First term of yr12 over - working at grades / workload /much holiday work?

[circular]

Curious how its been for others with the 'big step up' from GCSE to to AS.

DD1 doesn't seem to have been getting much homework, possibly completing most of it in free periods. When I casually mention 'reading around a subject' she looks at me as though I'm from another planet, and says she is not interested in any of her subjects enough to do extra, apart from Music.

She would typically come home and say she got an D or U in (say) a Physics or French test, but then says half the class got a lower mark than her. This is at a school that gets around 60% A to B at A level., so selective 6th form. DD1 got 2A and 2A at GCSE in her AS subjects.

Had parents evening just after half term, and although then working well below ultimate targets, none of her teachers seemed unduly worried. No end of term report yet, but hearing subsequent test results, not expecting much change in grades.
DD1 Says she understands everything in lessons, teachers seem to agree, and think it is just more question practice that she needs. But unless work is actually set, she has no motivation to go and do any extra. She thinks past papers should be left till nearer exams, says text book is rubbish, and has found a few inaccuracies in study guides so pushed them aside too. Tried to get her to look at Khan academy site but not interested.

Does this seem normal, or should I be worried at this stage?
Anyone else seeing similar or are they all flying?

forgot to say, DD2 has her A levels choices to make this month. She says she won't bother going to the 6th form opening evenings as she is staying where she is...and will probably do the same subjects as DD1 (.....and knowing DD2 pinch her notes!)

curlew If you are still reading, please could you explain how a 3year 6th form works? I think others on here would too?

Mine has been working quite a lot this holiday, but it's been a bit of a shocker to see her getting bs this last term... Teachers say things about it all being a big jump, but I wasn't quite ready for the change.
She worked up to Christmas eve and started again not long after - or so she says, but I think there's a lot of playing sims going on too!

I think you mean Metebilis- pixie, not me. I'd like to know too. I think it sounds great. Time for all the music and sport and drama and stuff- and work as well.

A three year sixth form would be good if they added the year on the end, I am less convinced by the wisdom of entering everyone for all their GCSEs in Y10.

Oh Yeah, sorry Curlew!!

A levels are primarily for university admission.
If you are going to come out of 2 years study (or 3 with repeating a year) with something crap like 2 Ds , you are better off doing a different qualification.Good for the school in telling these kids straight!

coco44 But there are courses that require 2 low grade A levels.
And not only the less worthy universities.
Kind of relevant here as DD wants to study music, although prefers the University route and on paper is capable of achieving that.
But if she couldn't cut that academically, her plan B may well be to take a gap year, concentrate more on her music and go the Conservatoire route to get her degree.

www.rcm.ac.uk/apply/entryrequirements/undergrad/

www.gsmd.ac.uk/about_the_school/shared_left_nav/how_to_apply/entry_criteria/

So would it be fair to turf a student out of school that was still on track to get the grades required for a reasonable option?

It seems to me that if your're in the sort of 6th form that requires As at GCSE to get in, it's unlikely that you're likely to be aiming at 2Ds, unless something disastrous has happened to you or you have completely lost interest. In the first case, I would expect the school to support you- in the second, maybe the school is within its rights to decide not to keep you on?

And if you are looking for 2Ds for what you want to do, surely a "oh, dear, a B!" environment wouldn't be right? I honestly wouldn't want to be at my dd's school in those circumstances. I would, however want to be in the 6th at my ds's school, which has a much wider and, arguably, more realistic range of aspirations.

DDs 6th form requirements are down as 5A* to C with B in subjects being studied, A for Maths to do Maths and/or Physics. At yr7 there is strict faith
Selection criteria, and they get over 80% 5A* to C.
BUT because there is so much competition for external 6th form places, external students are expected to have 8A to C. In practice, its generally those with at least 10A/A predictions that get in, but there is also a personal statement with emphasis on music and/or sport.
Sixth form only does A levels, though a few applied subjects (business, ICT).

'coco44 But there are courses that require 2 low grade A levels'

..and I am guessing they could also be accessed by a BTEC or whatever it is these people do, and the non-academic could possibly score better on

No doubt courses can be accessed by BTECs, but its not always as clear cut as that. I agree some students are more suited to take BTECs.

When a student gets the GCSE grades deeming them capable to start A level courses, its not always viable to change if it then becomes apparent they at not achieve top grades.

may not (bloody autocorrect)

"and I am guessing they could also be accessed by a BTEC or whatever it is these people do, "

One of my all time favourite Mumsnet lines.......!

I would say that is rather rude and uncalled for!

hellbells99 Not sure what you found rude, the original Btec remark or one of the since replies to it.

I did take slight offence to the original remark, not so much the mention of Btec, by what exactly is meant by 'these people'?

Not everyone is capable of A/B at A level, I thought that's why there were 5 grades.

Sorry circular, my comment wasn't aimed at you!
I took offence at 'whatever it is these people do'....
Btecs are good. One friend has twins - 1 stayed in 6th form and did A levels and 1 webt go college and did btech. Both did well and now at uni doing good courses.
Students doing A levels and getting a D haven't planned on getting a D. They are obviously doing the best they can (hopefully). Things don't always go to plan. Getting an A in gcse doesn't always mean coping with an A level - the jump is huge and progress is not always predictable. DD1 got a D in her physics on her report. Hopefully the work is starting to 'click' now (last test higher) but if she ends up with a D at AS then it won't be the end of the world.

I've only just spotted this great thread and thought I'd add my input.

My DD is in her first year studying A levels at a well-respected 6th Form College. She doesn't seem to get very much homework but says that they cover loads in lessons. She must be right because in her first set of grades which we received in Nov last year, she got; Economics - A, Philosophy - B, Geography - B, and Maths - D (although she has improved loads in Maths since having a tutor to help her with the areas where she's not so confident). Her effort grades were all 1s, except for a 2 in Maths.

DD has a long journey to and from college and she has a part-time job of 9 hours per week, but she is sensibly going down to 6 hours soon. She also gave up Ballet recently which took up a lot of time (and frankly I was relieved to save a fortune in fees/exams/costumes, etc!).

She has mocks the week after Feb half term, and she has done NO work at all over these holidays, but reckons she's on top of everything!

DD was not a straight A student at GCSE , but worked really hard to get a mixture of A/A. She has aspirations to go to a good university to study either PPE or Economics - unfortunately with the latter, she needs an A grade at A2 maths, which is looking slightly ambitious, but who knows.

As a previous poster rightly says, they don't have the luxury of January re-sits... but I guess they are all in the same boat.

OnBoytox Interesting what your DD says about covering loads in lessons. Is that on a 9 hour per subject per fortnight timetable?
Thats what DDs 6th form have (and quite a few others I've heard about) with MFL having an extra 20 or 30 mins one to one spoken.
DDs school also have a 2 hours timetabled extra curricular per week.

Wondering if being a college, they work differently, having longer days and more timetabled lessons?

Hi Circular, yes DD says that they have 3 x 1h 25mins per subject per week.... which equates to 9 hours over a fortnight, roughly.

They also have 2 hours extra-curricular per week, but apparently no-one takes this seriously according to DD (but if I get a call from DD's tutor about her lack of involvement in enrichment activities, I'll be on her case!).

In the 6th form at her old secondary, they do 4 x 1 hour per week per subject and they all seem to get loads of homework. So the 9-hour timetable must make some difference.

The college DD attends definitely has longer days but it is suiting her well so far.