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Higher education

Talk to other parents whose children are preparing for university on our Higher Education forum.

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Original poster

Three Alevels on the same day?

123 replies

Possiblynotever · 16/11/2021 10:56

My DD just checked the timetable of her Alevel exams. On the 7th of June she will have three: Spanish, English and Math. I have contacted the school and they say that it is unfortunate but there is nothing they can do about it. Apparently there are " regulations" that deal with this and they will make sure she is aware of them.
I feel that three exams in the same day is truly a very stressful experience and I doubt she will be able to be on top of all the topics.
Is there something that can be done?

OP posts:

AlleZusammen · 16/11/2021 18:16

@clary Thank you

CaptainMyCaptain · 16/11/2021 18:29

@Possiblynotever

Frankly, she has always talked about Maths, but I assume it is further maths as the department head has confirmed that she has three exams on the same day, two of which are clashing.

I did not check the boards as, honestly, I would not know where to start: she is very independent and does it all by herself.

What would taking the paper the next morning entail?

She would have to be supervised overnight with no communication with other students. The exam regulations allow it but I've never encountered it myself. I assume you would have to do the supervising.

titchy · 16/11/2021 18:32

So she's doing 4 A levels then? Is she not intending to drop one?

JaffavsCookie · 16/11/2021 18:47

We haven’t had a clash requiring overnight supervision for years, but it always used to be that the kid had to go to a teachers home, and leave their phone etc with the member of staff.
Op you really must know if your kid is doing 4 A levels ; Eng, Mfl, maths and further maths or just 3. Even if she is very independent surely you have been to parents evenings and read her progress scores/reports?

BlueCowWonders · 16/11/2021 18:58

But @Possiblynotever do you recognise that your dd could be seen to have an advantage over some other A level students? She'll have done the oral exam part of her mfl A level well in advance of any written exams so it's out of the way.
Her combination of exams has also meant that she's got a mixture of essay and non essay based subjects so work during year 12 and 13 will be spread out.
I'm sorry the 3 exams on one day has thrown you, but there are advantages too.

maddy68 · 16/11/2021 19:01

This is very common. There is only a short window and schools don't have a choice. They are at set times. To avoid cheating with other candidates.

Unfortunate but very usual
Nothing that can be done

Original poster

Possiblynotever · 16/11/2021 19:10

She is doing 4 Alevels: History English Maths and Spanish. Her school requires 4 Alevels.
I do not know whether Maths is Further Maths or PreUni or whatever.
One zoom call last year with the school and no parent evening yet.
The school confirmed that there is a clash of 3 subjects.

OP posts:

toomuchlaundry · 16/11/2021 19:11

How come you don't know what A-levels she is doing?

When I sat A-levels, I think you would have to stay with a teacher if you had to sit a paper the next day due to a clash. Mobiles didn't exist then, so I assume supervision needs to be really strict nowadays.

I remember having to have lunch in the Headmaster's study when I had a clash, but then sat the paper later in the day. We all thought it was very exciting, as never allowed in there normally

titchy · 16/11/2021 19:38

@Possiblynotever

She is doing 4 Alevels: History English Maths and Spanish. Her school requires 4 Alevels. I do not know whether Maths is Further Maths or PreUni or whatever. One zoom call last year with the school and no parent evening yet. The school confirmed that there is a clash of 3 subjects.

If she's doing Further Maths then she would also be doing Maths. So after all that clearly she isn't doing FM and doesn't have a clash at all. The teacher has misread the timetable.

(She should still think about dropping one subject though unless she is finding them all a doddle. The stress of an extra 33% workload is far more than the stress of one day with three exams if you're genuinely concerned about MH.)

Malbecfan · 16/11/2021 19:38

@clary definitely wasn't aimed at you!

clary · 16/11/2021 19:39

She can't be doing further maths without doing maths (as far as I am aware anyway).

So is it an AS maths that she is doing as an extra/fourth A level? I can't see the point of that tbh.

titchy · 16/11/2021 19:43

@clary

She can't be doing further maths without doing maths (as far as I am aware anyway).

So is it an AS maths that she is doing as an extra/fourth A level? I can't see the point of that tbh.

Ah yes could be. AS Maths is on 7 June.

jgw1 · 16/11/2021 19:44

@Possiblynotever

She is doing 4 Alevels: History English Maths and Spanish. Her school requires 4 Alevels. I do not know whether Maths is Further Maths or PreUni or whatever. One zoom call last year with the school and no parent evening yet. The school confirmed that there is a clash of 3 subjects.

Any school that requires students to do 4 A-levels is only doing so for the benefit of their league table position and not for the students who in the vast majority of cases would be far better off doing something else with their time, or doing well in 3 A-levels rather than ok in 4.

Original poster

Possiblynotever · 16/11/2021 20:24

Frankly I do not think that the school is doing it for its league position: it is a State school but all students are required to do four ALevels .
I truly would not want her to sleep somewhere else under supervision!

OP posts:

Embracelife · 16/11/2021 20:42

You could just tell school she is only doing three a levels . And that is that.
She needs three for uni not four.
So if the pressure is too much
Drop one
Tell school she will sit three a levels and that is that

No uni requires four
So if you worried about stress
Then just do three A levels
Based on what she wants to study at uni

JaffavsCookie · 16/11/2021 20:53

So the maths is only AS maths, sack it off now, concentrate on the other 3.
Still seriously 😳 that you don't actually know what courses your kid is doing.

pointythings · 16/11/2021 20:56

I did my exams in the Dutch system, equivalent of A levels (you skip the GCSE stage over there if you're A level material). I did 8 subjects and most were one 3 hour exam only - the exception was Dutch where you had one for language and one for literature. Exam season was pretty short and most of my exam days contained 6 hours - 9 to 12 and 1 to 4. You were allowed to leave the hall (other than to go to the loo) after a minimum of one hour, but obviously you couldn't come back - this did mean that you could finish early and get some extra rest if you were confident.

I don't think 5 hours over 3 subjects is unreasonable. My DD had similar on two occasions this year under the school's pandemic regime - full exam conditions too.

maddy68 · 16/11/2021 20:57

It isn't an organisational issue. Due to covid or anything else It's because there are sooooo many different exams and soooo many different exam boards with several exams for each subject within each of these. They have to be done at the same time. It's just unlucky that options she has chosen clashes on the same day

jgw1 · 16/11/2021 21:54

@Possiblynotever

Frankly I do not think that the school is doing it for its league position: it is a State school but all students are required to do four ALevels . I truly would not want her to sleep somewhere else under supervision!

Well I can't think of any other reason for insisting every student does 4 A-levels. It is the same reason schools used to like students taking GCSEs early, and got students doing more than 8 or 9 GCSEs. It used to be the case that 6th forms were funded per qualification students were studying for, but that is now a much less significant part of the funding formula, so it generally costs 6th forms to have students studying 4 subjects, so I doubt it is to do with funding. Most universities are more interested in students who do 3 A-levels and something interesting in their spare time, than 4 A-levels. I'd recommend to everyone to avoid 6th forms that insist students need to 4 A-levels.

Fivebeanchilli · 16/11/2021 23:34

This happened to one of my contemporaries and she had to go to a teacher's house overnight.
It's happened to some of my children's friends over the years and they have just shoehorned them in and done the 3 papers in one day.
I also would use this as a great opportunity to drop the 4th A level as it's completely unnecessary. It sounds a slightly weird school though if they're doing so many GCSEs early against all advice/recommendations...

dcadmam · 16/11/2021 23:59

Google “jcq ice 2021-2022”
These are the rules all exam boards abs schools follow section 7 exam clashes section 8 overnight supervision
Read up on the rules, list the exam times, discuss with school
Most schools will want to avoid moving exam to a different day but you can insist ( nb you supervise your daughter at hone) but consider knock on effect on other exams.

HarrietSchulenberg · 17/11/2021 00:31

The requirement to be supervised by the exam centre (school) was removed a few years ago BUT parents and student must sign a form undertaking not to contact other students or have any contact with the outside world during that overnight period, and the student must be supervised by the exam centre at all times between exams, so she won't be able to see or communicate with friends.

Guidance on this for schools is here:
www.jcq.org.uk/exams-office/online-forms/guidance-notes-for-overnight-supervision-of-candidates-with-a-timetable-variation/

Revengeofthepangolins · 17/11/2021 00:37

I think people are being a bit aggressive about dropping the fourth a level, or AS level as the case may be. Quite a lot of schools do more than 3, for various reasons and it isn’t really on topic. And an exam clash would be a very odd reason to drop a subject.

sashh · 17/11/2021 03:36

[quote Possiblynotever]@ssash I hear what you are saying but frankly I do not think that the current youth deserves to be called " snowflakes"... I feel that they are generally very responsible, thorough, well meaning and healthy. They have to manage their lives much earlier than we ever had to in a totally uncompromising society with mean previous generations that got Uni fully paid for calling them " snowflakes" sitting on their defined benefits packages...[/quote]
I didn't go to uni until my 30's I have thousands of pounds student debt, I'm not sitting on any defined benefits packages.

Sitting 6 hours of exams in a day has been normal for as long as I can remember, it's only recently the exams have gone to 2 hours. University exams are also often 3 hours and students taking joint subjects still have clashes.

NCTDN · 17/11/2021 03:40

Wow there's some judgy comments

DD also has a clash of English and Spanish which I was surprised at as I thought they would have been a popular combination?

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