How much study does your A level child do?

[Sarahcoggles]

I worked very very hard for my A levels, so I'm aware that I'm not typical myself, hence wondering what is "standard".

DS is in year 13, A levels in May - geography, history and French. He got BBC in mocks in November, and needs BBB in the real thing for his chosen university.

He didn't do a huge amount of work for his mocks, but obviously they didn't cover the whole syllabus, and were marked by his teachers.

Currently he does about half an hour study maybe 3 evenings a week, and about an 1-2 hours over the whole weekend.

I don't think that's enough to get BBB in those subjects. He keeps telling me that none of his friends do any more than that.

I'd like to know, if possible, what sort of hours other kids are putting in, to give me an idea of what is considered normal these days.

Thank you

Ds1 got AAA
He studied at least 2 hours each night and more at the weekends
The grade boundaries won't be as generous going forward

Was that right from the start of A levels, or from about now?

I think they were told to do as many hours out of lesson as they were in lessons, or maybe it was twice the hours out of lessons. Either way dd does probably do roughly that - so she has about two to three hours of lessons a day and does about two- three hours or so a day plus some on the weekend, although she does some of those hours during her frees. She is aiming for high grades though so might not be representative.

He always studied hard but from the start of year 13 really

He was very keen on a particular course at a particular university

The years 2020/21 have been CAGs amd TAGs then last year the grade boundaries were generous.

My Yr 13 son does pretty much exactly what yours does. I have virtually given up with all nagging anymore.

Irritatingly he has always had a knack of doing very little then pulling it out the bag at the last minute. Let’s hope that continues.

Quite common at gcses
Less do at a level
But what can you do?
Perhaps op your ds feels he's "almost there" with BBC?

@Chevyimpala67 Yes I can imagine. He needs AAB and did actually put in a tiny bit more effort in 1 subject to bump up his predicted grades for the mocks. Which has since ceased. But one day it will no doubt come back to bite him.

Yes I think DS thinks he's "almost there". And the teachers told them that students generally go up a grade from their mocks. Maybe so, but that comes from them generally working more. It's not some kind of magical occurrence!

From my experience there is no point at all nagging, been there and the only result at the time was to start driving a wedge between me and my son. There is the old saying you can take a horse to water but you cannot make him drink which is so true. They need to want to do it for themselves.

My DD has done some form of revision since mid Dec as she had mocks over last 2 weeks. I think she's done around 8 hours each week, including Xmas week She's used an app that acknowledges her revision studies by the amount of flowers, bushes and trees she's managed to grow in that time. She has A*AA as her provisionals given to her by her 3 tutors and needs ABB to get to her uni space. She does a lot of her revision in her free periods in school

Is he studying in day? They have frees. Mines yr 12 and think they recommend 4 or 5 hrs private study per subject per week. She’s doing 3 A levels and studying more than your son but is wanting top grades.

My son did about 4 hours a night for about 6 months last year, but he needed four A stars for Cambridge (which he achieved).

DD has mocks starting tomorrow and is doing about 4 hours a week...and is now stressing she hasn't done enough. I had tried nagging, gently encouraging, pushing hard - and she has resisted them all. It really has to come from them, so I hope that if her mocks don't go well, she will realise she needs to put more work in.

Dd is year 13 and I haven't got a clue. She manages her time between school, revision, sports commitments, training sessions, social life how she sees fit.
She is relaxed, her teachers are happy with her work and her grades are good. As a young adult she is taking ownership of her life choices.

My DD (Year 13) is in the middle of mock A Levels at the moment so is doing around 4 hours a day.

Usually she does 3 hours on 3/4 evenings per week, she works weekends and 1/2 evenings per week.

She would do more if she had time, I often have to insist that she has a break, she is hoping to get a place at Cambridge and is very determined to get 3 A*s.