Year 11 2023-24

Will the ambition to get on the level 3 course give him motivation to revise @AmyandPhilipfan ? At least having the options of the level 1 and 2 courses to fall back on is a nice cushion if he doesn't manage to get those 5 grade 4's.

I have resorted to bribery to get my son to revise, although competition with his friends seems to be motivating him a little too

Thanks Waspie 😊
Just got to get through the GCSEs first. He can get onto the Level 1 option of the courses with nothing but should be able to get onto Level 2 if he can scrape a couple of grade 3s. But at the last open evening he told the tutor he wants to get onto the Level 3 course so he needs to put some work in to get to that standard as he needs 5 level 4 grades. He got 0-2s in all his mocks and is very anti revision!

That sounds great @AmyandPhilipfan ; really flexible and welcoming. I hope your son will be very happy at college and be able to banish the demons of school loathing.

We have a couple of college campuses in our town (same college, different campuses and subjects) and they encourage prospective students to apply for any courses they are interested in. Then they're sent an offer, accept any and all offers, go to extra information sessions about the subjects, then decide at the enrolment session in August which course they're doing. So my son already has firm offers for two courses. Though his are vocational. I'm not sure how it works with A Levels. The college courses look great. I have high hopes that my boy will actually enjoy college, after loathing school his whole life.

Thanks again Yes, it does seem so early to have to make these choices. One of the colleges had an application deadline of 31st October 2023, which seems far too early. I realise the schools and colleges have to plan but that's really only half a term into year 11.

I admit I'm finding year 11 quite stressful - goodness knows what year 13 is going to be like!

I think that's a good plan, get him thinking about choices and asking some questions of the colleges. It's so hard for them to have to make these decisions already.

Thanks again @JustHereWithMyPopcorn I'm not sure he does enjoy biology. He certainly enjoys physics and chemistry more. I did suggest that if he wants to do physics he change his selection to history, maths and physics but he would like to take English Lit. I think he needs to give it more thought and raise combination possibilities at the interviews he's invited to.

I've just looked at our Physics A level requirements and I'm surprised that they don't actually insist on taking maths but strongly recommend it. Their requirements are this:

GCSE requirement:
7 in Physics and 8 in Mathematics or, if Mathematics not being taken at A Level, 9 in Mathematics is required

@Waspie I think if your DS enjoys the Biology he should go for it, it certainly won't prevent him from doing what he wants to do a uni.

I think most schools won't let you take Physics A level without Maths tbh, there is so much maths in physics it makes sense. I did physics and maths A level in the 80s and it was the same back then too.

It's interesting to hear how other schools and colleges deal with subject timetable planning, I think we're quite lucky as our school sixth form has over 200 students per year group so is already set up to accommodate a wide variety of choices and can usually allow changes to subject choices - although it's not encourage as it's still a pain for them I imagine.

Thanks @JustHereWithMyPopcorn that's interesting. DS would like to do history and is interested in Law so your eldest son's experience is very relevant. I think DS is thinking similarly that three essay based subjects would be hard graft (not that any A Level isn't!) and a science would break up the essays. Not easier, but different He is in the fortunate position where (as long as he doesn't screw up completely) he is likely to get the grades to have free choice as to his third A Level.

I'd heard that timetabling can be difficult where subjects aren't in the same blocks and that's why changing subjects only happens once GCSE results are known and a number of students are looking to change their subjects. I suspect that's more of an issue at school sixth forms than large colleges.

The school my nephew is at doesn't allow students to take physics A level without Maths A Level. That doesn't seem to be a restriction in any of the places DS has applied but makes me wonder if he is creating difficulties for himself by taking physics but not maths. Biology seemed the most "stand alone" of the sciences and that's why he chose it.

Oh sorry, I just saw the very end where you say he wants to do history.

@Waspie DS1 took Eng Lit, History and Biology A Levels (now studying Law a uni) and it was actually quite a good alternative to the essay based subjects using different skills and showing a science / different sort of analytical side to him. Does your DS know what he wants to study at degree level (if he wants to go to uni of course)?

Well I thought I'd posted a reply on Saturday but it's not here so apologies - I was not ignoring your kind replies.

The issue of the third A Level is that he doesn't really know what he wants to do @Marisquita . He's doing History and English Lit and needs a third. For the degree he wants to do the third subject really doesn't matter, it's the grade that will be important.

Two sixth forms offer Classical Civilisation and these are his top two choices; two offer Government and Politics and the last two offer standard school subjects only. At these he initially chose Philosophy & Ethics, then decided he didn't want to do that and changed to biology. He's now saying he doesn't want to do biology either. Frankly, he could change his mind several more times before September! He has an interview at one of the "biology" sixth forms and I have said perhaps he should explain that he's not sure about biology and ask for advice.

I personally think Biology with English and History is a not a great combination, but DS has been swayed by the fact that it would open up more degree possibilities. I'm not sure why this is an issue for him as he has wanted to take a modern history degree since he was in primary school!

Good luck with your son's art paper today @JustHereWithMyPopcorn Hope it's an interesting one!

DS gets his Art GCSE paper today I think, I really hope it's something interesting for a change.

Applied science at Btech might be an option? A merit grade gives the same ucas points as a C at A level.

@Waspie that's difficult to be restricted. I'm hoping DD's school will be flexible. She's now also thinking about biology A level but we're a bit scarred by her older sib's biology A level as they found it very challenging and we were all left a bit traumatized by it and much poorer due to the tutoring required.

@Tebheag I suspect Maxus doesn't mean only high achievers, just sessions aimed at top grade pupils as well, I would assume, as other sessions aimed at lower grade levels.

Some great results there, though a shame it's only the high achievers who get extra help. I am grateful my DS has got a 2nd round for English as he is struggling. His school have revision classes everyday day after school thankfully it is open to everyone.

One set of mocks was quite enough for us!

@Waspie I’m surprised that a proposed A level subject change is so restricted where you are. Can he not just contact the places he’s applied to saying he’s had second thoughts?

I’m firmly in the camp of one set, it’s stressful enough for them with that. They have regular topic tests on top of these so it’s not like there’s no further assessment but each to their own, different things suit different people.

Ours do two lots of mocks - November and the after February half term. DS has started revision and is going to the after school sessions that the subject teachers are running. He has his first sixth form college interview tomorrow and another in two weeks time.

He's starting to wobble about his third subject. He's chosen biology where the sixth form doesn't offer his preferred option, but is really enjoying physics and wants to change. From what I've read he can request this but only after the GCSE results during the schools and colleges "clearing" period.

Ours only do one set of mocks, but they’re not until the week after half term

The only saving grace of having mocks after Christmas is that they only take one set! Two sets seem too much to me.