DS Struggling with A Level Physics

[Icequeen01]

My poor DS is so low today. I have posted here previously about him not wanting to go to university as he is a real home boy but, thanks to some advice on here, we took him today to an Open Day at our local university, which he could commute to each day, and he has actually found a Business Management course he is really interested in doing. He will need AAB for this course and this is the problem. He is taking 3 A levels, computing, business studies and physics. He is predicted A or A* for business and A for computing. Physics, however, is a different story.

When he first decided on physics the then Head of Physics said he would be very happy to have him on his A level course and the teacher reassured us DS was more than capable of achieving a decent grade. My DS really liked him for O level and was looking forward to having him for A level and, if I'm honest, I think he was one of the main reasons he wanted to do physics as my DS has to feel comfortable with his teacher. Unfortunately, this Head of Physics left before DS started his A level and a new teacher taught him who was utterly useless. The school eventually sacked this teacher due to many complaints from parents. Unfortunately, the whole class is now about 6 months behind and struggling to catch up. They had their first end of year exam yesterday and they were all unable to answer half of the questions. DS is convinced he will get a U.

After finding a degree course he is really keen on (and this is a huge turnaround for DS in that he is even even considering going to uni) DS is now feeling completely worthless as he feels he will not be able to get a B in physics. I feel like we set him up for failure today by raising his hopes only to have them shattered again.

We have talked to him this afternoon and said we will find him a tutor and he seems keen on the idea and I also think that having something to aim at now might give him a bit of a push. Do you think a tutor would be a good idea? Has anyone had to use one? Any other advice would be gratefully received!

I do think what you need is a kick-ass private tutor. They should be fairly easy to search for online in your area. Hopefully you can interview a few and find someone who is more Brian Cox and less jobsworth physics teacher.

Basically you need someone who can reignite that spark that your ds had for the subject and make it come alive.

Slightly different situation, but I owe my maths GCSE entirely to the wonderful private tutor my parents hired a couple of months before my exams. My goodness, my 16 year old self simply couldn't believe that the dry, impenetrable subject that had been taught to me (or rather not taught to me) for 5 years by a dreary old maths teacher was the same subject that had me completely hooked for the few months I was being tutored.

As he is keen, then a good tutor would be worth their weight in gold.

dd had similar - loved physics up to GCSE, found it a doddle also. Was completely knocked sideways by A-level physics and found the teacher completely unable to explain things to anyone who didn't 'get it' the first time through.

In Yr13, an absolute hero of a teacher at her school has virtually been tutoring her each week after school - not literally, she offers help to any student who would like it, every week after school at physics club, but it turns out my dd has often been either the only one there or one of just 2 or 3 students, so it is like a free tutoring session. dd has downloaded practice papers, and done them at home, then gone through all the bits she's 'not got' from Yr 12, with this teacher, alongside anything she has needed to ask from Yr 13 / current work (which wasn't a lot as she didn't have the Yr12 teacher again). Her average marks have more than doubled between Sept and March, and her confidence soared.
It would be SO worthwhile you getting him help if he is also keen to put the work in. I totally would have paid very good money to see the change in her, and the opportunity to be able to do the course she wants from September.

Also play around with the UCAS Offer Calculator:

www.ucas.com/advisers/offer-rate-calculator/

It's a UCAS tool that gives you the percentage likelihood of being made an offer with any given set of predicted grades.

Thank you for your replies and it is reassuring to hear that you think a tutor could be the way forward. We went online last night and have found one we like the look of so have emailed him. Hopefully we will be able to arrange a meeting first so can check that DS likes him! If DS likes him we will be half way there! He really likes to "bond" with his teachers and if he doesn't get on with a teacher you really notice his grades drop.

My heart is still breaking for him. I didn't mention this in my last post as it would have been too long but yesterday also shattered one of his other dreams which was to take computer science. He would need an A or A* in physics to get onto that course which realistically will not happen. It was as though all his hopes were shattered within two hours. I know he could probably find another course in a different uni but as he is a home bird there are no other options for him other than our local university.

He has also talked about an apprenticeship and this is also something we will be looking into although good ones are highly competitive so he will still need to get his grade up in physics.

I only passed one of my A levels because of an excellent tutor. If you can afford it, it's probably worth it.

Also, a friend's DD got slightly lower grades than predicted, but still got offered a uni place because the uni had to offer places to a certain percentage of "tier 3" colleges. I'm sorry I don't have any more info, but might be worth finding out if that could be an option.

You could also look at whether the uni offers an HND version of the course - the entry requirements would be lower that for a full degree.

Your poor ds. A good tutor will help him- test a few to make sure he is getting what he needs, and most importantly restore his confidence. Dd was predicted history a and came out with a U on one paper( as did most of her class)A brilliant tutor helped her achieve an A*. There are excellent on line resources but the confidence matters most.
Aapprenticships may be an option too... but the confidence matters most.

These are such reassuring posts and when DS has recovered from yesterday I will tell him about your success stories. Hopefully that will give him some hope. He has his second physics exam on Tuesday and I just asked him why he isn't revising. He just said 'how can I revise if we haven't covered half the stuff'. I guess that's a fair point!

In case he is interested in the HND option, there is one place on this link www.whatuni.com/hnd-hnc-courses/search?subject=business-management&pageno=2 that requires 120 UCAS points, and another that only requires 64. 2 As and a D would get him 120 points.

Does he enjoy maths too? Improving a physics grade is sometimes about filling some gaps between GCSE maths and the maths requirements of the physics syllabus. (As an aside, this is why many schools don't encourage physics A level without also doing maths.)

Also, given that he's still only year 12, he wouldn't need to go away to university for more than two years, with a gap year. Teenagers change so much in two years that I'd encourage him to keep his options open. Perhaps aiming to apply for the local university for next year, but a plan B of gap year and universities within an hour's travel time (or whatever) the following year.

Although keeping options open with apprenticeships too isn't a bad idea in itself, I think that the way your son thrives from learning from/spending time with people he trusts means that the time to learn and grow at university might ultimately suit him more than going straight into apprenticeship/work.

icequeen01, I've sent you a PM.

Also get him doing the free Isaac website physics problems/learning at isaacphysics.org

That will help him to regain his confidence by practicing physics skills from GCSE to A2 level

I thought I would give you an up-date as you were all so helpful. Following the advice you all gave we did some research and appear to have found a really great tutor for DS. DS went to meet him for he first time tonight and really liked him - so that's half the battle.

DS's prediction that he had completely failed his end of year exams in physics was not an exaggeration. This is down to a complete lack of confidence, a sense of 'what's the point' and laziness on his part. The tutor also said he could tell that DS's confidence was so low he had almost shutdown. When the tutor went through his exam paper there were questions that DS had not tried to answer but when the tutor coaxed him a little DS realised he did know the answer and appeared shocked by this!

We have talked to him tonight and told him we are willing to pay the not insignificant amount of money for the tutor as long as he is willing to put in the work. It was a difficult conversation as we have told him there will be restrictions on his gaming and social media which DH and I both feel has not helped.

I think the realisation has hit DS tonight that this is not a quick fix and he now needs to knuckle down. I think it is going to be a tough time for him (and us!) but fingers crossed as his confidence grows he will find his mojo!

What a great update. So glad you have found him a tutor who can boost his confidence- but as you say he needs to do the work too, but having someone to believe in him will help massively

Brilliant update. Best of luck to him and you x

I missed this update. It all sounds very positive, Icequeen01, and I do hope it helps to rebuild his confidence. And you are SOOOO right to restrict the gaming and social media ...