Parents of Year 11DC support thread. The final term.

Good luck to the Drama and Physics students today.

Just waved dd off for her last official day of school. How did that happen ? I clearly remember the first day of Y7. Her "friends" on FB are all getting rather emotional about this. Hope she remembered some tissues. dd thinks they are being OTT, given that most of them are staying on for sixth form whereas she is planning on going elsewhere. Hope the Leavers Celebrations don't go OTT though.
Hopefully Leavers hoodie will come home today.

It's dd's last day at school today. She is feeling very conflicted. She's far to stubborn to admit that she will miss the place!

DD has Drama practical today. this and Photography have been very stressful and feel the remaining 9 will be easier!

She is going to a showing of View from the Bridge tonight (recorded play) at the cinema, which seems an ideal way of revising her Literature book after her day!

I did query with DD why she needed a calculator for her Biology exam. Don't remember using one in mine (probs hadn't been invented then).

Use of Maths is offered at our local sixth form. It was explained to us very badly on our visit, but I thought it could be an ideal alternative for those who really struggle.

Good luck to everyone with Physics ATP today!

Blue - my ds is taking Biology for the IB next year and just had a quick look through the text book re maths content:
lots of graph work
some formulae for specific tests
ratios in genetics
rates of reaction -again just graph work
This was for IB, not A level but imagine the content would be similar.

On a recent past paper, he missed out the first digit on a whole row of numbers in a table.

I have never heard of that before... just googled it. I think it's more likely to work as a threat... ie, if you don't work hard now, you will HAVE to do "use of maths".

I think the dyslexia is responsible for his maths problems - left/right/up/down/decimal places/graphs/boxes/symbols/wordy questions are not strong points. The maths books will shortly be consigned to a ceremonial pyre. I think he's worked fairly hard to be in Grade C territory and he is reluctant to do one jot more. He MUST go back and check every single answer on his exam paper - thankfully he does get extra time.

Thanks Au79. That is very reassuring re the Maths and Biology.

Re the revision.... I have been nagging and telling him for months and months on a daily basis. He has stopped listening now and lies that he is doing it. I've tried threats and big bribes but nothing has worked. He has even agreed to me taking away the PS4 but he still can't/won't revise. He will usually do some with me so I have waved goodbye to my weekends for the next few weeks.

Blue gazebo if he wants to do biology I think he should do it. I'm a biologist, never liked maths and did the minimum, it's never been an issue- I just do the maths y parts I have to, and use a calculator and double check everything.

But maybe you can leverage this a bit and say to him, it's his future and it's like training for a sport, if you want to do X, sometimes you need to do extra fitness training in something you don't enjoy as much. Opening doors, etc etc. There's no doubt maths is helpful in all sorts of parts of life.

DS wants to do Biology A Level. He was told by sixth form at a different school that he will need a B in Maths as well as in Additional Science (already has a B in Core). This is a school that accepts A-C for A Levels. His current school requires Bs for A Levels but he was told he would be able to do it with a C in Maths. He is predicted an A in Additional Science and a C in Maths. His B in Core Science was definitely affected by disruptive classes and supply teachers. He has dyslexia and is not good at maths. Does anyone know how much Maths there is in A Level Biology? He is definitely bright enough to do A Levels but the dyslexia is a real spanner in the works re the Maths, essay writing, organisation, etc so picking the right subjects is tricky.

He could probably scrape a B in Maths if he did some revision! He is not revising! It's very frustrating!

Re A level maths, my ds is taking AS now as he took the iGCSE in year 10. He got an A* in the iGCSE and did find it a big jump from iGCSE to A level.

The main difference seems to be that at GCSE level you are given clear directions on what to do - factorise this , expand that, but at A level you have to consider what is in your metaphorical maths tool kit and work out how you need to solve the problem.
Just my ds's experience for what it's worth :)

Your hoodies are later OP. Dd is sleeping in hers as I type.

Welcome lurkers

Should read if needed.
As a former A level Science teacher the what grades do you need for A level isn't always straight forward. A candidate may only obtain a grade B at GCSE because they had a poor teacher or went to a less high achieving school for example or if there were extenuating circumstances such as illness or bereavement. So I am not sure if the you must have an A to take A level is always correct. Having said that though some pupils with grade Bs struggle with AS level and may have been better taking another subject as previously stated. For level 3 BTECS the entry grades are Cs so a pupil with Bs would be at the top end of the ability range and it may be better to have Distinctions at BTEC than low grade A levels.

So that's IT completed. dd thought paper was hard but managed to get the website working so that should be OK.
Leavers Day events tomorrow so that's a bit of light relief before the written exams start on Monday.
Welcome to kappa and Starfleet.
Kappa I am not sure whether to comment on here or your other thread but agree with knitting that it's probably the C in that Maths test that is causing the concern. At most schools there's a bit of adjustment once the actual results are out. In a way it's a good thing that there is the option of BTEC is needed.

Ohyou - thank you

Icould - I think your right. I did raise his illness with the deputy head who had no record of it. I suppose it is just a wait and see game at the moment.

Kappadelta my guess is that it's the C in maths that is leading to the offer of Btec science. DS is off to a state sixth form next year and if he was doing a science he would need a B in maths as well as a B in the science subject.

If his results turn out to be better than the mocks predict he can presumably switch at enrolment?

I would beware of schools and colleges that will accept lower grades for A levels. A school near us did this as they were desperate to fill up places, and the majority ended up having to re-do Y12 - complete waste of a year for them.

DS is also hoping to do Physics and Maths at A Level. He has been advised at his current school that they wouldn't recommend anyone who is likely to get lower than a B in either subject at GCSE to take it at A.

He will (results depending) be staying at his current school for 6th Form but did apply for a place at another school who offered both subjects at A Level with A-C grades at GCSE. Maybe it depends on each school individually and whether or not the subjects are over subscribed?

kappa My DS is hoping to take Physics at A Level. While the school would accept lower grades on an individual basis, they have suggested a minimum of A at physics and A at Maths to have a successful outcome at A Level. There's tons of Maths in Physics, and this is increasing over the coming years. Does that help at all?

DS continues to work as hard as he feels needed. It's not as hard as I would like, but as hard as he is going to work, so I am leaving him to it.

My only mild concern is that he's decided to really focus on securing A*'s at Sciences and Maths, as these are his A Level choices, but not to even try to get the C at German, which is as good as he's going to get.