Lazy boy - year 12

[CAZ54]

Hi any tips please - my son is bright but does not work hard enough. He has just done his AS levels and wants to go to uni. How can I help/encourage him to work harder.

Not a lot it has to come from him. Hopefully he will find a uni he loves and realise he needs to put the work in to get the grades required.

My son is the same. He didn't do well in his as levels last year and ended up continuing with 2 and taking a further 2 as level subjects. He's just been to collect his a level results. Not done as well as expected 2 C's with 1 being remarked as 1 mark of a B . Ultimately he wants to go to uni to study history and has already said which university. I was expecting him to carry on to finish his other 2 A levels but he came in went up to his room and came back down after a few phone calls and said he'd spoken to the university he wants to go to and they've offered him a place to start in September.
I'm pleased for him and that he did it all himself( doesn't usually take the initiative) but it all seemed a bit too easy ...just hoping he works hard as it's not a cheap option!!
On another note...I'm in a total panic now as don't know where to start with what I need to do. I'm usually organised and methodical but wasn't expecting to do all this till next year.

Lazy boy - I have one of these! Unfortunately, I don't think there's a lot you can do once they are in Y12. The drive has to come from within.

My only tip would be to try to get him to feel successful in order to make success a self-fulfilling expectation - 'I feel successful, so I feel inclined to work harder, and as a result I become more successful, and that motivates me to work even harder...'

Going to uni is fine but a more specific goal might create more drive. Which university, to do what? Which career? What grades are needed?. If he doesn't know what he wants to do then get careers advice and psychometric tests to guide him. Consider wider than university perhaps.
If he lacks drive he might well go to university get huge debts and a poor degree that doesn't improve his life chances. If he dislikes study university might not be for him.
One of ours isn't lazy but in year 12 wasn't exactly driven around grades. He had already decided he wanted to go to Sandhurst and A levels seemed almost irrelevant.
Nagging got nowhere but offering rewards for A grades or above worked well. A decent payout for any A grade and nothing for anything less.
We also created structure by having a face to face tutor and online tutoring sessions. Between Christmas and New Year we decamped to Oxford so he could go to a crammer. He did the same for Easter. He got 121 tuition for 9 hours a day. He was residential for the Easter sessions.
He managed his 4As and went off happily to Sandhurst in the September. He's loved every minute, plays rugby for the army, has a degree that's been funded and not required much actual study. At 23 has bought his first flat. The academic qualifications are a safety net and would have given him options if he'd hated army life or was injured and had to leave. They also show he's not dim to promotion boards.
It does have to come from within but they can be helped to find 'it'.