Alternative courses for post 16 if A-levels basic requirements not met.

[dream2017]

DD had her heart set on studying for a psychology degree but unfortunately she didn't get her expected GCSE grade. She wanted to do A-levels in English Language or Literature, psychology and biology.

She got a 3 for Maths, Science Combined 5-5, French 5, English Language 6 and literature 6.

She is absolutely devastated as she has never failed Maths and has either dropped 1 or 2 grades in each subject. As results she lost her place in two good sixth forms.

Derby College has offered her to either do a BTEC in health and social science or repeat the GCSE maths with option to add history and psychology. One sixth form is willing to allow her to do 2 A-levels in English Language and Literature with an option for either BTEC (ICT) or (Art and Design).

She was an in year applicant from overseas so had to drop History and Art and Design because of the differences in the syllabuses.

I thought she could consider the 2 A-levels with a BTEC option but I am not sure what degree or career option are available with the combination of subjects.

She is determined to go the academic route and doesn't want to consider an apprenticeship.

Any advice would be appreciated. Thanks

Psychology degrees do not require previous Psychology qualification for entry. However it would involve maths so she needs to work on retaking that at gcse and probably getting 6 or higher (look at a few degree courses and see what they specify).

Thank you for response. It's reassuring to know not all hope is lost.

My dd is interested in a psychology degree and they usually require a science A Level (can be Psychology though instead of a traditional science) as well as Maths GCSE. I haven’t looked at Btech requirements but I’m guessing either Health/Social care or Applied Sciences would be good options?

Funnily enough I was recently speaking to a psychologist who said of you want to do a degree in psychology don’t do it at a level but deffo have maths and a science.

Thanks, will look into BTEC Applied maths. DD will resit maths.

For psychology she could do a BTEC in applied science. She would need at least a 5 in maths for most Unis for psychology due to the statistics component in psychology degrees.

Has she had a look at the syllabus for English language? There are some really interesting modules including language development and language & gender. They may actually be helpful for a physchology application.

English language A Level and Btec applies science could be good options, and definitely resitting maths.

Psychology degrees have really loose entry requirements.

Health and social care extended diplomas have psychology and biology modules- your DD can take a degree in psych after.

Thanks for all your responses.

A friend of DD’s did psychology at Manchester University and didn’t do science or maths A levels. They did, I think, RS, sociology and psychology for A level.

BA or BSc?

I don’t know. Actually, they didn’t do RS, they did media studies, sociology and psychology for A level- good enough for a top university.

I’d guess a BA then - the BSc tends to be more for people who want to go into the field and BA is more for people who go into, say business.

I stared doing a (BSc) degree and there was a lot of stats (which I enjoy). I studied psychology as part of my first BA and it was definitely less stats and more learning about behaviour and development.