poor AS results, can anyone help?

[NotAnotherBath]

Hello, would appreciate some advice

My DD has got her first year AS results back. She got a C in media studies, a D in sociology and a D in drama.

She's got her heart set on university to study sociology but these grades are just not good enough - even with another year to go

They're definitive grades apparently but with a lot of hard work I suppose she could get them up. She's worried they won't take her back at college as the sociology tutor indicated he wanted everyone to get a C for consideration.

Is university an option next year with these grades? Any advice at all? She's obviously gutted. I'm being supportive and I've kept my thoughts to myself - she didn't apply herself last year from what i saw

[youcantakethegirloutof]

My DSS has not done as well this year with his AS or predicted grades - certainly below what would expect him to achieve to go to uni he wants. He's planning on working his behind off this year to improve his grades & then taking a gap year so he can apply for uni courses on the back of his actual (hopefully improved!!) grades! He also wants to do some more work experience & things like camp America etc in his year out to improve his personal statement (and for fun obviously!). Would this be an option for your DD??

[MrsCaptainWentworth]

Speak to the school about remarking?

[Stopyourhavering]

My dd got 3 d's and an e in her AS (English, RE , Geog and Drama) 4 yrs ago....finally got a B and 2Cs in A levels.....- got into her firm uni and has just graduated with a 2:1 from top Scottish uni and now going on to do a post grad MSc in Teaching English to speakers of foreign language at a RG uni!

[Mindgone]

I just posted this on the secondary page. I though I'd put it here too, in case anyone finds it helpful. It's so hard when things don't go as expected.

First of all, don't worry! She can still get a top grade next year.
Definitely a good idea to get her papers back and go through them with the teacher, then she's not guessing where she lost marks. Get photocopies sent straight away, then you still have time to ask for a remark if the teacher thinks mistakes have been made.
Get your DD to find the exam specifications online, and study it hard.
Loads of past papers, and make a table of results, check for improvements the next time she does the same one.
DS did all these three years ago and went from BCC (chem, bio and maths) at AS to AAA ! Something clicked in Y13, and he studied his ass off! We did use private tutors too, and the 1-1 really helped.
Best of luck

[Ballysbabe]

My ds has just got into a fantastic Russell group uni and this time last year his AS results were awful . After a massive panic he decided to resit them all and has passed them all ( biology,geography and geology) with a bit of effort . All will be fine . Peace and love

[user1471503615]

Five years ago my daughter's AS results were, C, D, and E. She had already dropped one subject prior to the exams. Like you I think mine didn't apply herself. Prior to AS her results had always been good.

With a lot of hard work she got BCC the following year, went to her first choice university and graduated two years ago with a 2.1. Is now working in her chosen sector.

Hope this helps.

[user1471503615]

Sorry that should say six years ago.

[TheDailyWail]

I'm not sure that some exam boards re-mark after you have obtained photocopies. You can order both at the same time as far as I am aware.

[kath6144]

Op - will these grades count towards A levels, I think most AS are being detached from A levels? If so, can she re-take?

If they dont count then she can pull them up with lots of hard work. She may still get some Uni offers, depends what grades her college are intending predicting her?

Worth her still applying, as she can then participate in clearing next year, but with the background plan to have a gap year if she doesnt get in next year

[Helenluvsrob]

Much hugs.

How about starting again with new courses at a college ?

I'm afraid I don't know enough about the subjects but some subjects the AS doesn't count at all, the A2 being a full 2yr linear course .

[Shadowboy]

Do you know if they are linear or modular? I know we are still teaching some modular subjects (our first linear course starts this September) the difficulty is the UCAS application- her grades will have to be disclosed to the uni in October when the applications open. She will need a bloody good reference and personal statement to counteract the grades. Her teachers will need to sign her predicted grade form stating the expected grades will be better....

It's certainly not a write off by any means but it won't be an easy year for her next year with resits etc

[PleasantEm]

We're in a similar position DS got a Distinction in his BTEC ICT which is great but he got a D in Philosophy & Ethics a U in Chemistry, his third A Level is in Computer Science and school decided not to test at As so although they have said DS is working at a B we have no concrete evidence, currently torn between scrapping this year and moving to college for a full 2 year BTec in Computing or continue on and limit choices at university, feel like it's been a wasted year

[blinkowl]

If CDD was your DD's overall grade, she'd probably still be able to get a university place via clearing.

Maybe it could even be a good thing long-term, if she's not applied herself last year, maybe getting poor marks might be a wake-up call and motivation to do well this year and then in university?

I was a smart child / teen and was used to being predicted top marks and sailing through things without much effort. My A-Levels were my first experience of not doing well after leaving it all to the last minute. I did really, really badly in them! If I'd done AS levels the year before, who knows, maybe I would have pulled my socks up a bit the second year?!

[Bluemoon49]

My DD got very disappointing AS grades in her first year of college, due to anxiety and not settling in/not being happy there and hating the subjects. She made a complete change of subjects and has passed A2s this year. So I do know a bit about A levels and can sympathise with students not doing as well as they hoped.

With that said, I don't want to come across as being negative when everyone else has tried to be positive, but...

"don't worry! She can still get a top grade next year."

this is very optimistic. Yes it is possible to improve overall grades in second year but EXTREMELY difficult and I would say unlikely. No matter how hard you work in second year, AS grades can pull you down if you didn't do that great. My DD got an A in AS media last year and her overall grade this year has come out as a B because she was a few marks off an A in A2 exam. As you can imagine very disappointing!

With your DDs grades I would say she would either need to resit AS modules alongside second year or start new subjects. Please be aware she will not be able to bring grades up to an A without resitting AS, it would be impossible because of the amount of ums marks you need. A bit hard for me to explain here but look into it - you can get an idea of grade boundaries for modules and overall A levels on the exam board website. Ultimately it's about UMS marks from each module adding up to an overall grade so start paying attention to those.

My advice would be to speak to the college about possibly carrying on with Sociology, as that's what she wants to do in future, and raising grade by resitting AS exams and working really hard at A2, and then drop the other subjects completely and start new ones. This would mean she would be doing an A2 and two other subjects next year, and then when she has the full sociology she would have to stay on and complete the other two subjects. This would mean being at college for another two years but that's no big deal.

IMO the above plan would give her a better chance at getting good grades overall and is worth another years work. Believe me, trying to bring three bad grades up to decent ones is very difficult even for the most motivated of students, even with resits. If she hasn't been very motivated this year a lot would have to change next year. Talk to her and try to work out why she has been unmotivated - has she struggled to settle into the college/does she not like the subjects? In this case a change of subjects could be a great idea.

Does DD know what university she wants to go to? Look at entry requirements for the type of unis she wants to get into. Like someone else said AS grades will be important for predicted grades and they are SO important for getting offers. If she wants to go to a top university or RG she will need to be predicted upwards of ABB to get offers. (She may well be let in with lower grades on results day but you need to be predicted high grades to get the initial offer.)

Definitely talk to the college, and if they won't let you carry on with sociology/switch subjects then don't just accept it - look around for different colleges or schools.

Finally, tell her not to feel too down. A levels are really tough and if she's been unmotivated and not done much work she's done well to get the grades she has as they are considered passes at AS. All is not lost, she can still go on to succeed in the future as long as you make careful decisions about what to do next and ensure that her approach to work is different next year. Best of luck