DD messed up AS levels. Advice needed.

[Cakeonthefloor]

My daughter did really well in her gcses (8s and 9s). She moved to a new school to do chemistry, maths and economics a-levels. She has struggled to motivate herself to study and has got 3 Es in her AS. She has a retake in a few weeks as she needs D grades to continue to A-level. She doesn't know what to do. She could repeat the year, leave with an AS level and teach herself the final A-level year and take the exam at a college. She could drop an a-level and concentrate on 2 and try and get a nhs or police apprenticeship. She could switch subjects but they were her favourites. She could try and get an apprenticeship but she needs a-levels for any she is interested in. She has asked me to post this as she is desperate for advice or similar stories. Thanks for reading.

I'm going to repeat what pp have said. These are not AS results and the school cannot ask her to leave based on these results.
However, as pp above said, the lack of awareness about the process does suggest that she is not engaged. I'm not sure why she and you don't know exactly what's going on? What is her attendance like? What are her predicted grades?
I suspect she has missed key points of information.

Is your DD feeling motivated now?

I would research different revision techniques eg flash cards (good iPhone app for this) or YouTube sometimes has great videos that she can make notes from. It sounds like her current revision technique isn’t working as she’s obviously smart from her GCSE results.
Tell her to put in a good slog for the next couple of weeks. Review the situation once she’s got the results for these mocks. A levels are bloody tough but they’re mostly a memory game and hitting keywords so if she revises enough and correctly for her she should be able to pull it back to get the grades to move into A2.
Good luck to your DD OP

MN has a really odd attitude to GCSEs and A levels in my opinion. People can easily do well but not startlingly well at GCSE but better at A level (I did).

They can also mess up the first year and do really well in the second year. I did my A levels before AS levels and I did do well in my first year exams, but most people didn't but they still did ok to very well in the second year. Kids pull their socks up in the second year. I think the schools are more worried about league tables and that's why they think someone who got EEE will do badly - but that makes no sense if your DD got 8s and 9s in her GCSEs and was largely self-taught.

Also - the fact that she was largely self-taught tells me that she doesn't need lessons in self discipline and application.

However, those are hard A levels and she might be better switching to other subjects. Think carefully before doing a BTEC as a lot of universities don't accept them but if she doesn't want to go to university anyway, that doesn't matter. And it will also depend on the subject area.

There are lots of options - it sounds like you need to insist on a face to face chat with the school so you can go through them. Also do they have a careers adviser you could talk to?

It sounds as though the problem isn't her academic ability, it's that she struggles to learn and concentrate in a school environment. So far she has been able to compensate with natural ability / teaching herself at home, but that won't work for A level. I had a similar shock for A Level as I'd been used to zoning out in the classroom and then catching up at home, which had been easy up to GCSE!

If she has been sufficiently motivated to teach herself to GCSE and did well, I would seriously consider somewhere like Kings InterHigh which is an online sixth form and / or a once a week tutor.

If you have funds I would also consider getting a private educational psychologist to assess her to see if she will need any adjustments for university.

Those are very hard A Levels and the jump from GCSE to A Level is huge. I speak as someone who got 3 Bs at GCSE in Sciences and failed |A Level Chemistry - in the days when there was no A stars. Encourage her to be brave. Don't carry on with them unless that is what she really wants. She needs to find her passion. What is her end goal. I am now 48 and to this day regret that I didn't drop Chemistry A Level.

As other PP have said please tell her not to lose hope or put herself down. I got Ds at A level and scraped into uni. However, I finally learnt how to revise properly and ended up doing a PhD after years of thinking I wasn’t intelligent enough from my a level grades

But @Cakeonthefloor editing my answer up thread , are you sure she’s actually sitting external AS exams as I think most schools don’t do this

To reiterate one of the previous pps that was actually useful advice - there absolutely are apprenticeship which don't require A levels. Given further education doesn't seem suitable to your daughter, she should really do some research on those as I think on the job learning might suit her so much more.

They are in Wales

Whatever she has been told, she can continue into yr13. You need to speak to the head of KS5 or the yr12 pastoral head for further clarification about what support is available. Usually catch up groups or academic intervention.

Think carefully before doing a BTEC as a lot of universities don't accept them

Very, very few don't. BUT it depends what subjects. Dd did health and social care which was seen as a very much lesser qualification however when she had interviews for physiotherapy a few universities were really interested in it and she says it prepared her so well for uni and placements.

Applied Science is a good one.

Those are 3 difficult Alevels. I would do retakes and see how she does if she doesn't improve options are:

1 Start again in September with different subjects
2 Look at courses at the college which are equivalent to Alevels and she may be better suited to.

What ever reassure her this isn't the end of the world

When I did my AS levels we had January and June exams (I think they've stopped that now?) but I did so badly in the January exams in three of the four subjects I took. I just worked my arse off to pull them up when I retook the same exams in June and I did increase each of them by at least one grade. It was hard work studying the things we'd already learnt on top of the exams we were already going to be taking in June but doable

If I remember rightly with some of these STEM subjects you can keep retaking module exams until you get the result you need?

A levels aren't modular.

I'm sorry I'm sure you mean well but this comment would have really upset me and my dd at the time. It's completely untrue that it shows the OpS dd is unsuited tonfurther education. Those A levels are extremely difficult and with tutoring and her gcse profile she could definitely be looking at Bs.

Not RTFT. At the risk of being that person who jumps to neurodivergence... have either of you looked into adhd in girls? This is almost exactly what happened to me except a bit earlier than my personal crash and burn. I coasted through GCSE, wobbled at A level, the wheels completely came off at uni. I'm not medicated for what it's worth but I find different ways of working now that work with my brain v against it. There are lots of resources out there. It's probably not a factor but always worth considering.

A levels are hard, I was shocked how hard compared to GCSEs. And subjects like chemistry are the most difficult. I know she enjoys them but is it possible to switch subjects to something more manageable?

Exactly. It's all changed.

If she is interested in the Police could the BTEC in Public Services Level 3 work for her?

Equivalent to 3 A Levels and interesting mix of assessments . She could go on to Uni with it or it will help her get an apprenticeship.

Or change to biology, psychology and business and start again.

Biology is hard but not as hard as chemistry and that mix would give health care options at uni.

@Cakeonthefloor what is her attendance like at lessons? What have her mid term test results been like? What about end of term reports? Has she been completing homework?

If she is at an outstanding school/college, there will have been much earlier indicators that something was not going as well as you/she expected.

I think, like PP, you need to be honest about how engaged you have been with this - it sounds like she needs more support from you.

She can try to turn this round. If she wants to. But it will not be as easy as GSCEs. And turning it round may meen working hard to get decent retakes (first best option I would suggest) and then if that doesn't work think about resitting Y12/moving elsewhere/ a different path.

And not if she just says "I struggled to motivate myself" as the reason for the low grades. She needs to work out what/why this happened. Is the content too difficult? Maybe ask her teachers for books/resources. Or a tutor. Did she skip a few sessions, get behind, feel overwhelmed and then switch off? Has she always missed Mr Green's macro economics sessions as he has a bit of a dreary voice and all her friends have free periods, so she goes with them to Costa instead....leaving big gaps in her knowledge....(I work in school, it happens). does she get sucked into her phone instead of homework/revision.

I hope you sort it out, but she does need to be honest.

And please, please speak to the school. They will have seen this before and have some good insight into the next steps.

And there is nothing wrong with resitting Y12.

This is excellent advice OP

She wouldn't have her results yet, they won't come out till august. So it's more likely they are referring to mocks.

What does she want to do?

Ds bombed his AS levels, we have them in Wales. he resat the year and swapped out maths for a different subject. He realised that he needed to work much harder. Did well, has just completed his degree and will do a masters. It is possible to do well if if you feel over whelmed. He got straight A* at gcse so it was a big shock but also the shock he needed to do it better.