Slightly disappointing year 12 mock results - too early to stress?

[Corvusnotstrange]

Hi, my dd is in year 12 and has just sat her first mocks, the week prior to the Christmas break. She has had chemistry and biology back and got Cs in both (well, she reported as '2 marks off a B' for biology). When she started her A levels I was fully prepared for potential plummeting grades after reading this is common with the jump up from GCSE; however, in class tests (which are very frequent) she has had mainly As and the odd B, and at parents' evening in November teachers said she is on track for an A and they would be pushing towards A star (target grades are A A A star but this is just based on GCSEs ). I have therefore possibly been lulled into a sense of complacency! She got a 9 in chemistry and 8 in biology GCSE - she did need to put in the work to achieve this though.

She is interested in dentistry, so she really needs to get 3 As ultimately. For context, she is dyslexic - she has adjustments and during GCSEs managed to pull her grades up from 6s in science at end of year 10 (and her lowest grade a 3 in English language - ultimately she got a 9).

I realise that mock results at start of year 12 can be a bit of a shock to the system but just wanted to get some perspective as to whether this is not unusual and can realistically be pulled up? She did work, though has said she was really tired that week (end of term) and all the exams were close together. She found she was pushed for time even with extra time. I have looked at her papers, and she has made a few silly mistakes eg missing a bit of a question, scoring out correct answer, not getting a calculation I know she is capable of doing. Her knowledge and understanding of concepts appears reasonably good.

Would be interested in others' experiences of progress that can be made between year 12 and actual exams - it doesn't seem that long! We could potentially get a tutor, though I can also help with these subjects so can step that up first. (She is also doing psychology but not got that one back yet!) I want to be able to support her ambitions, but also be realistic. I also realise I may be catastrophising prematurely, and these exams after only a few weeks of A level really just to show them where the bar is set!

It’s very common. My son got Cs and Ds in yr 12 Christmas mocks but has now pulled his socks up in yr 13 and is predicted ABB with his last set of exams being high BCCs

Any support you can give (if she will accept) will be helpful. Can they return the mock paper so you can see where she lost marks? How did she feel it went?

It’s still early days, so, get a copy of the specification for her exam board and start working through the topics she has already covered so they’re secure. At the end of this term, Easter, do the same again with the new material.

Thanks @Hillbilly that's helpful to know.

@Florencesndzebedee she didn't think they went that well at the time, so has insight! She does accept help (usually involves a cafe session 😂). She brought home the papers so I have looked at them - would like to go through them but she has a test next week on current topic so understandably wants to look at that. It moves v quickly in terms of content! Definitely hope to do that as well though - I think she just needs to be doing a lot of past questions, also good idea to look at exam spec in detail.

Things were still going badly at the end of yr 12 so he had a tutor over part of the summer in one subject, which really helped with both knowledge and confidence.
Find out what the school says, and get her to take up any additional support they may be offering. There is definitely time to pull up her grades!

She has literally only one term in. They have to hit the ground running and that first term can be a real adjustment period for some. Schools will base predicted grades off summer mocks (so as if they had sat an AS level), combined with what they know about your child.

So long as there is continued hard work and progression she is still on track to get great grades.

For context my DD is expected to get two A stars and two As and is working at Bs and As right now. Does make you panic a bit though 😂😂

Thanks @RatherBeOnVacation I do realise it has been a relatively short time and it is an adjustment - just panicking as she had been doing so well! If she was getting Bs at this stage I'd be quite happy - sounds like your dd is doing really well.

School have sent out a timetable and the next lot of exams
are in April - they have called them progression exams, but there don't seem to be any more unless you have to resit if get below a D. So a bit worried that predicted grades for university will be based on these, which seems very soon!

She has had psychology back now and happier with how she has done, though they only have marks, not grades yet.

I think the recent trend to call Year 12 exams (particularly ones so early in Year 12) "mocks" is not helpful.

These are essentially end of term assessments; she's only just started her courses and the first term is a lot about adjusting to A Level expectations as opposed to GCSE. She now has some practice of A Level questions, and will hopefully understand where she needs to improve (if she doesn't then absoltely encourage her to talk to her teachers). All good.

It shpuld be a wake up call and she shpuld start extra revision and a revision plan inc blocks of revision at easter and half term.

Dentistry is (rightly) highly competitive

A Levels are a big jump up and require a lot of work. If she is able to she could start trying to read ahead of lessons so she is already familiar. Also, if she could try and get in the habit of making flash cards as she goes and then testing herself on topics and rinse and repeat until she is getting good marks that may also help. My son was struggling with Biology and a tutor really helped him for the last half of year 13. Chat GPT can be used to create questions as well which his school suggested and he found helpful. From what I have seen you really have to put the work in outside of school to get As and the quality of teaching also makes a huge difference as does the relationship with the teacher. Son got his 3 As in the end but missed an A* by 1 mark which cost him his first choice so the exam technique and practice is crucial.

Cs in the first mocks of sixth form for two subjects that are both a big jump from GCSE - not at all unusual. And it’s good (in a way) that she knew they hadn’t gone brilliantly. Part of the issue my DD faced was cracking the mark scheme all over again at A-levels. Biology seemed to be especially tricky for her. She found it so hard to understand the level of detail required.

Thanks all, that is mainly reassuring - yes, I agree it seems
crazy to call them mocks when only a couple of months in, it makes the stakes seem v high (though maybe that's not a bad thing!)

Thanks for all the advice - she does work hard, though also socialises hard and does various extracurriculars, so keeping on top of everything is challenging. It may be thay she needs to refine/ target her study more, and also as mentioned learn how to answer the questions specifically especially for biology. Need to spend time looking at the mark schemes, which not really done yet - did this for GCSE and it helped.

She is very well aware of the competitive nature of dentistry, and of all the requirements to apply - and based on her target grades it is not completely unrealistic as an aspiration.

Uplearn for chemistry is helpful.

Thanks @assignmentsites - had a look at uplearn, seems expensive but guess cheaper overall than a tutor...might give the free trial a go and see.