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Further education

You'll find discussions about A Levels and universities on our Further Education forum.

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Original poster

How do you go about resitting A levels?

39 replies

igivein · 26/11/2023 10:40

DS is in year 13 and the A levels aren’t going well - predicted DDD. He wants to do a physics degree, but the lowest requirement we can find for that is BBB, so unlikely to get any offers.
We talked about a foundation year, but he now says he’d rather do a gap year and then either apply with grades in hand if by some miracle he does well, or resit next year and try to improve. His teachers say the problem isn’t that he’s not bright enough, it’s that he’s not putting the hours in. I’m inclined to agree and think falling flat on his face might be the shock he needs to get his finger out and do some work.
so if he needs to resit, how do we go about it?
He’s currently at an independent school and I think a change would do him good. We’re fairly rural so options might be a bit limited. Do we just ring around sixth forms and see if they’ll take him? Can he even enrol at a state sixth form when he’s ‘completed’ his education? He’ll still be 18 if he resits (late August born).
Any advice gratefully received…

OP posts:

Rummikub · 29/11/2023 19:25

Sorry got it DDD.

He could take a gap year then go to an Access course. You can do maths/ physics.

Does he know what he wants to do with a physics degree? And why is he ruling out foundation year?

LIZS · 29/11/2023 19:36

An Access course won't be funded though, as he will technically have completed level 3. So he may as well do a foundation year.

sardinesatemysandwich · 29/11/2023 19:59

@igivein Could he drop back into year 12 now so that he goes back over what he did which will help him cement the content and then do year 13 in September 2024. That way he would improve his base level. As he is in a fee paying school this might be easier to negotiate than if he was at a state school.

What GCSE grades did he go in with? How many free hours does he have in the day? Ds has free periods even with 4 A level subjects. What time does he come home and what time does he go to bed? How many hours on the weekend does he have free? Add all of those up and he can see how much free time he does have that he could choose to study in.

Personally I would go for the option of going back into year 12 if they will allow it.

Bunnyannesummers · 29/11/2023 21:08

LIZS · 29/11/2023 19:36

An Access course won't be funded though, as he will technically have completed level 3. So he may as well do a foundation year.

He can get an advanced learner loan for an access course

LIZS · 29/11/2023 21:15

@Bunnyannesummers , yes but by then he may as well do a foundation year or apprenticeship.

SausageAndEggSandwich · 29/11/2023 21:19

He can resit and do another Y13 but he'd only get 1 year of funding at state.

Crammers are still a thing aren't they? If he's already at independent then another year of fees somewhere intensive might be worth a try?

Boomboom22 · 29/11/2023 21:27

Def drop down to yr12 again now if he cam, preferably in a state school as a late entry. Not college.

Rummikub · 29/11/2023 22:01

Fees for Access are around £3-4K so a lot less than a foundation year. Also an advanced learner loan for Access is written off once the degree is finished.

CormorantStrikesBack · 30/11/2023 07:08

Rummikub · 29/11/2023 22:01

Fees for Access are around £3-4K so a lot less than a foundation year. Also an advanced learner loan for Access is written off once the degree is finished.

Yes a foundation year is 9k fees plus the costs of accommodation and living costs. So be looking at maybe 20k per year. Some of which will be covered by student loan but probably not all. Like a pp said the Access course loan will be written off if he goes to uni.

Rummikub · 30/11/2023 08:27

And completes.

savoycabbage · 30/11/2023 08:36

curaçao · 27/11/2023 02:37

I think you can get 3 years of FE fundung, si he should be good to repeat year 13, but this whole idea is bonkers.He still has 5 or 6 months to improve his grades! It isnt like a fruit machine where you hope you might get lucky next time.why do you think he would suddenly work hard.you are doing him ni favours kicking the can down the road like this

I agree. I'd have rolled my eyes right down the street if my dd had told me she was going to fail her A levels the autumn before and going to take a year out for to resit!

It sounds like you are hanging your hat far too much on the August born thing.

My plan would be to tell him all is not lost. He can start applying himself and get the grades he needs for the next stage of his life.

QuillBill · 30/11/2023 08:39

Personally I would go for the option of going back into year 12 if they will allow it.

So would I.

This is far better than allowing him to relax for the rest of this academic year! It might refocus him and give him a kick in the pants at the same time.

Original poster

igivein · 30/11/2023 09:45

Morning everyone. Thanks for all your suggestions, I'm reading all of them.
As I said earlier, resitting would be worst case scenario, ideally he'll pull his finger out and get some ok grades - he got results back from a physics paper yesterday and he got a B, so hope isn't lost.
I don't think school would allow him to drop back a year at this point because he still has the potential to do all right, and I think he'd see it as a green light to take his foot of the pedal even more.
Good point about access courses being so much cheaper. It's bad enough that he might have to do extra exams, without being saddled with an extra year of student debt.

OP posts:

Bramshott · 30/11/2023 10:58

Another option if you've lost faith in the school (although it might be a bit late) would be to pull him out and for him to start a local sixth form/FE college in lower sixth now/in Jan? He'd have a bit of catching up to do, but it might be possible if you think the extra emphasis on self-reliance and taking responsibility for his own learning would be good for him?

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