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]

Theas18 is right.
The fact is that you need to be looking at 80% in AS to be in with a hope of A* at A2. You then need 90% in the A2. This allows very little flexibility for a bad day or a weakness in a particular module.

It's also the case that A2s are tougher than AS levels.


If you are re-sitting the ASs at the same time as A levels it's a risky strategy. A better plan, I think, is to repeat year 12. If that results in decent AS grades then you can aim high.

Michael Gove chose to remove the January re-sits as he wanted to toughen up the A level system. He has doomed many young people into a 3 year sixth form.

I don't think that asking for the school to predict high does the student any favours. One of DS's friends just got a clutch of Ds where he needed As for his RG uni offer. His mother blames the school for predicting wrongly .

[RemusLupinsBiggestGroupie]

Very glad to see that there are other 'normal' dc around. DD1 always seemed more like the MN version of 'normal' and dd2 is clearly rather different! :)

She doesn't want to go to a RG uni, so that's not a problem, and in fact most of the places that offer her subject are non-RG anyway. Nothing we can do now until we can speak to her main subject teacher, so we're not worrying about it (much!).

[TheOneWiththeNicestSmile]

Oh yes, sorry - I read it wrong!

[ijustwanttobeme]

My DD's experience:

DD got BCC at AS.

Much doom and gloom as was told that most students dropped a grade at A2. She needed ABB at A2 if she wanted hope of getting into first choice RG uni.

Had chat with school who said she would have to work really really hard to resit AS's and get required A2s.

There was no option to repeat Y12. It would be either work socks off or go elsewhere.

She resat 5 AS papers at the same time as her A2s.

Yes it was hard for her and there were tears, but it paid off as she's just completed first year at Birmingham.

So it is doable.

[OwThatHurt]

It's impossible to know what the effects of dropping the January exams is going to be. You have to presume that the overall grades of A2's will go down?? Time will tell.

[TheOneWiththeNicestSmile]

So does that mean 70% at AS plus 90+% at A2 would still get A - someone with a B at AS could still come out with A without resitting?

(Also could someone please explain the differentiation between how to get an A* in maths & how to get one in any other subject?

'in A level maths one must obtain 80% of the available UMS in the whole A level and at least 90% (180 UMS marks) across the two required A2 modules C3 and C4'

'For all subjects this requires a student to obtain 80% of all the UMS available in addition to 90% of the UMS available in the A2 modules'

Those both sound the same to me )

[frogsinapond]

Yes TheOne, exactly that. In fact 60% at AS and 100% at A2 would also be an A, so (in theory at least) it is possible to get an A after getting a bare 'C' at AS without resits, although of course someone who got just 60% at AS is highly unlikely to achieve a perfect score on the harder A" units.

For maths, because of the flexibility in the units actually taken (not everyone sits the same combination), you need 90% across C3 and C4, and 80% across all six units (so one of the A2 units effectively counts as another AS unit for grading purposes). You need to realise there are 6 units for a maths A level to appreciate why the rules are different.

[TheWave]

I was just about to post that about the 80% overall being enough to get A* at the end, provided that A2 papers are over 90% (apart from the maths where other rules apply).

So for example, you must aim to get say 92% in the A2 papers (as mentioned you have to get over 90% at A2 anyway for the overall A*) then you could have got 72% in the AS.

My understanding is that you shouldn't necessarily rush to retake at say 75% or above.

Does this sound correct or make sense on the numbers?

[FuzzyWizard]

Once a student has 70% or above at AS they all have the same requirement of 90% for an A. Getting 100% at AS in itself gives them no advantage. The student that gets 200 at AS and 179 at A2 (so 379 in total) gets an A. The one who got 140 at AS and 180 at A2 (so 320 in total) gets an A. Those with 100% at AS do however have a huge advantage at the A/B boundary (would have to score less than 120 too miss the A)

[FuzzyWizard]

*to

[TheWave]

Exactly so in certain scenarios don't rush to retake AS at the expense of those A2 marks.

[TheOneWiththeNicestSmile]

Ah - no I didn't know about the 6 modules for maths

Thanks, frogs

[stonecircle]

For what it's worth, the crude measure a teacher at my sons' school gave us was that -

if you work at the same level for A2s then you can expect to get a grade lower than in AS
if you work harder for your A2s then you can expect to maintain your AS grades
if you work your socks off for your A2s then you may improve on your AS results by one grade

He also felt that in general (though clearly not always) any improvement on AS grades by resitting AS exams alongside A2s was at the expense of A2 grades. Sadly DS1 proved him right!

[dontwanttobefatandforty]

I just want to say my dd got, bcdu and I'm super proud of her, she is also happy with that, so much pressure on thread poor kids, it's also normal and good to achieve less than perceived perfection!

[secretsquirrels]

if you work at the same level for A2s then you can expect to get a grade lower than in AS, if you work harder for your A2s then you can expect to maintain your AS grades, if you work your socks off for your A2s then you may improve on your AS results by one grade

stonecircle That's what I was trying to say but your son's teacher put it so much better.

DS1 has just got his A levels and among all his friends that pattern has proved to be accurate.

[Besta]

Soooooo, what exactly does "work your socks off" mean? Does DD have to work several hours every night, or is it that she's supposed to be doing the work set, plus independent study, plus extra reading? I have a feeling that she appeared to work hard at AS but not work smart and her lack of organisation let her down. What's the magic ingredient?

[offtoseethewizard64]

This thread has been really useful. We have spent this afternoon looking at DSs revised options. He is now resigned to the fact that his Plan A is virtually unachievable, his Plan B is in place and he has even been to look at a lesser Uni today which is his absolute Plan C. Just hope the school agree with it and that he gets predicted grades which at least give him a chance at Plan B. He does not want to resit the whole of Yr 12 but has earmarked some modules to resit next year alongside his A2s. I hope his strategy pays off!

[Horsemad]

Besta, read Mindgone's post (Page1) about how her son did it. He was totally determined. Mine says he'll work harder, but that remains to be seen.

DS talks the talk...

[stonecircle]

Besta - "working your socks off" will mean different things to different students. The important thing for them to bear in mind is that they should be working their socks off in relation to how much effort they put into AS - that is the benchmark. There's no 'one size fits all' rule for how hard each student needs to work.

My year 12 ds2 (about to go into year 13) for example had a routine of coming in from school, going to bed for a couple of hours, having tea, watching telly and then, as the rest of us were going to bed, working for 2-3 hours at the kitchen table with nothing on it other than books/papers relating to the task in hand. But those 2-3 hours were exceptionally focused and productive. His older brother spent longer on 'revision' - at the library with his girlfriend, lying on his bed with a book propped up in front of him, sitting on the sofa with his feet up in front of the telly 'working' on his laptop etc etc.

DS2 applied himself but I wouldn't say worked very hard. He was still doing rugby training on a Saturday morning and playing rugby Sunday morning/afternoon. He managed A in Eng Lit (a very high A - astonishing for a boy who never reads); A in geography; B in Biology and D in Maths. Sadly he really tried with maths but it was a mistake him doing AS maths in the first place as GCSE maths was clearly his ceiling. DS1, who spent much longer 'revising' managed D, E, U .... Interestingly, I have always thought (and still do) that DS1 is cleverer than DS2 (but that's a whole other thread!)

[secretsquirrels]

Soooooo, what exactly does "work your socks off" mean?
It means working during "free" periods instead of catching up with friends.
It means doing more work for homework than the teacher has set.
It means hours of work at night and at weekends. To be honest DS did little else but work in the last year and many may think he got the work / life balance wrong.
If your DC is dedicated as well as able and has a subject they love that's fine, but you can lead a horse to water......

[Theas18]

Besta to DS working his socks off meant...

Meeting up a few times with a mate of your mothers to talk about strategies and focus. That's was the important mindset change I think. She also checked that he'd covered all the areas she knows kids find hard ( she teaches at a 6 the form college). School would have offered this, it wasn't " tutoring" as such but this bit of one to one got him on track. And hearing it from someone who wasn't his teacher I think was good.

He very clearly knew exactly what he had to do to get the marks, how each format of question worked.

He then yup, worked in study periods. Re drafted anything that didn't go 100% well in assessed work. Did lots and lots of past papers etc. He even carefully balanced relaxation and work - at times handing over his console controller ! He still had a good social life, a girlfriend and extra curricular stuff but he ( not me) regulated them carefully with his goal in mind.

He is very grateful to the teacher who went against school policy and predicted him an A after a B at AS.

[stonecircle]

To DS1's gf, working your socks off meant going through the whole A2 syllabus for each subject during the summer holidays before the start of year 13.

It meant working for hours every evening and all weekend (DS1 I imagine just sat and gazed and her while she was doing this). It did pay off - she got AAAB at AS and AAA at A2. I don't know why, two years later, she's still hanging around with my lazy, feckless son and coming home from uni most weekends to see him.

[Horsemad]

@ stonecircle.