Continuing Year 13: January 2016

[Needmoresleep]

Only two more terms at school. Let's support each other support our DC in getting through to the end.

Just about flu and meningitis vaccinations. Go surgeries are contractually unable to charge for anything they provide as an nhs service. That is why you can't pay to have your flu jab at the surgery.

Meningitis for year 13s is part of the national vaccination schedule so should be offered.

None of these decisions are made by receptionists.

BethanKate, that's similar to DS1 except he dropped his fourth AS (Computing) to concentrate on Maths, FM and Physics. Never quite sure which option would be better, though everyone seems to say that Chemistry is difficult. He's also hoping for Warwick and his next exam is STEP on something like the 14th?

Does Warwick give a lower offer if taking 4 A2s? Or does it just give him more chances to get enough As and A*s?

Warwick give alternative offers:

Either A star, AA + grade 1 STEP OR A star, A star A + grade 2 STEP OR 3 x A stars OR 2 x A star + 2 A.

The latter is arguably the easiest to meet for those doing 4 A2s.

A tough offer, whatever combination. Even if the student is capable, having to get the A* is daunting.

But for Warwick maths if you can't get the required A stars in Maths and F Maths you are probably better off elsewhere. A stars in Maths/FM are at least more predictable than in other subjects.

Agreed and several of DDs friends are having to get two or more A*s. They should do it, but she is not unhappy that her offer is gentler. I too am relieved as things are calm, even though there are four weeks and eight exams to go.

DS just needs 1 A for his Physics offer, but if he gets two I think he gets £2,000 from the university, which is a nice incentive . He is actually more worried about missing an A and getting AABB when he needs AAA or AAA for insurance

With all the different Warwick combinations, like esornep said, DS is thinking that if he managed an A in Chem he could still get in even if he doesn't get STEP or the A* in Physics. It is debatable whether it would have been better to drop it & just concentrate on the three & STEP.

Insurance offer (Bristol) AAB seems easy in comparison.

He's taking STEP 2 on 16th & STEP 3 on 23rd.

£2000 for two A* sounds nice!

DS1 has the same offer as above but as he's only doing 3 A2s I didn't know about the AAAA version. The As would have to be maths and FM, I guess. DS1 is predicted A for maths and physics but only A for FM. He's only doing STEP 1 as well. It's been hard for him to get his head around. He was a large fish in a small pond at his comprehensive for maths, but he's at a super selective grammar for sixth form and suddenly friends with extremely able mathematicians.

I have wondered if he'd actually be better off at a slightly less prestigious university for maths, but, on the other hand Warwick and environs are a lot cheaper to live in than his insurance.

Bristol is a lovely place to live, BethanKate. I may be a bit biased, but DS didn't want to consider it as all his extended family on both sides live there so it was too close to 'home' for him.

Reading back, it's not STEP 1 that he's found hard to get his head around, it's the fact that while he is inarguably good at maths, he's no longer 'the best.'

I think dd will be disappointed if she doesn't get A* in her best subject but I couldn't care less. As long as she gets the 3As she needs for medicine at Dundee I'll be over the moon. She's just back from working at the library all day. Seems happy with how things are going. We met her in town for a nice lunch though so she had a good break.
Morvah - she gets her past papers from the AQA website I think. Not doing physics but biology and chemistry.

raspberry, £2 000 for 2 A* sounds like a wonderful incentive!

I have never really understood what STEP is (DD doesn't do maths). Do DC do it in any subject other than maths?

I think the hard thing about the STEP papers is that there is no mark scheme published, so unless you have done a question perfectly it is hard to know how you did

A good guide is if you answered four or more STEP questions fairly completely you should get a 1 (or S, but I think those who get S's generally know it went well). If you don't get through a couple of questions fairly completely you won't get a 2.

Why do STEP 2 and 3 for Warwick instead of STEP 1?

It's just for maths. Sixth term exam paper? May have to google that.

I can remember when Oxbridge did their own entrance exams, either 4th term of sixth form, or if you could afford a gap year, 7th term. Obviously if you could take them in your 7th term you stood a much better chance. So a sixth term paper is much fairer, but not sure why it's just for maths.
I have read (on here) that maths A levels got a bit easier a few years ago to encourage more students to take them, so maybe Cambridge etc wanted a way to distinguish the really capable DC?

STEP 2 and 3 are more for Cambridge, aren't they? Perhaps Cambridge was in the plan originally?

Cambridge has used STEP maths continually for over 20 years. There were originally (late 80s/90s) STEP papers in other subjects, but these were gradually abolished except for the maths one. The maths STEP is very well correlated with university performance in maths, physics and engineering and is part of almost all Cambridge maths offers and some Cambridge Natural Sciences/Engineering/Computer Science offers. Cambridge is re-introducing pretests before interview, as Oxford does, to deal with the removal of AS, but maths currently has an exception because of the STEP papers.

Maths and FM has got more than a "bit" easier over the last 20 years! This is why more and more universities ask for STEP maths. It will be interesting to see what happens after the revised maths A level curricula are launched, as they are far harder than the current curricula.

I did my maths A level over 30 years ago, esornep. I certainly didn't find it easy, but I managed to get a B! My DS1 is way better than I was, though. His father got an A and a B for FM in a school where only 2 took FM in an hour lesson a week squeezed in to the timetable. DS takes after his dad, (which is a shame as he's a twunt! )

I did an S Level in English back in the mid-80's (eek) which I assume was equivalent to the STEP papers in Maths nowadays? It was bloody hard!

Two papers down here and 5 to go. Still feeling very grateful that DD doesn't need any As to meet her offer (though I know she'll be v disappointed if she doesn't get at least one). She has had a prime example of how an A or equivalent offer can be hard to meet through no fault of the student though. Don't want to be too specific as it could out me/her but it revolves around the wrong edition of a text having been studied...

Ha ha! I remember S Levels, Cherry. I got a grade 1, and a C in the actual A Level. Was always told I was unique, because I think in later years you had to have an A or B for your S Level to be marked!

Thank you for the explanation re STEP papers. They have otherwise completely escaped my radar!

10 papers still to go for DD. Her offer is AAA but if she gets AA*A gets an incentive from her firm choice of £4000 (-£1,000 per year) ......but not looking likely.......she has just got in from yet another night out! She has just asked me to wake her up early as she has an extra piano lesson first thing as she has a music grade in the week after her exams finish

still to go - how many has she already done? That's a lot of exams anyway.

Dd only has 5 papers to sit - has done coursework and speaking exams already though. She has an unconditional with the promise of £2K if she gets AAA, which will hopefully happen.

I did S level maths - don't remember a thing about it, apart from getting a 1! It was, I think, generally the Oxford applicants doing S levels - the Cambridge applicants did STEP.

Atia - your DD has a good offer! Hopefully she is not too stressed as it is unconditional
DD has had 3 practical (Empa) exams and 4 written ones so far. No coursework or speaking exams for her subjects.