Year 13 DC failing an A level - what to do?

[Claymorekick]

DC is taking 3 A levels - 2 he is doing ok (expected grades of B/C). However, his third subject he is failing - scraping D or E's in the assessments and even getting the odd U. He hates the subject, finds it really difficult and understandably is quite unmotivated.

He chose the subject initially as it fitted with his career aspirations and would help with his degree choices even though he didn't particularly enjoy it at GCSE. In hindsight, a bad decision but we are where we are now.

However, we are now at the point where he is unlikely to be able to do a degree with 2 A levels so think he is going to take a year out and work whilst we assess what his options are.

His subject tutor is providing extra support for him which he is engaging with (as far as a slightly lazy 17 year old will) but I suspect, best case scenario, this will only get him to a maximum of a D grade.

Any advice? I suppose my dilemma is does he spend time on this subject that would be better spent on the other 2 subjects to help get good grades in those? If he fails it, what would his options be?

Really wish we had pulled him from this subject in early year 12 and switched to something else 😕

I'd consider dropping the subject, once he has 3 A Levels funding is limited even if those A Levels are EEE.

Would he consider doing a BTEC or an Access course? He wouldn't need to do the full two year course so if a college is amenable he could take anatomy and physiology unit(s).

I taught BTEC with most students going in to nursing, if the students did A and P then they didn't need A Level biology, if they didn't do that unit most unis want a grade B at A Level.

If he takes a year or two out he could do an access course, you have to be 19.

BTW I dropped biology before O Levels and then ended up working in clinical physiology, I had to play catch up but I got there.

@Comefromaway thank you, that is really helpful information - didn't know about the accredited stuff.

His other subjects are PE and Psychology so they are both relevant which might help a little bit can't see any way of avoiding a foundation year.

From a quick look at the places my daughter is applying to it does seem to be easier to get onto foundation following the sport & excercise science route rather than the sports psychology route. But as your son has PE and psychology (unlike my daughter with English Lit, RS & dance) he will have a bigger choice as some better ranked unis offer foudation for lower grades but you still need a science (they count PE & psychology A levels as science for the purposes of sport science).

Put his predicted grades into https://www.whatuni.com/ and have a play around.

@Claymorekick At Ds's sixth form dependent on timetabling they have year 13s sitting back in on year 12 stuff that they need more help with, this might be an option for your Ds. They are also encouraging students to access help from tutors, stay in college to work instead of going home to work where there are more distractions.

He might not like biology A level but he needs to pass it and hopefully with a decent grade. Sit down and work out how much free time in hours he has, from free periods to at home after college and on a weekend. How much does he want to pass it? What is he prepared to do for it? This is a step to the next thing he wants.

I have a son who hated a particular subject at GCSE but threw himself into achieving a high grade because it wasn't going to defeat him. He never came at it with anything but a positive attitude even though he didn't enjoy it it was a means to an end.

There are loads of videos for A level biology on youtube and the best thing he can do right now is work out why he isn't getting the marks. Is it as basic as he doesn't understand it? Or he can't communicate effectively? What grade did he get for GCSE and has this affected his projected A level grade. Looking back on his assessments where is he going wrong? He still around 21 weeks before A level exams begin.

Doing PE and Psychology will open doors. Tell him to see his careers service.

However, he may want to look at Sports Psychology or Sport Therapy courses

We had a very similar situation with DS and biology A level. He failed his year 12 mock exam. In desperation we paid for extra tuition via My Tutor, wasn't cheap in total but it really helped. He went from failing to a B. There are a few You Tube channels that can help with decoding the marks scheme. Is your Ds doing AQA biology? AQA is notoriously hard, try Miss Estruch, https://www.youtube.com/@MissEstruchBiology DS used her content when he was revising and she gave good tips in the run up to the exam.

@simolias unfortunately DS isn't really that self-motivated, he has always just drifted through life, talks a good game but actually doesn't follow through. It had been a constant source of frustration over the years but he is who he is. He got a 6 at GCSE so fairly average I guess. He is having extra revision/time spent on Biology now which he is doing willingly at the moment but not sure how long that will last as it involves going in for a couple of hours on his usual day off.

@nipersvest thank you for the resource suggestions, I'll pass them on. Is it wrong that I don't know if it is AQA or not 🙈 a tutor is a huge no, have offered but he feels very strongly about it (he hates 1 on 1 stuff).

If he's not really self-motivated then maybe he needs a reality check about what sound like competitive career aspirations. Better now than once he's saddled with debt.

There's nothing wrong with who he is, but he needs to take a path that is a good fit for him - not one that will be a perpetual source of stress trying to compensate for a bad fit.

yes agree with @user628468523532453 you have not said specifically what his career plan is OP, but if it requires a degree in sports science then I imagine it is sports physio or PT or the like - any career like that will be competitive and require self-motivation and dedication to get anywhere.

Generally I’m a fan of aiming high for uni, but if the grades don’t get you there, you have to be pragmatic.

Quite a lot of snobbery appearing over unis as usual. This is sports science and thousands and thousands of sports science grads don’t get amazing jobs. Just like many law degree holders don’t.Or psychology degree holders. Many local sports teams do partner up with the local uni so it’s perfectly ok to do sports science at a lower ranked uni. If he doesn’t want a foundation, it’s an option. Jobs are measured in the same way I think for every course. So who really knows what all the thousands of sports science grads are doing? Or many of the psychology ones as they definitely are not psychologists!

Just wanted to correct the impression that some posters seem to have about Biology being essential to study sports science. Lots of sports and indeed health related courses like physio require PE or Biology but don't need both.
My DS was thinking of doing either Sports Science or physio for quite a long time but he didn't want to do A level Biology because he'd found the plant stuff so dull at GCSE He was really pleased when he started to research potential courses to discover that it wasn't essential.
In the end he opted for physics, maths and PE to keep lots of options open and he's changed tack and is applying now for engineering courses but if he had decided to go for sports science the lack of Biology definitely wouldn't have been a barrier.
OP, encourage your DS to keep going. There's still time to improve. As others have said, without predicted top grades in at least 3 A levels he isn't going to get offers from the most prestigious places but that doesn't mean that there isn't a course out there somewhere for him. Not doing well in Biology might be because he's finding the botany side difficult, or be to do with the structure of the course or the way it is examined. If he is doing ok with the biology element of A level PE it's a good sign. Encourage him to keep working and to look at related courses. Is there a careers teacher he can get some advice from? But don't let him get too despondent, there's more than one road to Rome.

Have a look at university of Abertay in Dundee. They have a sport and exercise division, which offers five undergraduate degrees. It is a four year course, which is standard for Scotland, and the first two years are the same for all degree options . The offer is 3 CCC at A level. I have known students get in with lower grades than this, particularly if widening participation.

https://www.abertay.ac.uk/course-search/undergraduate/physical-activity-and-health/

I'd get him a good tutor. It's amazing the difference it can make. My youngest son was getting B's for his other 2 A levels but only D/E for Maths. We got him a home tutor and he ended up with a high C only a few marks off the B. Expensive but worth it.

He can look at a 4 year course with foundation year. My ds didn't finish his A levels for health reasons & has been accepted this week for a degree in Urban Studies & Town Planning with foundation year & PHD, starting next autumn.

@Claymorekick it's useful to find out the exam board and their specifications, we found DS was tackling it completely wrong. His other subjects were essay based and he was answering Biology in the same way, he got more marks when he switched to just bullet point responses in the exam (apart from paper 3). We only realised that by understanding the AQA marking scheme. Other good prep is to go to the exam board website, they have examiners reports from previous years which are good to read, explains where students got marks from questions wise and where they didn't. There's info on You Tube on decoding marks schemes, In the end it became not so much about the knowledge and about answering technique.

DS wasn't keen on tuition, I didn't give him a choice, but it was all done remotely and he got on quite well with his tutor. You can get a number of 15 min sessions for free via My Tutor to try it out, maybe get him to do that before dismissing? He can even choose his own tutor based on their bio, most are current Uni students. DS needed ABB to get into the course he wanted to do and he got ABB but end of year 12 he was predicted ACD.

@Claymorekick I don't know if they still do it but I had a sibling and one of my step children who did two A levels and go to st Mary's' in twickenham. Might be worth a look.