Poor AS results

[longingforsomesleep]

A level threads always seem to attract parents whose kids performed really well. On the assumption that there must be plenty kids out there who didn't, I thought I would start an alternative thread!

My ds did well in the eleven plus, went to a grammar school and slowly went off the boil. He did well enough at gcse to get into the sixth form (but fell a long way short of his predicted grades) and yesterday got his AS results - C, D, E and U. He is a bit short of the 3 Ds minimum he requires to enroll for year 13 so we have been allocated a slot for 'a chat' at school on Monday.

I am at a complete loss as to where he should go from here. He's convinced himself he will be allowed into year 13 - but I'm not sure if there's any point. He's adamant he won't redo year 12 and his school doesn't allow AS resits during year 13 so even if he works really hard next year he's not going to end up with very good grades. He has no idea what he wants to do, is not particularly interested in his A level subjects, claims to work for exams (but clearly doesn't), hasn't got particularly good people skills so I can't see him doing well in a job interview.

I'm alternating between thinking he needs a sharp kick up the bum and if the school won't let him back in he'll have to deal with the consequences, to wanting to hug him and tell him not to worry. I've talked to him calmly but firmly but he just shrugs his shoulders.

Anyone else in a similar position?!!

Snap! Ds1 got B, E, U & U. It looks like his school are keeping him but have said he needs to drop the subjects he got a U in and retake a module in the one he got an E in and take two more As levels. I have asked for the result of each module taken in all the exams. Should we insist on remarking?

It really is a bore and stressful knowing that they are back at school in two weeks. We have very few options as we live abroad and ds1 is at a state boarding school.

Rather than going for a re-mark, it might be worthwhile asking for a copy of the papers he did badly in. Then you can hopefully see either where he lost marks so can focus his revision. Or it might show a very badly marked paper then it would be worth looking at a re-mark.
We have spokepn to DS school about this for 2 module papers, they should be back in plenty of time if we then want to get a re-mark.

My dd did not do brilliantly at gcse but managed b c e at as and will be doing year 13 at school. Her teachers think her final a2 should be bbd, which should get her a uni place. She had long since decided to do a gap year and will probably only apply on firm results.
I work oN courses at an fe colleges which often have people like your son, decent gcse but just lost after this. He has 2 academic years of free level 3 education left so he needs to make a proper decision. I doubt that another year of the same will produce a different outcome. He may label himself as a failure if he stays at the place. Look at every option that he can get to. Every college and the courses they do. He could do an extended btec diploma which is project/coursework based which might be more suited to him. Help him investigate options and make appts at the different providers. Tell him that he has to decide as he has to do it and you will need convincing for him to stay at school.

C E E U Really fucked off tbh.

Wants to repeat the year (what for?) and carry on living here. I'm not sure if I am ok with that yet.

Hmm, not all schools or LEAs allow or get funding for repeating a year. To OP, if the school allows your DS to continue, I think it is defenately worth it for him to carry on and get the highest grades he can. He isn't going to get another oppertunity, and the higher the grades he leaves school with, the better for him.

I know Es are passes but what options do they realistically open if you get them? Does he have any idea of a career he would like - would changing to a Diploma level 3 be worthwhile (would it be funded now?) - diplomas are a lot of hard work but aimed more at certain areas and if he found one that triggered his interest.

Or, if he didn't work, then he will need to start doing so now. As or Diplomas need hard work so that cannot be avoided.

Does this thread help? There are others who feel the same way OP.

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/_chat/1541925-Parent-of-gutted-teen-on-results-day-support-thread-All-welcome

Had a letter from school this morning saying ds is unable to enrol in year 13 because students need a minimum tariff score of 90 points across their best three subjects. They say that this effectively equates to 3 D grades. DS's best three were C,D,E which I think adds up to 90 points - so I'm not sure what they mean. In earlier literature I've seen the school talk about a minimum of 3 Ds but given that today's letter refers to the need for 90 points I'm confused.

We have an appointment on Monday to discuss options but I'm just trying to prepare myself for what they might be! I know DS said there were about 12 students resitting year 12 last year, so I presume that is one option.

Did he work hard? I would advise him to stick with it even 3 Es at A2 would give him 3 A levels to put on his CV which might open some doors

longingforsomesleep, the situation with resitting the whole year changes from place to place and year to year. It has been forbidden for the past year here, because there is no funding,although a few students are allowed to resit without being funded, those to whom the school considers they have a moral obligation. There are very few of these guest places, and hotly contested.

However, utterly bizarly, in my opinion, we can get funding to take on a student who has failed elsewhere, and we can argue will do better with us.We can accept them on their GCSEs

We are quite pleased to take on these resit students, because they are fully funded, and have a head start on the courses, and can be very well motivated, knowing they are on thie last chance!, and can motivate others.

Therefore, if the school will not take you DS back, look around for other places you can apply. You apply to sixth forms individually, at least you do around here, and you can apply for as many as you like, and it can be for the same AS's , or different ones. You could apply to three, and see what happens. Some sixth forms have lower entry requirements than others, also colleges, adult education centres, etc, are still an option, and yuor DS may get a free or nearly free place, even if the course fees look enormous. This is becasue of his age, so look into what is available locally, and apply where he has a chance of getting in.

Good luck. He may work a lot harder next year.

ds2 got 2x D and a U - which as he wryly pointed out spells DUD. He's a fantastic well rounded personality - music/sport/drama/prom organising committee etc - none of which have anything to do with his chosen subjects! The school has been supportive (met with year head on Thurs). He's going to take 2x A2 and take on an extra AS level plus some new course they've started in personal finance. If he works hard he'll gain sufficient UCAS points for his chosen college course which is a 2 year one in Policing.

Thr thing with resitting is that it isn't like a fruit machine.You have to be able to identify what went wrong the first time round and be sure that isn't going to happen again and in the following A2year.
If he didn't work hard enough this year for example, it's going to be very tempting to think you can coast a little second time round because you've got a bit of a headstart on the new students

you need to question whether A levels are the correct route for him to take.

My ds is bright but idle - he coasted through his GCSEs with little work the work he did do was under duress and under the threat of losing his phone But AS has proved to be too much for him 2 x U and an E..... He is enrolling onto a BTEC course this week as he just isn't prepared to undertake the work needed especially the revision whereas with coursework he can see the point of doing it .

Retaking the year does not work unless something changes drastically.
My SS failed 3 AS's last year and had one paper rejected due to comments he had put on it. He went for an interview with the college and promised to work hard and change his ways (same old story) and said he was having a hard time as his parents were divorced (they divorced when he was 3!!). Then he cried. Then they agreed to let him have another chance.
This year he has failed 2 exams again, and overslept and missed one other exam but 'has passed everything else' with an E. He seems to think he will be able to go on and do A2's with one pass at AS level.
Waste of 2 years. IMO.

This was us last summer. DS failed nearly all AS. So depressing and scary for me, I wished my DS saw it like that! I think he knew it would be bad tho. Really identify with wanting to hug him and make it OK, and wanting head of VI form to give him a bollocking.

School told him no way of coming back. So he went to the FE college to start fresh on BTEC course (level 3). I told him that he basically had one more chance as after 19 school system would not offer any education free of charge and we wouldn't be happy for him to live at home forever, trying out different courses until the job of a lifetime arrived.

He has worked more than last year and has got realy good results. so we feel things are def movng on, but he is coasting and has no real idea of what to do next year or realistic about jobs/uni and how competitive it is out there.

I def think A levels aren't for everyone and pupils are pushed towards them without real assessment of alternatives.

Inky - totally agree with your last para. DS is clever but just not interested in school. He's at a grammar school so they expect them all to go to university. There's no way I would give DS a penny towards uni (supposing he managed to scrape together enough points to get in somewhere) unless he becomes more motivated and focused.

Although they stipulate a minimum of 3 Ds to progress to year 13, school has said he can go into year 13 and do the subjects he got C and D in to A2 and take another AS. He can't take the subject he got an E in (physics) to A2. So the best he can hope for is to end up this time next year with 2 A levels at middling grades and an AS (plus his physics AS which I suppose still counts for something).

I'm hoping this has been a wake up call which will make him start thinking about what he wants to do with his life ......

When I did A levels back in 1982 there were of course no AS levels so everyone got to have a go at the final exam. It seems to me that AS is sort of filtering out the lower grade achievers. Not everyone will achieve the highest grades and an E could still with extra effort could go to an D or even a C. Not sure what I am trying to say but everyone should be given a chance.

CherryLip it filters out the lower grade achievers, those maturing late, and those who are inconsistent, and I think that's probably the aim in terms of further education given the uncapped numbers for AAB and above and the inevitable knock on effect.
Mine's worked hard at AS and an A2, was getting reasonable to good grades including in mocks, but on the day some of his results don't reflect that, plus his worse CA mark was put in instead of his best.
On another day he could get a completely different set of results better or worse, but unpredictability isn't an asset to educators or employers.

My sister teaches in a sixth form college (not local or I'd send ds there!) and she is very conscious of how quickly kids are developing and maturing at this stage in their life. Someone who messes up their AS exams may, a year later, have a completely different approach and do well at A2 but have to spend longer on their A levels because they need to resit some of their exams. She also feels that A levels are so formulaic they suit kids who are prepared to just get on and learn what specific things the examiners are looking for, but sometimes don't suit some intelligent kids who find the whole process extremely tedious.

I know the current system is good for a lot of kids - get some decent AS grades under your belt and that takes the pressure off for A2. But I think it must be really difficult for kids to motivate themselves to work hard at A2 if they feel they've already blown their chances with poor AS results. I think I preferred the old system where you did exams at the end of 2 years and, if you pulled your finger out with revision, anything could happen results wise!!

So glad I found this thread. Another one here, my ds2 got CDF and the worst thing is I taught his D a few years back. I offered him support but he just wasn't interested.
I see the problem being too much choice (subject) and ability for them to do A levels when they either don't want to do them or they aren't academic. My ds was the former.
With very little opportunity for full time work, they are unable to get job seekers allowance and barely any apprenticeships it makes sense for them to be baby sat, while its like this. I feel so sorry for them, but I still don't want him under my feet all day and with tax credit and FA it makes sense for them to go back.

longing for some sleep. I wonder what subject your sister teaches i'll bet its not physics or further maths

He could enroll in a new school/college to start his L6 year over again.

There is virtually no penalty for this in the UCAS system.

You have to weigh up ending up with two mediocre to poor A2 grades, vs 3 decent grades.

This is the time to make the change. You don't want the school he is in to throw him out at Christmas or not let him sit his A2. A lot of high achieving schools, on paper, get there because they don't let weaker students sit the exams.

I like the AS exam system, my 2 both did/are doing maths and FM. If they only took one exam at the end of 2 years then that's 12 complete text books worth of knowledge they will be examined on. The module system allows them to chunk that into 4 exams with 3 books examined in each.

Claire - he's adamant he doesn't want to do year 12 again or go somewhere else. If I thought there were 3 other subjects out there that might interest him more than his current ones I would be pushing him to start year 12 over but we had enough trouble finding 3 subjects he wanted to do first time round. Or if I thought he might redo his existing subjects and work harder second time round I would try and insist. But the motivation isn't there and the interest in school subjects isn't there. I think the best chance of getting him to up his game is if he can see the end in sight next summer, which means sticking with what he's got I'm afraid.

My DS1 got A, C, U, U in his AS levels - he recognised that he hadn't worked hard enough and also that he was doing the wrong subjects (Politics, Economics, Biology and Chemistry). He dropped Biol and Chem, went for History A level in one year alongside Critical Thinking, resat the economics module and got himself a clever hardworking gf... a year on he has A, A, A, A. Boys are funny creatures, just keep believing in them.

I did take him to 3 university open days and that inspired him. The rest of it was down to him, really.