Year 12 / 6th form support thread

[minesawine]

The term is about to start and I though it would be good to have a support group to help us on our 6th form journey.

May the year be drama-free and our DC's study hard and without complaint

I think he is putting on a bit of a front, yes, but the school don't seem to have bollocked him. He told me he didn't understand a question so he looked up a word. Unfortunately for him, the computers basically send out some sort of malpractice alert! I don't really think he has been given guidance on how to sue his laptop concession he ahs for exams. They are a bit lax...

I am surprised and a bit dismayed that everyone only seems to have to do 3 subjects when everyone at my DCs school has to do 3.It seems that it puts them at a massive disadvantage spreading themselves over 4 rather than 3.DD is doing art (very time consuming), physics , maths and chem.Struggling in all except art averaging Cs but seems to nudging towards Bs.The school judge a grade by raw score percentage though, whereas in reality the grade boundaries are more forgiving.

Doh! meant to say 'I am surprised and a bit dismayed that everyone only seems to have to do 3 subjects when everyone at my DCs school has to do 4 '

Dd is doing 4, they can drop one now but for her not an obvious choice. Those continuing with 3 have a programme of activities. Parents' evening tomorrow.

DD is only studying for 3, but it’s a compressed timetable basically 8:30 till 1pm each day, then has 4.5 hours vocational studies each afternoon.

In contrast, both DSs studied 5 subjects in year 12, and dropped to 4 in year 13. That was in the days of AS counting towards A2 grade though.

That was in the days of AS counting towards A2 grade though.

so don't thy now? DD says they are all doing AS levels still at her school.Are they not going to count towards the final A level grade?

No. AS no longer count towards final A level grade. The whole lot has to be learned at the end of year 13.

No, they don't count towards the A level and there are pros and cons; on the positive side, if GCSE results were disappointing, they are external exam results to show progress. On the negative side, they have to be declared in UCAS form, so DD needs to take them seriously. At our school, they only pay for 1 AS, if they want to do any others they can if parents pay.

I am thinking then that poor DD might be better if they let her skip ASs.She is the sort of student who takes a bit longer to get her head round things.She isn'r even sure she wants to go to uni so might be better just doing a levels.Maybe , since they are a state school, they will jump at it!

Maths still counted I think, but I’m not sure if that’s changed now.

Maths was in the last batch to change for first teaching this year. Although ds's c college are still putting them in for AS maths and FM, I recently found out. Don't know the rationale.

Is the plan to drop one after the AS exams FireCracker?

Piggy - oh dear. Did he just not think, or did he know full well he was doing something he shouldn't?

Monkey - I wouldn't be very impressed if my ds was smoking weed alone in his bedroom as that implies a habit, but I can't get too upset at the idea he might be offered a joint at parties etc. I'm sure that ds doesn't have any fake ID, and I don't think his friends seem to - they all seem to rely on older siblings or luck to get alcohol. He's definitely been drunk a few times!

Atia I think the plan of them doing the A/S in maths is it helps them identify (or the students identify themselves) who aren't going to cope with further maths.

I'm sure dd1 doesn't have fake ID, nor her friends. They're more into a nice meal at a restaurant than going out and partying!

How's everyone doing as they stagger towards Christmas?

DC1 is doing the IB. Loving the subjects and the whole 6th form freedom, but the workload is every bit as high as expected. They have to be super organised. Very tired now and certainly ready for a bit of a break

atia it was a bit of both I think. Just got a grade sheet and still predicted a B in Spanish despite the shenanigans (which is one more than his ALPs indicator even though he got an A*: sill data) and then two Cs. He messed up his politics exam though and got an E but it would seem the whole class did : the teacher happily said she hadn't taught them half of the question which rather begs the question why she set it!

This is not jolting him out of complacency needless to say.

But when I spoke to the deputy head last week, the main thing that seemed to irk her is that DS doesn't wear his lanyard!

Sorry , to explain the above I meant he got an A at GCSE and I should have written silly data*.

In terms of how the first term has gone, DD is loving the A level syllabus compared to GCSEs. She’s taking humanities & the focus on research and linking to other texts really suits her working style.
But it’s been a masssive change from the local state comp, to full boarding at independent school over 2 hours away.
It’s lovely having her home for a few weeks, and she’s certainly grown up a lot this term!

it must be lovely to have her back error :)

This term has stretched on forever & gone in a flash; dd doesn't break up until Thursday. She's incredibly tired & busy (too much social stuff!) - EPQ has finally kicked off & she's finishing off her portfolio for creative writing before the mock in January. She's sitting the A2 in June but I'm still in two minds about her actually doing it, I think she's be better off sticking with her AS grade.

We had parents' evening & it was encouraging. Biology is fine, she got high A's in both end of term tests (improved from the D earlier). Physics Bs apart from one test which they made the entire year resit. Chemistry has been a more of a mix ... she's done really really well in some tests the bizarrely badly in others. Her chemistry group only has 5 in & her teacher has said that she needs to differentiate work more - dd is probably the most able but needs a kick up the arse to stretch herself. They all said that she was managing fine with the maths (so far) & is capable of meeting her targets but she needs to do more work basically. She has had a end of term chem test today ... she appears to have been working for it but I don't know how she did. Physics test is after Christmas. Class work & homework has been fine.

I think (though she's never admit it) that she's been surprised by the workload.

Thanks Laniakea , your DD sounds very busy! Is she studying for 5 A levels plus the EPQ? That’s amazing, I’m sure she’ll be looking forward to the Christmas break.

laniakea That sounds like an IB workload! They have to be so organised to juggle so many subjects.

We're busy with the EE now: similar to the EPQ but an integral part of the IB. DC1 is very excited about getting permission to visit relevant faculty libraries in Cambridge :-)

The workload is insane but they're loving the subjects and range so much. I've become a big fan of the IB for any potential polymath or for those heading towards 'social sciences' degrees because of the cross-overs.

Exhausted but happy teen.

No it's just 4 (3 sciences & creative writing) & EPQ. She's having extra maths guided study sessions because she's not doing maths A level & they don't do core maths. As a result doesn't get a lot of free study periods.

You'd have think I'd have learnt by now not to expect her personality to radically change to serious, studious, perfectionist but I was bit hacked off to find out that she'd slept for an hour & a half on Sunday night (important stuff on the internet). She's miffed at me for not finding jokes about failing your A levels at all funny. Oh & accused me of hating her friends when I wondered out loud how different it would be if she was friends with the conscientious kids. I hate feeling so irritated with her all the time.

DS seems to be thriving in the sixth form (he says he's really enjoying his school - finally!) and doing much much better (so far) now he's only doing subjects he's interested in. He just seems more focused. Both HTRs very encouraging. Has a big Pre-U essay to do over Christmas and revision for more tests. All heading in the right direction.

Think we might start getting him to think about universities over Christmas hols - at least to plan in some visits for Year 12 rather than leaving them all for the summer/Year 13.

DS has just had his first set of mocks. Just got the usual grunt when I asked how they went. I feel a bit nervous.

Can schools kick out the Year 12's if they don't meet their targets. Or is that all over now. I am over thinking this but just thought I would check. Thanks

On the 3 vs 4. DS does 4 (as is pretty near universal at his comp). Will do all 4 as ASs (again universal), plus an EPQ. Plus 2 Grade 8s this year. Needs to pass driving theory test and preferably practical as well, as well as managing a 10+ hour a week music group commitment (and that's just the ones outside school - adding in the lunchtime / after school ones pushes it up to silly amounts of time).

Busy.

How's everyone doing, this thread seems quiet. Found out this week that Oxbridge/medic assessments are on 31st October which, for us at least, is in half term.