Biology A level: How much maths?

[Toomanyminifigs]

My DS is Yr11 and we're starting to look at A level options. My DS is keen to take Biology A level but I'm concerned about his Maths.

I would appreciate any thoughts/experience as I weigh up how much I should be pushing this with his school.

Until recently, his school had a requirement of a 5 in Maths GCSE to take Biology A level. They've just announced they've upped this to a 6. My DS is only doing Foundation Maths (he's on track for a 5) but obviously he can't get a 6.

My DS is quite an 'odd' student - in that he's very strong in Science (he's taking Triple and is being predicted 8s) but he's always really struggled with basic Maths. He says the Maths needed in Science is 'different' though as it's in context (for example he can re-arrange chemical equations and can do mole calculations).

My DS has autism and has an EHCP, for context.

I will obviously be speaking to his teachers - and of course all of this is dependent on his GCSE results - but it would be really helpful to hear from parents/teachers who have experience of Biology A level. (They do the OCR board.)

I've been reading on this board and elsewhere that Biology A level is one of the hardest to do well in so I'm wondering if it would be best to steer him away from this as an option anyway.

Thanks for reading.

Thank you all so much for your experience and input. A lot of food for thought. DS says he wants to do Biology so I would like to support him as I know it's important that you're passionate about your A level choices to keep you motivated.

If DS gets less than a 7 in Biology GCSE though, I will steer him away from it as the step up I think will be too much, especially given his struggles with Maths. I think it's interesting that the requirement at his school is 'only' a 6 in Biology GCSE to take it at A level - given how hard it is to get a high grade at A level.

He is in Triple Science (at his school only the 'top' 25% of students take Triple) so he clearly does have ability in science - although I appreciate there's a big step up at A level.

I may get him to look through some Biology A level past papers so he can get a feel for what the syllabus would look like.

I will also come back and update this thread in case it's of use to anyone else.

Re the maths papers choice my DD is autistic too and a key thing for her is being comfortable with being able to move past a question she doesn’t know how to answer as her brain thinks she HAS to answer all questions in order and can’t move on until she’s completed one. Unlocking this thought process has been key to her doing higher level maths as she’s very capable of the content and explaining grade boundaries too that you don’t need 90-100% correct to get -a high grade. We got forced into home Ed when she couldn’t cope in MS school so I’ve had to find out a lot more about prepping for exams than I ever did with my oldest at MS school.