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.

Just looking up foundation years, could be an interesting option.

Noted - but the three a levels showed the resilience to the volume of study and then the maths showed the specific subject ability

I had a young person where things didn't go as planned for medical reasons so I sympathise with the feeling of panic and wanting to push through asap. My main bit of advice would be to tell DS to plan to take a gap year, forget about UCAS for the coming year and to apply post A level with grades in hand. That takes a big load of extra stuff off him - no trying to cram in open days/agonising over a personal statement etc - means more time to focus on academics. It also means there is no grovelling to the college about predicted grades. Then pick a subject he is likely to do well in for a one year head down cram to the finish - in addition to the politics and sociology mentioned previously he could think about psychology as his maths would be an advantage. History of Art or Class Civ might also be options although if he isn't interested in them he might be better doing something that interests him. If you can afford it you could look at enrolling him in an online crammer to supplement or even replace college for that 3rd subject (I think they start at about £500 for the year). I'm assuming that he doesn't have a very strong extra curricular talent - eg if he is amazing at music (Grade 8+) and also really good at composition then he could probably do music in a year.

He'd need to understand that he would need to get his head massively down and plough through the year and it won't be a barrel of laughs as there won't be time for a lot of extra curriculars and parties etc

I finished my 1st degree 8 years ago!

Wow rude much. I finished my degree 8 years ago, hardly yesteryear!

If he's doing so well at History and CS which are both very hard A'Levels, then I think he could manage an A'Level in a year if he takes it privately and really works hard over the summer. It's very easy to make the wrong choices at such a young age. MY DS1 chose the wrong degree subject and ending up swapping from History to Natural Science ! So it's not the end of the world even though it can feel like it at the time. Good luck to him.

Oh cripes. I looked into this: he could restart year 12 at current school or elsewhere. They can get funded for this and he can do a different subject. I spoke to a few and they were open. He could drop maths and do a third subject over year 13 and 14. He could do a one year A level in year 14 with a college or by distance.

Ps I think kicking him off the course without suggesting resitting year twelve or picking up a different course over year 13/14 is unreasonable. If he goes elsewhere they will lose funding.

@AnonKat you didn't say when you sat your A levels and sometimes on these threads people are referring back to the 1990s or early 2000s when talking about their A levels. The whole system was overhauled to final exam, non-linear A levels less than 10 years ago. They are considered harder because it mostly comes down to a final exam with a few subjects having some coursework like comp sci with a 20% element.

@Ragatha Contact some universities, get it directly from them, do it as soon as possible before term ends; my son finishes end of June. Contact some other sixth forms/colleges and get their take on it and whether they would have a place for him starting year 12.

How does he feel about all this? What are his career plans?

Piggy is right, that's nearly a decade ago, so much has changed, its not actually relevant, sorry.

He's being very level headed about it, I'm very proud of how he's handling it tbh.

He's not sure what his long term career plans are (until he failed the maths, the only vocational idea he had was a career in computing).

He hasn't got set career plans, but one path he can see himself taking is an academic career - onto Masters then PhD and research. I can see that tbh. This is a young person who reads dense political and philosophical texts for his own interest, outside of college.

In the short term, he's very motivated to go to a top university. We've been going to university open days with an open mind but it's only cemented this.

I’d look into private tutors to cover year 1 of an essay based subject like politics or sociology or philosophy where he can start on the second year material whilst attending the second year classes. Cover as much as possible with tutors over the summer. Forget the EPQ he needs to put his time into the third a level.

He says he's much rather do a third year than try to cram another A Level into this year. He's not overly concerned about it taking another year, he's happy with that compromise if he ends up as a decent university.

We'll contact them this week and find out how possible that is.

Thankfully there isn't any particular university he's set on so he can be flexible about which to apply for.

I agree
He should repeat YR 12 again.
I think doing an extra A Level in one year is a terrible idea . Doing this may have an adverse effect on the other two A Levels

Wise decision

I’m going to be absolutely straight with you here @Ragatha but as someone who’s been involved with education in some guise for decades - it is very unlikely that a pupil who is kicked off one of his a levels at the end of year 12 is an oxbridge candidate.

Let’s say the school agrees for him to squeeze an entire new a level in to one school year…. It is very likely he will would not get a high grade or even a mid grade. He’s missed 50% already.

I am glad of DS’ decision, OP. FWIW, amongst the universities you originally mentioned Bristol has the reputation of accepting resits without prejudice. I hope they, at least, will be open ro DS’ preferences for proceeding. I feel sure there are others of a similar calibre that will also be supportive.

I don’t mean to suggest that the others on your list will receive his query negatively. I simply don’t know.

I agree. My eldest is super bright with stellar grades and got offers from various so called top tier universities. Went to one. Was absolutely miserable. Hated it. Went to a so called tier down one and is so so much happier.

Yes, I spoke to Bristol this morning and they were very encouraging about the idea of doing an A Level in a year, effectively Year 14.

Am juggling calling universities with work today.
(DS is in college).

I didn't mention Oxbridge in my OP, I'm confused as to why that's your focus?

Our preferred option at the moment is for DS to do an A Level in a third year at 6th form, if we can find a way to make this happen, and it turns out there are top universities who would accept this.

Excuse me? Neither do you. And your point is?

My question to Bristol was not about my son, but about their policy - whether they would accept an A Level done in a third year, or whether that would not be accepted.

And they said they do accept A levels "taken in multiple settings".

Yes, that's exactly what I mean. Although, I think he would likely do an EPQ and maybe something else as the college want him to be full time this year.

Convincing then to let him do an A level in a year will be the hard bit I suspect (rare but not impossible at his college, I hear).