Son got 5s in his mocks. Doubting he can do A levels. Any advice?

BTec applied science? T Level health science? Loads. Search up local colleges.

Revision should be ‘knowledge transforming’ - that means active not passive. So make cue cards, posters, do past questions, make a video, record notes - that will make it stick.

Divide the day into threes - revise for two out of three parts. Taking breaks helps it stick.

5s will be no good for maths and physics - you need at least 7s, but preferably 8s or 9s. But other subjects will take 5s - maybe business, media, tech? But there will probably still be a limit on what can be achieved - but 3Cs can still get you into uni.

Loads of things he can do instead of A Levels. T Levels, BTech, apprenticeships. Find what areas he interested in and look at your local FE college offer. Not all kids are going to get great GCSEs. Mine didn’t but did b techs and still went on to university. The other now doing a degree apprenticeship.

Does he actually know the content? He should learn that before he looks at exam technique. Find some topic tests to identify his weaker areas and then he can make sure he understands them.

I recommend this video: ncase.me/remember/

As long as he passes he will be able to do a levels.
School should be helping with revision. My DD can go to revision lessons daily at her school.

Past papers, writing out answers, flashcards, no youtube etc.

He could do BTech at sixth form. Lots of unis accept b tech, apprenticeships, and its marked as you go. Worth same ucas as alevel in most cases.

Best thing is talk to the school. See what they think, talk to a teacher you both like though.

Honestly, have a back up plan for next steps. A level maths and physics are hard subjects. DS is doing them. He excels with numbers but he's found the transition tough.
College or sixth form is still an option for him or an apprenticeship, but if he's getting 5 at this stage, maths and physics probably aren't for him for further study.

You are right over doing past papers and he is wrong. He is not currently A-level material, no.

If he puts the screens away and works through the questions, pen on paper, he may come to understand more of the subject and then do better in his GCSEs.

I would say even with 6s those A levels are very tough. My son got a high 7 in Maths with tutoring and a 6 for physics. He really really hated doing them as A levels and struggled massively ending up with 2 Ds. I regretted getting him the tutoring as if he'd got a 6 in maths he wouldn't have been allowed maths or physics and may have been forced into codes which were better for him.

On the other hand, he got a 5 in product design (more to do with v disruptive class and bad teaching) and ended up with a B at A level. So it is possible to turn it around but depends on the reasons for the low grades.

Not too late for a tutor, they should be able to help with exam technique and at least get him up to some 6s.
6 was the minimum grade for doing most A Levels at DS's sixth form, but you needed a 7 in maths to do physics.
There are alternatives, our sixth form does some level 2 applied courses eg business studies with the the aim of progression onto level 3 after a year. (Level 2 is gcse, level 3 is A level).

Does he know what he wants do afterwards?

There are lots of threads on this board about how to revise so look there (not trying to be lazy – just there is no way I could recall all the suggestions) – there will be a way that works better for him. With my DS1 for example, it was a case of taking a past paper (even one he had done before) and going out for a walk while talking it through. If he sat with his books he got nowhere.

So take a look and see what might work. But the key is targeted revision – not vaguely Physics but x topic or y calculations. And set time for it then recap in some way (maybe you testing him).

Sorry but there is no way he should do maths A level with a 5 or even a 6 IMHO. What are his PGs from the school – do they suggest he could do better?

Nothing wrong with a sweep of 4/5/6 grades but it doesn’t really suggest A levels would be productive. Have you looked at courses at a local college? Something that requires ongoing coursework may be a better option for him. Have a look and call some up next week. It won't be too late I am sure.

Is this a massive suprise? You should've had a relatively rough idea of predicted grades beforehand etc. It really depends on context.

It's not the questions he needs to learn, it's the process of deciphering them and then answering them. Which isn't going in when he's looking passively at a video because it's not using what he needs to make it stick - the physical looking, the reading, the thinking, the actual writing.

No more YouTube 'revision'. He needs to use his whole body to learn, not just hoping his eyes can do it all for him.