Who is right? Me, DH or DD!?

[Vattie]

Can I just say, we are not controlling. Ultimately, it is DD's choice and we wouldn't take that away from her or tell her what she has to do. We are just trying to advise her.

DD is starting an access course next year in science and engineering (I think? Can't quite remember the exact title). She thinks she is more interested in the science, so may change it to just science before then.

She is 18 (hence can't do the course yet) and had been out of education since she failed her AS last year. She got a job in a supermarket and volunteered in shop for a charity. She has saved extremely well and hardly spends her money, so she isn't short for money (I think this is relevant in a sec). She only got Cs in her science for GCSE.

DH thinks she should use the last free year of education she has to retake that so she has the base of science sorted before moving forward.

I disagree and think that the access course will most likely cover the basics, etc.? Also, are GCSEs even funded if you have a C in them? I think she should pick up for shifts in her job until she does the course - hence saving even more money. She is a good saver and has a good few grand in the bank, she could easily save for a deposit on a bloody house!!

She thinks she should keep her 2 shifts and find volunteering opportunities. Things like animal rescue things in other countries... etc. and thinks it's a good thing to spend her money on!!!

Who is right??

[PainCanBeBeautiful]

Just to add, doing the course gives you GCSE equivalents and an A level equivalent so not sure why he thinks she should do another GCSE before hand which would render the course useless.

[PainCanBeBeautiful]

Haven't read the full thread.

If she is doing an adult access course then why would she need to do a gcse before she gets on it?

I'm going to be doing an adult access course soon that involves science and I have zero GCSEs as I was pulled from school so I'm not sure what point your husband is trying to make?

[AnnoyedByAlfieBear]

I did an access course about 10 years ago. It consists of level 2 and level 3 credits. Level 2 is GCSE equivalent and level 3 is A-level equivalent. I would say that re-sitting GCSEs is a total waste based on that.

[Fruitcorner123]

At my school that wouldn't fund her retaking if she has a C can't speak for everywhere but think that's the general gist of the thread. I think a combination of yours and her ideas is best. Some volunteering but some extra shifts as well.

[harderandharder2breathe]

If she doesn't want to work full time and her planned volunteering is two weeks abroad is there some volunteering she can do regularly locally? It all adds to the CV and looks less like a jolly than 2 weeks abroad.

[Vattie]

Yes she wants to study biological sciences at uni.

Her science teacher was gutted with her science results. Her prediction was Bs. Not sure what happened.

[rattieofcarcassone]

I would say that none of you are wrong tbh. Why doesn't she look at doing a levels independently? You don't need to pay r the courses just the exams. I was going to go for an access but have discovered that a good amount of unis who are good for engineering and science don't accept them (a lot do as well, but a levels give a better range of unis), so I'm doing some A levels independently instead. You may find an adult college locally who does them too if she wants to avoid 6th form. Are there other colleges around she could try?

[lottiegarbanzo]

Has she talked to her school science teachers about her performance at GCSE? Do they think she under-performed and had better potential? Or, not?

It is, at first glance, a surprising choice of direction, given her earlier results.

Perhaps make the point that, for example, conservation and healthcare charities need fundraisers and communications people, as well as scientists?

[tissuesosoft]

Didn't attach for some reason!

[OverOn]

It'spointless taking GCSE again - the C was enough to get her on the course. She'd benefit more from brushing up independently before the course starts, hiring a tutor or doing online work as PP have mentioned.

Whilst it's great to save money now for a house - she is only young. Two weeks away volunteering whilst keeping her job going isn't going to significantly change the course of her life, so I'd say that's a good thing to do. If she can pick up extra shifts too, she can keep the extra money to help in future.

[pink1173]

As a teacher at an Adult Ed college this is what I would say: normally if you have a C grade you would need to pay to retake the GCSE.

With the Access course it is demanding but we have adults that have not studied for a long time come to do the course which is very science based and cope well worth it. She will have to put the work in and do lots of independent study but hopefully she will have a better experience than when she was in school/ 6th form. Just because she achieved C grades should not rule her out of anything.

[tissuesosoft]

Attached photos of some examples.

[lottiegarbanzo]

Also, given what you've said about ASs, volunteering and travel, with various different groups of people, will increase her social confidence and perhaps of self-direction in life, enormously.

It's really valuable to discover that you 'click' with some groups, not with others. That that's partly just the way it is and, to gain confidence that you can choose - seek and recognise the ones that suit you, once you're in the bigger pond of uni, work and adult life.

[tissuesosoft]

I think you and your DD are right.
It may help if DD bought either GCSE or Applied science textbooks (you can get them pretty cheap online) so she can have a read through, have a go at the questions and refresh herself etc in preparation

[Kokusai]

I agree with DD

[BalloonSlayer]

I would be worrying about her doing an access to Science course with only Cs in Science. You don't get on an A Level course with Cs - someone with Bs would struggle, the step up is massive. I wouldn't see any difference with the course she is about to take, and rightly so, as the degree would obviously be an even greater step up.

[Birdsgottaf1y]

As said an Access Course fully prepares you to move onto a Degree.

It dependson what Degree she will be applying for, we were told that we had tohave relevant work experience and that counted more than A-Levels vs Access and GCSE results.

If you've got a firm idea of were you want to go, then you will stick it out.

Animal rescue would be useful if she was interested in Animal Science/Veterinary etc.

She should be allowed some fun, or she will burn out.

[Changebagsandgladrags]

Get her to look at some of the free online courses on FututeLearn, Coursera etc:

www.futurelearn.com/courses/categories/science-engineering-and-maths-courses?all_courses=1

There's this one: Getting a grip on mathematical symbolism

This course is aimed at those who aspire to study science or engineering foundation courses at university level.

Or: So you want to study life sciences

This short, free online course will introduce you to studying life sciences at university level.

We’ll take you on a whistle stop tour of the exciting world of life sciences, exploring the vast array of subjects within the discipline – from anatomy to zoology and everything in between, including immunology, cellular and molecular biology, genetics, physiology and parasitology.

[lottiegarbanzo]

Also, with things like diving - and further travel and volunteering - she'll have great opportunities to learn stuff like that while at uni, it's so well organised and 'on a plate' for you through uni societies. That would be a time when having some money in the bank could prove really helpful and be spent to good effect.

Doing a variety of voluntary experience, with different organisations, can give valuable insight into the world of work and how (sometimes how badly IME!) organisations are structured and managed, as well as covering a range of subject matter.

So often, I think experience can be as valuable for discovering what you're not interested in, as what you are. It's easy to carry fanciful notions on your head and in some cases, the sooner ruled out, the better.

[CheesecakeLlama]

I think it's fine for her to spend some of her money on a two week holiday, volunteering or otherwise, but what's she doing with her time when she's not working her two shifts/volunteering? I work in retail. I know it's very boring at times and customers can be frustrating but if she's not doing anything productive with her time, she might as well be earning money.

[MrsMeeseeks]

I'd encourage her to travel and volunteer, and I think she will be fine with the Access Course, providing it's a good institution. I did mine in 1996 and it was an excellent preparation for university.

[lottiegarbanzo]

There's no point re-sitting a C grade and, moving forwards is psychologically important, I think. If she wants to 'brush up on basic science' why can't she go over her GCSE material herself?

Also, read around a bit, go to the library and read New Scientist weekly. That won't give her basic concepts but will give wider context, direction of travel - and should be interesting to someone who wants to study science. Also, discovering over time which articles she does read, could give her useful insight into what she's actually interested in - it's easy to convince yourself you're interested in something you're not, really.

Though, even at university, you're going to cover a lot of basic building blocks and 'hard stuff' - quite different from reading snappy, accessible articles about new discoveries. (e.g. I thought I wanted to study genetics after reading The Selfish Gene and finding the concepts easy enough to understand. Couldn't easily / didn't want to learn to do the maths necessary to take genetics further than first year undergraduate level though).

She really needs to focus on the new course curriculum though, develop good learning habits and get support when she needs it. I think it's easy to 'get lost' with wider ideas about subjects, when what you really need to do is focus on the specific taught material, set books and past exam papers.

The volunteering is great - can be really strong on a CV later. Going abroad to do it is a jolly and a life experience - it is not of any greater value to the subjects of the work, than volunteering at home. From that perspective, she'd be more use much later, as a qualified professional.

[DancingLedge]

Has she had an exploratory interview with the access course providers? About what they are looking for to get on the course, and what they require/recommend as preparation? Could be very useful.If not willing/interested in studying to prepare for an access course, then would question whether access is for them.

If she's looking at a degree course afterwards, now is the time to ask Unis that she might be interested in about how they view access courses, because this does vary. .A lot. Also whether they take into account GCSE results, and whether they're interested in why the results are as they are.Some questioned this, others not.

Seems to me from one DCs experience, that some UNIs just treat access courses as a clean slate, others look at whole academic CV.

Not saying this is the case, cause I know some students can get into Oxbridge via access, but quite a lot actually go to some not very highly rated UNIs.What will their degree be worth?

Fwiw, overall view of my DCs access course, better preparation for UNI study,and quite hard to actually fail, but you've got to get nearly all distinctions to get accepted at lots of UNIs.

DC really enjoying it and more adult type study suits them better than school did.Is good option for many who for one reason or another didn't get on with it at school.

[BarbaraofSeville]

Is it something related to marine biology if she wants to do underwater research?

Can she dive? If not, now sounds like a good time to learn or gain more experience if that's the field she wants to enter.

I know a few teens who have grown up in diving families who are doing marine biology at university. It appears to be quite a competitive field but are there volunteering opportunities?

I think there is quite a focus on underwater litter picking so will googling find anything that combines diving, species counting or whatever and removal of underwater litter? Is there anything on the BSAC website, or any conservation ones.