Has anybody got a dc who fluffed AS then went on to do well at A?

[RemusLupinsBiggestGroupie]

DD2 has got a B, 2 Cs and an E - we were hoping for better and she was predicted as better too. The E not a terrible prob, as she can drop that subject, but the C is the subject she had wanted to do at uni. Any success stories/tips would be v much appreciated!

[secretsquirrels]

This is the first year when they didn't have January modules.
I recall in 2013, lots of DC at DS's college who had a full string of A*s at GCSE flopped badly in the January modules because they really underestimated how much work they had to do or got swept up in the extra curricular excitement. It was a wake up call and they were able to knuckle down and put it right by re taking in the summer at the end of Y12.
Now they have to wait a whole year to re-take. If they don't re- sit then their chances of high grades at A level are affected.

[themightyfandango]

My DD (now 21) did pretty badly at A level after good GCSEs. Mostly I think due to the lure of freedom and autonomy of college life.

She lost her place at her first choice uni and ended up at the local one, she also ballsed up the first year there due to working late in a bar and partying all night.

She ended up resitting her first year but it has taught her an expensive and time consuming lesson. She really pulled herself together after that and has got good grades.

She won a sought after placement in the US and is currently there for a year before doing her final year.
Sometimes I think they mature at different rates and have to learn from their own mistakes.

[RemusLupinsBiggestGroupie]

The thing is though, I honestly think she worked pretty hard, she's just not an academic whizz kid like her sister. She wants to do a creative subject.

[RemusLupinsBiggestGroupie]

The no January re-sits thing is a pain. Bloody Gove.

[Jumblebee]

When I did my AS levels (6 years ago but it definitely doesn't feel that long) I got an E in Business Studies.

For A-level I re-sat 2 out of the 3 modules, got B in both of them. For the A2 modules I got A's (one was full marks and the other bit far off --gloating) which made my overall grade a B

Just be careful though, if she wants to do the subject at A-level, if the teacher gives her predicted overall grade as a C, the university may reject her because of this. It didn't matter that I had done really well and got a B instead of the D my teachers predicted me, I still got rejected from my first choice university because of that particular grade prediction--bitter, me?!)

My teacher only told me AFTER that if I had done extra coursework to prove that I could do work up the an A or B grade standard they would have adjusted my predicted grade, meaning I would have gone to the uni I wanted to.

So short answer, yes it's completely possible but requires a lot of hard work, and make sure the predicted grade her teacher gives her is high enough to get into the university of her choice. Again, requires lots of hard work!

[Horsemad]

School have said he can't re-do the whole year again, as his grades aren't bad enough! We've ordered his scripts back for Chemistry and will see if school think re-mark is worth it. He was only 2 marks off a B, so that might be upgraded (fingers crossed).

He can re-sit the two Chem modules if a re-mark yields nothing.

Head of 6th form is confident if he works really hard and impresses his subject teachers, then they will predict As. He's a clever boy but lazy and got complacent after stellar GCSEs.

Head of 6th form says he CAN turn this around but it is going to be full on. So; it's upto DS now.

DH said 'he's just had a gap year, so it's nose to the grindstone from now on.'

I've got a splitting headache from the stress of it all...

[Horsemad]

Oh, and the Head of 6th form also said to carry on and apply for the unis that wanted As. So he'll do that and apply to a couple of ABB unis too to (hopefully) cover all bases.

[stonecircle]

My understanding is that it's impossible to improve on AS grades by more than one grade at A2 unless you resit some of the AS exams. Advice at my sons' school is that resits are often at the expense of exams being sat at the right time - ie, you may improve on an AS grade but the extra work needed may impact on the A2 exams so it often doesn't make much difference. And, of course, as others have said, not being able to do January resits doesn't help.

Having said that, the son of a friend of ours got something like DDEU at AS last year, but, presumably with some resits and a lot of hard work, has managed to get BBC at A2 this year.

[Haffdonga]

Just wanted to come and join you in the parents of under-achievers club. DS has had a bit of a shock with his AS results (very over- confidently expected As, achieved Bs and a C). He needs much better than this to do what he wants. But his head is completely in the sand and his body is at an all summer party-- . His explanation for the grades is that everyone did badly this year and it will all be OK. He wont talk about it. He wont talk to teachers. He wont discuss retakes or remarks. We've ordered copies of the scripts but I'm feeling bloody helpless. I feel like DS is fucking up in slow motion.

[Haffdonga]

I didn't mean to cross out half that post but perhaps better that I did.

[Horsemad]

It's the helplessness that gets to me too Half. Considering some of these kids are so clever, they are incredibly dim!

No matter how often we tried to talk to DS, he was adamant it would all be ok. His arrogance is breathtaking, but I think he's had the biggest shock of his life so far...

[queenofthemountain]

.I think his school would be pretty irresponsible to forecast him 3 As

[Horsemad]

I doubt they'd do it if he wasn't capable queen. Thing is, he IS capable, he is clever but lazy.

Hopefully he's learned an important lesson this week and will get his head down and work hard this year.

[Horsemad]

And, if they predict As and he doesn't achieve that, then he'll obviously not get his offer and will end up at a different uni to where he wants to go. It's upto him to put the work in and prove himself.

[Besta]

Another one here :) DD was predicted AAAC at AS and achieved BBCD. Not the end of the world, however she decided in February that she'd made a mistake with her A level choices and wants to do something completely different. Now school are saying that she could resit and do more appropriate subjects. Part of me is thinking this is a good idea, but another part is thinking just go on with A2, work your socks off and do well (of which she's more than capable). However DD reckons that she won't get uni offers in her chosen subject with a predominantly science based set of A levels (although she is doing the subject she wants to do at uni).

Any admissions tutors around who could give me some advice? At the moment she has three OK AS levels, one her chosen subject, two in sciences. Would she get offers on an Arts course?

[UselessNess]

My DD got BBCE. (maths, physics, chemistry and Biology) The E in biology was a huge shock and she was really upset about it as she had planned to take it to A2. I think with AS BBC in her revised A2 subjects she should be ok. Hopefully she will get predictions of at least ABB (the magic combination) or possibly AAB.
She is really deflated because she worked really hard and had always done well in her biology tests before.
I'm in two minds about not having January resits. Even with my DDs 'E' I think the current system is probably better for her. She finds exams stressful and I suspect she might find it hard to keep up her momentum if she had four batches of exams over the two years.
She is not going to do any resits so will be able to concerntrate on her three A2's. I would be wary of adding too many resits to next years June exams.
It's one thing to resit January exams in June but to have a whole year gap would be much more difficult.

It's comforting to find this thread sometimes you forget what normal is when you are forever reading about the straight A* students.

[Marlinspike]

So pleased to see this thread! My DS is so down after getting CCDD - he knows he ballsed up a couple if papers, but thought the rest had gone really well! Predicted grades were all As and Bs. We are getting papers back where he is close to grade boundaries to see whether a remark would be of benefit. He has set his heart on a RG Uni, and at present isn't prepared to consider anything else. I am thinking that he may need to do some retakes next year ( Ditto to the bloody Gove comment earlier; not being able to get retakes out if the way in January puts a huge burden on them for June), and maybe he would be better taking a year out and applying when he knows his grades? He needs a serious chat with his tutor for some sound advice. Although he appeared to work hard, I think others on here have hit the nail on the head - maybe it wasn't effective hard work, and maybe some study skills advice and guidance is needed. Anyway, onwards and upwards ( hopefully!)

[Besta]

Oh yes, my DD has her heart set on a RG uni. Won't even consider something else snob :) so she needs to shit or get off the pot.

[Haffdonga]

DS too with the RG obsession. It seems to be drilled into the predicted high er achievers that only an RG uni is worth considering. Unfortunately his passions are science and maths so As and A stars are needed.

We had a talk at the school last term from an admissions tutor from an RG uni. He explained all the entrance quals etc for his uni only in terms of getting A or A star grades. Eventually one of the parents put up their hand and asked if a B grade in anything was seen as useless these days. The uni guy made an extremely disparaging comment that one B ' might be OK if you applied to do one of the courses that nobody wants to do - like archaeology '

DS wont even discuss a plan B.

[offtoseethewizard64]

Can I just ask something that is probably really obvious to others but I am uncertain about.
A number of you have said that getting good grades in A2 after poor AS results is a tall order. What is the reason for this? Are the marks cumulative or are the A2 exams completely separate. Is it just because the work done for AS is the building blocks for A2 and therefore a student who didn't learn the AS work well will struggle at A2, or is it something else completely.

DS is not doing any subjects which have a coursework element.

[TheOneWiththeNicestSmile]

They are cumulative (or they were for DS2 who did A2s 3 years ago)

An A* requires an average of 90 (? Or even 95?) across all modules, so really poor ASs must be sat again for high grades. Tbf the friend's DD I mentioned earlier was able to resit in January - it'll be a lot harder for those who have to take them all at once

[TheOneWiththeNicestSmile]

There might be a minimum mark too for A* - will look

[TheOneWiththeNicestSmile]

\link{http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uniform_Mark_Scheme\this wiki article explains raw marks & UMS percentages}

It says 80% at AS & 90% at A2 for A*

[Theas18]

DS pulled a B in chemistry up to an A. Not quite the same senario but it took Trojan work ( and nigh perfect UMS in many of the A2 modules to do it).

Easier - sort if - in a subject with definite answers eg maths than a narrative subject eg history I reckon.

[queenofthemountain]

No it doesn't.It says 80% UMS overall and 90% at A2 for an A*