Friend has asked for advice on her DS's exam results

In his position, I would look at what work was needed to complete the BTEC L3 and compare that to doing an access to higher education course at 19.

He may also want to look at IZt based apprenticeships. He could maybe do one of those ( they seem to take one to two years)and then ( if he still wanted to go to uni) do an access to HE course. He could then apply to uni with some some good work experience and an understanding of what working in IT would be like. Or he could do an OU 'certificate' level course in IT as a way of getting into a brick uni. He is still very young and had plenty of time to find the style of learning that suits him best.

If he is suffering from anxiety and struggling to pass AS levels, I would think that 6th form isn't working for him, but the decent marks in BTEC modules suggest that something with continuous assessment could suit him better (without the pressure of also trying to pass an AS level).

This may sound harsh but I think If he can't pass one AS level after 2 years of trying then he is not university material.Somebody needs to tell the kid instead of blowing smoke up his arse.Wasting more time and in the future,money on something he can't do is not doing him any favours.

I work in an admissions team for a computer science dept at a university.

As someone up thread said, you don't necessarily need an IT qual for a cs or IT degree, but a good standard of maths is usually required. A lot of unis ask for A level maths (we look for a grade A ideally).

You say he has anxiety issues: do you know if he asked for this to be taken into account in his first year? mitigating circumstances can help, as missed deadlines for assessments may not immediately be a fail (sorry not familiar with btecs so that may not apply). However it's rare that mitigation can be done in retrospect.

Back to his current situation: if he wants to complete the btec, it's important to check the funding issue to ensure it can be done in the time he has left.

However, I am another who thinks it would be best to consider time out completely and perhaPs consider an Access to HE course instead. Ideally he needs to look for science-based access courses as these will give him the maths/physics background that would be useful for a cs/it course.

I'm not sure if there are IT access courses, but these would have a more 'applied' approach, and perhaps better for IT degrees with a 'business' slant.

I really do think he needs to talk to the school/college for more advice in the first instance. He needs to prepare for a frank discussion about his performance and where to go from there. But more importantly perhaps, think about what he really wants to do. Time out to rethink / regroup is a very brave thing to do and could be the best thing he'll ever do. (And I speak from experience there!)

Wishing him all the best of luck.

He could look into doing an apprenticeship, he still gets the chance to improve his qualifications and won't rule him out of going to Uni but it may help to focus him on seeing the effort needed to progress, it may bring home to him that there tends to be a correlation between effort and reward ie wages.

Southest - read the OP - has HASNT stayed up late, that's not the reaon he's failed. He has MH issues and these need addressing first. Spending yet another year at college and failing a third time could totally destroy him.

or maybe he'll spend a year totally de motivated if he didn't have a course to attend.
my ds(21) stays up late and has done thoughout hi degree course i don't think it's rare for a teenager. He also got onto his course with a Btec and just graduated with a 2:1.

dread to think what he would have done if he'd just left school after 6th form.

Are there apprenticeships? Would that suit his learning style better?

It doesn't sound like he's ready for university. He'd just be missing university classes, and the loan entitlement is such that he really can't afford to fail - it will mean he's unable to access loans for the rest of his life (some exceptions - computing is one ironically....).

He needs to take time out of education, sort out the anxiety, and work for a year or two. If he's still determine to go to university he can get a loan for an Access course which he won't have to pay back as long as completes his degree.

But right now, studying doesn't seem the right path.

well, obviously, there is a different standard required for each level, roughly pass = E-D, merit D-C-B and Distinction B-A. The standards required for each level are totally different. getting a merit in a unit isn't equivalent to just completing more pass standard tasks, you need to pass all the pass standards tasks, and then all the merit standard tasks, and the merit standrd tasks are significantly harder. Then if you pass all those, you get the distinction level tasks taken into consideration, and they are often very difficult, detailed and involved indeed.

Yes, EvilTwins, that's what I meant. An assignment might be P1, P2, P3, M2 and D2. They could complete just the P tasks or continue on to do the M or the D tasks. However, there wasn't a standard they had to meet in order to get the tasks, as there is in an A level. So in an A level they might write an essay and get graded from A to U.

They differ.

I teach BTEC Performing Arts, in which the marks come from the standard of work. Each separate assessment criterion cones in Pass, Merit or Distinction. So to get an M, a student has to get M1, M2, M3 and M4 in a given assignment. However, others, for example Health & Social Care, have different assessment criteria for different grades - so for a Pass, a student might need to complete 2 criteria to P standard but the to get M, they would need to complete a further 2. Not sure that makes sense, but they might achieve P1, P2, M3 & M4 in an assignment, where M is not actually an available mark for assessment criterion 1.

He doesn't need IT to do a computing degree, but he would probably need maths. Given that he has failed maths twice now, that's probably not the right direction for him.

A bigger issue is the anxiety preventing him going to school. Has he ever seen anyone about that?

The thing is that a Merit or a Distinction in a BTEC (well, the one I taught on, which was IT) does not indicate the student is more academic

How bizarre, the pass merit and distinction work is of a completely separate standard in every Btec I have ever taught.

The thing is that a Merit or a Distinction in a BTEC (well, the one I taught on, which was IT) does not indicate the student is more academic, in the way an A* might. Certain assignments were Pass assignments, or Merit or Distinction. If they worked fast, they got through the Distinction assignments.

I think the A level results indicate he's not ready for university.

He doesn't need IT to do an IT degree.

I wonder about someone's anxiety that makes them stay in bed until lessons are over. Missing college would lead to more anxiety, I would have thought.

A degree (if he got onto one) would be more of the same, but much harder. It doesn't sound as though that's what he wants.

I'd persuade him to try to find any old job until next summer and then spend three months or so travelling. Throughout that year he may get an idea of what he wants - or more likely, what he doesn't want. I doubt if another year in school/college now would do much good at all.

Sorry

It stands for Business and Technology Education Council.

It's a BTEC. Not a BTec and not a BTech.

Sorry, but it really gets on my nerves.

My son has just done a BTech. He is going to Uni.

BTECs have changed this year. It used to be nigh on impossible to fail a BTEC unit but now it's a lot tighter and if deadlines are missed there is no wriggle room. If the failed BTEC unit was one of the mandatory units for the course AND if he has already been given and missed the opportunity to re-submit, then it's perfectly possible he has failed overall. BTECs do get students into university.

What subjects was he doing?

no impact on funding for uni. However, he is only entitled to one more year of free education, and he isn't where he wants to be, so it is a no brainer to use that year, if the school accepts him, or if another school accepts him. There is no option to defer, or think about it, or take a break from education, or any of the things suggested on this thread. He has next year, then that is the end of his state education. He would be a fool not to take it.

If he does go back to school or college again, will it have any impact on his funding for uni or college later on?

I have no idea if it will or will not - but think it's definitely a question he needs to find out!

He needs independent careers advice. They will go through the full range of options with him.