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Original poster

Lower 6th A'level initial exam results terrible for DS, is this normal?

35 replies

shelbys · 01/03/2023 12:52

Hey some advice from from those who have been through A'levels. My son did really well in his GCSEs 8,9 in his chosen A'levels (Maths, Physics, Geography). Its not going well esp in Maths and Physics and I am totally shocked at his current predictions (D's and E)... He says its much much harder, but his college will predict his grades in May for uni applications - and I am just floored - is it really that much harder? He's working well or so it would seem... Help?

OP posts:
Original poster
shelbys · 01/03/2023 17:17

we have a parents evening in 2 weeks but I have req a chat with his personal tutor to try and unpick it all

OP posts:
Original poster
shelbys · 01/03/2023 17:16

thanks @SeasonFinale !

OP posts:
SeasonFinale · 01/03/2023 16:48

There is a chart that shows how the step up to Maths A level is big. I will see if I cN locate it.

JussathoB · 01/03/2023 16:37

What have his teachers said? If the answer is not much, or you haven’t asked, request an appointment asap and meet the teacher with your DS to discuss and make a specific plan, with resources, to study for the next few months.

MNHQ
LilyMumsnet · 01/03/2023 16:00

We're just moving this thread over to the secondary education topic. Flowers

Original poster
shelbys · 01/03/2023 15:24

Hi thanks all, really helpful as I think he is probably following the mantra of how he worked for GCSE's i.e. puts in the time but not the extra time....Will chat to his teachers and see how we can help to get him back on track. I just feel a bit terrified that its March and I don't see how we can get him up by May.

OP posts:
boboshmobo · 01/03/2023 14:08

I wouldn't say it's normal but my dd ( struggling with depression/ anxiety and an eating disorder was tracking at a U for law a few years ago and managed to pass with 3 A's !
Anything is possible

noblegiraffe · 01/03/2023 13:50

shelbys · 01/03/2023 12:52

Hey some advice from from those who have been through A'levels. My son did really well in his GCSEs 8,9 in his chosen A'levels (Maths, Physics, Geography). Its not going well esp in Maths and Physics and I am totally shocked at his current predictions (D's and E)... He says its much much harder, but his college will predict his grades in May for uni applications - and I am just floored - is it really that much harder? He's working well or so it would seem... Help?

As a pp said, it’s quite normal for a Y12 who did well in GCSE with minimal effort to think that similar tactics will work at A-level, and they don’t.

Countless students get a huge shock in their January exams, then realise that the school wasn’t kidding when they said that they needed to be doing an hour of independent work for every hour in the classroom. Merely doing homework isn’t enough. Maths needs way more practice, for example.

Your DC can pull it back but it will take a lot of effort. They now have to properly learn the work they didn’t properly learn up till now which involves going over and redoing everything they missed on the exam, while at the same time learning the new material to a greater depth than they were doing before.

There are lots of online resources that can help with this.

Dahlia444 · 01/03/2023 13:28

Agree largely with previous poster but just to add that we have been told by school to manage expectations based on gcse results so 8/9 pupils are more likely to ultimately get Astar A and 6/7 pupils B C ish, - can't remember what the correlations were exactly. We saw this pretty much for eldest DC and friends and seeing it in current DCs too. So although yes it's a step up it is a step up that tends to be managed by most in the end around their typical academic capability. Chat with teachers, look at his work and see what's going on.

Kazzyhoward · 01/03/2023 12:59

Yes, Maths and Sciences in particular ARE much harder, and A levels in general are very different to GCSEs. We were warned by the school many times when he was in years 10 and 11 that there was a massive "step up" to A levels and to choose very carefully.

There's also the different teaching styles. For GCSE's pupils are usually "spoon fed" everything, but once in the sixth form, they're expected to be more proactive, do lots of personal reading/research, and of course, there's not as much teaching time, with lots of "free" periods where they should be doing their own work (but lots either go home early or just hang out with friends). Teachers generally have a more "hands off" approach in the sixth form, which they justify as preparing the pupils for University, where they'll have even less "teaching" and will mostly be doing their own "self teaching".

I suspect the OPs son may only be doing the "bare minimum", i.e. attending lessons, doing the set homework, etc., and not realising they also need to be doing lots of their own extra work, or maybe not doing enough to properly understand what's being taught, and then getting further behind when topics move on and they're lost.