Starting year 13 2016

[HSMMaCM]

Continuing from the year 12 - 13 thread.

Good luck with continuing studies, uni open days, driving tests, etc.

DD said hers was fun, though she didn't finish it - she reckoned few people would have been able to do it all in the time. Fortunately she wasn't at all stressed about it, as she's not set her heart on cambridge - leastwise, loved the place but not 100% sure about the course.

Any one do the Cambridge assessment today ? DD did the Theology one but I think the first part was generic for a number of subjects. Said it was V hard, but then I guess its not meant to be easy.

Although main difficulty was just writing answers when you're not really sure what they're looking for as its the first year of these tests

Hi User..., my DD sat the ELAT (English test). It's been running for quite a few years, so she had past papers to practise on.

What was the Theology paper like, or have you not had the debriefing yet?

Is it just the cambridge ones which are new? That's what DD's was (engineering) - there was only one set of specimen papers. That's probably not so bad as for a more subjective subject though, and everyone is in the same boat.

Hi, I believe Cambridge used to test for some subjects but are now testing for all - due to the change is AS s and yes you re right it will be new for everybody. They have also said they won't refuse anyone just on the basis of the test as they are new this year (but whether that happens in practise is a different matter. It's a long slog even if very exciting - not sure how the students are meant to get much work done this term !!

Cambridge used to test for some subjects but are now testing for all - due to the change is AS.

Cambridge is not doing pre-interview testing for all subjects.

www.undergraduate.study.cam.ac.uk/applying/admission-assessments

Maths and Music retain the old arrangements i.e. colleges will make their own assessments, the format of which varies by college.

Oxford has not (significantly) changed its pretests as it always relied on pretests in addition to GCSE/AS.

Imo there is an advantage to the tests being unknown - everyone is in a similar position, although candidates from schools that teach deeper will always be at an advantage. (However this advantage is taken into account when assessing results.)

Sorry, lazy language should have said most ! And I agree with the benefits of being unknown/unseen

Dd was doing homework non stop from 4-12 last night (tell a lie, she did come down for a slice of pizza). She's still adamant that she didn't have any work to do over half term (apart from the 3 hours she did the first night).

AIBU to think maybe some of this work could have been done last week? . Or ... she has big plans for the weekend that I'm not yet aware of.

HSMm have the big plans materialised?
Dd is not having a good time of it at the moment.She's not confident of her own abilities as she still has just one Interview whereas her friends have 3.I'm trying to think of ways to cheer her up as ,she doesn't want to go to her friends party tonight or buy clothes for her Interview next week.

Not confident

Big plans were boyfriend come over yesterday and staying over. Followed by friends 18th birthday party tonight, which required DH shaving her undercut and me altering a dress at a moments notice. Haven't heard any news about tomorrow yet.

Anyway, I'm glad she got the homework sorted before Sunday night.

Lost sight of this thread... good thing your DD has a skilled pair of parents!

DD and DH are hopefully well on their way to southampton. She didn't have any lessons this afternoon, fortunately, so he picked her up at lunchtime. And also fortunately, he thought to ask her whether she needed any paperwork for the interview day.. yup, some sort of ticket which she'd forgotten. School is north of here so not much of a detour to swing by and get it.

Good luck Errol's daughter!
We're going to Nottingham and staying overnight for the interview tomorrow.I'm trying to prepare dd and talk through appropriate answers but its hard .Given that she's the eldest of four kids and is very self-sufficient and I normally let her get on with it ......This is something she can't do by herself.I'm jealous of the parents who are investing massive resources into their children at this stage and who have just one or two.
Hsmm your intuition was spot on then!
Certain skills are useful as a parent of a teenager.

etc.... good luck, to both of you!

Hope it all went well for your dd Errol.

My dd is also applying to Southampton, but for mechanical engineering. I told her about your dd having an interview and she made the face. She had assumed that none of her choices don't interview. The college is offering them interview practice and she turned it down.

She has not submitted her application yet, let alone being offered an interview. There is still another teacher she wants to look at her personal statement and he has been away. I'm not going to ask her about it again, because it will seem like nagging and won't do any good anyway.

• She had assumed that none of her choices interview.

DS is still waiting for references from one teacher before he can submit UCAS, it's very frustrating as this teacher hasn't done anyone's yet. DS is planning to stay up all night to watch the US election results despite me telling him not to. Oh well, I can suggest he multi-tasks and does some work at the same time.

Good luck all those going for interview!

AH - We were a bit surprised as, while we knew that all of DD's other choices said they interviewed, we'd got the impression s'ton didn't. But I think it's just an 'informal interview' as part of the applicant day, I don't think it's a grilling like oxbridge or the vet/medicine type of things. It may be as much a chance for the uni to sell themselves to get applicants to put them as first choice as it is for them to assess the candidates. At this stage they probably have quite a high proportion of early applicants who have oxbridge as one of their other choices, and it really is a bit apples and oranges - yeah, its oxbridge but its general eng. I guess they also have to try to figure out who is likely to place them first or reserve so they can get their offer numbers about right - it must be quite hard!

Of course, this is idle speculation on my part and I should know a bit more by this evening!

DD did a practice interview at school, TBH it wasn't particularly helpful.

I don't think dd is particularly worried about doing an interview, she is a good talker . It's more that she wasn't expecting it.

I looked again at the information from Southampton and it was all a bit woolly, they consider each application on its merits, etc. Some of the others state very clearly that they do not interview, but they have offer holders visit days.

DD just called - apparently it was a very nice day, and everyone would be getting offers. I got the impression that the 'interview' was indeed more of a pleasant chat.

Glad it went well, Errol.

Hope any other interviews for other DC go well. AFASK DD's course/uni's don't interview - I hope she's right as she will be a nervous wreck if they do!

ono, sympathies - DD had that prob, but I think hers has finally gone off. Well, I hope it has!

So, safely home a while ago, about 7hrs drive, poor DH was whacked. DD was buzzing though, good experience. And they got a chaotic oscillator kit to solder up and play with .

Just checking in and reading about all your dcs offers and interviews, seems all is going well.
Dd is in a bit of a lather as her application hasnt gone off yet, the school have been sitting on it since before half term. My finger is starting to hover over the stroppy email button

Dingit - welcome back. That must be very frustrating - not that uncommon unfortunately, others on this thread and the uni offers 17 one also have schools who should pull their fingers out. Though I suppose they've been doing it for years and there's still plenty of time.