Corona Cohort’s Year 12 adventures

[FoolsAssassin]

We’ve made it into year 12 and rapidly approaching the end of the first half term .

Lots of challenges we could never imagined as we started the year but we’re all keeping on keeping on and this thread is for anyone who would like to jump on board to share the rather unusual journey this is turning out to be.

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Hi oblomov : English only makes you stronger if you are good at it and enjoy it.

Lit is 'classic' if you will but language isn't , and never has been, facilitating. So, no more elite than ,say, sociology which also builds arguments and writing skills. And is a much more reflective subject.

The 3 he leaves himself with are a bit 'shiny new subject' ish, though. the charm can wear off. If it's business A level it's 100% exam for all three, too.

I certainly don't think he should swap to lit at this stage. Madness..

He could do any degree witht he 3 you mention : you are right : it is the grades that matter the most. Pretty sure only the most snotty of RG unis would cock a snook at his combo.

Jumping aboard too. Nice new thread.

DS got a nice comment today from economics teacher as he did well in an assessment : 20/25 and then 7/15 for the bit they didn't have enough time to do. They had another assessment today so it's a bit of a treadmill!!

DS thinking of dropping Business studies. He's doing very well in it but says it's boring and overlaps too much with Economics, which he is also doing. That will leave him with Econs, Geo & Politics.

He's also been thinking about Maths A'Level, which I think is too late to pick up now even if he wanted to try it, but I feel terrible advising him against doing it before because it has always been his weakest subject. He managed to get a 7 but he's not a natural at it and worked really hard to even get that grade from CAGs but I'm now in two minds.

@Piggywaspushed I don't know whether this is a indy school thing, but does your school use something called iSAMs? it's always so exciting when you get the notification of how well they've performed in an assessment or class discussion, puts a little spring in your step to maybe what's been a dull day.

Does anyone know if there's a cut off point for changing A level subjects

Last month dd was thinking of changing from Film Studies to History, then she changed her mind, but now she's changing her change of mind (are you following me ) and wanting to do History again

Fine with me, I prefer it to Film Studies tbh as I did History A-level and would be better able to help when needed But I'm thinking 6 weeks of the course is a lot to catch up on - it was certainly very content heavy when I did it (back in historical times) - and I don't think dd needs any additional anxieties just now

Ds is moaning how boring business studies is. Ds1 told him it was very boring and not to do it. He'd rather have done economics, but that was in the same column as history, which he definitely wanted to do. They don't do A level business it's A level equivalent. I think it's called applied business. I know ds1 got distinction star. So it's not marked A, B, C etc. either. Ds1 moaned all the way through the course too, now I have to listen to ds2 complaining as well.

Crazy; the feedback we got from DD’s history teachers were that it’s very much a long game. In response to her asking if not doing GCSE was a disadvantage, they said that all were back to square one as the essay style and response approach was totally different, and therefore took time to develop. And to not therefore expect high marks for a style not yet accomplished...

Don’t fret yet is my point!

@Shimy your post hadn't come up when I wrote mine. Your ds sounds like mine. He's bored with business. He wanted to do maths too. Also got 7 at gcse. They were told not to do maths unless they got 8 or 9.

Though ds thinks had he taken the exam he'd have achieved better than 7.

Cut off for changing at my gaff was 2 October.

I am a film teacher so will try not to take offence

@icanbewhatiwant Very similar. I just think even if they were a natural at it, 6 wks into the syllabus for Maths is just too late?. Also, I know ds would not get a final high grade in it, will probably be between a C/D with a lot of mental stress, and he wants to apply to unis that aren't very forgiving, so what's the point?

No shimy but DH's school does.

DS1 hated business A Level, too. It's obviously A Thing.

I wonder what's making it so boring? I'd have thought it would be REALLY interesting. I've never seen the syllabus before but would've thought it would cover things like lots of presenting, business ideas, case studies, setting up a business, financing etc.

Can I join you all? I've also been following the threads, but haven't posted.

DS is loving year 12, absolutely thriving after a long and frustrating spring and summer.

His school have had cases in Year 10 and year 9, but non in his year (touch wood!), although we, and all of his friends were unwell with covid type symptoms in February /March so wondering if they all had it then.

Our last day for changing subject was last Friday, but he's sticking with his original four subjects.

My DD swapped to business from comp sci 4 weeks ago - that was the deadline at her school. She had a lot of catch up to do. She is enjoying business, but it is her fourth subject which she is intending to drop as soon as she can - except she is not sure whether to keep up one of her other subjects now..... The one she really wanted, and fits in well with what she thinks she wants to do at uni......

Aww piggywaspushed don't take offence! Dd likes Film Studies and would be happy to keep it - I think she's mostly fretting about whether she's made the right decision in giving up History

She finds decision making VERY difficult (didn't decide which 6th form she wanted to go to until registration week) and often drives herself mad with 'what ifs'

Sounds like it would be v difficult to catch up at this point anyway, so I think she'd better stick with Film Studies

Our school does not have a hard and fast deadline for changing subjects, but I think they would have to put a lot of work into catching up if they changed now. I would say it is possible for maths but may be wise to get a tutor - DS said that almost everything so far has been revising the GCSE content and he is doing double maths.

He said tonight that he expected to enjoy maths most, but it is his least favourite subject. PE best and Physics is much better than he expected so he is considering engineering again having thought he wanted Sports Science. So much more straightforward with DS1 who has wanted to be a doctor since Y9 and would not have considered anything other than sciences and maths for A levels.

With all that's going on, does anyone think our lot will be able to sit their exams come 2022? DH seemed quite optimistic infact more like 100% certain the pandemic will be over by then . I'm much more pessimistic about it, especially when I heard exams for next yrs are being postponed by 3 weeks.

Yes, exams will go ahead in 2022!! We will have a vaccine early next year, should be available en masse by this time next year.

@Monkey2001 I really want to believe that. How can you be sure about the vaccine?

I am fairly confident about a vaccine which won’t be the total answer but will help a lot, combined with better treatment.

The problem will be the huge difference in experience some will have had, depending on how much they have had to isolate and online provision, both of which will vary significantly.

@DonaldTrumpsChopper welcome. What a name!

@Piggywaspushed ds1 did film studies. He intended to drop it after AS but dropped geography instead. Ds2 is also doing film. Mainly because there wasn't much else in column 4 of A level choices. He's enjoying it. Both of them say it's English but with films instead of books. It's taught by English teachers in our school.

@Shimy both my boys got bored with business because they say they go over the same thing so many times. Both of them have studied our local zoo. They had to come up with ideas of how the zoo could make more money etc. I wonder how fed up the teacher gets as I know every year for the last 4 years it's been about the zoo. They both say it's easy but boring.

It is indeed like doing English with films : but with greater diversity, I reckon. the fact that we study subtitled films , silent films, documentaries,and films from many cultures, eras and countries is really overlooked. It's a really horizon expanding subject, I think!