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

Lizs - what are those? Apologies for ignorance, but DS would like to go for medicine at Cambridge

They are pretests. Oxbridge and Medicine courses (and Engineering , sciences, maths iirc) use the results to screen candidates for interview.

DS ploddig along nicely. Wants to drop either Economics or Physics but not sure which one yet.

Monkey2001 www.admissionstestingservice.org/for-test-takers/bmat/

Lizs I had not realised you meant the BMAT. We went to the Medic Mentors conference and they advise you to do the September BMAT so that you get the results before the UCAS deadline. If the BMAT does not go well, you don't want to waste one of your choices on a course with high expectations for BMAT. The September sitting is a fairly new thing - I think this year is only the second or third time they have offered it.

Hadn't realised there was an earlier sitting, although Oxford ( and perhaps some other unis/courses) will only accept the later one and other Oxbridge tests don't seem to have an earlier option.

All going well so far with ds. He enjoys his subjects and works hard.

Just one exam that counts this year as he is taking maths but I suppose the others will still be important for teacher predictions.

Then it is back onto the hamster wheel of Ucas applications for the fourth and last time!

Lizs - yes, I had forgotten about Oxford's rather strange attitude to the September sitting. The Medic Mentors guy suggested that Oxford doesn't like that one because Cambridge does! I suppose that if DCs do enough practice tests, they should be reasonably confident of what they are likely to get, so not exactly applying blind. My DS wants to try Cambridge anyway and GCSEs not good enough for Oxford.

Glad your DC's know what they want to do. My DS still does not have a clue. He thinks he wants to go to Uni but is not sure what he will study. And I thought 6th form would be easier. Had parents evening, same old story, very bright, lack of effort, needs to focus etc. I just wish he would understand how clever he is and how well he would do with a little more effort. So frustratng

Ah, how many Sleeping Beauties are out there, their brains need that wake-up call! Teenagers........

Have any of your dc been given target/predicted grades yet? Just got ds's latest report & his target grades are all Bs. I know A Levels are harder than GCSEs but he is doing subjects that he got A/A* in at GCSEs & is good at.

I'm hoping that if he does well in his assessments they will give higher predicted grades but concerned he will just work to reach his targets rather than beat them! He will have to radically rethink his plans for uni with those grades...

Yes. ds has his predicted grades now. The teachers said they won't change now and he is self motivated thankfully.

Could your ds apply to a range of places decorhate?

It would severely curtail his choice of unis & then future career if his predicted grades end up being his target grades. However I have spoken to someone else with a child in the same school & their target grades also seem low so I think I will contact the school for clarification.

There was a glitch with DS2's targets earlier this year due to new IT system so perhaps the bugs have not been sorted yet!

Are the predicted grades the computer generated ones that look at your GCSE results to predict A levels? Or are they from the school based on his work?
The schools my DC have been to use the computer ones (ALYS?) As s minimum grade, then give an actual predicted grade towards the end of year 12.

Are the predicted grades the computer generated ones that look at your GCSE results to predict A levels? Or are they from the school based on his work? DS has two sets of grades in his HTRs at this stage - those based on his GCSE grades and the predictions based on his current work level (which are significantly higher)

This threads gone very quiet!
How is everyone getting on?
We’re enjoying half term (so different to this time last year) & as DD isn’t taking any AS exams theres just the usual homework, and learning lines for her first play at her new school.

My son is still enjoying 6th form (and his first experience of school!). His predicted grades were all A's at the end of last term. We have a parent's evening coming up in March so it will be interesting to see what the teacher's say. I have had to go into the college once to speak to the head of department about difficulty with a teacher (not turning up, not stretching the students, etc). That has been our only difficulty. My son is spending this half term on work experience he organised so not rest for him!

DS has just gone off on a school trip to the USA. No AS levels to revise for here but he's doing a Pre-U (together with his end of year exams) in May, so revision will be starting when he gets back. Also got LAMDA to revise for. Never a dull minute!

Seems very early in the year for predicted grades to be finalised. Ds's have changed this half term, and he has exams after Easter (plus some AS's!) so I would assume they will be taken into account too.

Studying seems to be going ok, his latest review was good, and he seems to be getting into his stride. Some beginnings of slightly more concrete conversations about universities.

Unfortunately he's got glandular fever - is no longer feeling ill, just knackered, so it's now just waiting to see how he gets on.

I’m not sure that predicted grades have yet been finalised have they?
I’ve only got experience at 2 schools, in one they use the ALYS predictions as a minimum grade then add a target grade usually 1 grade higher. But don’t tell you what they will be putting in your UCAS predictions until September of year 13, though it’s pretty easy to tell from the school reports monitoring your progress against the predictions what they are likely to put.
In the other school they gave DD predicted grades in October so I’m assuming they are the ALYS predictions and the school are monitoring progress as below, reaching or exceeding the predicted grade on each half term report.

I pray to God, DS's grades are not his predicted yet!

Dd1 has now given up chemistry after she caught flu and was really ill a couple of weeks back and got to the point she felt she would never get anywhere. Her tutor agreed after she discussed it with her-although dh rather wanted to go in and have his say at the incompetence, dd1 felt it wouldn't do much good. Apparently the options that she would change into either have the same teacher or another one who doesn't seem (by repute or results) to be any good.

The good news is that she is so much less stressed. She's considering doing the extended project over the summer as an alternative, but doesn't need to think about it yet.

They've just had current results. Her maths/further as expected, but the computing's down from where she'd hope to be. There's two reasons for this she thinks, firstly she was not spending nearly long enough due to chemistry and secondly the test they based it on took place over the time she was ill, so she wouldn't have done her best.

She thinks predicted grades generally are what you get in your April exams (with perhaps a little flexibility) so she's beginning to look towards that.

Atia hope he's better quickly, I had glandular fever over finals and it was not good. I did wonder for that with dd1 when she was ill, but she seems to be recovering quite quickly now.

Witch I guess you know that glandular fever is confirmed by blood test, think it's within 6 weeks of being ill, so if she's still peaky, it might be worth checking. I was assuming some sort of fluey thing, and wouldn't have thought of GF, but my mum suggested it and he ticked off all the symptoms, so I got the bloods done.

Chemistry does seem to be a really tough option

Witchend I think Chemistry is a particularly challenging A Level and seems a real 'hike' from GCSEs. My BF's DD did it and really struggled. She ended up with a B (having been predicted a D) but only with extra tuition through the whole two years of sixth form. She got a B in Geography (her best subject) which BF reckons was the sacrifice she made to get her Chemistry up to scratch.