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.

It does sound crap. We find students repeating Y12 don't have a great success rate but that's because the vast majority are in that position because they weren't committed in the first place and had poor attendance and didn't complete much work. Repeating the year for those kinds of students usually just delays the inevitable - them dropping out altogether. But for someone like the OP's son who is excelling in two of his subjects, is ambitious for his future but sadly picked the wrong A level it's the obvious solution. I think they are being very shortsighted.

The A Levels he could most easily achieve (as he's already interested in the subject matter and can draw from stuff he's already read) are Politics and Sociology.

Do you know why repeating year 12 would be preferred to starting a third A level at year 12 alongside the existing A Levels? It kinda feels like wasting everyone's time to make him re-do two subjects he's already doing well in.

if he can’t do it in time, he cant do it. perhaps a lot more individuals could have better performance in they had unlimited time , but the idea with exams is that you need to be able to do certain things within a certain time.. perhaps adjusting expectations might help

Perhaps I should be encouraging him to do an A Level in a year. Hmmm....

He's planning on doing his History project over the summer so he'll be ahead anyway.

It's academic now (no pub intended!) as he's been kicked off the maths A Level.

Yes, for me it would be the least worst option. If the school is sensible he can keep those two ticking over with revision, acing the history coursework and wider reading, and then do an EPQ as well, since the school is keen on those. I just think if he squeezes one into a year and then doesn't do as well in it, or it even brings one or both of his other grades down, you'll always be wondering, 'what if...?'

He’ll need private tutoring on top

If he's not finishing he needs extra time and they need to be building up the data to prove that. Ask for him to be given the opportunity to do a mock under exam conditions with 25% extra time BEFORE summer. He writes in one colour pen up to full time and a different colour pen for the extra 25% time. He'll need to be doing this for every timed exam from now. I think the cut off for requesting extra time in A levels is Januaryish of year 13 so they need to have a good body of data for then. I'd also request his other subjects do the same thing.

I would not be impressed with your 6th form if they aren't picking up that he's never finishing work under exam conditions but doing well the rest of the time. DD2 is the same year and her chemistry teacher (who is very on the ball) picked up she needed extra time about 6 months ago and they've been comparing marks since then. All her teachers have seen her marks go from a B to an A star with extra time. Secondary didn't pick it up because she was top of the year in several subjects but when we asked her she said she regularly didn't finish papers. Now she does finish them.

Seems odd choice of A level subjects for a potential Historian. I’m a secondary school teacher in an academic school and there does seem to be an obsession with maths. My advice is that he should start again with three subjects he is good at and go again.

@Ragatha
I took AS level maths with stats. I got 18% in my p1 which i think was a U(?) and an E grade overall. 🫠

I took it to a level (after heated conversations with the school by my parentsl

I resat all 3 as level modules the next year and got a very solid A grade.

It IS possible.
I will admit I worked very hard to turn that around.

It's too late for that. He's already failed the resit of the mock and been chucked off the course. Yes, I'm not impressed with the college but I still think it was the wrong A Level for him.

You are getting conflicting advice here, but the solution is obvious. Contact the specific uni departments he fancies studying at and see what they want in terms of whether 3 A levels done at different times would be acceptable.

Edit to add: FWIW I also think that starting again in year 12 is his best bet.

It would be very difficult to do an A level in a year concurrently with other A levels - particularly in an essay based subject.

Yes, speaking to admissions is on the list for next week :)

Sorry, I explaind myself badly.

Instead of repeating the entirity of year 12, I was wondering why he shouldn't go on to the second year of the subjects he's good at, while doing the first year of a new A Level alongside, then doing the second year of it, the following year.

Then he wouldn't be repeating anything.

Does he get 25% or 50% extra time? There's more work required by the college to assess for 50% extra but they should do it.

An EPQ is not equivalent to an A level, it's really important he does three together for the top Universities. I also think if he's ND and needs extra time tgat might add extra stress.

The 6th form reallly doesn't sound great, if they are just throwing him off the course, it completely fucks his opportunities and is more about their progression score than whathe needs. Talk to them about repeating the year but if they won't do itthen I'd be tempted to talk to other local colleges, explain the situation and see if it would be possible to move college and repeat year 12.

If he can't do an A level in 1 year at current establishment, do it at FE college in the evening and perhaps some private tutoring . I got a B in one year!

The most logical solution would be to drop back a year and start A levels again doing RS or philosophy as a third.
And given he will be repeating a year for two subjects he would probably manage an EPQ alongside 3 A levels

He gets 25% extra time.

I'm not sure if I could convince him to repeat a year tbh. He's up for doing a third year when we were talking about doing a third A Level and him working alongside it. But I suspect he would feel it didn't make sense to repeat work he's already done and it might be a hard sell!

That would be a logistical nightmare for the school though from a timetabling point of view. Just repeat the whole year 12.

If college is amenable, if he redoes yr12 in history and CS but didn’t attend all lessons and used that time to do coursework or EPQ work, whilst attending all classes for new a level in sociology or whatever, then that may be best for being full time, countering boredom and using his time effectively

If he followed your idea of offsetting the A levels, then he would be doing only the new A level the year after next and that wouldn’t be enough for college to say he was full time

Contact the university admissions teams now. Don't say it was the wrong subject choice but that this is an issue with timing and he gets extra time for his neurodiversity. His lack of answers is why he got low marks not lack of knowledge and you feel his college have not been supportive enough.

I think this comes down to funding. A child is usually not allowed to resit year 12 at the current college unless of exceptional circumstances. The choice then becomes, 3 new A level subjects at the current college or repeating year 12 at another college/sixth form and going back over the two subjects he will do well in.

In his situation with the shitty attitude of the college I would be looking at year 12 places now at a new college. Start ringing round to see if he could potentially start year 12 somewhere else. Get all the options he can, colleges, A levels and university applications.

Whilst an EPQ does have merit it is not an A level replacement. Your son needs 3 A levels to go to top performing universities. Find out directly from them what they need and get their advice. Best of luck to him.

My sons did 4 A levels so they did the entirety of maths A level in one year and moved onto further maths. However, this is a specific course for those on the further maths pathway, it takes up 50% of the timetable because they need the contact hours of both years 12 and 13 in year 12. Plus then the other 2 A levels and that contact time plus homework.

Taking an A level in an year is difficult especially as there will be no course set for this.

Who on earth advised him to study maths when his talent lies in essay writing? Does the college offer philosophy or something related to the courses he is looking at for uni. What about economics which might have enough maths to make it enjoyable for him.

He would be best off doing Y12 again rather than squeezing another a level into 1 year. Especially for the “top” unis you mentioned.