A-levels started badly

clary · 15/12/2025 13:31

Which RG uni is he aiming for? Would it include COWI (highly rated for maths) – if so he will need to be gaining A stars really.

Or do you just mean generically "an RG uni – don't care which one"? If so there are plenty of excellent unis that are not RG (I would say Bath for maths is a much better shout than, for example, Cardifff, great tho Cardiff uni is).

That aside, it’s early in his sixth-form career. What do his teachers say? What GCSE grades did he get in maths and physics? Can he look at where he did badly in the tests and work on that? Is it that he doesn't understand the work? is he making careless mistakes? Is he not finishing in time? If you can drill down a bit this may be helpful.

Dual screening is super common for YP today but a more targeted revision schedule may help him. If he is targeting the top unis I mentioned then that may sharpen his focus going forward.

Octavia64 · 15/12/2025 13:47

He is completely correct.

it takes time for students to adjust to a levels. The first lot of topic tests are not indicative of actual marks

noblegiraffe · 15/12/2025 14:04

He needs to know that the first set of results aren't usually indicative of final marks because they provide a kick up the backside to pupils who weren't working hard enough for A-levels and have just been found out.

It should then be the trigger for them getting more organised and put more work in.

If he doesn't do this and just assumes his marks will improve by themselves, they won't. Students in this situation then find themselves screwed when it comes to the end of Y12 exams and are then stuffed when it comes to UCAS predictions.

DeQuin · 15/12/2025 14:09

DS panicked in Y13 just before Easter. We got a tutor in he worked his butt off and got his grades where he needed them to be. He had his eye on the prize by then, having looked at unis and courses and decided. I learned from this lesson and started open days with DD at the start of Y12. Both DS and DD did / doing same subjects as your DS.

DelinquentSnails · 15/12/2025 14:11

That doesn’t sound like a bad start to A-levels at all. As the previous poster said, it takes some time to adapt to the pace, especially with maths, students can go several grades, they probably won’t be getting A* at the beginning even if they end up with them.

Plus, there are multiple courses he could attend at Russell group universities even if he did get say, ABB. especially with an A in maths.

I’ve just taken my daughter through a levels and my second is in year 13, with a third in year 12. I’m sure neither of the older two were getting their eventual grade in the first term of year 12 so I’m very unbothered that my third is not at this point either. Their predicted grades do not come out for a while anyway and there is loads of time to improve.

As an aside, he may wish to consider carefully where he applies for courses as some universities prefer further maths as a fourth A-level, but his teachers would be able to advise about where looks more favourably. I am no expert and so please ignore me if I’m wrong, I just remember this on some of the entry requirement pages for courses my daughter was looking up.

noblegiraffe · 15/12/2025 14:15

Kids who get an A* in maths/fm usually do achieve high grades from the start.

CautiousLurker2 · 15/12/2025 14:38

Fightingspirit · 15/12/2025 12:53

My son in Year 12. He is aiming for a Russell group university.

He is taking Maths, Further Maths and Physics.

He got A, higher C and B respectively for the first set of tests.

My son is saying that these first results are not an indication how he will perform at the end of A-levels.

Someone reassured him some students are getting D at this stage and they can still show impressive results later on.

My son is revising quite a bit however is watching a lot of social media whilst doing so.

He declined the offer of private tuition by saing it is not "necessary".

I don't know what to make out of this situation.

Any ideas?

He’s right. My DS was scoring C/Ds at the start of Y12 having messed up his GCSEs. He got AAB in is AS levels at the end of Y12 and, now in Y13, is predicted A*A*A. (Maths, physics and economics).

Term 1 Y12 is an adjustment. So long as he understands where he is going wrong, what steps he needs to take to remedy it, I really wouldn’t panic. It’s a significant jump up in difficulty and assessment style in Y12 and many students need to learn about this, do lots of question practice, until it clicks. They don’t have to get 90%/A grades from day one and all the way through.

Original poster

Fightingspirit · 15/12/2025 14:44

Thank you so much to everyone who has contributed.

I won't be panicking then.

My son is a sensible boy. I am hoping his grades will pick up as he is revising

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CautiousLurker2 · 15/12/2025 15:09

My only add on would be to summarise the little TedTalk I gave both my kids about revision - you need to encode the data and practice the exam questions in the same conditions as you will be reproducing them. Ie, quiet, well lit desk, no podcasts/anime on screen.

There have been lots of studies, but one I remember in detail: they took a team of divers and taught group A under Water, and group B in a classroom. They then conducted exams on both groups in both locations. The findings were that the divers taught under water did better in the under-water exam conditions and the classroom divers did better in the classroom test. Been reproduced loads of times over decades and different cultures. Studying with noise and distraction, be it tech, noisy siblings or the neighbours’ building works, is detrimental to performance.

So… lounging on a bed reading the text or listening to gamers podcasts will not produce the same results as sitting at a well lit desk with no tech distractions.
:)

Original poster

Fightingspirit · 15/12/2025 15:13

CautiousLurker2 · 15/12/2025 15:09

My only add on would be to summarise the little TedTalk I gave both my kids about revision - you need to encode the data and practice the exam questions in the same conditions as you will be reproducing them. Ie, quiet, well lit desk, no podcasts/anime on screen.

There have been lots of studies, but one I remember in detail: they took a team of divers and taught group A under Water, and group B in a classroom. They then conducted exams on both groups in both locations. The findings were that the divers taught under water did better in the under-water exam conditions and the classroom divers did better in the classroom test. Been reproduced loads of times over decades and different cultures. Studying with noise and distraction, be it tech, noisy siblings or the neighbours’ building works, is detrimental to performance.

So… lounging on a bed reading the text or listening to gamers podcasts will not produce the same results as sitting at a well lit desk with no tech distractions.
:)

Edited

Thank you so much for sharing, I will let my son know.

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noblegiraffe · 15/12/2025 18:21

He also needs to know that he might have thought he doesn’t need to do loads of independent practice for his A-levels because he didn’t at GCSE and he still did well.

But at GCSE he will have spent an awful lot of lesson time practising and revising maths. That doesn’t happen at A-level, we have to power through new content in lessons. All that practice and revision that happened in lessons in Y11 now has to happen at home in sixth form.

Original poster

Fightingspirit · 15/12/2025 19:06

Thank you so much for your reply.

My son seems to be revising a lot. However, it is difficult to judge how effective it is as he is usually on social media as well. He is saying he is revising with friends so there is no argument to be had here.

It is very different from my days. My husband and I are hoping fo the best.

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Original poster

Fightingspirit · 15/12/2025 19:10

clary · 15/12/2025 13:31

Which RG uni is he aiming for? Would it include COWI (highly rated for maths) – if so he will need to be gaining A stars really.

Or do you just mean generically "an RG uni – don't care which one"? If so there are plenty of excellent unis that are not RG (I would say Bath for maths is a much better shout than, for example, Cardifff, great tho Cardiff uni is).

That aside, it’s early in his sixth-form career. What do his teachers say? What GCSE grades did he get in maths and physics? Can he look at where he did badly in the tests and work on that? Is it that he doesn't understand the work? is he making careless mistakes? Is he not finishing in time? If you can drill down a bit this may be helpful.

Dual screening is super common for YP today but a more targeted revision schedule may help him. If he is targeting the top unis I mentioned then that may sharpen his focus going forward.

Edited

Thank you so much for your reply.

I just had time to look at all the replies in detail rather than just scanning them

My son got 8 in both Maths and Physics for his GCSEs

He is vacilating between reading Maths or Economics. On some days he thinks of Engineering, however this is rare.

Can you recommend a good uni for both Maths and Economics please?

Also, what does "dual screening" mean?

Many thanks in advance.

OP posts:

AuntyBulgaria · 15/12/2025 19:40

DelinquentSnails · 15/12/2025 14:11

That doesn’t sound like a bad start to A-levels at all. As the previous poster said, it takes some time to adapt to the pace, especially with maths, students can go several grades, they probably won’t be getting A* at the beginning even if they end up with them.

Plus, there are multiple courses he could attend at Russell group universities even if he did get say, ABB. especially with an A in maths.

I’ve just taken my daughter through a levels and my second is in year 13, with a third in year 12. I’m sure neither of the older two were getting their eventual grade in the first term of year 12 so I’m very unbothered that my third is not at this point either. Their predicted grades do not come out for a while anyway and there is loads of time to improve.

As an aside, he may wish to consider carefully where he applies for courses as some universities prefer further maths as a fourth A-level, but his teachers would be able to advise about where looks more favourably. I am no expert and so please ignore me if I’m wrong, I just remember this on some of the entry requirement pages for courses my daughter was looking up.

Not sure I fully agree about the 4th A Level. If you are looking to do a maths focused degree then 3 a levels including maths and FM is totally fine in fact it is what they're after. For example UCL for data science actually asks for Maths and FM plus one other. As does Warwick - which is one of the tops unis for maths. (Warwick is good for Maths and Economics. My son has just got an offer for Warwick to study with Maths, FM and economics)

I think if you were looking non maths related degrees then that may be slightly different.

clary · 15/12/2025 19:44

Fightingspirit · 15/12/2025 19:10

Thank you so much for your reply.

I just had time to look at all the replies in detail rather than just scanning them

My son got 8 in both Maths and Physics for his GCSEs

He is vacilating between reading Maths or Economics. On some days he thinks of Engineering, however this is rare.

Can you recommend a good uni for both Maths and Economics please?

Also, what does "dual screening" mean?

Many thanks in advance.

Show quote history

Ah sorry dual screening is when someone is working on their laptop and also watching TV or scrolling on their phone at the same time. I'm not very good at it as I am old but my DC who are in their 20s are all experts at it.

Those are good GCSE grades so that looks promising, but not an automatic high grade. My DS took maths A level with an 8 and worked hard for his B grade.

Economics is very popular at uni – lots of excellent options but I would highlight LSE, Imperial, UCL, Oxford and Cambs obvs, Warwick, Bath, Leeds, Loughborough, Durham, among many others. Similar list for maths or engineering tbh. Two of those unis are not RG btw.

It's a bit unusual (tho not a deal breaker) that he is doing FM as one of three rather than four. (I know someone who took maths at Bath uni with Maths, FM and PE though.) But is is usual at his school not to take four with FM? I agree with @AuntyBulgaria that if aiming for a maths/econ degree the lack of a fourth is not going to be an issue. Just it is a very maths-focused selection is all.

clary · 15/12/2025 21:35

Meant to add @Fightingspirit that if he wants to study economics at LSE or Imperial, or maths at Bath, or most of the places I mentioned, he will need two A-stars and an A for any chance of an offer. So before he becomes too hung up on the list I offered he should consider that. Statistically an A or a B is a much more likely result from an 8 at GCSE than an Astar. By far the greatest % gaining an A star got a 9 at GCSE. Not saying it is impossible at all but just worth bearing in mind, And of course if COWI and the rest are not attainable, there are lots of excellent unis that will be.

rachrose8 · 15/12/2025 22:00

Maths teacher here - these grades are ok for the start of Year 12 but further maths in particular will get harder soon so lots of work needed to achieve a high grade. Make sure you do all homework to a high standard, and make revision notes for key strategies. Then work through past exam questions (use Physics and Maths tutor website).
Regarding being on Social media when revising - my advice is that it is much more effective to revise fro a shorter time with no distractions (so 40 minutes no distractions then 20 mins on Social media is much better than an hour working with distractions)

Original poster

Fightingspirit · 16/12/2025 10:38

Many thanks again to everyone who has contributed

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