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?

Hi mumslife, I don't actually know the number of hours that 6th forms generally recommend for part-time working but I would think 6 hours is about right though.

I noticed upthread that your DD is doing essay-based subjects, whereas my DD isn't, so much. DD has a friend doing Drama, Eng Lit, Psychology and History and she has a huge amount of essays. OTOH, whilst my DD thinks doing A level Maths is fairly hard, she's really glad she chose it over something like History, even though she enjoyed it at GCSE level. In fact, if DD does well at AS Maths, she may drop Philosophy instead.

Journey here quite short as far as distance goes (4 or 5 miles) but direct bus only every 15/20 mins, and takes 20mims as goes long way round. DD likes to go extra early in the morning (leaves about 7:15, although starts 8:30) as later buses full. If she gets out on time, then home by 4:15, but a few minutes late can mean unable to get on first few buses, so ma not get home till 5pm. So on days where she needs to be somewhere early DH collects her.

Remember seeing various things about part time jobs on 6th form literature, usually 8, 10 or 12 hours max per week, some with school permission. But DD doesn't have time anyway, except perhaps for a bit of temp work in the holidays.

OnBoytox It would make more sense for your DD to continue with Maths if she wants to do Economics at Uni. Many seem to ask for it. Guessing Philosophy is heavier on the essay writing than Geography.

DD had the luxury of being able to choose anything alongside Music, but essays are her weakest so no essay writing subjects here. Drama was considered, but too much practical. So it was only really ever going to be Sciences/Maths, French is a bit of the odd one out. She did consider Psychology but was worried about the heavy essay element at A2, and her original plan was to drop Maths after AS, as it was her weakest of the 4 at GCSE. When she realised how difficult French was, I suggested she asked to swap to Psychology, but she was determined to stick to he guns, I think worried about changing, having to catch up and possibly still not liking a new subject. Still, too late to switch now.

Maths seems to be the most worse, but I think only because homework actively set. But she's just fessed up to having a load of French homework, not yet started, so think she will be rather busy today.

Most work, not most worse. Autocorrect again.

circular Sat 04-Jan-14 13:46:52

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

Dd is at a college and seems to be spending a lot of time working out of class: writing essays, researching topics, planning assignments. She has been carting a laptop around all Christmas. Her days are long because of the assignments, but it's very much about motivating herself. She has found it a big step up and so has all her friends.

She is doing a level 3 BTEC (performance) as well as her A-levels and it certainly doesn't seem to involve less work; if anything far more, as it includes more group work and less direction from the teacher. So far, she has been reading Sophocles, Aristophanes, Wycherley and a range of 21st century writers. ("whatever these people do"...)

Just typed in a big message and it disappeared, so apologies if a double-post!

Circular, you're right in that my DD needs to keep Maths to A2 for Economics, however, she is leaning more towards PPE (Philosophy, Politics and Economics - I'm sure you knew what PPE was, but for anyone who didn't!) because Maths is only needed to AS, even for Oxford surprisingly. But most likely (and hopefully), my DD will be looking at Warwick, Durham, Bath, Manchester, etc, so we'll be doing the rounds this summer. Where is your DD hoping to go?

So your DD is doing Music, Maths, Physics and French? There are no easy options in that lot! I'm sure she'll do just fine though. Did you say that she had to move schools to do music? My DD has a friend who is doing A level music externally, at great expense I believe, as the school only had 2 students enrol so couldn't run the course. But like your DD, music is her passion and she didn't want to leave the school she was at.

I'll add more later, but am gonna post this before I lose it!

Ds1 is really struggling to decide which subject to drop for A2!!!

If he drops his second science it will affect which universities he can apply to but his heart is just NOT in that subject - so difficult.

DD has 9 hours of lessons per subject per fortnight. She is doing maths & 3 sciences. There is also an extra voluntary class/club for each of the sciences for 1 hour after school each week for extra help & homework. Maths do classes at lunchtimes. DD always attends the extra physics class/club as she is finding that 'challenging'. Physics will be the one she drops after AS level - that was always her plan as she took it when she couldn't do her first choice of music. She did consider English Literature but decided she didn't like reading....apart from fashion magazines.
I have heard that maths gets a lot harder though at A2 so I hope she copes ok with it. Also chemistry is one that I've heard is very hard.
I wish she had chosen one 'lighter' option.
At least all her subjects 'fit' together and no decisions have to be made until after results day.

mumslife - I know a few of DD1's friends who are doing RS and very much enjoying it. They do 'Ethics' (crimes & punishments; death penalty; Abortion etc) for AS which includes watching a day's trial at Crown Court and then they do 'Philosophy' (Is there Life after death?; Does God exist? etc) at A2.

mumslife, that is such a shame about your DD's GCSE Art disappointing grade, but there's nothing much you can do about a bad teacher unfortunately. I think most of our DC would have had experience of this. As I mentioned before, I've just got my DD a Maths tutor to fill in the gaps where she didn't really get the basics at GCSE level, mainly due to a having a lovely teacher, but one that struggled to control a difficult class - I should have got the tutor earlier, but you live and learn! What is your DD hoping to study at university?

Raidne, your DS1 could always consider keeping all four I guess? Although not something my DD would consider, she plans to put her heart and soul into just three subjects next year.

hellsbells99, Physics is the subject that ds1 would like to drop but he wants to do Chemistry at university so thinks that he needs to keep on Maths, Chemistry and Physics to keep his options open. Poor thing, he doesn't really enjoy Physics!!

OhBoytox, he is considering doing 4 at A2 but is worried that it would be too much and he would end up with lower grades.

His fourth AS is a bit off-the-wall and doesn't fit with the other three or doing Chemistry at university but he enjoys it - strange boy!

Raidne - she has been working through an 80 page booklet of questions over the holidays! Does your DS need physics to do chemistry? I would have thought Chemistry and Maths + 1 other would suffice?

Raidne, fair enough, I don't blame him at all.

hellbells, I'm impressed at your DD's A level choices! Is that to get into medicine? One of my DS's very clever friends did those exact A levels, got 3 A*s and 1 A (for Physics I think, which proves that Physics must be the hardest of them all!) and he is now at Cambridge.. my DS's friend that is, NOT my DS!

Physics is the one that's been causing DD the most grief as far as marks in tests are concerned, although it was her highest at GCSE and she's always found it easy. Hoping it's just a glitch with the style of questions, and also because she's been resting on her laurels a bit and not putting enough work in.
Raidbe Not sure Physics is necessary for chemistry if he has maths. Have you scoured the entry requirements for his preferred courses?
I presume his 4th AS is not a science?

Oh wow, hellsbells, an 80 page booklet? Ouch!!

Physics isn't required for any Chemistry course but a couple of universities "prefer" it and some give lower offers for Maths, Chemistry, Physics as opposed to Maths, Chemistry + A N Other.

It's difficult to know what "prefer" really means!!!

This parenting lark isn't easy, is it?

With Physics said to be the hardest science at AS, does it depend in the board/syllabus? And also what the GCSE syllabus was in comparison?

DD did OCR Gateway separate sciences for GCSE, and her former school thought it was the best grounding for science A levels. At her new school, Physics is OCR A which should follow on well.
On the basis that some in her group may have just done double science, and/or different exam boards for GCSE, she should be at an advantage.

oh just seen your post, circular - his fourth AS is Latin (totally bonkers!!!).

Circular, ds1 did AQA at GCSE and is also doing AQA at A-level. I think all of the courses are difficult.

IIRC correctly from one if the 6th forms visited, AQA is meant to be the most mathematical.

Latin is also meant to be quite logical though. Suppose just as bonkers as French.

Noted *OnBoytox asked earlier about DD changing schools to take music. She did, but it started out with it just being a subject clash which she may have been able to work around. But after visiting 5 or 6 other schools, we realised there was so much better out there. Lucky we did, as in the end her GCSE school never ran Music this year.

Yes, circular, AQA Physics is quite Maths-y but ds1 is doing M1 for Maths this year and M2 next year so it fits with the Physics syllabus.

The best thing about Latin is no speaking - it is more of a test of logic/memory than language in truth. It might look a bit weird on a Chemistry application, though!!

At least French is a useful language.

Raidne I don't think Latin will look that out of place for Chemistry. Once upon a time it was needed for medicine. Weren't all prescriptions written in Latin?

DD used to love all things French, but hasn't stopped moaning that the course is AS much more about the language than she expected. A friend that dropped it after AS (same friend did Chemistry to A2 too), warned her that A2 was more about the culture, but I think DD has really had enough of it now. It was always an odd choice for her with English (especially language) being her worst subject.

Meant to ask Raidne how difficult is your DS finding M1 compared to the Maths in Physics course? At DDs school they all do S1 for AS (M1 or D1 for A2), only the FM students get to do M1 in yr12.

Raidne - I wish my DD's school did M1 for AS as that would help with her physics. She is doing S1 this year with the choice of D1 or M1 next year. Latin sounds a good A level to have with chemistry and maths.

OnBoytox - no she doesn't want to do medicine. She is not 100% sure yet but is seriously looking at pharmacy (and has done a shadowing day at the local hospital) if she can get the grades. She also has a day shadowing a radiographer planned but needs to wait until she is 17 (soon). She is also going to look at biochemistry or something similar I think if she doesn't get the grades for pharmacy. Your DD is looking at some 'big name' universities there! We are planning to look at Manchester as well although a friend's DD did either biochemistry or chemistry there (and did very well) and found it quite 'geeky' - she said the other girls on the course didn't even wear make-up.....so may not suit my DD!

She is doing AQA B Physics in Context - and it is very mathematical looking at the booklet she is doing.