Can you do 3 A/S levels?

mylittlemiracle - I hope you don't mind but I have sent you a msg seeing if you can offer any further advice. Thanks x

We had a similar prob. with ds he really struggled with first module back in January and got very shaky B, which in turn knocked his confidence sideways so and so he didn't know which way to turn and was beginning to doubt choices he made.
We took a different route, rather then dropping maths, we got him a very good maths tutor, lady with an excellent ability to boost confidence of a student, and as a result ds actually got top marks 50/50 in his last four assignments thanks to her.
He is a lot more positive now and doing great, he has been ploughing trough with tutor two hours a week for past four weeks and results are amazing, he is aiming for an A and he is determined to get it.
It maybe a good idea to talk to you DD and suggest getting a tutor to help her if only for a while and see how she feels in few weeks time, good luck to your DD whatever she decides to do.
It is a huge jump from year 11 to year 12, many students struggle, and maths in particular is big bite to chew, volume of subject is actually humongous and it needs a lot of input.

As others have said I don't think the 4th AS will add much. My DDs school do 3 A levels and an AS over two years rather than one. However, many pupils gave up their 4th subject this term as their main subjects were suffering and the school was supportive of this. From next year only those students who are really very academically able are being encouraged to do 4 subjects in year 12 and instead the focus is on getting really good results in 3 subjects- a sort of quality over quantity if you like. This is based on their view and research with unis that except for a very few, very selective unis, most are only interested in the 3 main subjects.

Just to say re her "alternative choices" of art and psychology. I have no experience of th later but art isn't in any way a "low stress" option. It is is hell on earth that eats every minute of your time!

Have you considered an FE College wih a vocatinal course?

BTECs do get you into uni, they do not have exams so no exam stress and she could probably continue one of her A Levels alongside.

If she has a chance of getting A and B grades at A Level then continue with them but if not do look at the vocational courses, she would have to start at the begining of a two year course - so sit out the rest of the year and reevaluate then.

hellsbells99

No. Her PCOS doesn't really give her much pain - it was more the lack of periods and some of the physical symptoms that prompted us to go to the Dr. I've had it too for nearly 30 years now and I get a day or 2 of crippling pain when ovulating and it's worse when I ovulate on the right hand side. Thankfully Drs are on the whole better informed about PCOS now and she has been assigned a really sympathetic consultant. Her diagnosis was a hell of a lot less invasive than mine too. She takes the pill and she seems happy enough. I would say though that her PCOS diagnosis and abdominal migraine diagnosis were about 6 months apart and the latter came while she was waiting for her GCSE reults. She suffered through her GCSEs quite a fair bit but so far, so good with her AS and A2s.

Angelpantser - thanks for comment on stomach pain - another possibility to bare in mind when we go back to GP. Does DD have a lot of pain from her pcos? Thanks.

My DD had a disappointing Year 12 result in one subject in her January module last year. By the time the result came through in March though, she was nearly half way through the second module. The school gave her the choice of finishing the course or giving it up. She decided to see it through and took the summer exam. She finished with an E overall in that subject but did actually do better in the second module. The school, however, were prepared to support her whatever her choice as were we. She dropped the subject for A2. She is now in Year 13 and has had UCAS offers from all 5 of her choices who have based her offers on her projected results of her 3 A2s.

As an aside she also suffers with crippling stomach ache usually around exam time. She has PCOS but the doctor diagnosed her with abdominal migraine. She has hyoscine tablets to take when the pain is bad.

Reading on...

An E-grade for Maths will still look impressive on her CV, UCAS. Think carefully before dropping it, especially now when 80% of the work is done.

What if she just doesn't worry about it? Sit the exam and see what happens. Pretend in her head that she has dropped it but give it a go on the off-chance.

AS fails do not affect school league tables, so there should be no pressure from the school.

It's fine to do 3 AS levels.

Universities offer on 3 A2s. A dropped AS is not part of an offer for many universities, and only contributes a relative handful of points for those that offer on points.

At this stage in the year with just a few more weeks of teaching, can't she persevere, however? She, you and the school have to weigh up the pros and cons.

I have heard a lot of people say (pupils, at different schools, in different LAs) that nearly all the Maths A/S people struggled in Yr12, and people who had cruised through GCSEs and got A*s, were getting Ds at AS, but the overwhelming picture was that it seemed to 'click' in the 4th term of the 6th form and they were fine by the time the A-level results came through.

Aliena, you say 'it now occurs to me that universities may not be keen on an applicant who can't cope with pressure in this way'. As a university lecturer I'd say there might be some truth in that. BUT I'd be more concerned from your daughter's point of view that she might find university a very difficult place to be.

There is inevitably a fair amount of academic pressure - indeed, I've always thought that one of the things a degree teaches you to do, and demonstrates that you can do, is work at a high level under pressure. There is a thread on here at the moment from a parent whose dd scraped into university and is really not coping with degree-level work in her second year; it sounds horribly miserable for all concerned.

Maybe think about a different route for her now, and leave university as an option for a bit later in life, when she might have matured enough to cope better with pressure?

I was desperate for my DS to do three AS not four ... but school pushed him into four and he ended up with AABB whereas he might have got AAA with only three. So far as I can see, only Warwick asks for four AS ... all the offers I've seen are based on three A2s.

I would definitely look at her going somewhere else. Look at both other schools and other sixth form colleges, at least then you will know if the school is adding to causing the stress.
Is she getting help from the Doctors with her stress symptoms? When looking for Unis she should look for those who offer a good support system, start looking and talking to them.
BTW my son has done something very similar, he has chosen 4 AS but as 2 of them are Maths and occupy the same option block, it is the equivalant to only 3. It is all that he is interested in, and has a hope of getting good grades in. Also he might cope with that work load, he wouldn't with 5.
But you might also want to look at alternatives such as apprenticeships, and maybe later study with something like the OU.
She may also grow out of it, I had panic attacks during my first degree, but then breezed through my Masters.

I was like that and mine started at 16, a year after i started my periods. I hope it gets better for her soon.

Thanks mylittlemiracle. She is only 15 and living on painkillers :(

That is exactly what I have, and it is cruippling pains. I would say since having my contaceptive implant in 18months ago that the problem is now under control, i still occasionally get really bad apins, but they dont usually last long and are now quite rare. may well help her. I know if she is young its not really what you as a parent would want, but it does really help, there are also other medications such a metformin out there that may well help her.

It took them two years to get to the bottom of my stomach pains, and at first they insisted it was IBS, which of course it wasnt so alll the medication they were giving me wasnt helping, so dont get fobbed off. She may go through the tests more than once, i know i had to, but it is worth it.

Hope she gets better soon, and really do consider an implant.

Mylittlemiracle - sorry to go off thread but did you get to the bottom of your stomach pains? Only asking because we have a problem with DD1. She had appendix out last year. Had ultrasound recently and they said she has poly cystic ovaries, but doing blood tests. Still don't know if that would cause constant pain.

Aliena it is one of the regrets of my life (and my middle brother's) that my parents didnt encourage the concept of rethinking (I am similar vintage to you). My parents believed that you got one go at things.

There are so many opportunities out there, I hope your DD does take the opportunity now to rethink.

Aliena if your DD were to start again somewhere else do you (ie you and your DD) have an idea where that might be? Given your DD's recent diagnosis with dyspraxia I think that she could quite legitimately reconsider her options without this damaging her university chances.

Your DD's current 6th form sound very unsympathetic. One of the good things about 6th form is that catchment areas dont apply so your DD is free to look around and find somewhere which suits her better.

Dont think of changing now as being a year lost. In 3 year's time it will count for nothing. Some rethinking now could pay great dividends later.

All best wishes to your DD.

I remember maths being incredibly hard at A/S level but then again my heart wasnt really in it, as i took my maths gcse at the end of year 10 and they had to so "something" with us for year 11! It didnt help the teacher was never there neither. We got one module completed, statistics and the WHOLE CLASS all 30 of us FAILED!! all UNGRADEDS! Didnt care too much though, not something i particularly wanted to do.