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Education

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Original poster

A Level worry

13 replies

Tamrastarr · 27/04/2022 19:36

My DD has just received a very low mark for her A level mock and is so worried about the exam, which is in a few weeks. She has really struggled with this subject and her mark really does show a lack of understanding.

Her teachers, to date, have been helpful and she has had additional help, but it seems to do nothing. She just cant get it! She spoke to her teachers today and their advice was to find a different way to revise, which isn't a great help when she only has a few weeks left. She is talking about not sitting the exam and focusing on the other two and then taking it next year. But I think if she doesn't understand it now, how will an extra year, with no teaching, help her?

I have said to just take it and hope for the best, but I am not confident.

She isn't 100% that she wants to go to university, and she was going to defer a year anyway, but I think she feels that failing this exam will take that option away altogether.

Any advice, gratefully appreciated.

OP posts:

MrsHamlet · 27/04/2022 19:39

What's the subject?

Original poster

Tamrastarr · 27/04/2022 19:39

Philosophy

OP posts:

LIZS · 27/04/2022 19:45

What is the subject and how does she struggle? Can you afford any tuition? She could enter next year as a private candidate but the syllabus may change. Many schools/colleges won't allow her to resit one.

LIZS · 27/04/2022 19:46

Can she focus on the topics she does grasp, to enable her to do better in those questions. What grade does she need vs her mock?

MrsHamlet · 27/04/2022 19:46

Not my subject. But my advice would be the same regardless. Print the exam paper, the mark scheme and the examiners report. They're on the exam board website.

Tackle the first question. Then look at the mark scheme. In a different colour, add the bits she missed. Then look at the examiners report. It'll tell her what the best candidates did and what the main errors were.

Rinse and repeat with every available paper. That should help

SFisnotsimple · 27/04/2022 19:48

Weird! I’ve just seen a uni student advertising for A level Philosophy tuition - they have a couple of spaces. PM me for info if interested.

RedskyThisNight · 27/04/2022 19:50

DS did very badly in 2 of his A Level mocks and my solution is to become way more hands on that I would expect to be for a child of this age. I've (with DS) devised a revision plan that cover what topic he will do in each session and how he will revise during each session. I've hunted out lots of exam questions. He has a tutor in one subject and I sit with him quite a bit while he works on the other. Plus I get him to explain what he's learnt (this turns out to be a hard skill!). We are very much working on damage limitation at this stage though - he is not intending to cover the whole syllabus - he is ignoring things he really doesn't get on the basis that being able to do half the paper to some sort of standard is better than all of it badly. I also keep reminding myself that he never did GCSEs, so this is sort of new!

What has helped us is thinking that there are many routes to get to the same destination. DS's difficulties has shown that perhaps he isn't right for university -at the moment. So he is thinking about working for a year or maybe taking an HNC and then possibly considering university later. There's also the option of Open University or a Foundation degree if grades are lower - but a year or more out of education to think about what they really want and to mature can't hurt.

2DemisSVP · 27/04/2022 19:53

I found John Hospers’ Intro to Philosophical Analysis was brilliant intro to subject. (Used for pre-reading before Uni) Really simple explanation of main schools of thought. Has school library got a copy ?

Original poster

Tamrastarr · 27/04/2022 20:16

Thank you for your answers. She has had tutoring and it didn't really help her with this subject. Obviously it had to be on line and she said she would prefer face to face. Also, her teachers said this can actually make them a bit lazy as they always expect someone to nudge them along and they don't learn independent thinking, which I do tend to agree with. I'm not sure sitting with her and going through things would help either, I did offer this at the beginning and she was not keen.

OP posts:

Original poster

Tamrastarr · 27/04/2022 20:20

@SFisnotsimple Sorry, I'm not sure how to PM on MN😑

OP posts:

ChiswickFlo · 27/04/2022 20:42

Whats the actual issue?
Lack of understanding of the curriculum content?
Lack of exam prep?
If its the latter then as a pp said dkwbl8ad previous papers and mark schemes and really analyse what the examiners want to read in an answer.
If the former then the book the pp suggested would be a good start...

Ellmau · 28/04/2022 00:05

TBH if she's been struggling from the start of the course it may be a bit late to catch up now.

I think I would suggest she just does the best she can, and if she doesn't get the grades for her desired uni place, look at doing a different subject for a third A level next year.

What are the subjects she's doing better in?

Discovereads · 28/04/2022 00:37

I’d drop Philosophy A level altogether. Take the exams for the other two, and next year take a different A level that she can succeed at on a compressed schedule. It can be done when you’re only doing one A level. That’s how students do Maths & FMs…they do the Maths A level in one year and the second year the FMs A level. It can also be done online if her sixth form cannot hold a place for her or teach a compressed A level.

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