My sons have absolutely no control at all - hence my total shock when they received their OFSTED report.
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My sons have absolutely no control at all - hence my total shock when they received their OFSTED report.
my daughter has much of the same problem, the school is supposed to be doing so much better etc etc yet the kids are horrible to be frank! my daughter is going into year 10 and is doing brilliantly at school, high sats levels etc but she is labelled a swot and gets picked on a lot. most of the time she ignores it and gets on with it but i know it does get to her too. most of the girls are just not interested in doing any work and a lot of the boys just mess around. i have just told her to go back to school and concentrate on her next 2 GCSE years and hopefully they wont affect her reaching her full potential.
The people who are usually doing the bullying and labelling people "swots" are usually the people who are jealous of a person's achievement, in my experience.
If your son wants to go into medicine JoJo, I hear that work experience is very important for it so my advice would be for him to go and experience a workplace where medicine is involved. It would give him a taster of the career path he wishes to go into and also increase his knowledge on the subject so when the time comes for him to apply to university, he can apply this knowledge and this work experience on his personal statement, and it will make him stand out as he will have more than his grades to stand out on.
My son is two years further down the path; he has had his work experience week shadowing a junior doctor in A& E. This was great as he had to work shifts too!
He has achieved his DoE Bronze and Silver Awards and is working towards his Gold.
He has voluntary work experience in lifeguarding, and at a childrens summer sports camp (two summers full time for several weeks). Plus helping at cubs for six months.
This year is is doing voluntary work in the local hospital - this has the dual purpose of counting towards his DoE gold, plus looking good on his personal statement.
He plays 2 musical instruments to a high level, and has swum at national level ( although he has quit that now - no time!). He plays in 4 different bands.
He is doing a Red Cross standard first aid course at the moment in his spare time, and also plays tennis, skis and mountain bikes.
And on top of all that he has school and has to try to get 5 As in his higher.
I am so glad that I am not that age again!
Quote:
Originally Posted by Abi
I don't know if it will be much help to you, but one of my friends was going to apply for Medicine this year. From what she told me, you have to have two sciences at A Level, and then two "hard" subjects. Something like Maths, English Literature, History etc. So if he does pick two in the end, they will have to be two that he is willing to carry on at A Level. So maybe looking at the A Level syllabuses would be good? Because if he's not going to be interested in them at A Level, then theres no point for him to do them at GCSE. One or two let you only do one science A Level, but the majority want two. And he will need a ton of work experience in the health care area, so if he got going on that now then it will be sooo much easier to write his personal statement. But that's a long way off, lol!Quote:
Originally Posted by JojoHe wants to go into medicine although at the moment, he's considering which route to go down, but is airing more towards the surgery area. He's always wanted to do something in medicine and looking at his options, wasn't able to decide between which of the three he would really get his teeth into because they've all got areas that he's really interested in.Quote:
Originally Posted by Abi
His first module exam is in January 09, then June 09, then January 10 and then June 10.
as others have said, you need to have really really good grades to get into medicine, although from what ive read, your son seems really clever so im sure it wont be too much of a problem for himQuote:
Originally Posted by Trinity
although i didnt apply to do medicine myself, a lot of the boys where i did my alevels were applying to do medicine. they were told that they basically needed at least As and A*s in their gcses and to have done quite a few gcses as well (ie not just have got the 5 gcses which the government considers you should get). also they were advised to take alevel chemistry and biology and then one other science subject (ie physics, maths etc) and that their last subject shouldnt be something like media etc but one which is considered a "proper" subject, and that they needed to carry through all of their 4 alevel choices
also, you do need to have some sort of work experience as even if youve got the best grades they dont consider you if you have no experience. as your son is only going into yr10 then hopefully he will have a lot of chance of getting some work experience. my sis wants to be a childrens nurse and the degree she wanted to do needed experience, as shed already done her work experience at school (at the end of yr10) she had to try and organise it herself and im not sure if its the same in all areas of the country, but it was very difficult for her to get any through just writing to the hospital etc as it takes them months to reply and then months to get an interview etc. hopefully if your son does his work experience through the school then it should be easier for him. or if you know anyone who works at a hospital etc then it might be easier for your son to ask them about work experience or if they can pass his cv on, as my sis has done that now and it was so much quicker than going through the proper routes. also its best to check as some places wouldnt let kids do work experience if theyre under 16/18. plus as trinity said, try and do voluntary work at an old peoples home and with kids in maybe a playschool/junior school etc as it shows you are good at working with a wide range of people
finally make sure that as well as getting good grades and doing voluntary work, your son does some extra curricular activities, such as sports, music etc as that also goes in your favour on the application. and also try and participate in things which he will gain awards from like the DoE (as someone mentioned) or certificates/trophies etc from other things as it shows he can gain other awards rather than just academic qualifications and shows you can work as part of a team etc. it might also be a good idea to go on a first aid course
although it seems a bit early, you might want to look on the ucas website or the websites for different unis to see what their requirements are etc. also if your sons school has a careers advisor/careers library it might be a good idea for him to look in there/talk to them about it as they will obviously know what is needed etc and be able to help him. and ive just remembered, if there are any university/career roadshows in your area than it might be an idea to go to those as they can be very useful with talks and info and a lot of them focus on careers like medicine so there will be people there to talk to too. a lot of people dont bother going to things like this but if there are any in your area then they are very useful
and one last thing, although its a few years yet before your son will be applying to uni, if he reads up and keeps up-to-date with anything medical related in the news etc then that would be good as they generally ask you about stuff like that in interviews
sorry for the essay lol!
i wouldnt worry about that too much tbh, most people at my school didnt bother revising for class tests and sats (including me) but realised that its best to do revision for gcses, alevels etc lol! im sure your son will start to do more work/revision now hes starting his gcses as he will know theyre a lot more important than sats etcQuote:
Originally Posted by JojoTBH thats one thing that does concern me as up till now he hasn't done much revision, to gain the results that he has in his normal class tests and his SATS, which I've said to him will have to change.Quote:
Originally Posted by Kim
I never revised for my GCSE's :lol: Bad example I am.
So the other problem is finding something extra currular for him - he isn't sporty at all, by his own admission, and mine as a rose tinted mum, he is useless at sport. So I don't know what else he could look at :searchme:
lol! i did a bit of revision for my gcses but not much, realised i had to revise for my alevels though!Quote:
Originally Posted by Jojo
erm i just suggested sport or music as an option as they are probably the ones most people do. is there anything that hes interested in? cant really think of anything else atm apart from drama or scouts, ill have a think
Duke of Edinburgh is great as it covers the voluntary work, skills and recreation.Quote:
Originally Posted by Jojo
First aid, scouts, bike maintenance whatever
www.theaward.org
Anyone doing or has done Edexcel science will know about the double award/triple award GCSEs. So today I got my results from last year (:
For those who don't know - we get two GCSEs for science, one in year 10 and one in year 11.
I got:
P1a - A* P1b - C
B1a - A B1b - B
C1a - B C1b - A
And for each internal assesment I got A*s. Full marks in both chemistry - which we did in year 9 and in Biology
Overall I have a B so far but we have yet to get the 10% in each subject for practical grades, and so have been told by my teachers that I should be getting an A overall (: Dead chuffed with that (: .
Well done Hollie that's brill! :):):cheer:
I did those modules but they were AQA ones so it could be that all the boards have B1a, B1b etc. Ours was 25% practical though. For the practical do you have to do an ISA exam? I hated those, so glad I never have to do them again. Even the teachers think they're hard.
WOW thats good :D You must be pleased :)Quote:
Originally Posted by Hollie-x
Try and get him doing things that relate to medicine and health care, because that is what the universities are really interested in. Things like helping at an old people's home for a few hours a week, or at a hospice. He is probably... 14? 15? So most hospitals won't let him do lots of work experience just yet. But other areas of health care are just as important. Then get the school to help with getting work experience in year 10, and he can get some contacts when he's there to get more experience. Doing things like sports are all well and good, but medicine is soo competitive that he will need a major amount of experience to really help his application stand out.Quote:
Originally Posted by Jojo
well done hollie :)Quote:
Originally Posted by Hollie-x
Thanks guys (:
Yeah I think we did do the ISAs.
We got told the answers by the teachers though! Or as they put it - we will be doing these questions today that are very similar to the ones in the test.
Results day is approaching...
Nearly 8 days to go until AS/A Level results come out on August 20th.
GCSE results are out a week later on August 27th.
How is everyone feeling?
Even though I have an unconditional offer from my firm university, I still really hope I've done well in my A Level exams. I am predicted ABC but all I pray for is at least a B in English.
I posted elsewhere that my son got his SQA Higher results. He didn't make the 5 As that would have allowed him to apply anywhere, but he can still apply to several medical schools and hope that he gets straight As in his 3 advanced highers.
Unfortunately your university entrance in Scotland for medicine is based on your 5th Year Higher results.
He got:
Maths A
Biology A
Music A
English B
Chemistry B
He also passed his grade 8 trombone, and is just finishing his DoE Gold.
He will need to get predicted an A at AH chemistry to make up for the B at Higher, to be honest I don't like his chances of getting in.
We have our leaving cert results (similar to A Levels) out today.. waiting to hear how 2 of my nieces and 2 of my nephews got on.
I am actually quite nervous!
I'm hoping I've got the C in maths to be able to do my college courses. As I was put into set 3 at the beginning of this year - a C is the max I can get :(
I know I wont have done that good in history - I just didn't have any way of getting any of the info to stick in my head!
Good luck everyone!
Good luck to you all and I hope that you all get the results you have been hoping for :)
My neices and one of my nephews did really really well.. the other nephew failed.. my brother is none to pleased
good luck everyone! :) id forgotten it was this close!
A week today ...... and the rest of our lives are decided! Brilliant :|
Haha, I'm not worried.
I know I've done bad, I didn't put the work in because I never wanted to be there but went back to keep everyone else happy, but I've got a place at College, a chance to star all over again.. so results day for me is like.. put it all int he past day, forget how bad my results are, party hard and then concentrate on the future.. and work my damn bum off so that I can do what i want to do :)
I don't want to know... and mine are only AS. Having a uni place riding on it must be a nightmare.
I was like that last year when I got the envelope. I walked around the classroom for about half an hour before I opened it. I didn't get what I wanted but I still got into uni and that's all that mattered.Quote:
Originally Posted by Kim
At the end of the day, all I wanted was to do well enough to get a place at uni, I wasn't bothered about getting four As. I knew I wouldn't anyway because my AS results weren't good but I wasn't going to make myself ill over revision.
This sounds strange but I actually find uni work easier than A level work. Maybe because it's enjoyable and I love what I'm doing whereas I hated my A levels and regret the subjects I chose.
You shouldn't regret your A level subjects. They have got you into doing something you love, and that is the whole purpose of doing them.Quote:
Originally Posted by AbigailI was like that last year when I got the envelope. I walked around the classroom for about half an hour before I opened it. I didn't get what I wanted but I still got into uni and that's all that mattered.Quote:
Originally Posted by Kim
At the end of the day, all I wanted was to do well enough to get a place at uni, I wasn't bothered about getting four As. I knew I wouldn't anyway because my AS results weren't good but I wasn't going to make myself ill over revision.
This sounds strange but I actually find uni work easier than A level work. Maybe because it's enjoyable and I love what I'm doing whereas I hated my A levels and regret the subjects I chose.
Regret is a futile waste of emotion.
The teachers say a lot of people say that their A Levels were harder than uni work. I guess it helps not having 3/4 different subjects.
I know what you mean about the AS; it's that that bothers me at the moment because I know it will be harder to get the grades at the end of next year and to get into top unis if these aren't what I'm meant to get.
I've heard that uni work is easier than A Levels as well...one of my teachers said to me that A Levels will be the hardest thing I do and I must admit, it has been a bit of a challenge!
I found the step up from GCSE to AS Level the hardest - I still don't know to this day how I got BBC for my ASs last year.
I had my first 'results day' dream last night :o
To be honest, I think I'm worrying too much and I know I shouldn't but my A Level grades mean a lot to me - I want some good grades to show off, even though I already have my place at uni. If I got bad results, I would feel like I didn't deserve it.
But I know there are people in worse off positions than me, so I should get a bit of a grip.
3 days. Argh! :eek::p
I feel sick! Just ill at the thought.
Everytime I had a small thought about it on holiday I felt fine, it seemed ages away for reason even yesterday when I thought about it, but now Im back I feel sick :sick: its like the day after tomorrow :(
Funny how this is reported two days before A Level results (found it on Yahoo News)
A monkey could be trained to sit today's "Mickey Mouse" A-level questions, according to a survey of teachers.
The study by the social policy think tank Civitas also found that modular courses and resits are responsible for the rise in top A-level grades.
The A-level system allows today's students to get better results than they would have in the past, because they have more opportunities to succeed, teachers claim.
One director of A-levels, based in the North West, told researchers: "You could train a monkey to do the questions today."
Another head of sixth-form from the East Midlands said: "This is Mickey Mouse stuff - what they learn at A-level today is not sufficient for GCSE. The system is an absolute shambles. The standard of the candidates is very low - it's a national disgrace."
The survey is published just days before teenagers across the country receive their A-level results.
Last year, more than one in four grades (25.9%) were A grades, and that figure is expected to top 26% this summer.
The Civitas study, based on responses from 150 A-level teachers, found that not one thought that the rise in A grades was due to students being brighter.
More than four in 10 (43%) thought the reason for more top grades was that students are more informed about what will be in the exams.
Modular courses means students are tested at the end of each "bitesize" section.
Quote:
Originally Posted by DaVeyWaVey
Seriously do they just keep these on record, drag them out every august and change the numbers cos its the same old news and its still a load of rubbish
Quote:
Originally Posted by DaVeyWaVey
That's funny because all my teachers A level teachers said exams aren't getting easier and there are many reasons why grades are better.
It's the same rubbish every year at the same time. Next week we'll have news that GCSEs are being "dumbed down" even further.
The critics would be complaining if more students were failing. You just can't win :rolleyes:
Exactly, its like they want us to do badly
I'd like to see them sit an A Level exam... and not forgetting, it's not even just 1 exam, it adds up for 2/3/4 subjects, along with coursework oh and now the pointless compulsory Welsh Bacc that some schools have no choice but to do! Idiots. :rolleyes:
Is anyone going on ucas before and find out if they got into their uni?
Im not, I mean a part of me wants to, but then if I havent got in I wouldnt want to know my results
Good luck to all those getting results tomorrow :) Hope you get what you want or need for uni.
Thanks Abigail, I cant stop freaking out about it though