Year 11 - 2024/2025: The Results Day Thread

[QueenMabby]

New thread for results day. Deep breaths. We can do this!

apologies for the gloom ! Positive attitudes will be resumed shortly 😂

So sorry @NotDonna to hear the bad news about your friend’s DD. Have they said what treatment they can offer?

So awful for your friend’s dd @NotDonna. What terrible news. I hope they have a positive prognosis for her.

@ChannelLightVessel no not yet. She had surgery last time but they had to leave some of it behind bc it enveloped crucial optical nerves etc. She doesn’t want surgery again but I’ve no clue what her other options will be. Hideous for her & the family. I’ve everything crossed for them!

@waitingquietly you’ll have a job finding course at BBB annoyingly. Economics often want lots of As. I’m guessing engineering will be similar. There generally seems to be a plethora of courses for AAA/AAB (all subjects) then a sudden drop to BBC (which are then often in clearing at CCC - which if your an ABB student may be ok or may be not). The ABB/BBB offerings are like unicorns. We had a real issue finding an insurance uni if DD2 missed her AAB offer.

@waitingquietly one way around it is doing either core maths or an EPQ as some universities drop one grade if DC have an A in either. However I’m guessing your DS will be doing A level maths (so core maths not appropriate) and likely very science so perhaps the EPQ won’t appeal. Could be worth a look though.

Lancaster is a very good uni for economics and ABB if you firm. Queens Belfast is ABB I think too. Lancaster also lower in clearing this year so maybe forgiving if you drop a grade. Just need to go through the uni pages and see what they offer.

Thank you @labradorservant - I think I am going to have to work on him needing to leave home …

@NotDonna really sorry to hear about your friend’s DD

@waitingquietly Swansea could be worth a look, they give a range up to ABB for engineering (also what my DS wants to do so we have looked at a few uni websites!). I agree though on what you said, both DH and I went to Cardiff, my offer was BBB for psychology then, now it would be AAA, and similarly I don’t think he would have had the grades for his law degree there either.

Is Surrey an option for engineering or economics?

Depends on type of engineering courses wanted - but there are some good uni and courses out there who want three BBB - I know as DS was looking in this area - well a specific area within.

Less sure about economcis as not looked.

There a list somewhere on HE boards with good uni that often take slightly lower grades -Leicester and Reading are ones I remember off top of my head.

Also you need to look at ucas tool which shows what most on course got not just what they ask for.

For older two went down the best course lists in subject they were interested in - and then look just above and below what they were likely to get - and had them have a look at the courses and uni.

With DD1 then had to re-evaluate when she got lower AS marks - then both mid way though looking changed what they wanted to do - which again lowered the marks as they were looking at less popular subject area which TBH suit them better. So looking at combinations or related subject that may be less popular can help find courses with lower entry requirements.

I have to admit we were unpleasantly surpised at how high grades are now for so many courses when we started looked with DD1.

I’ve a friend who’s son did economics at Reading with BBC - grammar school kid so not contextual offer. I just had a look at their website and both the BA and BSc is still in clearing at CCD.

It’s usually advertised as ABB btw

Is that the same offer for welsh bacc? Dds college don’t offer EPQ as they do the bacc instead.

Also worth checking if DC are eligible for contextual offer (low income, first in family to uni etc and some other conditions)

No clue about Welsh bacc so definitely look at the course of interest and scroll right down. Sometimes the ‘requirements’ heading is a tadge misleading. Today I was looking at history degrees that may not require A level history. Birmingham says initially ‘AAB including history A level’ so I almost discounted it but scrolling down says ‘preferable’, lists other A levels accepted and that if no history A level you need a 7 at gcse. I would have missed this without scrolling down. So defo don’t take the headline.

I am sorry to hear your DD didn't make it into exams because of mental health issues. I can relate, DD has been having panic attacks for a couple of years and missed some of the mocks due to them. I honestly didn't think she'd be able to sit all of them. Private counselling and CAHMS have helped.
I am pleased to say she passed all of her subjects with a range of 5, 6, 76 in combined science & 2 X 9 in languages (parents mother tongues. 😉
She is accepted in 6th form but probably not for the course she wanted (I.T) so she will probably head to college.

I really hope your DD gets the help she deserves.

I saw this too - Reading is probably our nearest option … sadly though I don’t think they have many engineering courses ( engineering as an option has been sprung on me quite recently !)

Thank you, she's been out of school, with CAMHS and having private therapy for several years now, unfortunately it's not made a huge amount of difference so far - she's autiistic with OCD and trauma on top, so it's pretty complicated. We have found a lovely private tutor for this year, so hoping that'll help.

So glad to hear your DD has done so well, that's a great set of results, and best of luck to her whatever she chooses next.

@NImumconfused not sure if you’ve already looked at DBT or if it’d be appropriate for your DD / it’s different to CBT and worked wonders for my suicidal ND teen. Bloody expensive but transformative.

@MrsHamlet
Sorry, was just wanting a bit of advice - not sure whether I'm being silly or not.

Got DD's individual scores for English Language... (Edexcel)

I would say that she is normally better at the Paper 1 (Fiction) than the Paper 2 (Non-Fiction/Transactional).

She got 30/64 for paper 1 which is 47%, and 59/96 on paper 2 which is 61%. Total score gave her a 4... she's 3 marks off the 3, and 6 marks off the 5.

She didn't particularly like Paper 2 at the time, but was happy enough with Paper 1. We were hoping for a 6, having been a solid 5 in mocks.

Am I being ridiculous asking her teachers to take a look at that Paper 1, or just thank our lucky stars that she passed?

If I was the teacher, I'd have asked to see both papers - I've asked for a few which are adrift like that.

I'm personally much less interested in the grade boundaries than anomalous looking marks.

So I'd say ask!

Thank you.

I was unsure if they would definitely feature as anomalous. Would you generally expect kids to get broadly similar scores in each paper?

I've seen the scores for Literature and they're 61% and 59% which sounds about right.

Other subjects are all the same in terms of very similar marks on each paper.

They're marked by different people to different mark schemes - but I'd still want to look.

Partly because I'm nosey!

Across my spec, there are marks I'd expect to be in the same ball park, and which I'd want to check.

Thank you - I will feel less guilty for plaguing the poor English department!

@OhCrumbsWhereNow I am in similar position although different exam board. I have asked for teacher to get scripts and have a look. Partly because they were predicted a 5 and felt it went well and because one paper scored higher than the other. But mostly because of the psychological impact it has had. DS is ASD and honestly what he perceived as unfair mark is having such an impact on him physically and mentally. It hasn't impacted his A level choices but I worry the damage to self esteem.