Can you do 3 A/S levels?

[aliena]

DD is in year 12 and is really struggling with two of her A/S level choices in which she got Ds in the mocks. She is at a sixth form where she really feels the pressure and her confidence has taken a real battering. She suffers with exam anxiety (the GCSEs were a nightmare though she managed just about to take all nine) and has recently been diagnosed with dyspraxia.

I have a meeting with the head of sixth form and I wonder whether I should suggest that she perhaps drop one of her subjects so that she do three A/S levels and then go on to take 3 A'levels. I get the impression though that no one does this. Is this the case? Also, will having taken only 3 A/S's weaken her university applications?

Alternatively, (and she is not keen on this option) she could retake the year (perhaps even switch schools) and choose two different subjects. Her current school offers a very narrow selection of subjects unfortunately.

I just don't think she will be able to handle the pressure with things as they are, despite my best attempts.

Yes she can do 3 AS subjects and I think with your daughter's academic profile she should probably have been advised to do that. I think the Head of 6th will try and dissuade her from dropping at this stage as it will count against the school in terms of funding. Reasonable adjustments should be made for her exam anxiety, would she feel better taking the exam in a separate room rather than in the hall; I have known students do this. Universities in the main only look at the 3A-levels that will make up the offer.

DS2 did take 4, but got a D in the 4th - worth only about 30 points at Ucas I think?

The D didn't seem to affect his university applications but I don't know if only taking 3 in the first place would be the same. if it would help her with the other subjects to drop to 3, that seems like an excellent idea, if the Head's agreeable

good luck

Thank you. There is no one at their school who is only taking three A/S's so I do not know what sort of response I will get. And yes I think that if she takes the four, her grades will certainly be affected across the board. To be honest, I think she will simply be unable to do all four through stress and panic.

I hadn't realised there was a points system at UCAs (showing my age!) so taking three could be an issue in that sense I suppose.

Also it now occurs to me that universities may not be keen on an applicant who can't cope with pressure in this way. Also that the school may say something in her reference. Oh well, nothing I can do about this and her mental health and well being come first above all else.

do you think that if she only takes 3, her results in those 3 would be dramatically better than if she goes on with 4, but panics & struggles & does really badly in all of them? if so then the school should be on your side in this - leaving aside her mental health & well-being, which are obviously extremely important too

I think there are probably quite a lot of students who find the process stressful, & that shouldn't count against her providing the school give her a good reference

which subjects is she doing & which would she drop? (DS2's difficult one was French)

I only took 3 a/s levels, and even then cos of bad health i still did badly, but the reason for me only taking three was that i really didnt see any other subjects i would have enjoyed and excelled at! I left at the end of year 12, cos my stomach pains etc were such a problem that I was either in agony, unable to concentrate or taking painkiller that made me drowsy and fall asleep! I didnt really have the option. I look back now to realise that i was ill and it wasnt the right time in MY life to be doing studying because of my health. I now do want to study, but still think sixth form and college is not for me but maybe an apprenticeship or something similar. Maybe this is something your daughter might consider instead?

Thanks Ponders. She wants to drop Maths probably. It takes up a huge amount of time (with lots of tears) and her school did not do a module in Jan so they are doing three papers in May and her class are working very intensively to get through the syllabus. Her other subjects are French, History and English. French is also a real struggle. If she did the year again, she would do Art and Psychology with the History and English.

I don't know though why everyone seems to do four A/S's. I only did 3 A'levels in the sixth form in those days before A/Ss. It just seems to be a lot of work and it has been a struggle for her to find that fourth subject.

Thanks mylittlemiracle. I would support DD doing anything that she wants to do and she knows this, but she wants to go to university. I just hope that she can handle all the stress that this will entail.

Maths??? that's supposed to be incredibly hard at A level - DS2 was thrilled to be able to drop it in Y12!

He did find French AS a challenge compared with GCSE - it requires much more accurate grammar - but he didn't have a very good teacher French, History and English are all good solid subjects & if she has a half-decent teacher for French she should be OK. What degree is she hoping to do?

She doesn't know what degree yet. I hope she does something that gives her minimal stress.

This year has been relentless though, as bad if not worse than year 11 and I'm absolutely dreading year 13 as well. She has had no time to draw breath. I remember lower sixth as a time to relax and to gather strength for the A'levels.

I remember maths being incredibly hard at A/S level but then again my heart wasnt really in it, as i took my maths gcse at the end of year 10 and they had to so "something" with us for year 11! It didnt help the teacher was never there neither. We got one module completed, statistics and the WHOLE CLASS all 30 of us FAILED!! all UNGRADEDS! Didnt care too much though, not something i particularly wanted to do.

Aliena if your DD were to start again somewhere else do you (ie you and your DD) have an idea where that might be? Given your DD's recent diagnosis with dyspraxia I think that she could quite legitimately reconsider her options without this damaging her university chances.

Your DD's current 6th form sound very unsympathetic. One of the good things about 6th form is that catchment areas dont apply so your DD is free to look around and find somewhere which suits her better.

Dont think of changing now as being a year lost. In 3 year's time it will count for nothing. Some rethinking now could pay great dividends later.

All best wishes to your DD.

the whole class failed? Oh my goodness! DD finds stats virtually impossible.

thanks GnomeDePlume, she would go to the local sixth form college which would at least offer her the subjects that she really wants to do. Her current school is very pushy and I have seen her confidence wither away and her anxiety take over more and more. She will also be the only one doing 3A/S's that is they agree to it. I think you are probably right and that she is better off starting again. I will need to persuade her of that though.

Aliena it is one of the regrets of my life (and my middle brother's) that my parents didnt encourage the concept of rethinking (I am similar vintage to you). My parents believed that you got one go at things.

There are so many opportunities out there, I hope your DD does take the opportunity now to rethink.

Mylittlemiracle - sorry to go off thread but did you get to the bottom of your stomach pains? Only asking because we have a problem with DD1. She had appendix out last year. Had ultrasound recently and they said she has poly cystic ovaries, but doing blood tests. Still don't know if that would cause constant pain.

That is exactly what I have, and it is cruippling pains. I would say since having my contaceptive implant in 18months ago that the problem is now under control, i still occasionally get really bad apins, but they dont usually last long and are now quite rare. may well help her. I know if she is young its not really what you as a parent would want, but it does really help, there are also other medications such a metformin out there that may well help her.

It took them two years to get to the bottom of my stomach pains, and at first they insisted it was IBS, which of course it wasnt so alll the medication they were giving me wasnt helping, so dont get fobbed off. She may go through the tests more than once, i know i had to, but it is worth it.

Hope she gets better soon, and really do consider an implant.

Thanks mylittlemiracle. She is only 15 and living on painkillers :(

I was like that and mine started at 16, a year after i started my periods. I hope it gets better for her soon.

I would definitely look at her going somewhere else. Look at both other schools and other sixth form colleges, at least then you will know if the school is adding to causing the stress.
Is she getting help from the Doctors with her stress symptoms? When looking for Unis she should look for those who offer a good support system, start looking and talking to them.
BTW my son has done something very similar, he has chosen 4 AS but as 2 of them are Maths and occupy the same option block, it is the equivalant to only 3. It is all that he is interested in, and has a hope of getting good grades in. Also he might cope with that work load, he wouldn't with 5.
But you might also want to look at alternatives such as apprenticeships, and maybe later study with something like the OU.
She may also grow out of it, I had panic attacks during my first degree, but then breezed through my Masters.

I was desperate for my DS to do three AS not four ... but school pushed him into four and he ended up with AABB whereas he might have got AAA with only three. So far as I can see, only Warwick asks for four AS ... all the offers I've seen are based on three A2s.

Aliena, you say 'it now occurs to me that universities may not be keen on an applicant who can't cope with pressure in this way'. As a university lecturer I'd say there might be some truth in that. BUT I'd be more concerned from your daughter's point of view that she might find university a very difficult place to be.

There is inevitably a fair amount of academic pressure - indeed, I've always thought that one of the things a degree teaches you to do, and demonstrates that you can do, is work at a high level under pressure. There is a thread on here at the moment from a parent whose dd scraped into university and is really not coping with degree-level work in her second year; it sounds horribly miserable for all concerned.

Maybe think about a different route for her now, and leave university as an option for a bit later in life, when she might have matured enough to cope better with pressure?

I have heard a lot of people say (pupils, at different schools, in different LAs) that nearly all the Maths A/S people struggled in Yr12, and people who had cruised through GCSEs and got A*s, were getting Ds at AS, but the overwhelming picture was that it seemed to 'click' in the 4th term of the 6th form and they were fine by the time the A-level results came through.

It's fine to do 3 AS levels.

Universities offer on 3 A2s. A dropped AS is not part of an offer for many universities, and only contributes a relative handful of points for those that offer on points.

At this stage in the year with just a few more weeks of teaching, can't she persevere, however? She, you and the school have to weigh up the pros and cons.

Reading on...

An E-grade for Maths will still look impressive on her CV, UCAS. Think carefully before dropping it, especially now when 80% of the work is done.

What if she just doesn't worry about it? Sit the exam and see what happens. Pretend in her head that she has dropped it but give it a go on the off-chance.

AS fails do not affect school league tables, so there should be no pressure from the school.