What are the options for failed A’level results?

[Shimy]

And still aiming for uni.

Retake whole year
Retake but different subjects?
Degree Foundation year
Are BTECs possible at this stage?

Would like some advice please.

Cow Jumping - it was me that said my DC was at private school and a gamer not the OP.
Must say I don’t really agree with your rather judgemental comments 🤔
People choose to go to university for many different reasons and I think it’s their choice, they are the ones taking on the debt, they are the ones who have to manage their lives/time/ study etc and that in itself can be a reason to want to go, I can’t see why that’s a problem. If they fail that will be something they have to deal with as well!

Look into Glasgow. 4 year course to Masters and the first year is gentle. Fees only payable for the first 3 years so it’s more expensive but only by living expenses. Russell Group, rigorous courses, fantastic city and is easier to get into some ex polys 🤷‍♀️

My DD needed ABB to get into Sussex to do Biology. She got BCC in spite of working hard for her A'levels, and they accepted her with a foundation year. She is now in the second year of her degree and getting good grades. Lots of students are a year out for various reasons. Funding is available for foundation years.

Can I recommend... a job?

If he really wants to go to university, he needs to make that connection between working and results. Possibly he's a bit too immature to do that at the moment.

A couple of years of having to get up every day and be Nice to people (sometimes through gritted teeth) has done wonders for DS.

Am I the only one who thinks if he set his mind to it and worked really hard he can turn those mock grades into better grades?

No, I was thinking that - and assuming that not much revision was done, if the school's prediction for UCAS was an accurate reflection of his work to the date of the reference being written?

More than three months to go to the real thing. Heavy-duty revision course at a crammer over the Easter holidays, if the finances will stretch to it?

sorry cowjumping but....ignore cowjumping OP

In the real world, loads of kids don't get stellar grades, retake or take foundation years and I don't know a single one who hasn't enjoyed and done well at their uni.

In fact the only children I know who have dropped out are the ones from grammar schools with a string of As and at a RG uni who just crack under the pressure.

I know several kids at middling to lower unis having a ball, doing well and enjoying their subjects.

there is a load of absolute guff on here about kids that get less than A*s being unsuited to uni.

I also think his mock grades might be a wake up call and it might not be a disaster come results day if he really wants to go to uni next year.

I also agree about Glasgow. DS didn't apply in the end, but I was thinking "where's the catch?"

I think he won't need to do a BTEC, and you'd have to pay for the second year anyway.

My DS is repeating year 13. We decided around this time last year he wasn't going to make the grades needed for the courses he wanted. So we met with school and decided for him not to sit the exams (he does have a disability that had impacted on him more last year and we needed to get that under control).

He has gone back this year really focused and exceeding his target ABB is what he needs.

School were amazingly supportive and a few have gone back after not achieving the grades they wanted/needed, so he has a friendship group.

My understanding is that the Local authority will fund the additional year but it is at a reduced rate. Those who sat A levels last year have to pay to resit this year at DS school. My aDS does not have to pay because he has not sat any exams. I do think 6th form schools are more flexible, especially if you have been a good student.

I'm not sure about colleges because if you have sat A levels and got a mark you are qualified to a level 3, so they might charge for the course. In your situation I'd contact colleges and seek advice now so you know for definite what options he has locally.

I mean schools and colleges receive funding for the pupils in the same way as the do current year 12 & 13, but its reduced for the extra year. That's what school told us

Glasgow seem to ask for an absolute minimum of BBB, with a standard offer of AAB, for A level applicants, so not so amazingly low? Unless I'm looking in the wrong place?
www.gla.ac.uk/subjects/computing/undergraduate/

Thank you all very much for your comments. I’m just catching up.

Marching - I looked up Glasgow as well and it didn’t seem so low, although Dundee seemed to accep CCC. I don’t know how good Dundee is?

On the subject of retakes, @eatingtomuch is your DS retaking at a secondary with a sixth form attached or are they at a sixth firm college?

If it’s at a secondary with sixth form, do they attend lessons there as well?

I ended up with a C & D, went worked for a year, turned up at school, sat failed A Level and got a D. Went to Uni, nearly ended up with a Masters but that's a whole another story...

Dundee is supposed to be good for gaming! As in get a job in an industry that's big now.

Hi OP my ds was in this position last year. He spent a year studying at home (with a tutor) and then retook (through his old school). And failed again! Not because of laziness or lack of intelligence I don't think.

He still wanted to go to university (although I was exploring other options like apprenticeships), and this year started on a foundation course - he got offered a place on the strength of his really good gcse grades. He's doing really well at the moment and hopefully will go onto the degree course next year.

MarchingFrogs DD's BF is at Glasgow, and I can confirm that he and his friends are not finding the first year a stretch at all. They have plenty of time for partying, and as they are all doing humanities subjects with low contact hours they are enjoying themselves immensely. Apparently he and his friends all went there through clearing because none of them got into their first choice of university.

They all love the place BTW.

Cardiff Met offer foundation with route into computer science. I did a foundation last year because I am old. There were lots of young people who had failed to achieve required grades on the foundation. They are flying through year one.

He can get his grades up with effort and support.
Our sons AS grades were reflective of a preferring play to work. We found online Skype tutors, a face to face tutor, used a crammer and thumbscrews and dragged him screaming and kicking about ridiculously strict parents to three As and a B. Just short of our expectations. He now says we weren’t strict enough in lower sixth but is pleased we upped our game and is proud of his grades.
He chose not to go to university.

It's a secondary school with sixth form. He is studying for three A levels. All the students that have returned for an extra year are studying for three A levels. However, they all started in year 12 (majority attended the school since year 7).

ignore cowjumping OP

Well yes, go ahead and ignore an academic with 30 years' experience!

@Fazackerley actually, I wasn't thinking about the OP's DS's A level grades. Predicted at BB is fine. I teach in a top-rated Russell Group university department - we're regularly in the top 3 in all the league tables - we take BTECs and mature students - we all take AAA students - we want to get a good fit first & foremost. So I'm not fixated on A level grades.

What I am concerned about is appropriate mindset for university. I was responding to the OP's description of her DS's situation [quote]: DSs failure is frankly down to sheer laziness and then later confirming he's a gamer.

My concern - and thus my advice - was based on this information. I teach undergrads and I know that they need to be not lazy and that distraction via an occupation such as gaming (potentially so addictive) can be really damaging. Undergrads need to be able to be self-starting, organised, and committed.

Even as an academic, totally committed to the wonders & power of education, I do think that we emphasise going to university far too much to the detriment of other kinds of education. It doesn't suit all young people.

And this boy might need a few years to mature.

Or the low mocks grades might give him a wake up call, and he'll pull his finger out and learn how to work effectively and productively, and look forward to much much more of the same at university.

With respect cowjumping, a lot of boys are gamers. I agree you need a certain amount of self motivation to succeed at uni. Perhaps if you were a lecturer at a 'lower' ranked uni you would be more aware of how kids underperforming in year 12 can be fantastic students by the end of year 1 at uni. Your second post was far more reasonable than your first!

He’ll probably get in anyway if it’s this year - the demographic dip in the number of 18 year olds mean that many universities are just grateful for the numbers - they’ll pick up the academic issues over the course of the next 3 years.

I process uni applications for the course I lecture on so spend a lot of time looking at ucas forms. I see quite a lot of kids who have spent 2 years doing a levels and not got good grades and then switched to a btec. Some change after year 12 and got not great AS grades and made the swap then. They normally seem to go on to get good btec results.

Iirc you are entitled to 3 years of funding for sixth form. So repeating year 13 is certainly an option.

I'm not sure how the funding works if he wanted to spend 2 years doing a btec.

And yes I would agree that this year is going to be a bit of a bums on seats year for unis for quite a few courses due to the birth rate dip for kids born 18 years ago. Obviously that's going to depend on how popular particular courses are but it may swing things in his favour.

Any chance of private tutoring now to try and help? When dd did her mock GCSEs she got 2 and 3 for English lit and language. We got a tutor for an hour a week and she came out with 8s!

DS1's offer was ABB.
He got DDE in his mocks.
He got BBC in the actual A-levels and was accepted on to the course. He is doing well and is getting good grades in his assignments.

There was a dip in the birth rate in 2000-2002. Many universities are struggling to fill the places on their courses and will be willing to accept students who have missed the offer by a grade or two.