Year 13 - thread for those who are NOT A grade students and finding A levels hard

[LadyNorthStar]

I was on the other thread, but everyone on there seems to be predicted A stars and applying to oxbridge. I’m just hoping my DS gets good enough grades to do the course he wants. He will need BCC and his last mocks were DDE 😬. He hasn’t been doing enough work and has (finally) been revising over the summer as the next mocks in Oct need to be at least Cs. Anyone in a similar position?

Hello, joining you all as this is our place away from the A crowd. I think year 12 mocks were DEE, he's just doing year 13 mocks now and has already had a meltdown and had to leave one of them (Dx ADHD and anxiety, not formally Dx asd but recognised). I just feel devastated for him, he got into 6th form at a great school where they know and support him, but his friends are getting high grades and he's now saying he might not even look at uni when he was previously keen. I don't care as long as he's happy, but right now he's just stressed.

@MustDust
It is so hard when they feel so dejected they stop trying. We have moments like this with DD. I just hope she does enough to sit the bloody exams and scrape a pass and we can then draw a line under education.
Xx

My DC who got Ds and Es at A level and then couldn't find work has started a City and Guilds Engineering course at the local FE college. The course involves mostly practical work in electrical wiring, machining using lathes etc. and is aimed at people wanting a craft apprenticeship. It also offers help in Maths and English for those who didn't pass their GCSEs on those subjects.

DC does have good GCSEs so they are in the top of the cohort, rather than struggling like they did at 6th form and appears to be enjoying the practical aspects of the course. If I'd known A levels were going to be so difficult for them I'd have looked at a course like this at 16. I'm hopeful they can get a craft apprenticeship at the end of the course, but realistically these are in high demand, so there are no guarantees.

My DS has got mocks starting on 13 Oct, so we will see where he is after that. He’s doing his UCAS form on Thursday so seems set on uni. I hope it helps to focus him.

We wouldn’t mind at all if he didn’t go to uni, but it seems to be what he wants.

How’s everyone doing?
DS got BDD in the latest mocks, which is an improvement from DEE! The B was in the subject he wants to do at uni. He’s determined to further improve and will hopefully turn the D’s into C’s in the next mocks in Dec.

The thing is, I’m not sure whether it will be too late for his UCAS applications. His college want his application by 5 Dec and then his next mocks are 15 Dec, which is the week before they break up for Christmas. He says UCAS won’t be submitted until 14 Jan but I’m sure they would do it earlier and not at the last minute. Even if they did, when will they have time to mark the papers and look at predictions? Unless they will spend their holidays doing this and I can’t imagine they would.

I’ve sent a query to ask whether there is still time to improve the UCAS predicted grades.

I hope so otherwise I can’t see what offers he will get with these grades.

All Sixth forms work differently but at ours they can send them off as soon as they are completed.

Has he had his predicted grades from teachers yet? What grades does he need?

@LadyNorthStar moving from D to B is very good. Hope this motivates DS.
Yes, do find out about predicted grades. Also have a look at foundation year. Some unis offer this and the offer is usually lower for foundation year.
I have stuck my fingers in my ears and don't want to think about mocks and grades and ucas.
DD has talked college into giving her BBB but she is so far from it. I despair! Very silly of the college but they have terrible outcomes so I don't think they really care.

@ShredderQueen as I understand it the grades on Unifrog are the predicted grades from his teachers.

BBB would give him good options and I think he could do this if he works hard.

He is not set on one particular uni at the moment, he has 5 in mind which are a mix of local and some further away to keep his options open.

For the unis he’s interested in, they seem to have accepted CCC and even lower in previous years. However the listed entry requirements are mostly BBB so I think he needs to be predicted this to get some offers on the table.

@RainyDayCoffee Who knows, maybe they think your DD could achieve that and they’ve seen potential?

It’s all a minefield isn’t it? So much rests on the predicted grades and all schools/colleges seem to have a different approach. I wish they could apply with grades in hand to avoid all this.

He actually moved from E to B so it was remarkable! But he did concentrate a lot on this subject and needs to pay attention to the others too now.

Hi how is everyone doing? DS has done his last mock exam today so is now officially off for Christmas.

He has also received 4 uni offers already - his UCAS application was only submitted on Fri 12 Dec so we are surprised and very relieved! His predicted grades are CCD and his offers are mostly BBC/112 points so we’re hoping he can achieve that.

He doesn’t have a firm choice yet, in fact he’s still wavering on whether to go away or commute from home. But we don’t have to decide yet so we can now enjoy our Christmas time off. Hope everyone is doing OK 😊

@LadyNorthStar
Great news about the uni offers! I can imagine the relief. I hope you and DS can take a well earned Christmas break and recharge for the next years exams.
We have no luck here with even the UCAS submission.DD and her college are just pointlessly procrastinating and I have lost all hope it is even going to go in.
Xx

There’s still time yet @RainyDayCoffee

Another offer has been received today so that’s all 5!

It’s such a minefield, his tutor last week was trying to encourage him to apply for foundation courses as he didn’t meet the ‘book’ requirements. I had sleepless nights thinking he wouldn’t get any offers at all. Now he can just concentrate on getting the grades.

@LadyNorthStar I do wish DD would agree to applying for a foundation year. She is stubborn.