DS failing A-Level maths, too late to change?

[falalalalalalalallama]

DS has just completed the first term of A-Level and it looks like he made either the wrong choice or something has gone very wrong.

He's done two assessments in maths and got an E in both. Meanwhile, he has an A in the assessment for his other subject and is predicted an A - this is a humanities subject. (Third subject hasn't done an assessment yet.)

He's a very bright and articulate young man. He's on the spectrum and doesn't have good organisation. He says also didn't realise he was doing so badly in maths, although it turns out he often wasn't doing his homework.

I feel like history is repeating itself. I was a bright child with (at the time undiagnosed) ADHD and I flunked A-Level maths despite having a lot of promise, because it's so easy to get behind and then everything builds on what comes before so it's easy to lose the thread.

He'll have to work hard to catch up and he says he wants to do this, but I feel he is being unrealistic as he has no plan for how to actually do this, and since getting the low grade he's focused on his extra curricular stuff, not maths.

He's interested in STEM based careers, but he excels in humanities. He's well read and well informed and writes and researches well.

I suggest changing subject but he said it's too late.

I suggested a tutor but he said he doesn't want one.

The universities he wants to go to ask for results like 3 As. That seems totally unrealistic now, although I know it would absolutely be doable for him if he was studying all humanities subjects.

If he's going to stick with maths I think I am going to insist he tries a tutor.

Are there any other options?

WWYD?

I am going to talk to his 6th form college, but I would really appreciate any advice.

In my child's sixth form if you failed to hand in homework there was immediate intervention and a compulsory timetable slot over lunchtime to tackle it either the same day or the next day if the missing homework was due in after lunch.

That way they establish the routine of actually completing homework and using their free periods to study. The sixth form also had two distinct areas, a chatty area you could eat in and a more quiet study area.

To catch up he already has everything he needs as he should have all his work when it was taught. Mine had the walk through maths to show how it should be done then the question to check they can apply that knowledge.

Your son is a child, you get to decide if he has a tutor, you are trying to do your best for him. Hopefully he would engage with a tutor. What does he want to do post A level? Definitely talk to the college, he only needs 3 A levels but they may insist on him starting with 4.

It's not ideal to change now but there's certainly the possibility of doing so, especially if he works over the summer too and tries to catch up.
If he's failing it this badly now, I'd say push for a change. How did he do in gcse ?

I think if he wants to do maths he should stick with it and you should insist on a tutor. It might all fall into place for him later down the line.

It depends on why he got the E. If it's because he just hasn't been putting the work in, he can improve on that.
What grade did he get for gcse.
I think you're doing all the right things. College will be able to advise about whether changing subject is possible. I wouldn't have thought it would be easy after a term though.

My DS is in yr 13 now doing maths; he got very far behind and finished yr 12 with a U in maths.

He was determined to stick with it as he really wants a career where maths is essential.

We got a weekly tutor and he is doing really well his last assessment was B and he knew he could’ve got the last questions but he run out of time; essentially he’ll probably get A by the end once he’s worked on speeding up.

It is possible to recover this but I’d say a tutor is necessary to catch up; they’re not cheap but I see it as an investment so we are making cuts elsewhere to make it work.

I would get in touch with his maths teacher and ask advice as to what they think is going on and his capabilities. If he ends up wanting to change subject, yes it will be too late this year, but he can potentially change next year, meaning that he will be doing 3 years in 6th form. He will probably have to be doing something else as well as just maths for the 3rd year, so an epq or something.
edit to say - I meant the new subject in the 3rd year, not maths!

He got the E because he's not been putting the work in.

I'm not sure he knows how to, though.

He says the problem is because he hasn't got a good memory, but I suspect the problem is also that he doesn't appreciate how much you need to repeat things in maths to make it stick.

It's certainly possible in general terms to catch up from this point, but I'm not sure he has the organisational skills or the focus to do that. He does say he enjoys maths though, that's a good start!

Perhaps we try with a tutor and then see where we are at Easter. Maybe the right tutor might make all the difference.

If it looks like he's going to flunk maths, could he do a crammed Alevel in humanities in a year or something like that? Or start a new one in September and be a year behind? Or is that madness?

In the humanities subject he loves, he researches the subject in his own time, he already knows most of the stuff they're teaching and is obviously driven by a genuine passion.

His approach to the two subjects is chalk and cheese.

Yes, that is madness. He can always take a year out.

If he continues to fail they may not allow him to progress into the second year.

I would talk to the school. Ask if it's possible to change subjects at this stage.

He got a 6 at GCSE.

That's really encouraging, thanks.

There's a great post by someone on MN who reminds people every year that you should not be taking maths in A level with a view to be getting an A unless you have an 8 or 9 in GCSE.
He's shown at GCSE it's not a great subject for him. He probably got better grades in those other subjects he loves. It's am absolute waste of time and money tutoring and continuing here. He's clearly bright so just drop maths and push to get another subject. He's only lost a term and it should be possible given effort to catch up

Tbh a 6 at GCSE is an unfortunately low base for what is notoriously a very hard A level. Pity the school didn’t advise better at the time.

in our situation, DC struggled badly in the first term of maths A level as well but this was picked up on pretty sharpish by the school and they switched about 4 weeks in (to a subject they enjoyed much more and got an A) Does he really need maths A level longer term? What does he want to do?

https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/secondary/5146609-yearly-warning-not-to-take-a-level-maths-with-less-than-a-7-at-gcse?page=1

That's the link above to Nobelgiraffe's post that the poster above is refering to

Ooof.

realistically that means he had a lot of catching up to do before he hit the ground on the maths a level - many schools and colleges set a “transition” pack for over the summer to upgrade algebra skills and that’s for students who got a 7 or an 8.

maths a level has a lot of content. The lessons are often more demonstrations and discussions and students need to be putting in at least two to three hours of homework and practice a week.

think of it as like music lessons - in the actual lessons the teacher is demonstrating eg a particular technique to play an instrument but it’s not anywhere near enough to watch you have to go home and do your own daily practice.

most sixth forms and colleges won’t allow progression to year 13 if the year 12 mock results are too low and it very much sounds like his will be.

I’d be seriously looking at changing a level now before it gets worse.

My son got a U in his first mock in year 12' now on for a B/A in year 13.

The school explained that learning topics for A level maths isn't enough and it's as much about practising questions and papers.

My son probably spends 5h+ a week now doing this.

At the same time as others have said it's probably not a great idea to do maths with a 6 at GCSE. My son's school no longer allows it and a couple of my sons friends who took it with a 6 dropped it at the end of year 12.

Truthfully, I'd try and arrange with school for him to switch subjects if it is possible. Is there another subject he really enjoys and would put the work in to catch up? What does your dc think - open to switching ? Ds's sixth form doesn't allow grade 6 gcse to do maths. It's minimum of grade 7. I feel the college haven't been great there.

The fact your DS got an A in one of his subjects is fantastic. It shows he's clearly able to access A levels. The college is likely to be more accommodating in terms of trying to work with him/you as he's showing great promise.

As others have said, I'm amazed they let him take maths A level on a 6. Most places it's a 7. If settings aren't oversubscribed though, they're more likely to have lower grade requirements, or it could be that they know a student had a 'bad day' and was predicted higher.

6th forms have funding for three years of study per student. It's quite common for students to drop an A level at the end of Yr12 for all sorts of reasons. They will then start a new subject in Yr13 but 'only' take their 2 original A levels in the summer. They then return to do a Yr14 which is focused on the 1 new A level and as others have said perhaps an EPQ or something else.

My DS is also autistic. I'm actually quite keen on the idea of him spreading his A levels out like this. I think it would help to take the pressure off. However - and this may also be the case with your DS - I know he's going to really struggle feeling that's he 'failed' at a subject. That will need careful handling.

You don't say what your DS's other 2 A level subjects are but I wondered about maybe exploring something like Economics, Psychology, Sociology. They have elements of 'maths' in them but in a statistical, how things work kind of way. Maybe that would appeal to him?

It might be worth having a look at some other subjects and showing him past papers so he can see what other courses would involve and how they play to his strengths. It's probably worth speaking to the college first though to sound them out about him switching. It may be too late to switch to a new subject at this stage anyway. They've covered something like 20% of the course already in some subjects.

As others have said, if he's determined to carry on with maths, he's really going to need a tutor. If it's too late to switch to a new subject at this stage of the year, maybe give it to the end of the year anyway with a tutor and see how he improves?

At my DS's sixth form, if a student doesn't get at least a D in their Yr12 exams though, they aren't allowed to continue that subject anyway, just to warn you in case his college is the same.

As others say @falalalalalalalallama a 6 at GCSE indicates unfortunately that a good deal of the GCSE content was not secure and that the A level was a poor choice. Sorry if that's harsh but he is vanishingly unlikely to get a grade above a C if he even works really hard now.

I would talk to college aboit switching. it's very late but he could spend Christmas catching up. What subject would he/could he pick? Would he have the same passion for it as his other hums subject? If so I suspect the outcome would be much better than if he sticks with maths. Alternatively he could start year 12 again next Sept - plenty do.

It's indeed poor of college to let him do maths with a 6. DS got an 8 with ease (I mean he found it straightforward) and got a hard won B at A level.

My dc got an 8 at gcse maths, and moved schools for sixth form, and straight away his target grade for maths A-level was set at B. I asked at the first parents evening why that was, and apparently it was purely based on the gcse grade - so an 8 in maths does seem to have an acknowledged correlation with a B grade at maths A-level.

Also the maths work gets much harder. DS was working at an A halfway through year 12, but I recall his maths teacher saying it was going to ramp up and he would need to work even harder to keep it at an A.

I mean a decent % of GCSE grade 8s lead to an A but yes, not many grade 6s.

im surprised they let him take it at A level then as its usually 7 and above. My DC both did A level maths - it was hard going! They got an 8 and 9 respectively ar GCSE.
Edited to say they both got As at A level.