Thread 15 - Corona Cohort Year 12, 2021 Lateral Flow & Driving Tests

[orangecinnamon]

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@Nard75 that's good you get some back. When dh tried to insure ds1 they all wanted him insured for the year, we knew he wouldn't be learning for a year, so dh didn't want to pay for a year. That's why we went with marmalade who offered a combined insurance. It worked well for ds1 as he was only a learner 3 months, but ds2 has been insured 5 months already and hardly driven, so learner insurance may have been better.

I have a stinking cold. How ? I don't know except it coincides with Dd meeting up with friends...I've hardly been out still..so unfair. It feels somehow a bit worse than normal. Reminiscent of those colds that used to make their way into the house from infant school/nursery.

Of course I won't blame Dd , but am mighty peeved. Might not be able to taste the curry tonight.

Marmalade were good and for the future: Aviva are good for our Uni Dd driver as you can block so many days of insurance over the year to coincide with coming home. Although she’s been home more than Uni of course this year!

Back in Year 12, the quality of university prospectuses (I have an urge to write prospecti) is variable. Some are very glossy picture books but others have much more information. I suppose it is difficult when courses are changing but just to have the course title and the grades you need is frustrating. I prefer lots of information I can compare on paper. It seems Dd likes cafe descriptions and pictures (!). Nothing beats visiting though.

orange is it too bad for allergies/hayfever? We were all snotty for a few days last week while the tree pollen peaked in our garden. All felt sore throaty/rough due to snoring!
I may be tempted to do a LFT if you have one just in case.

Direct Line allow you to add a learner for £2/day, but you can only add 7 periods of extra people in a year.

@Zandathepanda

orange is it too bad for allergies/hayfever? We were all snotty for a few days last week while the tree pollen peaked in our garden. All felt sore throaty/rough due to snoring! I may be tempted to do a LFT if you have one just in case.

We did actually think in the beginning was hay-fever. The amount of streaming noses, fuzzy heads and glands up suggests otherwise. I did a LTF day before last as I went into work yesterday. Might do another in the morning just to see. All of us in the household have now been vaccinated, it is funny how the threat of catching covid still seems so real. I don't feel any less anxious because of it.

Curry was good at least

Glad you got to enjoy the curry cinnamon!

Yesterday I managed to book driving lessons for DS - with two different companies!! I’m going to cancel the first one but I’m amazed they had room which has now got me worried that they’re not very good! 😀

@JustHereWithMyPopcorn ds is having lessons with a trainee instructor. I was worried whether he'd be any good. But couldn't get lessons with anyone else. Ds really likes the instructor so hopefully all will be ok.

Fingers crossed @JustHereWithMyPopcorn
There is an article about driving tests/lessons on bbc doesn't say anything I haven't read on here though !

I’m hoping they are qualified (is there a way to check??) @icanbewhatiwant but getting on with them is vital.

Have you got a link to that @orangecinnamon?

DD has a lesson on Thursday - I am dreading finding out what bad habits we've taught her over the last 5 months...

it does say more tests will be offered!

@KingscoteStaff

DD has a lesson on Thursday - I am dreading finding out what bad habits we've taught her over the last 5 months...

Yes I’m trying to be so careful but I’m sure I’ve been teaching him wrong things! We did emergency stops this morning in a huge empty car park, he actually did OK but we weren’t doing high speeds which helps!

Thanks @orangecinnamon

Has anyone seen on the current year 13s applying to uni thread how long it is taking some unis to give out offers/reject people??!

Piggy my friends son is Year 13 and hasn’t heard from Warwick yet, literally nothing. Has offers in from everywhere else.

@JustHereWithMyPopcorn I think our instructor has taken his first 2 exams. Then before taking the third exam they like them to teach real pupils. It's a new thing as they used to just teach people who could drive already. So it's a good idea to practice on real people. Though I'd have preferred ds to have lessons with someone qualified too. He's charging similar to a fully qualified instructor too. Leaners can only work for a company though...they can't start up on their own until fully qualified. I think he's ready to take his final exams but due to covid it's all delayed. I just hope he's ok. I will be taking ds out too. So if he's not improving we will stop.

It's something to bear in mind for next year for sure!

Is it some kind of survival of the fittest/ Death Race 2000/ staring competition?? Whoever holds their nerve the longest gets a place while the rest scuttle off to their achievable and promptly given put offers for Loughborough and Birmingham? (universities used for illustrative purpose only but do seem to be a common MN 3rd/4th choice!)

The culprits appear to be Warwick, UCL, LSE , Durham and Bristol for some courses. Bristol was redirecting politics and IR students to social policy (this annoyed me as it would be DS's actual degree choice nd was being talked about in woebegone terms on here and in TSR!) and then not offering them a place on that either.

I think some of this is tied up in a surge of popularity in social science degrees which some unis can't seem to manage.

It would be interesting to see how many deferrals there were last year - ie how many more people Year 13s are competing with. Presumably this years first years had higher grades overall so I remember some universities did ask for people to defer. I wonder how many intakes it will take to ‘balance out’? I would have thought overseas numbers will still be down for 2022.

Piggy I remember Durham had a reputation for being really late in 2019. Maybe one to remember on this thread.

I think the courses having difficulty deciding how many offers to make are the ones which ended up over-recruiting last year after the algorithm/CAG fiasco. I get the impression that they are pretty much treating offers as unconditional (in the expectation that many schools will give students the grades they need for their firm choice), so want to know whether their top choices are accepting them before they make offers to the next tier of applicants. Usually they have wriggle room on results day to get the numbers right by deciding how many to accept who did not achieve the grades.

Loads of medical schools are keeping people waiting (including Newcastle, Manchester, Cardiff, Bristol, Liverpool....)

Would love to book some driving lessons for DS, but still waiting for licence, has been nearly 5 weeks now so should not be too much longer.

Those universities seem to be perpetually mentioned as late offer givers .

How does Bristol's rather generous contextual offer system work in this scenario. Can a university still make an offer if you have firmed elsewhere (I work in a uni but with postgrads).
Also if Bristol's contextual offer is BBB can you apply with those grades ? It all seems so complicated and all do it differently.

Dd has told me I am not to mention her BF applying to the same Unis as her. This is due to my disruptive negative energy apparently. It is all rather silly because it means that (I suspect) she is disregarding some great Unis because they don't do her boyfriend's course. Birmingham and Bristol being two. I'm trying my hardest to reign in my opinions who knows where they will be by application time? I just want her to think about the course, fun times and friendship not serious relationship stuff .

[quote icanbewhatiwant]@JustHereWithMyPopcorn I think our instructor has taken his first 2 exams. Then before taking the third exam they like them to teach real pupils. It's a new thing as they used to just teach people who could drive already. So it's a good idea to practice on real people. Though I'd have preferred ds to have lessons with someone qualified too. He's charging similar to a fully qualified instructor too. Leaners can only work for a company though...they can't start up on their own until fully qualified. I think he's ready to take his final exams but due to covid it's all delayed. I just hope he's ok. I will be taking ds out too. So if he's not improving we will stop. [/quote]
I think it’s a good idea for them to have to deal with potentially nervous young drivers as that’s probably most of their clients. I meant mine didn’t mention anything so I just assumed, it’s a company though so I guess it could be a newbie especially if he’s got space! 😀

Oh, the BF thing. I mentioned this on another thread...

I went to uni with people who were with their BFs (and in one case husband and wife aged 20!). I thought it was oppressive - only the husband and wife lasted the course , relationship wise. I also had two friends drop out to go back home because they missed BFs/GFs.. Also four sets of identical twins...

I split up with my BF / love of my life about two weeks after going to uni. Don't maybe tell your DD that!

Bristol claim they are very transparent about contextual offers,and it is easier to find out if your schol makes their lists but their system varies from course to course and is vvvv convoluted!

I have always assumed you are meant to apply assuming you can get their AAB and await their contextual generosity but that doesn't make huge sense if it is about widening participation by encouraging those who have a history of lower performance because of schooling or circumstances.