Unexpected AS results

[ruralmyth]

Been away so DD got results yesterday.
Was predicted CCCC
Got AA (Philosophy & History) but D (physics) & U (maths)
She really wants to drop maths but I understand that Physics without maths is really hard & the school strongly discourage. But surely with a U theres not much point in pursuing?
She really wants to do some form of Geography at Uni but I'm hoping the D&U won't have ruined her chances.
Obviously she'll talk to the school next term but any advice would be welcome.

Physics without maths is ok.I dropped maths after GCSE but could easily follow the maths content in DS1s physics A level.

Ha - at least she gor some As. We're in AS nightmare at the moment as DD didn't do nearly as well as predicited. We're waiting for an appointment with tutor to figure out what went wrong and where do we go from here :(

thanks Queen, I think she might have to have a go.
Rotten luck for your DD Middle, I do keep reading about students that get disappointing ASs who go on to get stellar A2s.

I doubt she'd be allowed to carry on with Maths with a U anyway. I think it will be fine to carry on with the Physics without the Maths. But would they not require a Geography A lvel to do Geog at uni?

Sorry, Remus getting DC muddled . As in history & geography, DS took philosophy

:)

Can she re-sit the physics AS exams this year? Quite a few of my classmates, myself included, re-sat our AS level biology to bump up the final grade.

She could also re-do AS maths this year and stay in sixth form an extra year. She won't be able to carry on with maths if she failed AS exams.

Can you re sit AS at the same time as A2? That would be a good solution.
Oddly, she got a B in the mock Physics & a C in maths.
If she could up the ante in Physics to a C in A2 would a uni accept?
Sorry for all the questions, she's rather stumped.

The results are so unexpected, we weren't prepared.

If the U is completely unexpected ask for the papers back with a view to getting them remarked.

But yes AS can be resat at the same time as A2 - hard work though, and if she was going to drop maths anyway maybe not much point?

If the U is genuine and college agree it doesn't reflect her actual ability they might be happy for her to continue with the Physics - upping a D at AS to a B is entirely possible with work.

I think the U is right, it was the score for both papers. I'm going to suggest resit Physics alongside A2 & perhaps look into a tutor.
I presume she'll have to put all the results down on the UCAS form, I just hope it's not an immediate strike off.
Thanks very much for the advice.

Not that it is much help, but physics and maths are not immediately obvious A levels to go with History and Geography. Maths maybe but she seems to have chosen with the idea of a keeping a foot in both science and arts camps but now has a foot in neither. Is it possible to do another A level in a year and drop both Physics and Maths?

No Milly I agree, probably not the best choices but she chose them because she really enjoyed Physics at GCSE & got an A and the school strongly advise maths with physics.
I hadn't thought of doing an A2 in year, or whether it's possible.

I don't know about doing AS and A2 lectures at the same time but it was possible to re-sit the AS exams in the A2 year when I did mine a few years ago as long as you'd passed the AS exams IYSWIM.

It does add a bit of pressure as it means revising for the exams while doing the A2 work but most of us managed to bump the AS grade up at least one grade. Re-sits used to be in either January or June/July.

Actually maths would be viewed as a very good subject to go with Geog; the is a lot of statistical analysis involved in A level and degree level Geography.

Yes maths and physics are good together but most people would be doing further maths and another science. People who do history and geography might do maths, but the 4th subject would normally be an arts subject. It just seems an odd combination. My DD got an A* for both maths and physics at GCSE but she knew she was no scientist or mathematician. She was an arts person. I think your DD is too by these results.

something like govenment and politics might be doable in a year (if the school can timetable it). It would complement the other two, and although it's not a facilitating subject (shouldn't matter as the others are), it's not ridiculously easy (like critical thinking/general studies).

OP Physics is perfectly doable without Maths. DS1 did it and got an A* (100% I think, can't really remember). And DS2 got a U in Maths in the Jan AS and managed a B in June. A U isn't unredeemable. Don't worry about a seemingly eclectic mix of subjects - as far as universities go, that's all good.

A U in maths is unredeemable - you certainly won't be able to progress to A2 as that U represents 50% of the final grade so it would be very difficult to pull it up. A2 maths modules are much harder and mostly build on AS.

The two As are obviously excellent, but the lower third grade would affect university applications. Resitting is also harder these days as there is only one sitting in June so she would have to do any resits alongside all her other exams.

She could consider extending sixth form to three years, finish her history and geography in Y13 and pick up one or two new ASs, finish those in Y14 and top up with an extended project or similar.

Is she looking at Human Geography?
Physical Geography asks for some form of Chemistry in sixth form (can't remember if AS or A2)

OP not to add to worries, but if your DD is keen on Geography suggest she checks content of Geography courses very carefully - some do require quite a sophisticated grasp of maths, to the point where my DD (who started A level maths but then dropped it in favour of govt & politics) found it very stretching. Not all courses are like this, so close reading of university guides essential!

I would advise her to drop Maths and resit her Physics AS alongside her A2 modules next June (there are no January modules any more). It will mean some extra revision but we have had students make significant improvements this way. The only problem will be choosing a university course with that uneven combination of grades.

It makes a difference which side of geography she enjoys; physical or human. I'm taking a guess that if she enjoys history then it's the human side.

Any ideas what she wants to do with geography at Uni. I ask this as some of the courses which are not straight geography are not as popular therefore do not require top grades.

My first choice was Geography at Newcastle, I balls up my A levels and didn't think I would get in. When I rang up Newc allowed me onto the Geography and Town Planning degree, which is half geography modules and half planning ones. In year two we were allowed to stick with that degree or do straight geography or straight town planning. I loved human geography and got on really well with the more vocational town planning degree so swapped to that. Walked into a job after uni when my peers who did geography had no clue what to do.

So long winded way of saying don't panic about the grades there's plenty of geography type degrees which won't require three As.

Could she continue physics, geog, history to A2 and repeat her maths A1 next year?

Thanks so much.
I think she'll do as leBear advises, if the school agree.
You've given me hope trying, cheers.

Were the Physics units similar grades? If one much higher than the other, would it be possible just to resit the lower paper to pull the overall score up?

e,c,c so that might be an idea.