Current Year 11 2021/2022 support thread pt II

[StColumbofNavron]

Thread for those with Y10s finishing July 2021 ready for Y11 in Sept 2021.

All welcome.

I had this discussion with a friend (and teacher) recently. Our school published percentages for mocks and then grade boundaries which were blended for each subject between 2019 and 2020 levels to try and make it as accurate as possible to what it will be this summer.
With the chance (however remote now) that mocks grades might have been used as the basis for TAGs I can't see that they would be marked overly harshly - they are evidence after all.
We were really pleased with DS's mocks which was good as he is definitely not a child who responds well to the kick up the bum that bad results might have on others - he would have crumpled. Definitely a carrot and not a stick required for my eldest!
The challenge now is to keep the momentum going so he doesn't slip back. We made his A level options this week (maths physics chemistry and EPQ) so it's feeling very real!

I spoke to the Head of Year at our school who said that they'd probably been on the pessimistic side and marked quite harshly as they want to avoid the situation of telling people they will get 7/8s and then they come out with 5/6s and they get angry parents on their doorstop who want to know 'what went wrong'.

DD had her sixth form taster day yesterday. She’s happy with her 4 chosen subjects of English Lit, History, Philosophy & Ethics and Psychology (they choose 4 and drop 1 after first half term of Year 12). She really enjoyed Philosophy & Ethics so at the moment she’s thinking she may well choose to continue with that and drop Psychology. But that would then mean she would be doing 3 humanities subjects that are all very essay based. I think doing the Psychology, which is classed as a social science, might give more balance to her timetable. But one of her teachers commented that if she is considering applying to Oxbridge that Psychology might not be as respected an A-level as Philosophy. I think she should take whatever she enjoys and not let something like that (which I’m not sure is true) impact her decision.

2nd lot of assessments this coming week. They are doing them in class rather than in the hall. Think DD planning to revise pretty much all weekend.

@QueenMabby, exactly the same subjects as Ds. Does yours (or anyones's) dc know what they want to do at university yet? I'm mildly panicking about all of the options. We've got as far as looking through the Guardians university guide and crossing out the subjects he's definitely not interested in (art, architecture, English etc). Still leaves too much choice!

Glad your DD enjoyed the taster day @Rollergirl11 I think the sixth forms here have "offer holder days" in early July. He only has one offer at the moment (uncooperative sixth form usually send out offers "by the end of March") but as he is thinking he will be happy to go there (and the grade requirements are very reasonable) we are feeling ok about that.

@Lightsabre I know what you mean about too many options. DS is planning to do Maths/Further Maths/Physics/Chemistry for A level which means he should have lots of good STEM options for university. He is wondering about Engineering but that is pretty wide as a category on its own! He's not keen on doing an EPQ and I think he will have enough work to do with 4 A levels.

Logged onto the UKMT portal and found that DS did very well in the IMC so has qualified for the Maclaurin (Yr11) Maths Olympiad so he will enjoy doing that. School haven't actually told us yet and it's on the 17th March so I'm glad I looked it up so he can look at a past paper or two. Of course he actually has his 2nd set of mocks over the next two weeks so should be focusing on those really. They do some in the hall like proper exams (mostly the ones everyone is doing like English and Maths I think) and some in classrooms.

@Lightsabre - DS wants to do Physics at University. I've had a brief look - required grades look v high so he'll have to work hard.

DD wants to do something science-related. She's been pretty focused on biology or psychology but is also planning to take chemistry at A level and may end up that way. She definitely won't do medicine but is interested in biochemistry, neuroscience or a degree that encompasses both biology and psychology.

My DS would like to study in the US , he will have to work very hard to get accepted into the colleges that he has set his heart on. They also look at EC's.

For A Level he has decided on Maths, Further Maths, Economies , Philosophy and possibly History. He wants to study Economics with a minor in History/ Philosophy/ Ethics . In the US there is a little more time as you don't have to declare your major straight away.

He will be also apply in the UK and make a final decision when we see where he is offered places.

I think DS1 would like US, I know he has plans to work there at some point but it’s simply out of our reach financially for him to study there.

He knows he wants to do a history degree (ideally ancient and has clear ideas about this) and then convert to law, though I think he is actually after a sort of global professional services type thing, so consultancy or banking will probably appeal too (banking less so). He has picked history, Spanish, politics and Classics and gone heavy on the essay but these are his strengths. His school have already said that he will be targeted for Oxbridge but they don’t really get that many in and he doesn’t appear desperate for that to happen, though he does know that corporate law training contract requires a top uni. At present he is also eligible for contextual offers at a number of places because of school, though I was surprised by this.

He says his entire school day is revision because they’ve finished all the teaching and he stays behind for 2/3 days so isn’t doing much at home.

@StColumbofNavron Your son's interests career wise sound similar to my DS"s. His ideal would be consultancy McKinsey, Bain or BCG or private equity but he also might be interested in Law in the US. I don't mean to pry but have you considered applying for financial aid in the US ?. Harvard, Yale , Princeton among others offer needs blind places to international students. Your son sounds ideal.
The aid is very generous and I do know of families in the UK who have been successful. It wouldn't effect his applications in the U.K.

Oxford is getting more difficult for pupils at my son's school. This is fair because his school (and a few others) have dominated Oxbridge for far too long.

@Marthavineyardsound thanks for that, really useful. I will take a look. I’ve worked at two of those companies (not in a consulting capacity) and I can definitely see DS1 in that environment.

www.harvard-ukadmissions.co.uk/harvard-funding-and-financial-aid/
@StColumbofNavron this might be of interest to you. They focus on the UK

Fabulous. I’ll take a look, that’s so helpfulx

Interesting to see what other DC's plans are, especially studying in the US. How do the contextual offers from universities work, do you apply & request this or is it proactively suggested by the university?

Mocks are a week away & it feels as if DS has lost some momentum, I wonder if doing well in the November mocks has made him complacent, or perhaps it's just not possible to maintain it for such a prolonged period. He has been revising but not as much as he did in November. He has his sixth form interview on Thursday (at current school, hopefully a formality although all offers are conditional). It really feels like this year is flying by!

Contextual offers just happen @legosnowqueen if you are eligible, usually based on school results and/or postcode.

@StColumbofNavron thanks for clarifying

@CornishGem1975

DD wants to do something science-related. She's been pretty focused on biology or psychology but is also planning to take chemistry at A level and may end up that way. She definitely won't do medicine but is interested in biochemistry, neuroscience or a degree that encompasses both biology and psychology.

DD did biology, psychology and chemistry for A level, @CornishGem1975 then a biomedical science degree – some DCs use this as a stepping stone into medicine, but that was never on her radar. She then did a Masters at a different university and is now looking into PhDs, again at different universities. She has used all 3 of those A level subjects in her degrees. HTH

@thing47 Good to know, thanks! My DD 100% won't go into medicine - it's not for her at all but I could see her taking a route into research.

DD has somehow managed to so far not test positive for Covid despite DS, then me and then DH testing positive. Only two more days of mocks to go .

She’s doing English Lit, History and Spanish A Levels and wants to do either Spanish/English or Spanish/History at university with the aim of becoming a lawyer after that. She’s interested in applying to Oxford. Will have to see how that goes but I think it’s worth a go 😊

DD has had 2 more mocks in past week, rest mid March. She also got through to Olympiad in IMC and best in school. Well done to your DS Its on getting through too.

Have offers from all the sixth forms now, just holding them.

@MirandaWest ooooh our DD’s have similar ideas. DD is doing English Lit, History and either Philosophy & Ethic or Psychology for A levels. Then she’s thinking she will probs do English lit or a History degree, or some variation. Her English teachers (a married couple who teach English at the school and the sixth form) want her to apply to Oxbridge. DD doesn’t want to get ahead of herself which I think is sensible.

2nd day of further assessments today and DD has 4 exams today which I think is ridiculous. They are taking them in their classrooms rather than the hall but because they want to get them complete within 1 week they are ramming them in. I don’t know how well they expect them to do doing exams in 4 out of your 6 lessons!!

Congratulations to Ithink and Silkie in your DC’s doing well in the Maths challenge.

Thanks @Silkierabbit and @Rollergirl11 not sure how the school will fit in him sitting a 2 hour maths exam next Thursday when he is supposed to have mocks morning and afternoon but I guess they will have to figure something out. Three from his year qualified (and a few from years 9 and 10 I think.) Mocks are going ok so far he says, he's been busy doing other things each evening so far this week and is planning to be out tonight so not a great deal of revision going on! All the science exams are next week so he'll need to do a lot of revision over the weekend.

Can I ask are you getting leavers hoodies for your yr11s? We have had the email saying we have to order by Friday but DS says he isn't bothered and I'm not sure about spending £25 if he is never going to wear it? But will he regret not having one? He's going to need loads of new clothes for sixth form anyway!

Suddenly feeling alarmed that there are only 17 more school days left this term and only four weeks (so 19 days) after the Easter hols before the exams start. Still not sure if school is going to do study leave or when that might start. Have you heard when your schools are starting study leave?

We have had emails from school today DS2 year 11 study leave starts 6 May and DS1 year 13 starts 11 May.

Apparently mocks aren’t until the last week of March, I thought that they were this week. DS1 is predictably embroiled in Spanish revision. He did a listening and reading past paper today and it went well.

No idea about any leaving things yet, not even sure when study leave starts. I’m told by parents who have slightly older DC that comms ramp up about now.