ughhh! School advising DD to 'up' her number of A-levels because top Universities want them....

[NotnOtter]

DD was just going to sit 4 A levels - she is pretty aspirational but can also be pretty lazy

She does want to do well and go somewhere good so will need to do well. We had advised her against ten zillion a levels thinking it is better to just do 3-4 and do well

School have today frowned on her decision not to do general studies and indicated critical thinking would be good.... they also suggested she maybe drop one of her current four (science /maths) subjects at AS and take up a subject which has no relevance to her future prospects.

Feel as if we are swimming against a tide as DD has tonight come home unsure about her previous convictions iyswim

Are we wrong in saying ' just do well at the four'??

X post with ellis - slow reader here

Agree about the EPQ. Two of my DD's have done it so far and found it very worthwhile and DS1 has just been quizzed on his at a university interview on Friday, even though he made only a passing reference to it in his PS (largely because he hadn't started it when he put in his form).

I'd prefer the school to drop General Studies altogether if they're putting pressure on for a fourth A2 as well as the EPQ. In those circumstances it seems to add remarkably little. Unfortunately schools seem to be good at the moment at adding things on to the exam load and workload and not very good at taking them off. I'm not in the least keen on four A2's as well as the EPQ unless a student is dead keen themselves to do all five. Three and the EPQ seems fine.

thanks for the positive feedback on extended project

whilst i do know universities like it we are swayed by DS experience. He did NOT do it and i clearly recall him coming back from school a few times filled with relief at his decision not to as his peers were sweating cobbs over it in upper sixth.
DS was an extremely motivated pupil and driven ( did too many a levels but thats another story) He did a YASS module which was not too taxing or stressful

DS2 did the EPQ over the summer between AS and A2 in 2009. It was really hard work and he basically spent the whole summer on it (150 - 200 hrs he thought), but at least it got it out of the way before he started his A2 year. He got an A*.
He did go for interview at Oxford, so his TSA score was obviously good enough without doing a CT A level. He just did a couple of practice TSA's on line. He didn't get an offer from Oxford. He was asked nothing about his EPQ at interview, even though it was an economics project and he was applying for Economics & Management.
He did do 4 A levels and didn't drop any after AS.

Bearcat - he sounds very conscientious!

That is a lot of hours - i dont think dd has it in her tbh - particularly not over summer

Bearcat I think Oxford prefers not to ask about EPQ in the interview. DS's was an interview for Medicine elsewhere.

My DDs didn't do any EPQ other than in term time in Y13.

If I think any of my younger DC are attempting or being put under pressure to attempt too many subjects I shall counsel caution very strongly indeed. They should enjoy Sixth Form, not have it made into one long flog.

Irregulareregular

My DS (who is 14 coming up 15 ) wants to do PPE . Can you give me any advice for him. ? I am sure you are overwhelmed with this kind of thing but

would appreciate it . Will completely understand if you don't .

I seem to remember reading Critical Thinking has extra funding for schools?

While Oxbridge tutors agree that GS and CT do not count (because they lack academic content), some will admit off the record that both can be useful to some students. General Studies does give applicants a basic understanding of social issues, useful for many courses, including medicine; CT encourages logical thinking, a skill tutors will be looking for at interview, especially in PPE and Law. Applicants from a non-university background are most likely to gain from taking GS or CT, but the thing is not to take either as a third A2.

I'd agree with what Oxford PPE admissions tutor said earlier (I went to Oxf and am admissions tutor in a humanities subject at a Russell Group uni). I would see 3 good A'levels at the norm, better than 4 not so good ones. No real point in Critical Thinking or General Studies - we are generally looking for a really promising basis for continuing discipline-specific (as in academic disipline, not corporal punishment ) skills and knowledge development into level one at Uni.

Good schools teach students to think critically across all subjects unimother, it's essential at A2.

Surely General Studies or Critical Thinking are both almost unheard of as a third A2?

Sadly, not all students attend good schools, Yellowstone. As someone working with students in London's poorer neighbourhoods, I can assure you that some schools there do guide students towards GS or CT (though not both) as A2s. The idea behind this is to ensure their students end up with three A-levels of some sort and get into university. This works against brighter, high-aiming students, though, and parents need to watch out for it.

at dd's school they are offered the option to do AS in Critical Thinking as an option in Yrs 10-11 (i.e. replacing a GCSE option), not as a Sixth Form option

Hmm I'd want to see their sources for this strategy TBH.

DD1 did oxbridge applications last year etc and they would rather see high points in 3 A2s than lower in 4 and we understood would only offer based on 3 (unless you did math/further maths but the oxbridge maths girls saw that as 1 A level course anyway).

She did CT and enjoyed it at AS and an EPQ in upper 6th as well that was helpful (those who didn't do an EPQ did do GS or CT at A2). THe school thought these taught useful skill and did have some baring on applications unofficially- I think a lot of it was to keep bright girls busy and focussed though!

She did get interviewed at Oxford but turned down after - so the strategy as far as it went worked. She got A A A at A2 and A in EPQ. ( So f** knows what Oxford didn't like about her LOL anyway she's V happy At Nottingham!)

I learnt recently that our IB sixth formers often do an Open university module as well, in the first year of sixth form - something that ties in with what they want to study at university. Sounds very hard work to me.