and proms thread. For hand holding and recommendations of wine/chocolate/biscuits to get through the post results stuff.

Nice to hear everyone is finding their feet. Hope it works out for your DD BTM. We are having a glass in a lovely pub on the New Kings Road. Fringe theatre upstairs and a fringe production was part of the holiday prep. Why didn't we do it before now?

I have my shopping list for while DD's at work. I have to buy 4 black A4 files. Not the thin ones or the fat ones. Not plastic ones.

Does anyone know how the A levels are changing this year and how it will affect uni applications? As I understand it, if the AS is carried on to A2 level it will just be a final A level grade but if not it will stand as an AS level.

So if a student gets a C at AS, that grade will be ignored if they carry it on to A level and it will still be possible to get an overall A if they work hard and achieve it?

Under the old system, they put the AS and A2 marks together to get the final grade but that's not what they are doing now is it?

Have I got that right, or have I just confused everyone

As I understand it this year is a mix, some A Levels are changing and some aren't.

My ds is doing two old style (Maths and Further Maths) and 2 new style (Physics and Computer Science). His sixth form is doing AS exams for all of them but only the Maths ones go with his A2 to make the final grade, the others are either stand alone AS or are (as you say) replaced by A level the following year.

I think the universities will be interested in the AS results as an indicator of A Level potential so they are important for that reason but as you say, they mean a student who really pushes in the second year has a better chance of a higher grade at the end.

The other change seems to be that AS levels themselves will attract slightly fewer UCAS points than they do at present, they will be worth 40% of a full A Level instead of 50%.

Confused!! I thought certain subjects were staying the same, ie you can build on whatever AS grade you get?

No idea Fairenuff, and I'm not sure whether that has even been made clear to the teachers yet - Tories rushing stuff through

My DS is still on the old system for 3 of his A levels - Maths, F. Maths and Geog. History will be on the new system, so regardless of what grade he gets at AS, it will only be his A2 grade that counts.

Some subjects ate staying the same with AS scores counting towards A2.

Some have been decoupled from AS. Schools can still put there students in for AS but the scores won't count towards the A2. Some schools won't bother with AS in these subjects.

This is the leaflet that we were given that goes some way to explain which courses are changing.
www.colchsfc.ac.uk/documents/pdf/a-level-reform-2015.pdf

I find it shocking that at this point in the proceedings there can be any doubt about things buy after the amount and speed of changes of recent years it isn't really surprisingly.

Schopl have emailed and are very kindly leaving the door open the next few weeks for DD which has taken the pressure off her a bit.

DD off into sixth form this morning
Looking forward to seeing friends again after the summer and really quite excited to be doing Art A level.
I said to her "You'll like sixth form doing more of the subjects you like better"
And she replied sharp as a knife .... "and Maths!"
So she's a bit unsure about how she'll find Maths. She got an A and has held on to being in top set throughout (just, so she says) So I'd think it should be possible to do for A level.
Thinking is starting with the 4 to probably drop Art after AS and continue with Biology, Geog, and Maths for A level
Plan B would be to drop Maths and keep the Art for A level
She wonders whether Biology, Geography and Art will be a strong enough mix for a place at Uni studying Biology, Zoology or similar
I think the answer is probably that some would prefer the Maths to A level if that's possible for her but others would be happy with Biology, Geography and Art? What do you all think?
We're probably getting a bit ahead of ourselves in some ways. But you know how it is, potentially important choices being made!
(Could throw out Art and do English instead as was her choice at one point - but she seems so excited about doing the Art now)

In other news I got some nice pics of DD and DS in new school togs in front garden this morning (DS just going into Y9 but has nice new blazer anyway as he's grown) DD now has stripey school blouse - declared "not as bad as I thought it would be!"

I'd suggest Juggling you look on the UCAS site, and check what subjects Unis she might be interested in do want for Biology.

DD has her first day of lessons, having worked very hard to finish her summer homework. And she has a cold!

Thanks mummytime I'll go and check that out in a minute
Also thanks to bebumba for the link to leaflet on changes this year, that was helpful

Sugar - glad school are leaving her options open.

Apparently DD's first lesson was "fab". She's had a long free period this morning before lunch, so it'll be interesting to hear how she filled her time.

We have a 'year 12 parents introduction to sixth form' meeting on Thursday evening.

Ooh nice to have an intro evening HSM, wish we did!

UCAS "choosing a course" site was good mummytime

• very extensive though but I guess that means comprehensive too. Lots of possibilities to add to the few that have already caught DD's eye.

Quite reassuring in that it seemed most wanted Biology plus any other science and Sheffield at least had a list of what they would accept under that which included Geography as well as Maths. And this was for a challenging 4 yr MBiol course asking for 3 A's at A level. Other courses DD is interested in typically offer 3 B's or one would accept BCC I think. I feel reasonably confident (at this stage) that they'd be likely to be at least equally accommodating with subjects too (although of course further research is always possible, and some might have quirky demands)

But too early for all this!
I like to know we've got options though!
Can't beat a good Plan B for reassurance

I think they do need to plan ahead though and decide on the type of course/uni and work backwards so that they can chose the relevant A levels for their course.

That link was helpful, thanks. Having just gone through the whole uni application with my dd, one thing that was important was their predicted grade which is added to the UCAS form by the school.

If they want to be predicted high grades, they are still going to have to work very hard for AS exams even if they don't actually count towards the final grade because some unis won't make offers unless the predicted grades are high enough, if you see what I mean.

Agree Fairenuff, DH always says AS are as important as A2, because that's where their predictions come from.

From being a bystander I think agree it is never too early to have a good think about it as the year goes by quickly. I watched friends with older DC and the year went along lines of first couple of months settle in and adjust to workload. After Christmas mocks sneak in, then Easter and before you know it the AS exams. Summer seems to be when people do University visits and start thinking personal statements. Then they are into final year.

It doesn't matter if they don't yet know what they want to do (case of keeping options open as much as possible) but if they do, planning and research at this stage never wasted.

Enrolment day for us today so up early to get work out of the way.

DC say they now know the words to the starting sixth form lecture. Hit the ground running. AS results matter. Self study and motivation. Yadda, yadda.

All true SheGotAllDaMoves, but quite a lot get caught out by it (namely my DS1!!!).

True horsemad which is why every teacher feels they need to say it.

And DH felt the need to say it too.

Youth: it's wasted on the Young, isn't it?!! I've already told DS2 I'm not having another 2yrs like we've just had with his brother.
He is a very different personality, so I'm hoping it's less stressful this time round.

I hear you Draylon, it was truly gutting to watch DS1 waste his chances.
I ranted and raved about it on MN and many people said 'you can't make him do it, blah blah...' and, they were right to a certain extent, but I also knew I could not sit and watch him do nothing without some attempt to get him back on track.

It was a hard long slog and I'm not sure he'll be any better at university, yet I'm less stressed about that, maybe because I won't be watching it day in and day out?

It's all part of the great thing called Parenting!