How to get into a top uni after failing 1st year of ALevel Maths? Is it possible?

[Ragatha]

DS is planning on History or Philosophy at University and looks set to get A or A* in History and Computing A Levels. He's academic, loves writing and wants to go to a top uni, and his Tutor agrees he should be aiming high.

But... he just failed his first year of A Level maths and has been chucked off the course. It was the wrong choice of A Level, he should have chosen something essay based.

What now? Does anyone have any advice?

The college are examining what's possible although they've said doing a third year with them is extremely unlikely. They seem keen on EPQs but an EPQ alone isn't going to open doors to Edinburgh, Durham, Bristol or UCL etc - is it?

I wondered if anyone else has any advice on what we should be looking at, or has been in the same position?

DS is really keen to go to a good uni, and seems happy enough about doing a third year to make it possible if needs be.

When you say failed and chucked off the course…. How has he failed? Appalling exam results?

A very strange response from the school given his results in his other two a levels

Can he do English Language A level in a year? This is what some out our 6th form do if one A level hasn't worked out. Or get tutoring in over the summer, work his socks off, retake maths mock on the autumn and see what predicted grade it gives him? Or do the third A level in a bespoke way with a tutor from a crammer like MPW, starting right now.

Post 16 establishments get funding for your DS to do another year. I don't know why they are being difficult.

If your son is capable of achieving A or higher in two subjects he is better off starting year 12 again and redoing the two subjects he already has and doing a different A level subject.

If he is looking at universities with competitive entry requirements then he needs to take all three A levels at the same time.

Yes, he's been doing badly at his mocks. He first did badly at the beginning of the year, but was determinded to revise and pass - he enjoys maths.

But he's since taken another mock and a resit and failed them too.

It turns out it's not the subject matter he's struggling with, it's that he just can't do it in time. In a practice paper he took at home for example, he left 44% of the questions unanswered. When we went over them after, there was about 10% that he couldn't do but the rest he could have had a decent go at, had he had the time. He got 83% of the ones he had answered.

It wasn't about exam technique as such, it was simply not being able to do it fast enough. I think maybe with a LOT of repetition, he could have improved his speed, but mostly, I think with hindsight, A Level maths was simply the wrong choice for him.

Which is a shame as he's very academic othewise.

If he is looking at universities with competitive entry requirements then he needs to take all three A levels at the same time. Really? I read elsewhere it doesn't matter and its' the grade they look at. (Can't remember where I read that now though!)

The school are kicking him out? Or saying he can remain but only going 2 a levels? Or are they saying pick a third and try to squeeze in to one year?

If your son is capable of achieving A or higher in two subjects he is better off starting year 12 again and redoing the two subjects he already has and doing a different A level subject.

That's somethign we hadn't considered! Interesting food for thought, thanks.

In your shoes…. I’d throw money at the
Problem and get a private tutor for a third subject so he can do it in one year

Can he do English Language A level in a year?
This is a content heavy course that covers linguistics, language acquisition, etc and has some of the highest grade boundaries of any A-Level - it's not a doss subject.

OP all of those courses (which are very competitive) will be getting applications from students with 3 A star and 4 A star predicted grades. I don't think 2 A Levels would be considered. Best bet is starting again as a Year 12 in September.

Can he do English Language A level in a year? This is what some out our 6th form do if one A level hasn't worked out.

Really? How many students actually do this and how successful are they in doing so? It's not an easy A level that's a good pick for cramming into one year (are any?). Lots of content and very little crossover from GCSE English Language.

His tutor has had an initial chat with him and is now looking into other options, so I don't know what the offer is yet.

They're not kicking him out, they're saying he can go onto year 2, but will need to be full time. His tutor seems keen on him doing an EPQ and is going to find out whether that can count as him being full time. And then maybe doing year one of an A Level at college, then doing it as home learning in Year 2. (They've not confirmed this is possible, just an idea that was floated). I'm not sure about this though. I'd much rather he was at college not doing home learning

His tutor did say doing a new A Level in a year might be a possibility - they're not sure - but DS is worried that trying to do a 2 year A Level in a year alongside his existing A Levels might bring his grades down overall as it''d be pretty pressured, so he's not keen.

Crossed post!

Also meant to add that I think redoing Y12 with a different 3rd A level would be the best option. I do think many competitive universities want to see 3 A levels being taken together as it speaks to the workload a student can cope with.

Is it? That's actually encoraging if so! Gives me a bit more confidence to ask for things I think are sensible!

Well wait for what the college offers then

But intense private tutoring on top of school - he should be able to do an a level in a year

His tutor said they used to do a third year, but it didn't work because they found the stutents were too mature and frustrated about being in 6th form with much ounger people and so they only do it now in extreme circumstances like the death of a parent or something.

I don't see the point in trying to cram an A level into a year. The school can get funding for 3 years for him.

He'll need 3 alevels and then an epq if he wants to do one, my sons sixth form offered business English and one other a level in year 13 to mop up those who dropped one after year 12 mocks - they should have options for you to consider - if not then re start year 12 - but this is a common scenario and they should have a plan

I'm keen to find out what the possibilities are ASAP rather than just wait as their term ends in just over 2 weeks so we need to understand what the options are (with the college and outside it) pretty quickly.

Also have they screened him for additional needs such as extra time or rest breaks - or both - this should also be considered- he's college doesn't sounds that great tbh

This sounds like a shite college

as it stands they’ve just kicked DS off a course but given no alternative or even when they’ll be giving an offer of what to do

meanwhile a few weeks until the end of term

Why would they do that when he’s an A grade student in history and CS?

I think it depends on how competitive the university is to get into. I doubt that Oxbridge, Durham, LSE, UCL, Imperial etc would accept three A levels sat at different times.

Yes, he already gets extra time for neurodiversity.

Even if he's essentially doing two of those a levels over 3 years (if he took the same subjects again)?