A level choices for yr 11’s who’ve missed big chunks of curriculum

Do we think that maths and science are more affected by this than other subjects?

For A level Sciences pupils often start Y12 with different prior knowledge because some pupils will have taken 3 separate Sciences and others will have taken the Combined Science 2 GCSE route.

I suspect that maths, science and MFL will be more impacted as those subjects build more on knowledge whereas humanities build on skills. Though going into A level on a lower skill base will have its own issues I guess.

A motivated student studying for an hour a day could get quite a lot covered in July and August I would have thought.

Do we think that maths and science are more affected by this than other subjects?

I think maths and some sciences are going to be expecting to build on knowlege the students should have learnt to some extent - that's not going to be true for the new subject DD12 is taking and I'm not sure about Geogrpahy or other humanties subjects.

DS's school made them work through these books as prep for A level.
www.cgpbooks.co.uk/secondary-books/as-and-a-level/maths/mbr72-head-start-to-a-level-maths-(with-online-edi

Neither DD1 school or her new college have said anything or given any advice about filling in any gaps.

We've asked for advice on here with maths and got some good sugestions - and also found some Bridging the Gap books in a few of her next years subjects and got some AS-level study guides so she can look at next years syllabus.

I'm a little worried about one AS-level sceince she wants to do that came out as B - least that's the preliminary grade - enough to proceed to AS level but they'd predicted A* for most of the course (Wales kept A_G grades) so we'll have to see how she gets on with AS level and try and fill any gaps in ourselves.

My youngest is in year 11 and will be studying science A levels. They have been told to ensure they have no gaps in curriculum and will have baseline tests in September to ensure those coming from other schools have covered everything. There have also had some extra lessons for physics to cover the small part of the spec which wasn’t taught before they left.

The summer work is quite heavy but tbh is good practice for A level.

But everyone is telling her that if she wants to take physics she must do maths.

Who is "everyone"? If it is her school I'd be concerned that the physics teachers aren't used to having non-mathematicians in the class and so won't have recent experience of teaching the maths skills required. However, both my current and previous schools are happy to take physics students without maths and have dedicated "maths for a level physics" work at the beginning of year 12 and again in year 13.

Missing GCSE content has been a bit of a problem this year (I teach physics) as many year 12 students stopped work in March last year and didn't ever do the independent study during study leave which really helps them embed the knowledge. I expect the same will be true next year, though in our case the students did have to sit pretty rigorous assessments in June so I hope that helped!

I have a year 11.

If I had a year 11 who was going on to A levels I would be encouraging them to 'finish' the GCSE syllabus in any subject they were continuing on with to A level.

If she is staying on at her current school they will expect gaps and presumably account for them. If she is moving to a different school which taught better over lockdown, or moving to a large 6th form college, then filling gaps in advance may be more important.

[quote ContessaVerde]@TotorosCatBus
She is strong in science, especially physics, not that thrilled about maths anyhow and is now feeling like it will be too much.
But everyone is telling her that if she wants to take physics she must do maths.[/quote]
It’s really hard to do physics without maths. Lots of places near us make them do ‘maths for physicists’ extra courses if they don’t do a level.

My ds is doing a level maths this year, after getting a 7 in gcses last year, and is doing just fine. I think it would depend on how well the teachers are doing at filling any gaps they come across.

Sciences will have the same problem.

My dd did A-level maths this year. Some GCSE topics aren't studied in further depth for A-level so not knowing some stuff won't be the end of the world. What kind of topics is your dd strong in?

Some subjects at A-level require no specific GCSE knowledge so she can start sixth form like a "normal" year.

very few cases where schools did carry on delivering the curriculum through the lockdowns?
Surely most schools did?