A Levels - how much studying?

[Cambazola]

DS is about to start A Levels (3 A Levels and 1 AS Level).

He's aiming for very good grades (As and A*s) and maybe even thinking of Oxbridge (has the intellect but maybe not diligent enough). He plays two sports so has training 4 nights a week and usually a match on one weekend day.

I'm trying to get my head around how much time he needs to devote to studying and whether its feasible/ possible for him to get a part time job. I'm also trying to work out how much pocket money he needs.

He has to stay at school all day even if no lessons so I'm hoping he might crack on with homework and studying then but not sure if extra is still needed in the evening and at weekends.

Can other A Level mums share their experiences with me.

Sorry - the pocket money comment wasn't very clear - I meant has he got time to get a job and therefor less pocket money or should we give him more pocket money on the basis that he spends his weekends studying.

At dds sixth form they expected approx 1 hour's independent study for 1 hour of lessons. There were 4.5 hours worth of lessons for each subject plus there were timetabled careers and tutor time as well as lessons.
So with all the sports activities I don't think he would have time for a part-time job in term-time.
Having said that I know several sporty types who have managed paid coaching younger children type jobs in the holidays.

Same as catslife - an hour of independent study per hour of subject taught. I think that is pretty standard.

DD was studying 4 subjects in year 12, and the lack of free periods menat that she had to do loads at home. Dropping down to 3 in year 13 made a huge difference.

She ended up with an A at the AS subject she dropped, and AAA at A level, but had to work her socks off to achieve this.

Thanks - the hour for an hour rule of thumb sounds good and easy to nag him about .

He has quite a lot of free time at school but not sure if it will be spent doing actual swotting or just chatting with friends (based on my own ancient experience).

Plus if he is considering university (especially Oxbridge) you need to factor in visiting universities for Open Days in Y12 as the application deadline is in October 2019.

What sort of time of y12 is that catslife for uni visits? DD has only just managed to pin down her A level subjects as of last Friday ...

There are university open days during September and October, then in June/July.

I would have thought the June/ July option sounds better for uni visits. Sept & oct - they have only just got their feet under the A level table.
Does anyone else find the whole thing a bit mental these days - in m day I just applied to a few unis. Visited if I got an interview and then just thought - ah well they all seem ok. Hope I get the grades.

My DS put in very little effort and ended up with As.
But it all depends on the subjects and the natural aptitude. Also it depends on how much you enjoy your subjects and it relies upon how well you perform on a set day so really there's a lot impacting end results!
I think rather than focussing on saying 'ok do X amount of hours', it's more important to study what you need to know and study when you feel productive rather than pushing yourself a lot. But as I said, that won't work for everyone. My DS and his friends did no revision until a month before study leave

For most Y12s the university options talks were approx March/April time. However if you were considering Oxbridge or medicine there were support groups with talks etc from after half term in Y12.

"My DS put in very little effort and ended up with As."

Not so stealth boast there

DD worked her socks off to achieve AAA
You know just how to belittle other children's efforts don't you

My DS put in very little effort and ended up with As.
My DS and his friends did no revision until a month before study leave.
That's really unusual molehill. I notice you haven't mentioned which subjects your ds took and neither have you mentioned how recently the exams were taken. For the new reformed A levels it isn't really possible to guarantee this sort of result with little apparent effort.

If thinking Oxbridge consider the summer schools.
Mine did varying amounts of work. Eldest was very diligent but also did Orchestra, Fencing, Youth Parliament and sailing. Not much party time or chilling though. She was very determined about good grades and would have been disappointed with less than 4As (no A stars when she took them). Luckily she surpassed that.
My son was less diligent. He preferred messing about in the common room to hard work. This meant he had to spend his holidays at a ‘private tuition college’ and we invested in tutors to structure his A2 year. He did get his grades but it was much harder for us.
Our youngest did IB so not comparable and all the work was done by the boarding school she attended. She got a high IB score (43) but had to work jolly hard for it.

I think it’s no use relying on natural brightness at A level and beyond. A good work ethic is as important and needs encouraging rather than allowing the bare minimum and just good enough results.

DD is doing 3 art A levels and has been advised by her college to look at it as a 9-5 job. They are however very practical based and she is aiming to produce a scholarship portfolio alongside the assessment work.

catslife DD took her A levels this year, and they were the new linear ones. Geography was a completely new spec, and she didn't even have past paper questions to practice on so I think she did really well to get an A.

My dd took A levels in 2018 too. One subject was still the AS/A2 system, but this is not longer possible for new A level students in any subject.
dds sixth form didn't allow students with low effort levels to even take study leave - they had to come into college until they finished their exams.

I'm wondering if the amount of work depends on the subjects. Years ago I did science and maths and a lot of marks were dependent on understanding the concepts and being able to apply them. So if you were bright you could get away with less hours with your nose in a book.

DS is doing History and I imagine that requires more reading around the subject and remembering facts. Based on his GCSEs the "do X hours" approach works well for him - he sometimes has an over inflated idea of how much he knows and is a bit disorganised so being forced to sit down and focus on something really helped.

I think you may be right to a certain extent. The marking of humanities subejcts is very subjective whereas science and maths are either right or wrong.

DD doesn't "get" stuff straight away and needs a bit more time to process new information. She found chemistry very hard and was getting Cs at first. In her case it was very hard work and a very supportive chemistry teacher that enabled her to achieve a high A.

Conversely her bright, but perhaps a little complacent, boyfriend ended up with ABB and fluffed Oxbridge and his insurance choice, the B grades being for history and English literature.

I’m reliably informed Chemistry is the hardest subject to get an A in closely followed by a Physics. I think the idea they are easier comes from them being the preferred subjects of some very bright youngsters.

"I think the idea they are easier comes from them being the preferred subjects of some very bright youngsters."

That makes sense. Am I right in thinking that the subjects that people take because they don't know what to take tend to be humanities subjects?

I don’t know but I can see the advantage of doing IB with a wider subject spread where you’re uncertain where you want to go after Sixth form.

For DD taking humanities was a positive choice, rather than because she didn’t know what to do. The workload is huge as there is always more that you can do.

However I think its unhelpful to try comparing who’s exam is hardest, for those lucky few who learn and retain information quickly the exam will always be easier, regardless of the subject.

I know the workload is huge error. DD took geography, and the NEA took up so much time and blood, seat and tears

Her chemistry and biology homework was easier in terms of just having to answer straightforward questions, but harder if you didn't understand them or know where to find the answer.

Ds worked very hard but had a good work/life balance. He had a part time job....16 hours a week ( 2 evenings and 9-5 Sunday.
He was in school at 7.30am most mornings...he found he could get lots done then. Saturday was his "free" day...he played football, relaxed, partied and went to lots of gigs. Oh and drank a fair bit.
He is very motivated...I never had to ask if he had done all his work.
Got A*s and As but definitely put in the hours.