Confused over A level choices

God, I had no idea who Jack Grealish was but having read his Wiki entry I can see why your DS feels out of place in A Level Biology if he's more like a guy who's been caught allegedly inhaling nitrous oxide, was suspended from playing for violent conduct, was fined for violating Covid rules and has been banned for careless driving 🤨

I taught Ben Chilwell. He was lovely and got on with everyone. Maybe he needs to be more Ben

It does sound like a crisis of confidence . You said he rates the teacher and that's important and something he should think about. Could he talk to the teacher if he feels a bit all at sea?

A-level Biology and Maths are hard - they often have the people wanting to go into medicine or engineering so the competition for top grades is fierce. My dd has an 8 in both at GCSE and has found them hard. She had to grit her teeth over the biochemistry topics too (has an 8 but not a fan of chemistry)

I wouldn't necessarily discount the BTEC. I believe there's not a lot of human biology in A-level (dd is not here to check) so the BTEC course might be more useful for sport science.

In my experience at my DD's school (a comp)the sporty kids often did PE (sometimes double) , Applied Science (BTEC) or a non-related subject like Business. As long as the BTEC is a level 3 then it is equivalent to an A-level so will be accepted for uni and further study.

there is literally no one he could talk to. He is rather cool and sporty…they are the complete opposite so I can see why he found it tricky.

Lovely. You need to help him not to call other people - who may be more academic than he is! - uncool 🙄🙄🙄🙄

They may be thinking, Christ, I don't want this arrogant tosser in my class.

If he wants to do Sports Science or become a PE teacher, he'd be a absolute fool to ditch Biology no matter how too cool for school he is:

For Sports Science courses, you'll usually need at least two A Levels (or equivalent) from the following subjects: Biology, Chemistry, Mathematics, Physical Education, Physics, Psychology and Sports.

I suppose he could replace the Biology with Maths - as long as he's on for a 7 or higher in that it should be possible as long as he's prepared to work really hard. Does he really think the Maths set is going to be more on his wavelength than Biology?!

I think sixth form is as good a time as any to learn how to get along with people who may not be the kind of people you would gravitate towards naturally. As long as the other people in the class are not going to disrupt your son’s learning, he should surely be able to manage to be polite to them for a few hours a week. It can be a challenge to him, to find ways of interacting with those who are different from him

Jack Grealish is a England footballer…currently in the Euro squad. Really nice chap who gives the impression of not being very bright but is probably rather intelligent…bit like my DS hence the comparison!

oh sorry I am not a Grealish fan, hence the Kane reference! I agree with others, look at what he will need for sports science. My guess is biology will be good, mate of DS's who hopes to go to L'boro fir sports science did PE and biology (and business I think).

OP my ds2 has just finished year 13 and did PE and Biology (and maths actually). He said PE and biology went well together so I would encourage your son to stick at it.

Maths was hard, ds got an 8 and he will be very happy with a B at A-level. PE is interesting as, at DS's school, it was not an especially academic choice. They told me he could get A* but they didn't predict it as they never had one (bear in mind it's a newish spec).

I hear you on the not fitting in thing, I think ds found some of his maths class a bit nerdy, but tho sporty he has always been happy round nerds as well. I hope your ds is more like Harry Kane than Grealish btw!

My sons are like cool and sporty like Jack Grealish, I know what you mean, but he just needs to get on with it and potentially them, as he will have to at uni and work. A levels and sixth form are more serious and a different dynamic. I really don't think he should be making decisions regarding his future on these boys.

Also, it's very important to look at preferred universities and courses and you'll see what they require. Like for example Loughborough or Bath and Sports Science.

Can he go to a different school? Any colleges nearby?

OP if he becomes a teacher he will have to meet, work with, adapt to and tolerate all sorts!

However, I know kids do choose subjects because of friends and enjoy having kindred spirits.

Is there more than one biology class?

You imagine putting kids that don’t fit into the Sport/PE side of things into a PE class and see how uncomfortable they feel? It works both ways

That’s a false equivalence. The other boys in the biology class presumably like, and want to study, biology. Your ds likes and wants to study biology. It’s not the same at all as someone studying PE who hates PE.

If he wants to do sports science or teaching at university he needs to find out what subjects those courses prefer and work backwards. I can’t get my head around doing media studies instead of biology at A-level when you are interested in biology and want to be a teacher because the other boys aren’t cool enough. They do (or should) grow up a lot in year 12 ime.

Just reread your post, if he struggled to get an 8 in maths then I wouldn't be encouraging the A level in it. My daughter said in her maths class 1/3 were brilliant and just breezed through, 1/3 had to work hard and got decent results, 1/3 worked hard but got average results. She was in the bottom 1/3 after getting the results at GSCE mentioned above.

I really think if he is contemplating sports science or even maybe he could aim for physio, he must keep the biology. Biology also complements geography really well.

Better to be with serious types than dossing slackers.

I have no idea who jack grealish is. I do however think you as a parent guide your child to look beyond his view of how uncool the other kids are.

My maths A Level was in 2005 so a fair while back...but although the entire class was made up of those who had A or A* at GCSE about half either failed the AS year or dropped out.

I loved maths and A* at GCSE was a breeze for me - I didn't even need to revise. A Level...sheesh. Whole other level.

I scraped a B at AS Level, but with more work/effort needed than my other 3 subjects put together! Then I dropped it after year 1 because it was just too much for me.

A Levels maths is VERY hard. Personally I think you need to be bordering on mathematically gifted to do half decently in it and your average 'very good at maths' student is likely to struggle because it's such a massive, massive jump from GCSE.