Ds losing way

[amiw]

Ds originally predicted AAAA latest mocks BCCE.not sure how to assist with revision and is tutoring an option? Spends lots of time online not enough revising. Has offers for Mchem from Warwick and Birmingham plus unconditional from Leicester. Chemistry Further maths French and Maths. How can I help?

Well if he's got an unconditional I wouldn't waste money on tutors. If he wants Warwick he needs to study but you can't do that for him. Hopefully those low mock results are a wake up call for him to get his finger out and revise.

Why is he doing 4 A Levels? What is the E in? Assuming his offers are based on 3 A Levels and the E is French could he drop it to focus more? Were the As always a bit ambitious? Teachers can over predict at first before reality sets in and work ethic takes its toll!

I assume the unconditionals are only if firmed offers and that he would rather go to Warwick or Birmingham?

Is he cross with himself over the mock results, or does he not care? When you say you don’t know how to help with revision, the best thing you can do is limit his time online. If he is keen to do better, he might be open to your intervention in this area, just for the next few months? Sit down with him and agree a sensible split of time between revising and playing online.

When our DS2 had an unconditional offer from Leicester 2 years ago it was whether he put them 1st or 2nd. (He phoned to check and got them to confirm it by email.) I would suggest he does this first. If he can have Leicester as an unconditional reserve then he can go for Warwick or Birmingham safe in the knowledge he has a back up plan.
DS really liked Leicester and said it had the most "genuine" feel of all the places he looked at and would have been happy to go there. He's now in his 2nd year at Birmingham and is pleased with both his course and social life.
The work and revision aspect is a whole different issue. We had similar issues with our elder son who with hindsight was just fed up with the treadmill of education.

I'd love my DS to be able to use his uc as a reserve. Sadly, his are these manipulative 'if firmed' type.

That does seem to be the more usual thing, Piggywaspushed. When DS2 got his unconditional offer from Leicester it didn't mention about putting them first, which is why he phoned for clarification.
He thought it was a very refreshing approach and reflected his experience of the Leicester open day.
Hope things go well for your son this year.

Were his predicted grades partly based on any tests/exams? If so, how did he do in those?

Obviously if he hasn't done much revision that's a factor, but school might be marking harshly now to get them focussed. Dd's working grades last year were all As, the odd B. This year it's been all Bs and even a C. We've had feedback from her HM she's always working/doing something for the school and two have said she's remarkable, so for that reason I question the fallback in grades.

The E grade is a bit worrying. I imagine 4 A levels is because FM is included and possibly Warwick have given an offer based on this. My DD was told, msny years ago, she couldn’t reduce the A levels back to 3 by the school. I suspect this was incorrect advice. It might be worth looking at whether the E subject can be dropped.

I'm experiencing similar with my dc & from talking to teachers and parents I don't think this is unusual. A few reasons that have been suggested to me:

High achieving students can often get through GCSEs with minimal effort. Having not got into good study habits or learned to work hard, they sometimes crash at some point in 6th form when minimal effort proves insufficient.

Online/screen time can easily get out of control, and 2+ hours a day online is like having a part time job to fit in on top of studying and other commitments.

Depending on the school, 6th forms often give students a lot more control and freedom - free periods, less contact between teachers and parents, longer deadlines for homework. Some thrive on this, some use it as a reason for not working.

Some students do the uni visits, get offers and then are so focused on what they're going to be doing next autumn that they take their foot of the gas in terms of what they have to do now in order to get there.

It's common for stressed or anxious students to bury their heads in the sand about A levels and ignore the work building up.

I'm sure there are others, but if you can work out if any of these are issues for him - maybe talk to teachers if possible as well as your ds -then you might have some ideas for how to help. Could you limit screen time/take in screens at a regular time at night/put a timer on your router/have screen free days? Find ways to help him cope with stress? Help him with organisation/revision timetables/a place to work where you can see him, etc? Keep in regular touch with teachers if there are any issues at school with coursework, attendance or homework?

Motivating students to work harder without coercion is a much tougher job - would love to hear if anyone has managed this!

Given his mock results are quite a way off his predictions, I imagine his teachers will have already "had a word" with him, even if they haven't (yet) contacted you.
Have you spoken with him about where he actually wants to study next year? If he is happy with Leicester (and nothing wrong with Leicester!), I imagine he might just have taken his foot off the gas as he no longer sees the need to work. In which case, it might be worth reminding him that potential employers, on graduation, will look at his A Level results - they might not be that important later in life, but they probably will be when he is trying to get his first job.
I would also get him to phone Leicester, as latedecember suggests, and ask them to confirm if his unconditional still applies if he puts them as his insurance. I have never heard of this before, but great to see it in action! If they say "yes" on the phone, make sure they confirm it in writing/email.
Is he waiting to hear from anywhere else?

Before looking for tutors, ask school if they run subject clinics, revision workshops or similar - maybe your ds isn't making full use of what's available.

I’m afraid this just confirms the view that unconditional offers mean students stop working. They are doing a lot of damage.

Am I correct in assuming he is doing 4 A levels because he is studying Further Maths so therefore has to study Maths too?

What is the E grade in? Do any of his conditional offers stipulate a specific grade in a specific subject?

I would agree that sometimes an unconditional can make some students less conscientious as they feel they have a win win situation and this is incredibly short sighted. What a lot of students fail to realise is that a lot of graduate schemes will also have minimum A levels grade requirements in addition to a degree requirement so it is still very important to put 100% effort into them as his A level results will be on his CV forever for all future employers to see.

I would first discuss this with your son, is he genuinely struggling with the subjects or is he only putting minimal effort into his studies as they are two separate issues entirely. I know you have said he is online too much but I would still clarify this with him, he could be using the online time as an avoidance strategy or he could indeed be prioritising it over his studies.

If he is struggling are school able to intervene and offer additional support ie during lunch, free periods or after school?

If it his down to him being lazy then I would inform him of how he is limiting his future options beyond university and offer a support strategy to help him catch up but only if he is willing to change his attitude. He will be in university in 8 months and it is vital he has the ability and motivation to be able to independently study.

Thank you everyone. The E is in maths which seems bizarre with further maths as a C at present. The AS grades were ABBA (B in french and further maths) screentime absolutely needs to be scaled right back and he also needs to take his ADHD meds every day- he has not been. I think it is minimal effort rather than dislike/struggling. But do need to sit down with him and go through it.

If he got a C in further maths then his maths grade E is really odd! Maybe something happened during the mock exam?

Just a thought, do the school give working grades as well as effort grades. If so, are these close to predicted grades/have they fallen back?

Hopefully his results will get him focussed. My niece turned her predicted D into a B because she was so focused on wanting the perfect course for her two minutes walk away.

If they don't get him focused then he's going to struggle on his own with time management at uni. Either way, he needs it pointed out his A level results will be his last achieved record for employers/apprenticeships/courses in the future.

Half term is coming up, a chance to make revision notes, brush up on harder areas. If he's struggling in any area, it's not too late to ask teachers for help.

It might be worth checking the maths exam content with your ds and/or the teacher and if the weighting of pure/stats/mechanics was the same as it will be for the A level exams. My dc has done 3 mocks since September & none had the same weighting as the final exams will have, so it's hard to compare results for students who aren't equally strong in all 3 areas.

Also worth looking in detail at the mock paper & where the marks were lost. Are there any specific topics your ds needs to work on, or did something else go wrong that might explain the discrepancy between maths and further maths, e.g. a question missed or not read properly?