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.

She won't leave with AS unless she is specifically entered and taught that syllabus. Iirc Access courses are for over 19s and not necessarily funded.

Be careful with BTECs and vocational courses if you’re looking at Oxbridge, though. The view is that the vocational courses don’t prepare the candidates for the depth and pressure of academic study - I know one doesn’t accept them at all.

Has something happened? I would want to dig into why such a good student has collapsed in this way?

The child has just got three Es in her Mocks. She isn't looking at Oxbridge

This!
So common for students who have done well at GCSE's to assume they will sail through A levels doing the same level of effort, to find that this is not the case. A levels are much harder and this should be the wake up call to knuckle down. Maths and chemistry are particularly hard and many struggle in the first year but with perseverance it mainly clicks in the second year and they improve considerably.

She needs to speak to her teachers to identify where she is going wrong and ask for help. Stop beating herself up about the results, but do something.
If she really is struggling to understand the content in maths or chemistry, then maybe consider finding a tutor if you can afford it.

My son is doing applied science BTEC he loves it - was border line for A Levels but now top of his class - thinking about either uni or apprenticeship after it - highly recommend

Which is exactly why l hope my very bright but struggling ASD daughter switches from A levels to a Btech

Oxford need to be less snobby about their entry requirements. Level 3 qualifications are all meant to be level 3. Ergo equal.

She hasn't done her actual AS levels. Results for those are out in August and there are no resits.
She has done end of first year school exams.

If she isn't motivated to study there is no way on earth she could teach herself a levels.

I'm an a level science teacher - with those GCSEs she is perfectly capable of getting decent a level grades. However she needs to be doing 3-5 hours study a week outside of lessons per subject. Homework, recapping content, making revision resources (flashcards, summary sheets etc) and practising past exam questions. Physicsandmathstutor.com is a fab resource and divided up by specification and then topic.

What has she been doing over half term study-wise? The only way to get these a levels is to work hard, so she needs to decide if that is what she wants. She could easily make up the grades by working her socks off between now and sept.

+1. Not a girl (!) but this is exactly DH's profile and he recently got an ADHD diagnosis (which was a no brainer according to the psychiatrist).

Can you get her a study skills tutor? The leap after GCSE is not only the academic content being harder and more in depth but the planning and prep around breaking down topics for revision, time management etc. Does she feel it's that side that has impacted her results and overwhelmed her or the subject matter itself being too difficult?

Sorry your daughter is going through this, but I just want to hopefully comfort her a bit by saying it is so common for students to go through this at some point in their education. I.e. coast through GCSEs with litte effort and then hit a wall in their A levels or maybe the first year of their degree. For me it was a matter of figuring out how to make that step up, getting some self discipline (but having balance in my life) and learning how to learn things I didn't immediately understand. What worked for me was sitting with a good friend (who was very self disciplined) and going through class notes, and really understanding what we were being taught, and explaining it to each other, and especially sorting it out if we both interpreted differently. Naturally what works for one person is not necessarily what works for another, but I suggest trying different things.

She is so young and it is so normal to hit one of these hurdles, and maybe she decides to go in a different direction in the long run and that's fine. I ended up doing two degrees and having a lovely social life at the same time (while hitting a few more walls along the way). Big hug and I wish her the best.

Sorry that was in response to ADHD being suggested!

If she’s not motivated on subjects that were her favourites, that’s a red flag for her being in the same situation in a year’s time.
So something new is needed, perhaps.
And, a bit of tough love in terms of a reality check, perhaps. If she need A levels for the apprenticeships she’s only interested in, then she needs to do A levels or realign her ambitions with what she is prepared to do.
As a PP has said, I think you mean she has had mocks, for which the subjects used AS papers, so this could be a warning shot and she could carry on. I have some nice stories here about students who have turned it around, but they really knuckled down in that second year.
Also, I’m not sure the school can kick her out if she’s passing…and “E”s are a pass… they could advise her, but not eject her.
One student I know had been receiving “D”s for a subject taught he experienced staff, so their marking will have been on point. Her final grade was not only an “A” but the highest in the cohort. There is SO much help online for the subjects your DD is doing and, if she decides to continue, I would suggest printing out the exam specifications (you’d need to know the exam board and then go onto their website). There will be a load of unnecessary admin stuff in the specs, but there will also be the specifics of what needs to be covered. Then, perhaps, the internet and a private tutor will be your friend!
But if the motivation has gone, then L3 apprenticeships with a view to then moving to L7 apprenticeships (degree level) could be possible.
She might also need a gentle head-wobble!

@fancreek AS levels do still exist . My son took one recently in a none A level subject . The difference is they no longer have to sit AS levels so most schools don’t offer them

Well they're not equal clearly, A Levels are harder. Thats like saying all undergraduate degrees at all universites/colleges are the same level of difficulty which of course they're not. They're simply both post GCSE qualifications. They're different and different things suit different people. Fortunately for those taking the vocational qualifications, many universities do accept them. The transition to very academic, exam assessed degree courses can be a struggle though.

The point is it's a different route which might suit her better. It certainly suits my DN better and will probably suit my DS2 better.

But they are all defined as level 3. Not ‘Level 3 but A levels are better’

Oxbridge needs to get off its high horse. I loathe qualification snobbery.

Happened to my daughter. She switched to fast track one year BTECs for Y13. Got enough ucas points for uni. Left with a first class degree. There are countless uni degrees with limited exams...some people who are very able just cannot perform in exams!

My niece (in the middle of A level exams at the moment) took AS levels at the end of last year and got grades.

OP, teaching herself the second year of A levels, especially in those subjects, is not an option. I think what has hit your daughter hard is how much more difficult A levels are compared with GCSEs.

I found the jump from GCSE to A Level harder than the jump to a degree. I did sciences GCSE I found easy, almost common sense. Easy to learn to pass and exam from a study guide. Sailed through with great grades.

A levels a completely different kettle of fish- she will not be able to teach herself them. I failed mine but passed with reasonable grades on resits. Let her do the resits and see how she gets on. It is a completely different how you have to apply yourself for A Levels and me, and a few of my pears flunked the first few exams. But then managed to get pass with good grades on resits

The method of assessment in vocational qualifications is completely different to the Oxbridge method of assessment, though - this is their point. I don’t think there’s anything snobby in it. They don’t, for example, want candidates who have a clutch of excellent A levels sat in different years because that candidate’s experience does not reflect the exam pressure they’ll face at Oxbridge. They don’t want students arriving and then not coping.
That’s not snobby - it’s reasonable.

Those are very hard A levels, self - teaching will be incredibly difficult.

either - get her some tutors now and see how she does, or change subjects.

I went to a very academic school (always top in the Times) we had the syllabus covered by the Jan of the second year and did practice papers for the actual A levels and I was one of the few that got an A in the Economics. I studied hard and did lots of practice essays and multiple choice as well as attending a night course for the Economics!

Just because they're both level 3 qualifications does not mean they are equally difficult. That's like saying all A Levels are equally difficult. They're not, even if they're supposed to be.

The issue with vocational courses is the skills. Essay writing for example is difficult to avid in most degree courses and many entering with Btecs won't have honed those skills to the same extent as those writing A level Essays (if at all with some courses).

Universities can ask for whatever they want. They have thousands applying for their courses. They need to filter somehow. Oxbridge is not as much about teaching as enabling students to go out and research their area of study and then discuss. Its a very particular learning environment which only suits some people.

I know how they are assessed, I’ve taught both.

They don’t, for example, want candidates who have a clutch of excellent A levels sat in different years

Because every student never has issues that may knock them off the previous 2 year course.

Oxbridge. Pah!🤢

Oxbridge?? There's more to life than Oxbridge.

But fwiw the University of Oxford DOES accept them alongside A levels.

I taught various level 3/A levels for 25 years. Oxbridge gets on my tits with its attitude.

If it’s becoming more equal🤔it needs to accept students from a wider variety of educational backgrounds. Not the special few who get through A levels in 2 years with no problems.