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.

What? No! He loves Computer Science, no reason to drop it!

I did English Language A Level
in one year. I was in a very similar position. It wasn’t easy but doable.

I mean, yes, I guess it's feasible. Very expensive! And the entry would.be via the school, probably, who will also be attempting to top up his learning hours at school for funding. Its all a bit mad!

when this happened to me (French not maths) I took sociology in a year at night school. This option doesn’t exist in person but may be online. The course then was in topics and you had one paper of compulsory questions and a second where you answered 4 from 12 topics i think, because i had only studied for a year i only had studied 4 topics so no choice but got a top grade. Now courses change, was a long time ago, but he’s not the first to have to come up with a plan b

He would only get a third year of funding if he reached the end of yr 13 with no Level 3 qualifications at all (i.e no A-levels). So he would have to restart yr 12 to be eligible, and colleges are unlikely to allow this. His best bet, and the most common solution for students who have clearly chosen the wrong subject, is to double block a new subject, so he is doing yrs 1 and 2 of his new subject simultaneously. It’s hard, but do-able for a strong student, and does reflect well on them in terms of resilience and capacity to deal with a heavy work load.

I’ve known students do this with Religious Studies, Sociology, Eng Lang. Anything where there aren’t skills to be built over time or shed loads of reading.

Yes, he would be entirely capable of doing three A Levels in a year. He just made a bad choice with the maths. He reads loads and writes in his spare time (he currently has an 8,000 word essay on the go, relating to philosophy/ politics he's writing for his own interest). He should have done another essay based subject, that was the problem.

It's a shame when he obviously can understand the maths content and presumably has good classwork, to have to experience this because he runs out of time in exams.

But, onwards! I know someone who recently took 3 A levels, then took a year out and did Maths A level in a year whilst working part time to save up, then went to Durham with the 4 A levels. So, in that case he didn't need to have taken them all at the same time.

I wouldnt bother with EPQ as the top unis don't seem to include it in their offers.

The problem with taking a new, 3rd A level in Yr 13 is that your DS needs a predicted grade in Sept-Oct for UCAS application.

The best bet IMO is your son starts reaching himself 1st year Sociology or Politics NOW, and all through the summer, and asks college to give him a mock in September (like the yr 12s sat just now). He would then have a predicted grade for UCAS.

If this isn't high enough for the top unis, he could take a year out after A levels to take a 4th A level in a year.

Thanks everyone for all the advice and thoughts on this thread. I was worried no one would answer! But this is really helping to think through the options before speaking to his college and the unis next week.

So what are you going to do?

Sorry - posted at the same time as you OP

@Ragatha I haven’t read the responses so apologies if this has already been suggested, but at DD’s sixth form there is the option of taking A-level business in one year. Most people take it as an add-on economics but a couple of people who have dropped out of maths at the end of your year 12 will be taking this as an alternative third A-level in year 13. Is this something his school would consider?

So he would have to restart yr 12 to be eligible, and colleges are unlikely to allow this.

Yes, they do. It isn't that unusual.

My son is going to get three A/A* and lives locally but didn’t get into Durham.

Place less emphasis on which uni your child goes to, and more on them being healthy, happy, and able to achieve. Failing the maths Alevel is difficult, you can pass with relatively low marks, so I think maybe pressure could be an issue here, as the good grades in others indicate a good level of intelligence.

In terms of employability I don’t think the uni makes that much of a difference unless going into an incredibly competitive field. I work for a HUGE company that everyone would know the name of and thousands would want to work for, and when hiring not one of my colleagues has ever verbalised choosing someone because of the university that they attended…I’ve certainly never done it

But, onwards! I know someone who recently took 3 A levels, then took a year out and did Maths A level in a year whilst working part time to save up, then went to Durham with the 4 A levels. So, in that case he didn't need to have taken them all at the same time.

The standard offer is for three a levels, not four, so that person had demonstrated that they could sit three a levels in one go

They may well want three taken at the same time over two years. Some unis don’t want you to take an extra year either.

Does your school offer any btech courses? My son did an EPQ and a Btech in year 13 after dropping an A level, got him enough to get into his 1st choice uni.

This is one of Bristol's - no specific entry requirements but it would probably be worth a conversation with an admissions tutor. There are often some available to talk to if you go to an open day. www.bristol.ac.uk/study/undergraduate/apply/foundation-year-arts-and-social-sciences/

Hi OP, hope this offers some reassurance- I’m Head of Admissions at one of the universities mentioned in your initial post and we would not mind if A-Levels were sat over three years, it wouldn’t be held against him at all. Much better to know now that Maths wasn’t the right fit than on results day next year. Best of luck to him, I’m sure he’ll be just fine!

I would keep in mind that next year he will have both his History and Comp sci NEA's to complete. I think you said he intends to do his History one over the summer but if he wants an A* in comp sci then he'll want to get 80%+ in his NEA and you're looking at an 100 page write up with a fairly impressive/complex solution.

Trying to do all that while doing a whole other brand new subject to study in a year is going to be a lot IMO. The alternative of having to drop back a year or having to do an extra year when everyone else is off to uni are equally hideous choices IMO.

Personally I'd be pushing for them to allow him to carry on with the maths with as much tutoring as possible. The way they word the questions now is shitty for ND kids because they often know the stuff but find it really difficult to work out what they are being asked. That is what i would be getting a tutor to work on with him. How to work out what they are asking in the stupid ways they ask the questions now in the exams. It wouldn't surprise me if this is why he is slow - because he's taking a long time to work out what they want as they are not taught in that way at school - autistic DS found the same.

The grade boundaries are also awful due to the FM students dragging them up - DS got 70% for his maths A-level and got a B. He didn't have any tutoring but I wish I'd got him tutored on that same thing as he knew the content but just struggled with they way they asked the questions.

If there is the concern that he still might not do well enough in maths then as back up I'd apply for foundation courses at the unis he wants as well as the straight degrees.

Have you also checked if he is eligible for a contextual offer - Bristol for example give them out to most state schools IME even DS's very MC state in a well to do area.

As an ND/state school student it's also worth looking at uni's widening participation programs - not sure if it's too late for them now but have a look as they can also get you reduced grade offers as can doing an EPQ - although most schools do EPQ's in year 12, I'm not sure it's such a good idea in Yr 13 unless he's just going to do 2 A-levels.

Good luck! I hope he finds a solution that works for him.

DD had to start one subject from scratch in y13 - her school offered 3 subjects to choose from for that - Sociology, Business or English (maybe English language). She did Business and got it to an A star. It is like doing 4 A levels for a year but if he could handle that and can get them to do a high predicted grade quickly for the third subject its possible. She did not do her EPQ which the school were very keen on and still entered her for but would have distracted from the A levels. She got into Oxford. They normally don't like over 3 years, normally has to be exceptional circumstances for that and very rare.

Years ago I had the same and did Politics A level in a year self taught - there was overlap in technique with History which I was doing and had always been interested in politics so it wasn't too bad. Its neutral as a subject so doesn't matter if you are politically one way or the other as long as you can see both sides. I got an A (highest there was). You'd have to look at syllabus though now and I would say doing 1 extra in a year it helps a lot if you can self teach. I don't know if evening classes are still a thing for another A level - a girl I knew did Sociology like that who went onto Oxford for PPE. There seems to be a lot less of it though.

If he can use the summer to get ahead in History and Computer Science and say get a textbook for the other one it helps.

I read this response to DS and he laughed. And then said he aims higher than me.

He's not getting pressure from me. I'm totally with you on the most important thing being happy and healty.

However, I'm supporting him in his aims. He is very academic, and keen to go to an academical rigourous university. He's not focussed on employment or prestige. It's about the quality of teaching, research and links, as well as the university experience.

If they do run fast track A level in 1 year courses often there's quite a lot of demotivated students on them so it helps to be motivated but sounds like he is.

Yes, but it was the fourth one he needed for the uni course

I did A Level sociology in a year (back when it was AS and A2). I don’t remember it being particularly taxing. I certainly found it easier than psychology and law, which were my other A Levels. I got an A. I got into Liverpool uni to study law despite having done three years of A Levels (timetabling issues repeatedly, hence over three years and elevated Sociology). If he’s good at essay based subjects, I reckon he’d manage.

The maths is not happening. It's not a question any more. We've drawn a line under it, definitely.

Yes, he's eligible for a contextual offer at some universities, on the basis of our postcode. We're in IMD 3 / Tundra LSOA 1. (Not eligible if they rely on Acorn or Tundra MSOA, however.)

However he needs to be at a state school to qualify.

He should be eligible for a contextual offer of one grade lower, at Bristol, Durham, York, UCL and St Andrews for example. But not at Edinburgh, Glasgow or Warwick as far as I know. (Not sure about Oxbridge).

Does anyone know - if we home schooled or got a tutor for an A Level in the thrid year if then they wouldn't count him as being at a state school and then not apply the contextual offer?