Yearly warning about taking A-level maths with a 6 at GCSE

Totally agree. Would definitely be the same or very similar for languages and music.

Maths isn't your strong suit, is it?

Can totally see why. My DH teaches in a private school and they don't refuse anyone to do anything. They strongly advise but each year he has students with bad grades in his difficult subject because they simply weren't up to it and their parents ask why this has happened.
The sad thing is,those students would probably have excelled in other subjects.

Can I add my annual suggestion that taking MFL A level with a grade lower than a 7 is also probably not a great idea.

The reason is that A level MFL presumes a certain level of knowledge in terms of grammar and basic vocab, and if a student has that (unexpected disasters aside, by which I mean not turning the paper over and missing a question) then they will have achieved a grade 7.

Nothing wrong with a 6 in MFL GCSE; my DS2 has one but he was certainly not an A level candidate in Spanish

Ds1 took Chemistry A level with a grade 7 at GCSE. He found it very hard and dropped it at the end of the first year, having got an E in year 1 exams.

Agree. Dd achieved a 9 in GCSE chemistry and she found the first term of A level very challenging.

There is a Cambridge University report called 'Progression from GCSE to A Level, 2021 – 2023' that gives similar stats across subjects. There is some variation. It is a bit more recent but as @noblegiraffe says there is no easy way to link & it is a lengthy report. If you or your young person is interested it comes up if you google the title.
This isnt to put people off - more about having realistic expectations for next steps be that uni or apprenticeships etc.

@noblegiraffe thanks for this
Even with 8’s /9’s one should be careful
Particularly if the student needed extra tuition to get those grades
Dd1 achieved an 8 at GCSE. Maths was her weakest subject so I hired a tutor to help her.
However, despite the fact that she achieved an 8 she would have floundered at A level.

Dd2 achieved a 9 and was a ‘natural’ she did the A level and achieved an A star . She just got maths

DS school will only let them take the maths A Level if they get 8 or 9. If you get a 7 it’s decided on a case by case basis. DS is hoping to do chemistry, physics, maths, and further maths

I think that this is due to very able maths students taking the Foundation level papers and not the Higher. So being capped at a grade 5 when they should or could have gone on to do the Higher papers and got a 7/8/9.

FWIW, I completely agree with your annual warning @noblegiraffe My ds and his friends got their A level results last week and many sat Maths. Their 6th form is selective and requires minimum grade 7 at GCSE but recommends grade 8. Even with that, many of them found the A level really challenging.

Exactly. Doing A Level English Language with less than an 8 will be a huge uphill battle.

I wish they would rename it English Linguistics really. Make it more obvious what the difference is.

Look at the total number at the bottom. The 0.5% from people with a 6 is from a total of over 2000. The total from people who got a 5 at GCSE is only 280ish because all the people who were struggling have already dropped out, so most of those 281 will be people whose actual maths ability is much higher - perhaps they just had some really bad days during GCSEs but should have been on track for a 7 or 8.

I think this is definitely true for maths. You also have to enjoy maths, or you will find it a hard and boring slog!
Also wouldn’t recommend taking any science A level without a 7 in science and 6/7 in maths (7 if doing physics).

Excellent post as always noble

My DS got amazing GCSE results and still struggled with A level maths. He actually got a better grade in further maths! Thank you for the post OP, and I hope everyone’s children get the results they need.

@noblegiraffe thanks for this. I saw your identical post 2 years ago when my DC had just got an 8 at GCSE and made a late decision to switch to A level maths. They were only just over the boundary for an 8 and your post helped me to have realistic expectations. They did find it tough but were predicted a B and achieved that comfortably last week so we were very pleased (A/Astar not needed for their onward course). My friends' kids with 7s and 8s also achieved Bs and Cs so the grade progression stats rang true there too (some were very disappointed and missed their first choice unis due to the maths grades)

The son of a friend was in specialist (SEN) secondary provision and was only able to take maths at foundation stage. But once the sixth form saw his ability they allowed him to take A level and he did very well.

Because there are fewer than 300 entries in this column, putting it firmly in the statistical noise and anomalies territory. That's perhaps 5 pupils getting an A*, perhaps they had some special circumstances.

I completely agree with you but think this advice extends across many subjects.

I agree. Every darn year there are posts about dcs taking A Level Maths with “low” grades - the other day it was a 4 😬

My dcs had 9s and didn’t find the A Level easy by any means. Well, it shouldn’t be easy - otherwise what’s the point.

It seems schools are doing kids/parents a huge disservice and setting up pupils for a great deal of angst by not stressing that Maths/Physics/Chemistry are hard subjects and not able to be winged or even learnt off by heart.

Apologies, I’m autistic and your statement wasn’t specific enough for me to understand what you meant.

But I expect it’s because to even be allowed to take it at grade 5 there was probably extenuating circumstances leading to a lower than expected grade. My DS has already been told if the worst happens and for some reason he gets a 6 he’d still be allowed to take it because they know he’s capable

So few students in that category, individuals can have a significant impact.

@noblegiraffe i have no idea I can't work it out!!!