Year 12 preparing for AS levels

[HSMMaCM]

Here we are everyone.

I suppose I ought to get used to it if this is what DD wants to do with her life (act/write/direct).

And it has made me wonder what those close to me think when they read my work. I inhabit dark territory. Perhaps it's not comfortable for them?

Sorry to hear about all the real life losses. It is tough enough coping with the day to day stuff let alone anything else.

I've been struck down by a vomiting bug - let's hope I don't give it to the rest of the family in time for the BH weekend.

Eric lol at your daughter's performance - had a similar thing once with my niece at drama school. Sitting there with my sister and mum, it was quite uncomfortable. I had to hope mum's hearing aid wasn't switched on!

Meanwhile DS has been made a prefect - he says he only went for it as they have nicer ties

DD came home in tears - bloody History tutor is making her redo an essay (nothing wrong with that, but he is not teaching her how to do any better, and is constantly negative) She is worn out and I am so glad they break up at lunchtime tomorrow. But am now desperately trying to find a History tutor in the hopes that she could actually be taught how to improve in his part of the course. Grrrrr!!!

No drama students in our house but (as seen from the above) no lack of drama!

T&T, I did A'level French. I had done French exchanges every year since I was 12, so was fluent. An exchange/stay in a Spanish family would be my no.1 suggestion, but that won't be possible before the AS levels. DS is on a great website called Memrise for GCSE French - perhaps there is something for A'level Spanish?

Well done ono's DS

Poor you ono. Hope it doesn't go round the rest of the family. Well done on the new tie. No prefects in dc's school which is just as well considering what some of them bring into school!

bigTilly - they are so worn out. DD3 is now on Easter Holiday thank goodness.

DD has broken up now, but has a morning of psychology revision tomorrow morning at college.

Yes, first day of the Easter break here too for DD and DS
DD full of good intentions to do some revision every day, including taking some maths papers with her when she goes on a few days residential trip in the middle.
And DS is hoping to do quite a bit of trumpet practice before an upcoming audition.
I'm still hoping we can have the odd Easter egg hunt though
I wish I could call it an Easter holiday!

I was just saying on another thread that I am cursing another no-holiday-due-to-exams Easter!

I feel like exams have ruled our family life for years now. And we have it easy with twins ( where at least we only do each stage once).

Those if you doing GCSE/AS/A level two and three or more times; I salute you!

Same here. Four dc and ds has only just started the GCSE's with speaking exams in year 10. It is relentless and I am fed up with it.

dd3 has her report and got AABC in her mocks . She is gloomy about the C but I think she could always drop it. Her main problem is that her subject requires three A's or A*AA. .

Those are great mocks Littleham. We are trying to put DD's behind us a bit here, looking at them as fancy practice papers or something - just so she has an idea of what to expect?! We got a report this week too and comments were quite helpful and encouraging which I was pleased to see. As always improving exam technique could make a big difference with DD. And by and large she was able to do this for her GCSE's.

I think there can be quite a strong case for dropping a fourth most hated? subject after AS. DD will almost certainly be dropping Maths, but I'm sure the extra year of it in sixth form will have taught her some useful skills, especially in statistics which will come up a lot in something like zoology I think.

Good idea to look on it as practice papers. To be honest they only got one weeks warning of the mocks anyway so it was all a bit of a panic. No comments on our report, just a grade so we don't know where she is going wrong.

What is really sad is that she doesn't hate Music. There are just so many blooming hoops to jump through to get a decent grade. You practically have to be Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart to get a high grade. It doesn't help that she is taking it alone. I expect she will focus on the two maths and physics and just carry music on for fun.

Does your dd want to take Zoology Juggling?

Interesting to hear about Music Littleham - sorry your DD is finding it tough.
DS will be needing to take Music if he's to pursue his current dreams of becoming a professional musician. But whatever happens I'm glad that DD and DS have developed a love of music which I'm sure they'll carry with them through life - being members of a local community band over the last few years has been a great experience for them. In a similar way I'm glad DD has taken the opportunity to continue with her Art.

And yes, DD is hoping to study Zoology or a related subject. I think she will really enjoy that, and there'll also be some interesting trips to go on I imagine. Just hoping we can get her in and settled somewhere good where she'll be happy. And kind of hoping for no gap year though sometimes she mentions the possibility, I think mainly as a Plan B reassurance thing

Littleham, they are great results. It is awful how basically anything below an A is regarded as not good enough - mainly due to RG university entrance requirements.

I got out DD's History essay last night and read the teachers comments. It was actually a good essay (and would have been an A!!!) had she not have used/misinterpreted one of the sources. But his communication skills are so poor that yet again she had come away feeling that she had failed

That is exactly how things end up! Drives me nuts.

History essays are tricky but by the sound of it she is on the right track.

This whole AAA hurdle is crazy. Too much pressure.

At the sentencing hearing, the prosecution has described the Kaye Johnson social media stuff as an 'aggravating factor'.

Wrong thread! Bloody hell.

I'm going to apologise now but I have amazing news (and I can't talk to anyone in RL about it). Am bursting to tell someone.

DD3 just got her grade 8 flute mark back and she got a distinction. Massive confidence boost for her and perfect timing.

Congrats to Littleham's DD. Feel free to be proud (both of you)

Congratulations to Littleham's DD - and we know she didn't event have time to practise because of the A level music so doubly well done!

I think there are some great options out there though at other Uni's bigTilly?

Not essential to be able to achieve 3 A's, or even close to that? Still some good options for an enjoyable and valuable Uni experience I think?

Really hard to know how it's likely to pan out for DD, I think we'll be looking to hold on to a range of offers between a firm and a reserve (when that time comes) to hopefully cover most eventualities?

Oh well done Littleham's DD3. Fantastic

Well done to LittleLittleham!

Juggling, I totally agree about great options at other unis, but the whole message she is getting is that RG is the best (ie everything else is a flop) Which is just ridiculous. Not only did I go to a Poly and have managed to have a successful and relatively well-paid career, but also, so did the majority of our friends.

In other good news, her bf has finally got an offer from his preferred uni! He now has to choose his reserve, which looks like it will be at the other end of the country!

Little ham that's very impressive.

For those of you worrying about mock grades, DD's college are expecting mock marks to be at least one grade below actual marks I'll believe it when I see it

Thanks. She has gone from dragging her feet around the house to humming happily.

I hope you are right HSMM . Really hard to for them to decide where to apply as it is all such a guessing game.

She is gloomy about the C but I think she could always drop it. Her main problem is that her subject requires three A's or AAA.*

If I recall correctly, she wants to do maths/physics. For these subjects it is true that the typical RG offer is three As or two As and one A star. However, as said on many threads, outside the top 5-10 universities, RG typically accept one or even two grades below published offers for these subjects in August. This is particularly true in physics, for which recruitment is a problem - and many physics departments are under massive pressure to improve their gender ratios so would be very reluctant to turn away a near miss girl.

There is a major gender problem for maths, physics and engineering undergraduate applications. Boys look at the three A or higher requirements and happily apply/accept offers when their predictions are barely at the required level. Girls are much more cautious and play it safe - and accordingly end up at weaker universities than they should. If she gets AABC in AS, with AAA or AAB predictions for her three A2s, then she should be applying to good RG university courses, safe in the knowledge that she will be accepted by at least some even if she drops to AAB.

She should absolutely not be applying to places with published offers of AAB or lower for maths/physics, as this means they will be filling places in clearing at BBB or perhaps even lower. If she looks like an AAA candidate then she is too strong for these courses.

little a distinction at grade 8 is tremendous!!!!!!