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[Dontbescaredlittlebear]

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Sorry this may be long and convoluted!
DS has just finished his first year of an extended sport BTech working at DMM.
So my first question is: what does this mean? Is it a prediction? Does it reflect individual modules? Can it be improved significantly in the next year?

He is attending a football academy - is sort of sub-elite standard, lots of trials but not picked up by a big club - and is thinking of staying on for an extra year to take an A-level or two. He originally wanted to do A-levels but his GSCEs were not as expected (first broken heart) and decide he was fit for nothing and went where he felt wanted.

So second question: would he be better just concentrating on getting his BTech up or would an A-Level help uni applications?
He is considering a sports psychology degree and thinks a psychology A-level will help.

I’m not sure it will and if he wants to do extra he should consider English or History (his favourite and best grades in GCSEs, 7 and B)

So what do you all reckon - stick or twist? And in which direction?

Obliviously, I ABVU!

What is he thinking of doing post A levels? I teach BTec’s so the DMM would be distinction merit merit effectively equivalent to A C C at A level. The institution won’t claim the grades until he certificates so there is normally time built into the schedule for improvements although it will depend on the institutes grades. I’d say there was little point in adding other A levels into the mix afterwards as he would just be extending time at the same level unless he wants them for a specific career?

Ah apologies I’ve just seen he wants to do sports psychology. I’d advise then he looks up possible courses and speaks to admissions tutors to see what entry requirements are. A level psychology won’t be a pre requisite. I’ve had lots of students going on to good university courses with the Btec qualification so it would seem sensible to me for him to speak to college about what he can do to boost his current grades to DDM or even DDD and then go straight into university

If he is considering university, I’d suggest he has a look at the entrance grades for courses he would potentially be interested in and gauge whether the BTEC is sufficient or whether he would need A Levels as well - it will depend on the course and the university.

I work in Further Education with experience of BTEC but not sport.
Firstly, he needs to look at the entry requirements for the Degree programme to find out whether he will be accepted with BTEC Sport. Also check the GCSE Maths and English requirement - subjects with Psychology often ask for Maths at higher than C. DMM could be a predicted grade - year 1 modules would not be upgraded - he needs to work hard and aim for all Distinctions in year two. Overall he would be better finishing what he has started and complete the BTEC.

Thank you all.
With have just been through the unis offering sport psychology and they all, apart from Loughborough and John Moores, the Oxbridge of sport science, list DMM or 112 UCAS points.
We didn’t think to check the maths requirement - assumed C would be OK - so thanks teaonthelawn we’ll double check.
Only Loughborough want an additional A-level, but I suspect DDD will be enough of a stretch for him
I’ve suggested he email a couple he likes the look of and see what they recommend too, but it seems the concensus is that he concentrates on improving his BTec grades.

Thank you again - now I just have to hope he doesn’t dig his heels in over the A-level just because I’ve said it might be best

Teaonthelawn if you have the time or inclination can you explain how the BTec grading/assessment works, please. His college like to treat them as adults so no parents evening and I just don’t get it!

With BTEC work if you look at an assignment there are tasks that you need to do in order to get a pass, and extra tasks that you need to do to get a merit and if you've done all of that there are extra tasks that you do to get a distinction.

It's up to the individual how much they do to determine what grade they get.

Thanks sugar. So can he do the extra tasks across the two years or do each of the modules have their own deadlines?

I think each module has a deadline, but I think they can be made up at the end of the year. I don't think you can finish year one work in year two though.
Each module has to be passed but each module has a pass, merit or distinction. So if for example your son did the bare minimum, got his work in on the deadline and passed he might be able to complete the tasks later in the same year that would give him a merit or distinction.

So how do they work out the final three grades? He has DMM now after his first year, how does he get those up? Rarely have I felt so stupid!

DMM is more akin to A B B. It goes: Distinction (A) Distinction (A) Merit (B) Pass (C).

That's how ours were, anyway. He's doing really well at DMM.

Thanks MsFrizzle but how do they assign each grade? It’s not three separate subjects and there seems to be way more than three modules! Argh!!

Honestly, I did a BTEC in Animal Management and got into university off of the back of it (with PPP - health issues abound, even through uni, ruined my damn grades because I just don't coursework/test well!) and I'm not entirely sure how they calculated our final grades. I know for each assignment/piece of coursework we got we would be graded on D*/D/M/P so maybe they round them all up somehow?

Are there some areas he's weaker in than others? All he can really do is revise and research well for his assignments. It CAN be improved significantly, but only if he's able enough.

If he completes his BTEC he won’t be able to do stay on and do A Levels as he already has a Level 3 qualification and therefore won’t be funded for further Level 3 qualifications (which A Levels are)

Each BTEC unit is given a grade, which equates to a number of points (not the same as UCAS points) and at the end of the course, the final grade comes from the overall number of points. If you wanted to look up the specifics, it’s all on the Pearson website though you’d need to know exactly which BTEC he’s taking as they’re in a period of change at the moment and some are on NQF qualifications whilst some have moved to the new RQF ones. That will then tell you how many units he’s taking and how the grades work. I teach Level 3 BTEC Performing Arts and we’re on the new version so my kids do 13 units over two years and the points add up and turn into 3 grades. Old version was 18 units but they differ by subject.

He should be fine to get into university with his BTEC, assuming he wants to go into a related area. The UCAS website has all of the info he will need.

Is he with a VLUK centre?

I think I’m getting there! So the points across two years are taken, with some weighting, and then the grade created which equates to that score. Is that right?
VLuk? Don’t confuse me any more than I am Eviltwin

I didn’t realise that about the level 3 limit, so thank you for that. That’s probably the dealbreaker, that nullifies all your kind efforts to educate me!

Yes that’s right about points and grades.

VLUK is an education provider that does the kind of thing your DS does so I wondered if he was on one of their courses!

Quick update: I am now fully informed on my son’s education - only a year late!
And after some googling and a conversation over the weekend DS has decided to concentrate on the BTec, is confident he can add at least another D, and will be considering a couple of universities for summer open days.
So Thank you all for your thoughts and time

Just to add my two pence worth, you say your son didn’t excel at GCSE so just make sure you/he really investigate each psychology degree course as it’s a science subject and some courses require a high level of maths skills.

DS was rejected by Bristol for not having maths A level despite having fantastic grades. He was disappointed but with hindsight it was an excellent rejection as he’d have struggled big time.

Matilda on the advice of teaonthlawn we checked the maths GCSE requirements of the courses DS fancies, and they all just said grade 4. But we’ll definitely double check when he’s got a shortlist together. Thank you