Resits vs redoing Year 13

[Tearsofthemushroom]

My DS has suffered with his mental health throughout Year 13. Despite missing much of the year he is capable of A/B grades if he manages to get through the upcoming exams.
we are worried that the pressure may lead to a crisis or he will simply walk out of an exam if he can’t cope.
would he be best to try and resit next year or step back and look at restarting the year?
An additional complication is that he is at independent school at the moment and we definitely wouldn’t want him to return. Would a Sixth Form college let him in for a year?
thanks

@Tearsofthemushroom This would be better off being posted under Further Education which covers 16-19 specifically. This is a horrible situation to find yourselves in and his mental health is the priority. If he is looking toward university then the school can add comments on the UCAS form to detail why his grades are not as good as they could have been.

I think the main issue with him transferring to another school would be whether or not they teach the same exam boards for the subjects.

Technically students get 3 years of funding and so can in theory resit a year but it is sometimes difficult to achieve depending on why they need to resit. I think in your situation I would be contacting any other colleges/sixth forms now to get their advice on whether they would admit him.

I think I would encourage him to sit them with a view to resits due to where we are calendar wise but that is only a decision you can make based on his personal mental health. If at any stage you think he will crack under the pressure then pull him out. A levels are not worth his sanity and wellbeing.

If he has actually sat his a levels then any state provider wouldn't be funded for him,

So you'd need private.

The standard do sixth form in two years schools don't cover situations like this so he would need to go to a crammer.

They are very very expensive.

Example like this place.

www.mpw.ac.uk

They are not a school and there isn't the social element associated with school.

My DC tried to crash an extra a level in a year and found it very hard.

Thanks for your advice, I have asked for the thread to be moved.
it is a really hard time for my DS and so difficult to know what to do to support him at such a pivotal point.

Technically he could resit at a sixth form or college as he’s entitled to another year of funding but you’d need to find out that exactly married up with what he’s studied so far, which could be really tricky or even impossible. Could you afford tutors to support and he could sit the exams independently?

What is he hoping to do next?

None of the FE colleges around here would let someone do a resit year from another school. Students in my school who are struggling tend to take a Y14 , maybe do two subjects in one year, one the next. We never offer a resit year for those who have completed their A levels. You are looking at private college, resit independently ( maybe with tutors) You could also consider a foundation year at university, a one year access course ( you might not get funding if your child has completed a full level 3)

@Ratatouille1
Can you do a foundation year at one place and then move to another uni after?
This is one option we are looking at and I need to research more into unis that offer foundation year.

Sorry to hijack your thread OP!
We are looking to a y12 restart or a foundation year as DD has had a bad year with mental health and ND diagnosis few months ago.

There isn't really a simple answer to that question . It depends if the foundation year gives you a qualification at the end of the year ( ie CertEd) and whether the other university would accept it. I imagine they would still look at your original grades, especially for a more competitive course.
Some courses are designed for a change of university. Clinical sciences at Bradford has the possibility of transfer to Sheffield or Leeds ( from memory) to medicine but for widening participation students only. I imagine the numbers are very small. Some foundation courses in health and social care at FE colleges transfer to a linked university for say nursing. A foundation year is specifically designed to prepare a student for a particular course at that university, so you will automatically progress to that course if you pass with certain marks. That wouldn't be the case if you wanted to go to a different university and it seems to happen on an individual basis. You would probably have to reapply through ucas.

Thanks for all of the information. He is bright enough to study on his own so sounds likely that would be the way forward.

It may be worth contacting a couple of online independent schools to see what they might be able to offer. If he has done most of the year 12 work but missed lots of year 13 they may let him slot in to start year 13 from September.

Minerva https://www.minervavirtual.com/

King's kingsinterhigh.co.uk

Hi.

I just got my A-level results back and I got BBB. I am very unhappy because I was predicted 3A*s and got such grades continuously in all of my mocks.

However, I was recently diagnosed with autism but it was too late to submit an application for extra time so I didn’t get it in my exams and so I ran out of time, causing me to underperform.

I had an offer from Oxford and I missed it.

I was wondering if I could somehow reapply to Oxford and stand a chance of getting in with re-sits of my A-levels (which would be likely to be 3A*s this time around as I would get the extra time) and if I could use extenuating circumstances?

You don’t need a diagnosis for extra time, your school should have been able to see you needed this.

did you have extra time in your mocks

A

I’m one of those pupils who perform really well in class so learning difficulties and a need for extra time that would otherwise manifest go unnoticed.

My teachers probably historically put me running out of time in all my exams down to me writing really in-depth, detailed essay answers (which is common with people with autism) and may not have realised I had genuine difficulties. This was shown by how I would write one really good essay but then realise I was running out of time and then rush the conclusion so get an overall less good mark on that question and then really rush the next question so do less well on that than I could have otherwise done. However, my overall performance was still good; it just wasn’t up to my true potential.

As for mocks, for GCSEs we didn’t have them due to COVID but for A-levels I got 3A*s in my mocks at the end of Year 12. However, that was because I had a couple of extra minutes because we did our exams in the classroom as opposed to the exam hall due to some of my classes literally only having two students and our teacher let us continue until the bell went so we had an extra few minutes.

All of this meant that my need for extra time went unnoticed.

@lindaandrews I think you need to speak to Oxford, but be very careful about pinning all your hopes on ‘if I have extra time I’ll get three A stars’ and have a solid back up plan.

What do you mean?

Do you mean I should be wary about them accepting my excuse or wary about not achieving 3 A-stars in my resits?

Both!

@lindaandrews My impression
My impression from reading is that Oxford isn't very accepting of resits. Also, Oxford's own degree course assessment is very much about exams. It's worth asking Oxford University but it might also be useful to start researching other universities and courses, looking at places which accept resits or even for a course which will take you with 3 Bs and/or offer coursework assessment towards your degree.

Why do you think they would give a place to someone who got 3 Bs first time ahead of someone who got 3 or more A stars? Most people will perform better with an extra year of study under their belts

@mm81736 I assume you're responding to my post. I find your tone a bit rude but I will try to reply as I would prefer people to respond to me, not suggesting that someone's question/suggestion is somehow stupid and unreasonable.

My DS1 is doing his UCAS application at the moment, and some universities - often the competitive places/courses with the highest entry grade requirements -explicitly say they don't consider resits.

Also, three Bs may not reflect the abilities of the poster I was responding to, and I understand how she feels from my own experiences (37 years ago!) - but they are perfectly respectable grades. Lots of people have done very well at university on lower grades. And I think young people looking to go to university should be encouraged both to ask about resits and reapplying if needed (but 3 Bs) but also to look at other available choices - and also to consider options such as a degree course which uses coursework assessment. I would also want to know about coursework and feedback during each year and not just at the end.

Thanks for your comment.

Oxford claims they do accept resits but I’m not sure how much I trust them.