Advanced Higher with a 'C' at Higher Prelim?

[52andblue]

Ds has moved across from England (8 GCSEs) but found the change to Highers really difficult.
He crashed Physics, Biology, Computing, Engineering this year (& 1 x N5)
He is going to take Physics next year now as he got 20% in his prelim. C in Biology prelim, C in Engineering, A in Computing: all prelim grades.
He has to choose his subjects for S6. Unfortunately, Computing AH not avail. So he will sit PHysics H, Graphic Comms H, Maths H, 1 x N5 and has chosen Biology AH with a reserve of Politics H.
Time table wont accomodate both Graph Comm and Biol AH so he has to choose.
I think he should choose Graph Comm and not put himself through the stress of an AH in biology (he will do computing at uni so no need).

Any thoughts on this please?
He's a lovely lad and bright enough but has ASD and Dyslexia (badly) so doesnt do as well in traditional exams as his IQ should allow.

I'm not a teacher so not sure about the C grade doing AH, but I would think it's quite a leap.
I can only answer from own perspective as a mum who has DC1 in 1st yr at university.

If your son plans to go to university in Scotland then the university entrance qualifications are Highers. There is no need to do AH.

So your DS needs to make sure he has enough Hghers at required grades at the end of S6 to get into university. Eg. the course may ask for BBBB at Higher.
My DC1 got 4 highers in S5. Despite her doing AH in S6 in subject she wanted to study at uni her conditional offer was A and B in the 2 Highers she was taking in S6 (1 was a retake of subject she got a C in)

So I suppose what I'm saying is your son may be better maximising his Highers and ignoring AH if there's nothing he really wants to take. There is a lot of project work involved in AH, much less is "taught" than at Higher.
I would say though, a lot of schools don't offer AH computing and I've known a child self study it with some oversight by the computing teacher at school. Could this be an option?

I would say wait and see what his final higher result is. From experience anyone with less than an A for biology at higher struggles to pass AH. It’s a massive jump and really tricky.

My experience at AH is not in a science subject but I would not recommend that a student with a C pass attempts AH.

Does a nearby school offer AH computing? In our area it is common to go to a nearby school for subject not available. They usually provide transport (or did up to 2020). Would he consider doing computing HNC/HND at college and then joining uni in 2nd/3rd year. DS2s friend did this. Assessment methods suited him better and he did really well.

One of my DCs managed to raise their grades from higher prelims to exam by between 10-25% per subject on average. Admittedly, they did work very hard for this. Higher maths went from 60% in the prelim to 92% in the real exam.

What grades have they been getting in class tests since the prelims?

School has arrangement with local College re Computing. So, Ds has taken H Software Development, was planning H Cyber Sec next yr but they dropped the course and now only offer Nat 5. He has scored 95%+ consistently on SD: this is where his talent lies. I'm trying to persuade him to leave school & do the HND but he 'doesn't feel ready'. So he plans on doing the AH Biol (he won't do well sadly), repeat Physics, crash Graph comm, and maybe Maths (if summer tuition shows evidence of worthwhile). Reserve Politics. A messy year, when he would just FLY on an HND. (but he 'doesn't want to join Uni half way through but with everyone else) V frustrating !!

You can join university in 1st year with a 1 year HNC.
I've known couple kids who did this as they were very shy socially and didn't want to join when everyone else had friends already.
Could this be an option?

@patritus Yes, that might help?
Thank you for that information.
Didn’t know this (careers / college guidance fairly hopeless here)

Where I teach the recommended progression route for a C pass Higher candidate would be upgrading the Higher not AH. The independent study required (the level is the same as the first year of a degree) combined with the pace and depth is not really suited to a C level pass. AHs are a great qualification to prepare for uni, and can lead to an easy first year of your degree or to indulge your passion before moving on. Your DS will need to pick a project and conduct a long term research and range of experiments to accompany this with a write up. This is very self directed.

Everything about your DS's grades and interests suggest that this is not a good fit.

I'd concentrate on getting decent H grades for his Uni application or go to college. Whilst getting As/near perfect marks in the subjects he wants to take at Uni is great, they will expect 4 or 5 decent H's at A or B and unless he wants to skip 1st year then the AHs are only of use as practice for University. Does he have a decent grade in his GCSEs in a more wordy topic i.e. English or Social sciences? I appreciate that his dyslexia will make this difficult but he will be required to write up his work in Computer Science to a decent level above being able to write in computer languages so they may look for that. Obviously the university should support him with his extra requirements.

Does school allow OU YASS courses in S6? There are several computing ones including one that leads on from Higher Computing. DD did a YASS in economics. Loved it. It's online but there were zoom and face to face tutorials. Her tutor was lovely. Your son might prefer this.

GCSE's were Eng Lang (B) Lit (C), Physics (B), Biol (B), Chem (B), Maths (B), Engineering (B), Design Tech (B). He's on target for a B in N5 Electronics this year & will take a N5 Cyber Sec next year: 10 in all.

His School don't offer H 'Computer Science' so I shouldn't have put that sorry it was just shorthand in the initial post. Sorry if this was misleading about future carry on from that course. Skl contract out to the local College, and Ds has sat H in Software Development. 18 kids started the course & he is one of only 3 to finish scoring 95%+ all the way through. He wanted to do H Cyber Sec next year but College now only offers Nat5 (v sad for Ds & Tutor says 'way below his abilities)

Tutor says he is 'unusually gifted' & should absolutely take the 2 yr HND next year as he will 'fly'. But Ds is worried that college is too 'loose' for him and his Tutor, whilst inspiring, is awful re deadlines / instructions etc which Ds finds very stressful. Plus Tutor refuses to give extra time / concessions as he says 'in his opinion Ds doesnt need them as he scores so high'. Yes, but the stress (Ds is NHS diagnosed with Anxiety) is high and Tutor doesnt see the eczema / cold sores / insomnia / tics etc that this causes. Oooof...

It's good your DS knows what he wants to do at uni @52andblue , that puts him in strong position

My advice would be sit down with him and look at the universities he may be interested in and what their entrance requirements are.
He can then work out if he can meet the Highers needed or if HNC route more achievable for him

@patritus tbf its more me steering than him 'knowing what he wants to do' sadly. I think he should play to his strengths - Abertay would be an amazing destination for him. But he has a friend across the border in England who is doing Classics and talking of Oxbridge & its turned ds' head a bit I think so he's now talking of AH Biology / Classics etc? Wirh rye ASD he can be v black and white and head off down 'special interest' rabbit holes for months, so I'm trying to get him to focus.

Abertay would be an amazing destination for him.

My ASD DS did a Games Design degree at Abertay. He's very bright but not good at studying so he didn't get the Maths Higher he needed at school to go straight to the course. Instead he did the Games Design HND and went into 2nd year at Abertay.

In hindsight, I'm glad he did as he did need the extra time to mature and develop and the college was a smaller environment for the first couple of years after leaving school.

Thanks for your post @ChocolateDeficitDisorder

would you mind if I pm you to ask a bit more about your son's experience at Abertay ?

I wouldn't mind at all @52andblue

I would suggest he looks at the University entrance requirements for the Scottish Computing Science courses and tailors his Highers to suit:
You mentioned Abertay: www.abertay.ac.uk/course-search/undergraduate/computing/
University of Dundee link is here:
www.dundee.ac.uk/undergraduate/computing-science/entry-requirements
Have a look at Heriot Watt also. I know of someone who did HND route into Computing there.
He probably does need to pick up Higher Maths as his GCSE(Nat5) is a lower level.
Good luck with it. I don't want hime to waste time doing subjects which won't even count.