AS Levels

[MABS]

Anyone else suffering through this at mo?!

oh well done cinnamon

Our year 13s did fab. Our year 12s... Not so much. And it was the same last year. We are taking a new approach with our year 12s from September, because we can't have them jeopardising their offers by slacking in year 12 and making it up in year 13.

Well done to all who are happy, and don't despair those who aren't.

Madonna - so, when you talk about making it up in year 13, just how much scope is there? My son has just got his AS results - C,D,E,U. He's at a grammar school and the entry requirement for year 13 is a minimum of 3 Ds. So he is waiting to hear if he can enroll while I am considering whether there is any point.

I understand that students have to work harder to keep their AS grades at A2 and that, as a rough guide, it won't be possible to increase their AS grades by more than one grade. So the best he could achieve at A2 - if his school allows him back in - is B,C,D. His school doesn't allow AS resits in year 13.

I'm at a loss what to say to him. He wants to stay at his school - it's familiar, his friends and girlfriend are there - but he just doesn't seem motivated or interested in what he's doing. He's trying to persuade himself that they'll let him back in but I really can't see the point with his current attitude.

Ah. We do allow resits, but judiciously. Some want to resit all, but that is generally a bad idea. It depends so much on why they've got the grades they got. Dodgy coursework, no work in year 12, inadequate revision, or just not up to a better grade. Reasons 1 and 3 are the ones I can work with best.

And several of our year 13s jumped 2 grades this year.

crisis you were right first time - mine was cocky too! Trouble is is has had an entire lifetime of teachers telling him how clever he is.......not so frigging clever now eh?? Anyway think I belong on the other thread and no longer can ignore the call of !!!

Fallen madonna - do you mind me asking what new approach you are taking with your year 12s? I need one for my new lot!

Just found this thread and wanted to add that I'm pleased - but mainly relieved - to say that my DS got B,B,C,D in his AS levels. Fortunately, the D was for Biology which he had already decided to drop at A2.

The most interesting thing is that DS re-sat AQA Geography Unit 2, where he went from a D in January, to an A in June! This therefore meant he got a totally unexpected overall B in Geography. On the other hand, he got a slightly disappointing C in Statistics (however not surprising as he managed to completely fail to spot an 11 mark question in one of the modules!). His other B was for Business Studies.

We're relieved that he won't be doing re-sits next January as hopefully he's on target to achieve the grades required for one of his chosen Unis, ie, Portsmouth or Oxford Brookes.

Well done to all the other great results I've been reading about on here, and commiserations to those who didn't get what they deserved or expected to get (we know the feeling only too well from the January results).

DS had mixed results. 2 Solid A's and 2 C's. 1 C he had already decided to drop but the History was a shock and apparently his school wants the whole lot remarked as everyone seemed lower than expected.

Just joined this thread because Milliways results mirror my sons. Was your son's history result caused by the source paper. Mine took the essay paper in January and got 98% (we all nearly fainted). But in June he got 40% (an E) in the bloody source paper. This paper always throws up anomolies. I think we will get a copy of the script and ask the teacher about a remark. It seems ridiculous that a student who is capable of a high A in one paper can get such a low mark in another.
Still we are over the moon with his results. At primary level he spent 3 years out a mainstream due to his dyslexia/dyspraxia and I did not think he would ever be able to access the curriculum properly. He has jus got As in economics and Politics and Cs in history and philosophy. Hopefully the history can be sorted.
Anyone else with problems with the history source paper?

However, I'm not sure he is going to be able to achieve what he needs at A2. He want to do politics and most universities are asking AAB. Even managing to keep the As to A2 level is not easy,never mind moving a C to a B.

lazy, the history source paper is notorious for very anomalous results. In ds's year some very bright dc got Ds and Es (and ironically some usually lower grade dc achieved As). What most of those who had underachieved did was ask for the paper to be returned, go through it very carefully to learn from the mistakes, then do lots more practice (some with outside tutors to help), and retake in January when they then achieved their customary As.

Thanks gelatinous. The first thing to do then is to get a copy of the script. If it just looks like he mucked up then a retake in January with alot of practice will be on the cards. He only needed a low B in this paper to get an A overall.

lazy if it helps make him feel better one of ds's friends got 100% on first paper and then a high B on the source paper, which they had remarked (because they were going to apply to Cambridge who look at individual module scores), but on the remark, instead of going up to an A as hoped, the grade went down hugely (to a D I think) and also took their overall AS grade down from an A to a B, so not a good decision at all in hindsight to have the remark. The retake gave a high score though and they finished off the A level getting an A or A* (can't remember which).

Good luck for your ds.

and to get a copy of the script and still be able to ask for a remark if you want one afterwards the deadline is quite early (next week maybe?). Otherwise it's either a remark or have the paper returned as I understand it. So don't leave it too long to request the copy if you want to keep your options open.

He has to go to enrol on the 28th and the letter which came with the results said that the process for AS remarks is to request a script first (to decide whether to go ahead with remark) which can be done when they go in to enrol. I hope they know what they are doing. They deal with the A2 remarks first cos those can be crucial.
Of course DS2 has gone off on holiday today with a friend and is currently sunning himself in Malta!

Hmm, I just checked the guidance sent out to our L6 which says under deadlines:

"If you want a photocopy of your script, so you can seek advice before committing to a re-mark - 24 August.

Requesting a re-mark deadline - 20 September.
Requesting your paper back deadline - 20 September."

But hopefully that's just a school thing so they get the papers back in good time to look through them before the 20 Sept deadline rather than an exam board thing, especially given your ds is now out of the country. I do remember last year one girl missed the deadline and did get her script back but couldn't then get a remark (I think she was quite glad that had happened though once the other remark I mentioned above came back) - she was another who got an A on the resit.

Our school gave the same deadlines gelatinous

Not sure which paper it was - as DS is at the V Festival so I can't ask him. He sat both papers together this summer (his school like doing them all together for some reason - even the Maths modules!) but he was gutted as felt it went really well!

The school are looking into remarks, but we will get his paper back for him in case they decide not to go ahead with a mass remark.

DD1 finally opened her AS results this evening (she's been away and out of reach of telephones and internet for 5 weeks). She's only doing 1 A level (accelerated maths, alongside the IB) and sat 2 modules this summer: 1 A (88%), 1 B (78%). She's not happy with the B but we think she's doing brilliantly given everything else she's doing.

mine is lazy I'm afraid , got bbb c, droppin the c though. now decided she's not doing uni and not doing here personal statement.aarrrggghhh!!

MABS, DS was just the same. The school nagged, we nagged, he refused to apply to university until the day before the bloody deadline. In the end we had to pull rank on him 3 days before the deadline and told him he was applying even if he turned everything down later or delayed for a year in the end. Luckily the school was fab and did their bit super-fast so the application was lodged on time.

DS is now about to go into 2nd year at university (a different one from the ones he applied to- he did craply at A level in precisely the wrong year) doing exactly the course he wanted in the first place in a very good department, and very glad he went rather than took a year out the jammy little sod. It was very hard work getting him to that point though.

Good luck with whatever your DD decides to do!

Oh and it turned out he had pretty much finished his personal statement and it was pretty decent.

thanks Duchesse, good to hear, know dd hasnt started one or even opened uni brochures :(