Maths GCSE requirement for A level Biology

[DorisLessingsCat]

DD applied to two colleges and one sixth form for A levels, including biology.

College A (her preferred choice) asked for a 6 in maths.
College B and the sixth form asked for a 5 in maths.

DD got a 5 and College A has said she can't take Biology. She's gutted as it's her number one subject. She's confident that she can cope with the maths element in the Biology syllabus and really, really really wants to go to College A. Does anyone have any advice or insight on how to approach them? They still want her as a student but offered her Environmental Science instead of Biology, but she wants to go on to health/sports/exercise science after A levels.

(For additional context, she got an 8 in Biology, a 7 in Chemistry and a 6 in Physics, as well as a bunch of other 7s and 8s in the rest of her GCSEs).

How close was she to the grade boundary for a 6? Would a remark be possible to try and boost her grade?

11 marks off (although grade boundaries have changed a lot this year) so probably not worth a regrade, unless anyone thinks otherwise?

Sorry, name change fail!

11 marks off a 6.

Depending on whether the college is oversubscribed you could ask if she could take biology as a fourth up to October half term and see if she's able to cope with the content.

A word of warning though...the maths content at A level isn't majorly harder than GSCE maths but as they go through the two year course, students not doing maths tend to perform worse and worse on the maths parts as they're not practicing the basics eg percentage changes, ratios, etc. If she does choose biology make sure she keeps her maths skills ticking over somehow so they don't get worse. There's a decent CGP book on it but I'm sure there are others out there if you look. I hope she manages to work something out that's she's happy with

@prepareforharvest thank you, that's helpful and gives us another option.

I don't know how oversubscribed the college is for biology, but she applied really early and was accepted (subject to conditions) straight away.

Her other two options are really not as good (for her) so I hope we can convince them!

I’m personally not convinced you need a 6 in maths to do biology….

My dc college was a 4 in Maths. He got an 8 in gcse biology and 4 Maths and he's managing with the course.
So many schools and colleges seem to have different entry requirements.

Ask if she can start Biology and resit her maths?

She would absolutely be up for resitting maths but it feels like a waste of time, she has a solid pass and her old biology teacher has said she has enough to do well in biology.

She sent an email off to the admissions team yesterday and hoping to speak to a member of the biology department today. 🤞🤞🤞

Could she offer to do maths as a fourth A-level or AS if they still have these? Sounds like it might help anyway.

Maths A Level would break her 😀 there is a one year course in applied maths skills (not subject of the exact name) which she wanted to do but her preferred college doesn't offer it.

She shouldn’t offer to do this, because her maths is not good enough, she isn’t interested in maths and it won’t help with her biology A-level.

Could you afford a maths tutor or do the college offer this?
Would they let her do biology if she is having some maths tutoring for the first term to get her up to standard in what she would need for biology?

That's what I was going to suggest. Very common option for students taking Science A Levels without maths. Surprised the college doesn't offer it.

The high grades in other science subjects, might go some way to mollify the college, possibly? Was the 5 unexpected, did she get better grades in mocks/other tests during secondary school?

@Rory17384949 we could afford a tutor but I suspect the issue is that the course is oversubscribed rather than her maths achievements, but I'll add that into the plea.

@redskydarknight she has always been under confident in maths which has, to be fair, led to her not prioritising it. She's actually improved a lot since knuckling down this year, and moved from a low 4 in her mocks to a solid 5 in the exam. The rot set in at about aged 8 and her primary school never addressed it which I am annoyed about but we are where we are.

I am not from the UK and this experience has been eye opening. 16 feels too young to have doors closed to young people in terms of educational opportunities.

If the issue is over subscription then they will take the kids with the best grades and this is a lost cause.

Might be jumping the gun a bit here but DD is doing a Biology degree from September and they asked for a 6 in Maths. She says that there are a LOT of statistics in Biology A level and she did need good maths (she got an 8 at GCSE)

In the U.K. sixth forms and colleges are competitive entry.

Some colleges are big and will basically take anyone as they have enough courses that they can find something appropriate,

Others are not and are really picky.

There are sixth forms near me that interview for places and make offers which kids need to meet (high offers).

Thinking about your daughter, she isn't being told she can't do it. She can do biology a level. Just not at the college she wants.

I understand there are countries where everyone carries on with everything until 18 but most countries have some level of trying to fit the qualifications to what kids are capable of.

Yes, I appreciate there's a competitive element to popular colleges but when you live rurally, as we do, there often isn't a lot of choice / any choice at all! Her backup option involves over 2 hours of travel per day on really uncomfortable buses (often standing room only) and their department for one of her subject choices is not strong.

With hindsight the requirement for a 6 in maths should have been a sign that they were expecting to be oversubscribed but all of the communication from the college has downplayed the risk of not being accepted.

We'll know one way or another by the end of the day,

She's in!

Goodness knows how she's done it, they came back with a second and final "no" but she managed to persuade them to think again. They are giving her a 6 week trial and extra maths support.

So it looks like it was about her results after all. Strange that the requirements are so uneven across different colleges.

Absolutely delighted for her and my shredded nerves are now recovering...

Thank you all for your help and support.

That's great OP!

If she knows which exam board the college do she could look up the maths requirements of that course, identify which ones were part of maths GCSE and have a bit of a practice of those. It might be that they were the bits of maths she was good at anyway but a bit of prep will help her feel more confident if she feels those 6 weeks are a bit of an assessment.

If she needs any help finding the relevant info feel free to ask and I can probably point you in the right direction

That's great! DD also needed a 6 in maths to do A level biology and was so relieved to get that, her chem/physics not as strong as your DD's.

It's lovely when they get in where they want to go.

That's really great that your DD has got in. As a parent of a DC who has just sat their Biology A level, please do not underestimate how important maths skills are for A level Biology. In my DC's cohort, those who did not take maths A level found it much harder. I would recommend keeping maths going the whole sixth form in some measure on another. I think there are maths for Biology A level books out there and I would recommend at least keeping up with those.

Thanks @SeaofTranquility, yes, maths for biology a level text book has been purchased and she knows how hard she will have to work at it.

Honestly though, I think she will be fine. She got an 8 in biology and a 6 in physics. She's not a complete maths dunce and she has an amazing work ethic. If we have to get a tutor we will but I think confidence is a big factor.

Glad she’s in if that’s what she wants.

I would say that those without really strong GCSE maths (I mean 8 or above or at a push a v high 7) tend to perform poorly in A Level sciences. They will probably pass, but you might be looking at a pretty low grade. Whether this matters depends on what they want to do next.

Many students find they can achieve a grade higher in social science or humanity if their English is decent, but their maths mediocre. 5 isn’t strong maths.

Students should study what they like an enjoy but they should also have an eye to what the possible outcomes from their starting points are, and what that might mean for the next stage such as uni entry. Lots forget to look at these things. They find themselves on courses that they struggle with and with grades that are quite disappointing, when they could have done better in other things. It’s worth bearing in mind when considering science or maths A Levels from a low starting base.

Why do places have different entry requirements? Some are more selective than others and can afford to be so as they are popular. Those that can afford to be more selective know that students with a 5 in a certain subject typically struggle. Often students say they won’t and hard work will compensate etc etc but unless there are genuine contextual reasons why thr GCSE was a surprising under performance and the school would have expected higher, their refusal to admit the student is usually well founded and not just to be awkward.

16 year olds often want to go where their friends are going or to do subjects that might not deliver the best outcomes. Making sure they have all the info about likely outcomes from their starting point is really important.