How do I get her to see it's her own responsibility

[Patosshades]

My daughter has just entered her final exam year in secondary school. She is making sounds that sure her teacher in a certain subject is "crap" and sure she will just do the easier level exam in this subject.

How do I get her to realise it's all down to her own efforts now, she can hardly write on the final exam papers "my teacher was crap" and expect an A!

I need

What are her friends doing? They have a lot of influence now.

presumably choosing the easier exam means that she cannot achieve an A? that the highest grade will be a c?

so what are the implications of that?
will it affect uni applications? or choice of a levels etc?

i made some choices regarding exam choices and was quite determined. my mum was never able to persuade me otherwise - but maybe she would have had more luck sticking to the facts and making me look at the consequences of my decisions to check that i was not making a miscalculation! in the end i got lucky but it could have been quite different.. how will she feel if her decision to downgrade counts against her later?

I assume she already knows for sure who her teacher is for this year (is she back at school already?), as opposed to making an assumption based on who her teacher was last year.

I assume she also knows for certain she is allowed to switch to a lower tier. Most schools wouldn't let a pupil dictate which tier exam they are entered for, and would put them in for the highest tier they are capable of getting a good grade in, regardless of personal preference.

She may be right that the teacher is "crap" and that therefore even if she put in 100% effort she wouldn't get the highest grade she is capable of, due to the poor teaching.

If you can, try and support her by getting a private tutor. They will be able to help her consolidate what she does in lessons, and fill in the gaps left by the "crap" teacher. This may also give her an incentive to work harder in lessons as she will feel that her target grades are more achievable with the extra support.

You could also get her a revision guide for that subject that she can bring to lessons and use alongside the teacher. So when they're studying a certain topic she can look it up in the book for extra help.

She may be feeling anxious if the teacher is indeed not that great and so is putting up this early front in case of failure. She may feel better and more motivated if she feels she has more control over the situation.

Thank you all for your replies, a lot of food for thought there.

Yes she's back already, we're in Ireland and her school has started early. I'm guessing it's so they can make up for any unforseen weather days off that may hit this winter. They've missed a lot the last couple of years.

I will try to have a calm and rational conversation about the implications of her actions now. Trying to do that without banging my head off the nearest wall will be the challenge as we're both quite hot headed.

Getting her a seperate revision guide is a great practical thing I can do though to give her that control. Thanks again.