To be at my wit's end with DS?

I think you should back off and let him make his own decisions at 17. Stay neutral and go into support mode.

If he has no work ethic it's too late to instill it into him now- life will have to roll over him, and he'll find out.
My brother was like this moderately talented , but never put any work in, he got into a bit of trouble and decided to emigrate.
Without Mum to bail him out he had to shape up so he found it about age 24-25.
It's his life- you can take a horse to water but you can't make it drink.
Maths is a subject you can be talented in, but you can't fake it and cram at the last minute- probably a poor choice for him.

Mine is 22, scraped through on 2 A levels to Uni. Hated school all his life from nursery to 6th form. Bright lad and could have gone to a red brick uni but just couldn’t be bothered. Instead ended up at one that was formerly a technical college, but achieved a 2:1 and did put the effort in. Of course he’s the year that never sat their GCSE’s. Room lies like a tip 99% of the time. Works permanent nights 3 times a week in a supermarket. He’s applied for a rolling 3 year working holiday visa for Australia, bank rolled off an inheritance. I worry, but then I think he has to go off and do this. I do everything for him and that’s the downfall, so I’m stepping back. If it all goes tits up, then he can come home. It’s his life and I can’t control what he does.

Seems like a pretty normal teenage lad to me. He does at least have a part time job so he has some work ethic-just not towards the things you're hoping him to work toward. It's half term. I'm guessing he hasn't skipped all week off his paid job just because it's school holidays.

What does this intervention look like in reality? How can you “make” a late teen study efficiently? Shouting? Punishment? Clue you can’t - it has to come from them.

Also popular and good people skills will likely take him a long way.

Yes the job market is currently horrible. A happy go lucky approach isn't the best in this environment. By all means have hobbies, see friends, have a PT job but focus on studies/qualifications that will help you get to next step in life and set you well for the future.

You're his mum, you have every right to be worried and have every right to intervene when you see him going down the wrong path. Whatever qualifications he wants to do is up to him. But he should put full effort into achieving the best in his chosen qualifications.

I come from india as this name suggests and when I grew up the focus was always on my studies. I have passed this on to DC too.

Part time job, exercise? Could be far worse. If you can't have fun at 17 when can you.

There is no point nagging him to practice maths, he isn’t going to do it. He needs to have a goal to work towards then whatever motivation he requires will come, I’d focus on trying to encourage him to think seriously about what he is going to do longer term, spell it out to him I.e you will not be able to afford your fun with no job etc etc. Sit down with his dad and have a proper chat about it with him.

Dd3 is in y13 and really you just have to back off, offer support but respect it's their life. It's all so much more stressful than when I was doing A levels in the early 80s and most people didn't go to university (or even 6th form).
Mine doesn't really know what she wants to do at university but insists she wants to go. Has applied to 5 random universities for different (though related courses). She says she chose them because they wouldn't lead to a career!! (Her siblings did engineering and medicine). She didn't do quite as well as she hoped in her mocks but doesn't appear to have ramped up her efforts. She has ADHD and is probably autistic.

It's so frustrating isn't it OP. At the end of the days it's his life though. Hopefully he'll pull it out of the bag in year 13 (my DS did).

But you are expecting him to be like his brother, to be able and willing to apply himself for something he is finding challenging.

He probably just “can’t” his ND his impacting his ability to do it.

Honestly you have to let him fail and face the consequences. Ds, hugely bright, mucked about in year 12 and had a huge shock when he got an E at AS in physics. He made the decision to repeat year 12, did a different A Level along with the 2 original ones and knuckled down. I backed off, decided that he had to make his own choices but put boundaries in such as if not in school then had to work and start paying his way. He got excellent grades in the end, went to uni and did a masters. It was such hard but they are adults and you can advise and support but ultimately it is down to them.

I'd assume a certificate. 2 A levels and a BTEC.

Is the practical BTEC a single or double?

C or D at maths a level isn't going to change his earning potential. That's what the OP has said he's capable of if he works at it. He is doing well at his btech and vocational a level, so the best support would be to let him work out what he wants to do after college and the best path to that. It's unlikely to be a D grade A level.

If need be, he can restart y12 at a different college and do a Level 3 Extended Diploma or T-Levels.

Can you imagine how difficult it has been for him following his genius brother through school and dyslexic. He may have come to a point where he is trying a lot more than it looks.

I think it’s about communicating around how challenging is he finding it, whether it’s still what he wants to do or is it too much.

Crash and burn is a possibility.

After college I went straight into a job that was what I wanted to do (and nothing connected to my A-levels, I was told by parents, teachers and careers staff that I 'should do' A-levels because I 'had the brains to do so' ) the jobs I have held were always things more practical than academic. With my children I told them to do the best they can at that time, if it wasn't enough to get what THEY wanted they could always try again.

How much over? What did you do immediately after a levels? Did you have to spend extra time making up for it?

He's in sixth form now and even if he isn't academic he should be working to make the best out of what he's currently studying. Having a good work ethic and can do attitude always helps.

I flunked 2 of my A-levels and am earning over NMW in a job I enjoy. Academia isn't for everyone and lots of people get to A-levels and suffer education burnout, if he's doing OK in the practical subjects and getting experience of actually holding down a part-time job then maybe that's going to be more use to him in the future.

The thing is you have to encourage your DC to work hard and try to achieve their best. I would never allow my DC just to coast and not put effort in at school. They need to wake up and actually work. If they switch on later and actually have a wake up call that's great.

But I've told my children they'd never want to be in a position, earning a low wage, thinking "if only I had worked harder back then I'd have been in a better position now".

I’ve been in a similar situation- eldest son was motivated, got the grades to get into top uni and got a good degree.
Second son could do well at school if he applied himself but wasn’t really that motivated; he had to retake maths GCSE and barely scraped a pass, then went to 2 different 6th forms to get some fairly average A levels. He went on to do a degree in Business studies at the local uni, and completely knocked it out of the park. Was really motivated and got a first class degree, found a really good job in business analysis that he loves and is now being sponsored to do a Masters, which again he is loving and getting top marks for coursework.

Eldest son went travelling after uni and ended up living abroad for 2 years (because of Covid initially) doing manual jobs. He got tired of having to live hand to mouth with no real prospects so came back to the uk and eventually got a desk job with a good career path that he is doing really well at.

Both sons have always played a team sport to high levels for most of their lives, so it can be combined.

I think my point is, you have to grit your teeth and let them get on with it and know that they will find their way eventually. I am lucky that I could afford to support both sons by having them living at home while they got sorted, but, neither took advantage during those times.

Can he switch to core maths? It's still an a level or as level (depending on which his school offer) but is based on practical maths rather than the more conceptual stuff. It's usually taught to support the maths elements of physics, chemistry, environmental science or geography but is great for real life maths such as wages, percentages, interest rates, graphs and data