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A levels

Woodface

pfm Member
Well, a rather stressy morning, eldest recieved AAB against an offer of AAA from his first choice for Law (York) . Missed out on 3rd A by 4 marks, unfortunately ill on day of exam. Has 2 other offers for same course from Newcastle & Liverpool. York not playing ball, is having two papers re-marked but that will take two weeks. Not the morning we were after.
 
Always best to go to an easy to get to / close by Uni ,the kids don't usually comply with this idea but for the parents who have to cart stuff to and fro :rolleyes:
 
Did you pay the extra for an urgent re-mark? I say bad luck on not getting in with AAB against AAA - most unis would have taken that. York must be really confident about filling their course.

I have two daughters with results today. All OK, Phew! but the one got the ABB needed but was just 1 mark off an AAB. So has asked to get 1 paper re-marked - but no hurry in our case - just a nice to have and the missed A was in the 'by-far' her strongest subject. Stressful evening last night as she got nervous as she was dead set on her choice of uni and other options elsewhere listed in clearing looked decidedly limited from shall we say 'lesser' institutions if she had missed her grades.

So in September the twins are splitting up - one to Birmingham (not far), other to Liverpool (also not that far really) on successive weekends. 3rd daughter about to start final year but is already resident in Swansea digs. Empty house coming up....Empty wallet too. Why does Liverpool have such stupidly expensive accommodation? - it makes calculating a 'fair' allowance to each child rather complicated....
 
Woodface is there any chance of remarking/reconsideration giving consideration to on exam day illness?
They did take illness into account & he is getting papers re-marked but it takes two weeks! Thing is, he was really, really ill with tonsillitis so I don't think they could give the consideration required. He is getting History re-marked as he was very close to an A-star, don't think the subject he dipped on (R.E.) will be uplifted, this was the one he was poorly for. Disappointed with York but I get they have to achieve certain numbers.
 
Two weeks is a long time for such things!
Is there any back-up available from those with clout e.g. GP/teachers to petition the exam board?
 
Did you pay the extra for an urgent re-mark? I say bad luck on not getting in with AAB against AAA - most unis would have taken that. York must be really confident about filling their course.

I have two daughters with results today. All OK, Phew! but the one got the ABB needed but was just 1 mark off an AAB. So has asked to get 1 paper re-marked - but no hurry in our case - just a nice to have and the missed A was in the 'by-far' her strongest subject. Stressful evening last night as she got nervous as she was dead set on her choice of uni and other options elsewhere listed in clearing looked decidedly limited from shall we say 'lesser' institutions if she had missed her grades.

So in September the twins are splitting up - one to Birmingham (not far), other to Liverpool (also not that far really) on successive weekends. 3rd daughter about to start final year but is already resident in Swansea digs. Empty house coming up....Empty wallet too. Why does Liverpool have such stupidly expensive accommodation? - it makes calculating a 'fair' allowance to each child rather complicated....
Quickest they can re-mark is 2 weeks apparently. He has options, he really struggled to decide between York & Newcastle so it is no great hardship. Law is super competitive, Liverpool was his lowest offer at ABB. I visit Newcastle the through work a fair bit so perfect really. Just feel for the lad as girlfriend is going to York. I didn't visit Liverpool prior to choices but less keen on him going there; not sure why as I like the city.
 
Two weeks is a long time for such things!
Is there any back-up available from those with clout e.g. GP/teachers to petition the exam board?
We are pretty well connected on that front, my wife is a headteacher & knows the Principle at lads school, GP has recorded the illness & school already applied for special consideration. My son did work experience at a major solicitors & did a mini-pupillage with a Barrister, laughable that none of this was taken into Account at interview which was a simple checklist. Pretty crap really.
 
I get they have to achieve certain numbers.
only internal numbers targets. Intake tariff forms one of the factors in the league tables derived by the press. So taking students at or below tariff can drive down the league table position produced by the Times etc....

From Yorks perspective there might be students that got better than expected who can swap up to York and whilst these students are in the pot, York wont be confirming places at low than tariff. I bet some subjects at York will be confirming lower than tariff because demand is less.

I am running a clearing operation for my department, and it is a tricky balancing act getting the numbers right.
 
Quickest they can re-mark is 2 weeks apparently. He has options, he really struggled to decide between York & Newcastle so it is no great hardship. Law is super competitive, Liverpool was his lowest offer at ABB. I visit Newcastle the through work a fair bit so perfect really. Just feel for the lad as girlfriend is going to York. I didn't visit Liverpool prior to choices but less keen on him going there; not sure why as I like the city.

Might be a different board then. We were told emergency was 10 day here - probably little different in practice.

Newcastle is a great place to be a student - so no worries there. As to the girlfriend - well they will find out what they really mean to each other then! My Liverpool bound daughter had a boyfriend who wanted to go to Liverpool as well. Anyway they split just as A levels started and today he has not quite got his grades, so all solved!
 
only internal numbers targets. Intake tariff forms one of the factors in the league tables derived by the press. So taking students at or below tariff can drive down the league table position produced by the Times etc....

From Yorks perspective there might be students that got better than expected who can swap up to York and whilst these students are in the pot, York wont be confirming places at low than tariff. I bet some subjects at York will be confirming lower than tariff because demand is less.

I am running a clearing operation for my department, and it is a tricky balancing act getting the numbers right.
They tried to switch him onto History which was a bit cheeky. Ultimately it is their decision to make I just don't think they took his full application into account. At the same time they get a bit more cash for taking students from deprived areas, one of Theo's peers got a pretty low offer as he lives in 'lesser' postcode.
 
Might be a different board then. We were told emergency was 10 day here - probably little different in practice.

Newcastle is a great place to be a student - so no worries there. As to the girlfriend - well they will find out what they really mean to each other then! My Liverpool bound daughter had a boyfriend who wanted to go to Liverpool as well. Anyway they split just as A levels started and today he has not quite got his grades, so all solved!
Whether it is 10 days or 2-weeks it is still too long to jeapordise a firm place somewhere else, IMHO.
 
OP sounds to me like you’re not too impressed with the way York goes about its selection, and it does seem a little bit less than painstaking. Might that say something about how the department is run, which might suggest Newcastle would be the better bet anyway?

Still worth getting the remark, for personal satisfaction if nothing else, though.
 
Re-marks (and also university resit timetables) are the issue with entry post results. Somebody (who might well be on holiday) has to remark the paper and then, I assume, the boards would need to consider the batch of remarked papers. A lot of people at the margins of admissions the criteria are likely to be disappointed, or left with deferring for a year, because courses will fill up on a first come first served basis. It also seems to me that there needs to be some renormalisation of the grades. It was widely reported this week that As are being awarded in some papers for marks in the 50s while some other papers required a high 70. It used to be the case that a red brick university place was possible with around the BBB/BBC. If 'everyone' is getting the As then places are much more of a lottery. Privatisation of the exam boards was a predictable disaster...
 
Re-marks (and also university resit timetables) are the issue with entry post results. Somebody (who might well be on holiday) has to remark the paper and then, I assume, the boards would need to consider the batch of remarked papers. A lot of people at the margins of admissions the criteria are likely to be disappointed, or left with deferring for a year, because courses will fill up on a first come first served basis. It also seems to me that there needs to be some renormalisation of the grades. It was widely reported this week that As are being awarded in some papers for marks in the 50s while some other papers required a high 70. It used to be the case that a red brick university place was possible with around the BBB/BBC. If 'everyone' is getting the As then places are much more of a lottery. Privatisation of the exam boards was a predictable disaster...
A-levels have been made much harder this year so some of the grade boundaries are a bit controversial. One exam board has an A at about 50% for maths. I don't want the hard work of students, & I do think they are working harder, to be glossed over by using exams for political purposes.
 


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