How important are A stars at A level?

Astrophysics does not require all science A levels. Maths and Physics is fine.

It’s best to read what subjects are required but also try and do your best subjects for A level. The guidance from Cambridge is still useful for choosing subjects at A level to give maximum chance on competitive courses. If a course is less competitive there’s more leeway.

I wouldn’t worry - I did French GCSE, A Level and degree including a year in France but have never spoke it well. I get by and can read and write proficiently in French.

I found MFL the biggest jump from GCSE to A Level, as you go from talking about what you did at the weekend to reading a novel quite quickly and so it is a lot of work if he wasn’t strong at GCSE.

I would suggest working backwards and picking A levels based on what he might want to do at Uni, then narrowing down what he enjoys/is best in. As a PP said, no point him doing French if he wants an astrophysics degree that needs 3 sciences to get into, even if he did get an A* in French.

I agree. Academics alone won’t get you that far if you can’t relate to people and have no get up and go. Of course it’s amazing if you are top notch academically and also a great team player and access all the opportunities to give you lots of experiences and a rounded job application that will impress. But lots of top academic don’t have those latter things. And lots of good but not top notch academic types DO have these things and leap frog those with top grades either at the start of careers or later on. Academics are just one element. Yes, they are important and might exclude you from very competitive uni courses, or sifting stages for early career jobs, but many places are also given to those with excellent if not top academics and increasingly the other stuff counts.

I suppose in this competitive world, some people want to be best at maximise their chances in all areas. It’s always worth working hard and doing your absolute best with studies and exams. But not everyone can achieve the very top grades. But great opportunities are still available to them and those with personality and an ability to find opportunities will do well and often better.

@ConcertaFirstTimer You are spot on. My DD got an Oxford offer but dropped a grade and didn’t go. Maybe a blessing in disguise. She dropped a a grade in her non MFL subject. However she was probably happier at her insurance uni and it’s made no difference to her career whatsoever. She’s doing what she wanted to do. Personality, getting on with people and work experience add to a degree. Interviews matter - as they do at Oxford! They do later in life too. You don’t need all A stars to be successful or happy.

You might miss out on a few top places without them. But it really isn't the only path to a good career.

DS didn't get an Oxbridge offer, but got into a very good RG uni which was the world's leading faculty in the field he studied - massive prestige for that particular department, and he was way happier there than he;d have been at oxbridge as, bluntly, the academic work load just wouldn;t have suited him. He's now out in the world with a great job and will probably never think twice about his As not A*s.

If a child can work hard towards As without terrible stress, without losing sight of friendships and interests then go for it. But long term, I think a handful of As, close friends, maintained interests and some work experience with good mental health is a perfect recipe for success. Balance not extremes, unless the As come naturally with a bit of not excessive graft.

those making [Oxford] applications that are successful to get to interview or offer, will have nearly everyone with 3 x A star and very top GCSEs

But not all. And not for languages, which is what the OP's son wants to do.

Mine is one of those with 'good but not brilliant' GCSEs and A levels at Oxford, like several others on her course.

The key thing is what your Dc is capable of. Not everyone can get top GCSEs or get top A Level grades. However, it does make sense to choose A Levels that they can do really well in. It is a competitive world.

If your DC is capable of getting A* in some A Levels, the t hey should seriously consider those over those they would really struggle to get top grades in. And of course, GCSEs are a good predictor. Someone upthread mentioned a DC with a decent but not stellar GCSE maths GCSE who is now on for top grades at A Level. That is extremely extremely unusual..and actually, of course the grades are not achieved yet. In Maths of all subjects, doing A Level Maths without a 9 at GCSE, tends to have pretty poor outcomes at A Level. people are surprised by how bad - there are threads on MB devoted to it and statistics to show your likely A Level result being pretty low if you start with a 7 or 8. There is a massive step up and those getting a 7 or 8 have often achieved little more than half marks in their GCSE papers, so have lots of the GCSE topics they haven’t fully mastered and so will find A Level Maths extremely hard.

If you’re wanting to get A stars at A Level, you really ought to be achieving 8/9 at GCSE. It’s nit surprising there’s a strong correlation between GCSE success and A Level results when you think about it. Of course there are exceptions and some outperform what you’d expect..but remmeber for every anecdotal story, the vast majority don’t buck the normal trend.

It’s true that university offers don’t tend to require A star in any ir more than one subject, in the vast majority of places. People often mention Oxford making AAA the standard humanities offer. This is true, but the fact is that those making applications that are successful to get to interview or offer, will have nearly everyone with 3 x A star and very top GCSEs. You can see the statistics if you look at Oxford admissions reports. Very very few get offers based on less than stellar GCSEs or top A Level predictions unless they are flagged contextually for fairly significant issues which explain lesser achievement…and then of course they have to be superb in admissions tests and interviews. Oxbridge isn’t looking to admit those who’ve done pretty well, but those with tremendous potential and ability, even if the standard offer is actually very achievable.

Other top universities might ask for 1 x A star in a standard offer. But again, unless candidates have stellar GCSEs and top A Level predictions across the board, the offer itself might not be forthcoming.

But, most candidates aren’t applying to the most competitive courses at the very top institutions. Good Russel Group offers are available for those predicted As or a mix of As and Bs. Many of these students will have a mix of 6/7/8 type GCSEs.

So much depends on the university and course. If you are aiming for a good university, not RG but still 'respectable', say for example Surrey, you may need BBB for a course that would require AAB at Durham. BUT BUT BUT! There may be many people applying to that Durham course with all A stars or all As, likely much fewer with such high grades to Surrey. So having or predicted AAB is no guarantee you'll get an offer from Durham. And leave Oxbridge out if it - their application process is so rigorous that even having all A stars achieved is no assurance of a place. By the time they make an offer the applicant has likely submitted work, taken an exam and had several interviews.
But look at your child. Be realistic. They may work extremely hard to get that B, and that's a great achievement for them. And there are plenty of very good universities available to them. It is too bad sixth forms put off some kids - my DD's didn't want her to do History, despite an 8 at GCSE, because she didn't perform well in their entrance exam. She insisted and earned an A star. But a 6 in Maths (or whatever) may mean they will find it tough to do it at A level and perhaps is not playing to their strengths.

Regarding GCSE grades, there’s a reason why unis such as Oxford and Bristol look at them as well as predicted grades. Its exam grades actually achieved.

@sparrow4 If you studied French though you would still have a decent choice. If you wanted Economics then not so much!

I think mumsnet seem to be biased towards high grades for some reason.

In fairness, the question was about choosing to take an A level with the possibility of getting a B if you had a 7 at GCSE.

There's nothing wrong with a B for the record. But the stats show a clear correlation between GCSE and A level grades in some subjects. Having taken a level maths, I can see why as it was far harder than I imagined. You also have to think of the toll on your other a levels if you have to put a lot more work in on one subject.

The high grade bias is more from experience of recent university applications and it's very competitive to get into the most popular unis. My son's offers were all As, others had one or two A stars. Some of his friends were very upset when their B meant they couldn't get into their chosen uni.

I would agree that it's important to choose A levels you enjoy though. So if there aren't three excluding French, I'd go for that but accept that you might have to go for unis with lower offer grades if you do end up in line for a B.

Teaching and how much work a student puts in also makes a big difference.

Yes absolutley this @MigGirl - I totally agree. Also it often happens in sixth form that a student is able to focus more on the three subjects they really enjoy - and not on the Eng lit (maths, history, biology, French) that they disliked but had to take for GCSE, with the result that they do much better.

Well done to your DD for doing so well. But GCSE grades really are the main predictor a school will have at 16 - especially if a student and their ability/work ethic is not known to the staff - so I don't agree that it is poor judgment to predict from them.

I did say and others have too that things can change and there will be variation within any stat. Yes for sure there are probably students who score 7 at GCSE maths or even 6 and go on to gain an A-star at A level. Massive kudos to them.

But still it is true that broadly speaking there is a correlation between GCSE grades and possible A level grades. That's why most schools insist on a minimum grade to study an A level. It varies for sure from school to school, and within subjects. I would want a 7 at GCSE for my subject (MFL) for A level, or at the very least a surprising 6 (as in, I expected them to do a lot better); but another, less linear subject , might be happy with a lower grade and evidence of interest. The other day I saw a post on MN saying "no point doing maths A level with anything lower than a 9" which I thought was ridiculous. DS2 got 8 at GCSE and B at A level. That was certainly worth doing.

I think mumsnet seem to be biased towards high grades for some reason. Most colleges/6th forms around here only ask for a 5 to study a subject at A-level some ask for a 6or7 in harder subjects.

Saying a child who gets a 7 in GCSE will only get an B is also poor judgment. I have a child in year 12 who, only got a 7 in maths but is actually getting A/A* marks in all her tests so far at A level. Teaching and how much work a student puts in also makes a big difference. If they enjoy the subject then they will be willing to put the work in.

@CaptainCachitoo For MFL at most unis you just get the entry grades. That’s it. Few are hugely competitive.

Certain universities or courses may have specific entry requirements, and some institutions tailor their advice to help students meet those requirements. For highly competitive courses, achieving top grades may be emphasized.

DD is doing French A Level and thinking of going on to study it at uni. She did an exchange visit last summer which made a huge difference- much cheaper than a school! Happy to share details if yiu want

The stats bear that out I think. For MFL.

@clary Of course a B in MFL gets you into a perfectly decent university. I have my views on native speakers! Don’t get me started.

Actually, not really. I am an Oxford admissions tutor and provided they are predicted to get the required AAA we don't take much notice of A* predictions and they are not included in our pre-interview ranking formula (for my subject at least). Largely because predictions are so unreliable as to be close to useless.

Yes for sure, I was trying to make the point that even a native speaker may struggle with the volume and detail of the content - and "only" get an A (obvs an A is a great grade).

So a non-native speaker who only just got a 7 (not saying this is the OP's DS btw) may struggle to achieve an A. A more realistic predicted grade for that student overall (and of course there may be things that change this) is a B.

It varies a lot by subject. Roughly speaking, for sciences the top universities will want some A, but even the top Universities won't generally ask for A in humanities eg Oxford doesn't.

An A in French is ok for nearly everywhere though.

Not necessarily. Tho the op has said it was an 8 actually.

French A level is challenging, and a big step from GCSE (I mean they all are). Dd went from an A at GCSE to a C at A level; her friend went from GCSE A to B at A level.

There's no "easily " for it. I've known plenty of MFL native speakers who got an A rather than A star.

It depends on so much anyway. A 7 that is just barely a 7 is different from a 7 but really you have the ability for an 8.

I would have thought a 7in French would mean he could easily get an A at A-level.

Oxford: 754 MFL candidates and 691 interviewed. Both AAA with high test score and Astar X 3 with high test score will get an interview I think. Thats 22/23 stats. French 371/346 applicants/interviews. Few are not interviewed. Offers - 34% .