daughter year 12 struggling

[milliemac11]

My daughter who is in yr 12 despite her average Gcse results ABBBBBBBBB decided to take maths, biology, chemistry and classics for a-level; on the count that she would put up with the extra work because she really wants to be a scientist. However , when I recieved her first report I noticed how badly she is struggling with chemistry and maths, what should she do next?

bigbluebus League tables are a starting point, here will allow you to look at rankings at subject level.

Another way is the site where you enter predicted grades and subject together with other preferences. All the suggested courses come up, so you can then look at the course content for the Unis your DD may be interested in.

Will try and find a link....

....<a class="break-all" href="//.university.which.co.uk/search/course" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">.university.which.co.uk/search/course

Bruffin I'm obviously typing slowly today

Back to OP, I think that you have received some negative advice.
You said that you thought that DD was struggling: have school called in either you or DD to discuss the matter? Is it really that bad?
If she is struggling then you can do two things: give in or fight on. A lot of posters seem to be advocating the 'give in' route. Sixthform is a bridge between lower school (where there is a lot of hand-holding) and University (where they have to fend for themselves). This is, ideally, the time when they learn how to fend for themselves; how to ask for help; to find strategies that work.
I disagree with the 'give in' brigade. We're only halfway through the first year, try to help her to 'fight on' for a bit longer. Sometimes it suddenly 'clicks'. She said that she is willing to work so I would try teachers, a study-buddy, a tutor or a Easter revision course. Good luck and remember that hard work trumps brains.

Bigbluebus Given your son is now 16, why don't you let him do some research about where he might like to go? You shouldn't dismiss ex-polys out of hand, often they will have areas of specialism which they are very good at. Subject specific (rather than general) league tables are a good place to start- as well as researching courses online. He should chose a course which matches his areas of interest closely.

As has been said, for many science careers, you will be looking to go on to do post-graduate study after the degree. The most important thing is not where you did your undergraduate, but getting a 2.1, which will ensure you can get onto a wide range of post-graduate courses. The best way to ensure this is chosing a university where he will be happy, and will enjoy the course, rather than just chosing somewhere solely by ranking.

The Russel group is a research lobby group. Being a member of the Russel group does not guarentee a good student experience, high league table rankings or good graduate prospects in your chosen career.

As an example, Lancaster is a very good university (top 10/20) for many STEM subjects, that is not in the Russel group. Surrey is also very good for engineering, and again not in the Russel group. Bath is also top 10 in these areas. However, as they are near the top of these fields, they will not be easy to get into- it would be easier to get into a Russel group university which doesn't specialise in these areas. However, you would not get such a good student experience.

Sorry for the double post, I wanted to respond to Senua

I think a lot of people advocating the "give in" route have personal experience of "struggling on". I know I do. I struggled with A-level maths massively, and a lot of the topics just didn't click for me. I did ok at AS level and got a B (after an A* at GCSE). I was persuaded by my school to continue with it, and ended up with a D overall (partly due to not getting the "decision" module at all, and really struggling with the advanced topics). I was taking 4A2s (another mistake) and I feel that studying maths had a negative impact on my other subjects, dragging down my January A2 results. I managed to turn things around by basically ignoring maths in the run up to my June exams.

Struggling on often leades to disproportionate time being devoted to that subject- which often makes the difference between an A and a B or an A and an A* in other subjects. Getting, say ABCC at AS, instead of AAB will make a university application weaker. Biology is a hard A-level, with lots of content to learn, and I think OP's daughter will struggle to get an A in it if she is having to spend most of her time on maths and chemistry.

There is only so much hard work that one person is capable of.

bigbluebus - why not ex-poly? My DD is very much wanting to study Biochemistry at Nottingham Trent (former Trent & Nottingham polys). It has lovely new labs which DD was very much taken by.

The thing is visit, visit, visit. Your DS needs to look at the teaching facilities. Listen closely to admissions tutors talks. What is the emphasis of the school? My DD was put off one university because its main emphasis was Biomedical Science and Biochem was a tacked on afterthought. DD didnt apply to another RG university because the labs were old and unloved.

RG universities are that because of their research not for their undergraduate teaching.

Thank you all for your advice. This is all new to me - and DS.
I didn't go to Uni/Poly at all and DH went to a Poly, so it is not us that is wanting DS to go to Uni - RG or otherwise. It is DS who seems to have got it into his head that RG Uni is the only option and that anything else is considered a failure

I would rather he looked at one of the apprenticeship schemes for A level students (although appreciate these are probably just as difficult to get into as a RG Uni) if he wants to do Engineering, so that he can work and study at the same time. His 6th form have encouraged him to look at other options too. The difficulty is DS - he is more than capable of getting the grades he needs for RG but is basically lazy - he has never really had to work hard and got his A's at GCSE without much effort. He would have got A*s if he had worked hard. That is why he is finding such a big jump between GCSE & AS - he is putting in very little work - which isn't going to get him the results he wants. BUT, he is convincing himself that if he cruises and then puts in a bit of effort before the exams, he will come up trumps. Sadly, no one else is convinced that he will put in the work needed.

But thank you everyone for those links. I will encourage DS to investigate other Unis, as well as having an informative look myself. His College do hold a meeting later in the year to provide such info but I wold prefer it if we could research open days etc now and plan ahead as I have a disabled DD, so can't just drop everything at the last minute to ferry DS around the country - and we live in a rural area, so public transport is not the finest before anyone jumps on me and says he should be able to get himself to open days

I would drop classics. Whilst others have said to drop the maths as it is harder to get a good grade in, what is the point in getting a good grade if it doesn't fit in with your career plan and you don't want to take it further?

Midnight - because if she is looking at a good grade in classics it will serve her better fit university applications than a poor grade in maths. To get into most science degrees you need two science A levels plus another A level (with may be science, maths or another subject entirely). A levels are a means of assessing who should get in. Very few assumptions will be made by university staff regarding subject knowledge of undergraduates once they are in the first year, simply because of the broad range of combinations and backgrounds that a cohort of 300+ will have.

bigbluebus - I totally agree about getting ahead of the game. Open days have to be planned around other family commitments.

Something to get across to your DS is that if he is idling now then he is going to get a very nasty shock in a couple of months time when he hits the AS exams. Many people do well at GCSE, getting by on last minute revision and native wit. AS is a whole different ball game.

The bottom line is that she will need a good working knowledge of maths if she wants to be a scientist.If she is faltering at the first step, there is no guarantee she is going to cope with it at uni , especially if she has had an 18 month break.

I agree with Senua.

I think year12 is a steep learning curve for them all, and a big shock to the system! FWIW, my DS got 6As and 4Bs at GCSE, then went on to do biology, chemistry, maths and economics AS. He got CCDE in AS mocks, then BCCC in AS. We then got tutors and he worked his socks off, did some resits, and learnt good exam techniques, and got AAA in chemistry, biology and maths. It's doable, but bloody hard! I'm so proud of him!