[Cherie]

Originally Posted by Cal.

I am really but I’m gonna be so THICK compared to everyone else everybody will hate me and i’ll fail and my mam will disown me

No you won't, keep up with the work though, and dont party tooooo much

[Tony Montana]

Congrats Underscore!

And good luck to you TS!

[Niamh.]

Well done Underscore

My daughter got offered Pharmacy in Derry and Biochem in Cork, bit of a dilemma because Pharmacy was her first choice in Cork so she really wants to do the course but she's not sure whether she wants to move to Derry. I think she will take Biochem

[Ant.]

Originally Posted by Cherie

It it true the grade boundary for getting an A in Maths was 55% that was a D in my day

I got 61% and that was a B

2 marks off an A so I'm getting it remarked

(also it's gotten more difficult recently. As far as I know, on the modular course, you could resit modules to increase your marks and grade, so grade boundaries were bound to be higher. Also you could forget all the content once that module was done - once you did the statistics module(s), you could forget it all and focus on Mechanics and whatever else. The tests were fairly regularly too I believe? January and May

Us poor sods who decided to be born in September 2000 onwards had to sit a linear A-Level course in which we have to remember 2 years worth of Maths content it doesn't sound too bad, but when they reformed the A Level they mixed in some Further Maths content. It's became a lot harder, and when I did past papers I was consistently getting As

With the new content it can be so inaccessible

[Ant.]

Congratz Undie!!

[Cherie]

Originally Posted by Niamh.

Well done Underscore

My daughter got offered Pharmacy in Derry and Biochem in Cork, bit of a dilemma because Pharmacy was her first choice in Cork so she really wants to do the course but she's not sure whether she wants to move to Derry. I think she will take Biochem

how do you feel about her moving to Derry

[Cherie]

Originally Posted by Ant.

I got 61% and that was a B

2 marks off an A so I'm getting it remarked

(also it's gotten more difficult recently. As far as I know, on the modular course, you could resit modules to increase your marks and grade, so grade boundaries were bound to be higher. Also you could forget all the content once that module was done - once you did the statistics module(s), you could forget it all and focus on Mechanics and whatever else. The tests were fairly regularly too I believe? January and May

Us poor sods who decided to be born in September 2000 onwards had to sit a linear A-Level course in which we have to remember 2 years worth of Maths content it doesn't sound too bad, but when they reformed the A Level they mixed in some Further Maths content. It's became a lot harder, and when I did past papers I was consistently getting As

With the new content it can be so inaccessible

I know its very hard, just messing with you, well done on your grade 2 marks off is annoying, you would think the assessors would use a bit of common sense

[Ant.]

Originally Posted by Cherie

I know its very hard, just messing with you, well done on your grade 2 marks off is annoying, you would think the assessors would use a bit of common sense

Oh I didn't think you were having a go it's just me ranting how, if I was born a month earlier, I would've had a relatively easier time. It was also me partly explaining why the grade boundaries are so low

You'd hope it boggles me how I did so well in Chemistry. We're talking very high grade boundaries and I consistently got Bs and Cs between November and March. Somehow I managed to get an A with enough room between the A* and B

the fact I consistently got As in Maths all throughout the 2 years PLUS the relatively low grade boundaries of Maths would make you think I'd have got the higher grade in Maths but here we are

[Niamh.]

Originally Posted by Cherie

how do you feel about her moving to Derry

I'd be a bit nervous about it tbh, with all the Brexit stuff I'd be afraid of things starting up there again, also right now Ireland is charged EU fees but if that changes to international fees it would be way too expensive and on top of that Derry is really hard to get to from Cork unless you drive which she doesn't

Honestly I think she's going to go with Biochem anyway, she's pretty nervous about the idea of going to Derry herself

[Ant.]

(but thank you )

The sad thing is, despite how difficult maths was, I was really confident I'd get the A (and tbf I still could with the remark) because of the lenient grade boundaries and how easy it can be to mop up marks with methods. A B is great don't get me wrong, but it's not what I wanted (and I'm lowkey miffed because I revised SO hard for Maths). Irregardless the fact I did well in it (even if not relatively) is comforting when I consider the fact Maths was my lowest GCSE

[Ant.]

Originally Posted by Niamh.

Well done Underscore

My daughter got offered Pharmacy in Derry and Biochem in Cork, bit of a dilemma because Pharmacy was her first choice in Cork so she really wants to do the course but she's not sure whether she wants to move to Derry. I think she will take Biochem

well done to her!

She needs to be comfortable but I'm sure she'll love wherever she ends up going

[Niamh.]

Originally Posted by Cherie

It it true the grade boundary for getting an A in Maths was 55% that was a D in my day

Irish marking system? 55 is a C here, 40-54 is a D

[Cherie]

Originally Posted by Niamh.

I'd be a bit nervous about it tbh, with all the Brexit stuff I'd be afraid of things starting up there again, also right now Ireland is charged EU fees but if that changes to international fees it would be way too expensive and on top of that Derry is really hard to get to from Cork unless you drive which she doesn't

Honestly I think she's going to go with Biochem anyway, she's pretty nervous about the idea of going to Derry herself

yeah I think in view of how things are she might be better staying local

[Cherie]

Originally Posted by Niamh.

Irish marking system? 55 is a C here, 40-54 is a D

'
aw yeah couldn't remember if it was 54 or 55 where the D ended

they keep messing about with it here, I feel sorry for the kids and the parents

[Ant.]

Originally Posted by Niamh.

Irish marking system? 55 is a C here, 40-54 is a D

Out of 100?

You should've seen ours. Cherie is actually on the mark with what she said but 52% (on my exam board) was only an A for one of our papers, overall it was 10% higher

We needed 70% and 62% for the other papers

The highest you'd need for a C at minimum across all 3 papers is 45% in Paper 3 though I have no idea how the syllabus compares but Maths has always been a ruthless subject

[Niamh.]

Originally Posted by Ant.

well done to her!

She needs to be comfortable but I'm sure she'll love wherever she ends up going

What are you looking to do in Uni Ant, sounds like you have similar interests to my daughter actually with Biology and Chemistry?

Originally Posted by Cherie

yeah I think in view of how things are she might be better staying local

Yeah, she really had put Pharmacy out of her head anyway because she didn't think she met the requirements but she must have got it because she got one grade lower than they wanted but then she got another that was higher so maybe countered it or something? I don't know. She was happy out with Biochem and now that's thrown a spanner in the works

[Ant.]

If it's any consolation to anyone who did A Levels, there's been the lowest grades since 2007, which is really notable when you consider the fact the harder linear exams have been in place since 2017 and they've never went that low

I think it was 94% for an A or an A* in English Lit. Chemistry's super high grade boundaries of 85% for an A* are nearly 10% lower by comparison

[Ant.]

Originally Posted by Niamh.

What are you looking to do in Uni Ant, sounds like you have similar interests to my daughter actually with Biology and Chemistry?

Medicine but the grades didn't go swimmingly oops

I've been on the phone here there and everywhere and contacted the uni that (understandably) rejected me and explained the awful year I've had. If I get my Maths grade marked up to an A and give them the evidence of counselling and mental health services referrals they said they'd give me a place for 2020 entry which is really great because that gives me almost a year to get a job, earn money, travel a bit, and just relax more, so I'm really relying on Maths to go up

failing that, Leicester have invited me for an interview on Monday... so who knows where I'll be this time next month

[Niamh.]

Originally Posted by Cherie

'
aw yeah couldn't remember if it was 54 or 55 where the D ended

they keep messing about with it here, I feel sorry for the kids and the parents

they still use that system for the Junior cert and all normal school exams but the leaving cert is slightly different now, it's

for Higher level subjects :

H1 - 90-100%
H2 - 80-89%
H3 - 70-79% etc and then O1 for ordinary level etc

Originally Posted by Ant.

Out of 100?

You should've seen ours. Cherie is actually on the mark with what she said but 52% (on my exam board) was only an A for one of our papers, overall it was 10% higher

We needed 70% and 62% for the other papers

The highest you'd need for a C at minimum across all 3 papers is 45% in Paper 3 though I have no idea how the syllabus compares but Maths has always been a ruthless subject

Yeah It sounds very confusing

[Niamh.]

Originally Posted by Ant.

Medicine but the grades didn't go swimmingly oops

I've been on the phone here there and everywhere and contacted the uni that (understandably) rejected me and explained the awful year I've had. If I get my Maths grade marked up to an A and give them the evidence of counselling and mental health services referrals they said they'd give me a place for 2020 entry which is really great because that gives me almost a year to get a job, earn money, travel a bit, and just relax more, so I'm really relying on Maths to go up

failing that, Leicester have invited me for an interview on Monday... so who knows where I'll be this time next month

Medicine wow that's fantastic Ant. Did you have to do an extra exam then on top of your A levels?, we call it the HPAT here

[Cherie]

Originally Posted by Ant.

Medicine but the grades didn't go swimmingly oops

I've been on the phone here there and everywhere and contacted the uni that (understandably) rejected me and explained the awful year I've had. If I get my Maths grade marked up to an A and give them the evidence of counselling and mental health services referrals they said they'd give me a place for 2020 entry which is really great because that gives me almost a year to get a job, earn money, travel a bit, and just relax more, so I'm really relying on Maths to go up

failing that, Leicester have invited me for an interview on Monday... so who knows where I'll be this time next month

our own Dr Ant! If they don't give you the two point, you could resit maybe?

[Ant.]

Originally Posted by Niamh.

Medicine wow that's fantastic Ant. Did you have to do an extra exam then on top of your A levels?, we call it the HPAT here

Thank you I actually considered Pharmacy instead of Medicine after my last interview for med school and as I was about to appy for Pharmacy my offer came through so i was like "nice"
What's the HPAT like? I had to do two exams There's the UKCAT accepted by most unis (I have to resit this if I go into 2020 entry for my original uni) but there's also the BMAT which a select few unis use. BMAT's more science based with some problem solving, whereas UKCAT is pretty much full on aptitude. You seem to know a fair bit, did your daughter consider medicine?

[Ant.]

Originally Posted by Cherie

our own Dr Ant! If they don't give you the two point, you could resit maybe?

Y'see I thought of that but to resit an A Level it'd cost £225 and I don't have that money (especially since I just paid for my dog to have surgery ). Besides I could be doing Medicine at Leicester in a month or two if my interview goes well on Monday (I'll be rusty but I saved all my notes on ethics and NHS topics in my journal... so that'd be nice to read on a 3.5 hour journey on public transport

[Ant.]

I really should feel disappointed but I've just felt in control which I'm glad about. I'm just taking a longer route, that's all. If I get the A in Maths I get to have a year off and earn some extra cash and relax. If I get into Leicester I get to start my journey really soon. Either way I'm happy and there's still Unis I've got to pester

[Niamh.]

Originally Posted by Ant.

Thank you I actually considered Pharmacy instead of Medicine after my last interview for med school and as I was about to appy for Pharmacy my offer came through so i was like "nice"
What's the HPAT like? I had to do two exams There's the UKCAT accepted by most unis (I have to resit this if I go into 2020 entry for my original uni) but there's also the BMAT which a select few unis use. BMAT's more science based with some problem solving, whereas UKCAT is pretty much full on aptitude. You seem to know a fair bit, did your daughter consider medicine?

Yeah she did actually, she did a course for the HPAT but changed her mind before the actually exam date, it was just too much pressure for her tbh. HPAT is a mixed aptitude test both "normal" questions and medical related ones really, so maybe a mix of the two you've mentioned having in the UK?

Must have been a really stressful year for you, hopefully it will work out for you next year or in Leicester (that will this year?)