Dropping an AS in Y12

[fairywoods]

My DS in Y12 has found the step up to AS very difficult. Hiis teachers say he is bright, but he is moderately dyslexic and has a poor working memory. He feels out of depth and is struggling to fully understand Physics. He wants to drop Physics and focus on his remaining 3 AS. He thinks he will achieve better grades by dropping one now and even with massive effort thinks a predicted D in Physics, will probably realistically result in an E/U in the summer. He thinks the effort he puts in will be wasted and will detract from his other 3 subjects. Anyone have experience of dropping an AS early? I'm currently thinking 3 decent AS grades would be better than 4 poor ones. He currently has no idea what he wants to do after A2s and is not sure if Uni is for him. Thanks :)

A girl in my daughter's year group at school did 3 AS and 3 A2 (I the same subjects!) and managed to get to Durham University. From what you say, a high flying university is unlikely to be his destination anyway, so I would say dropping one now is probably the best thing to do. I would try and get some idea from him as to what might interest him as career a check out what A levels might be necessary. Some courses will not specify AS levels anyway. They will just want A2 subjects. I would also look at other qualifications post A level, but I am sure that having 3 AS and not 4 will not prevent him going onto a lower level course. It will be less stressful too!

We have contacted universities about this issue, think edinburgh, liverpool, bristol... They do not need 4 ASs for most courses, we were looking at vet science. My daughter attends a small comp and there simply were not 4 ASs that she could select due to option blocks. She is doing 3 ASs and the welsh bacc, all universties were happy with this when we checked in September.

Very sensible for him to drop one AS sooner rather than later and focus on the other 3.

Thanks for your helpful replies - you've confirmed my thoughts that focussing on 3 is probably the best bet :)

DD dropped physics at the October half term in y12.

There are no universities which require 4 AS grades. It is a non issue. Though DD did get a slightly lower A2 offer because she had an A in AS Critical Thinking as a fourth (the whole yeargroup did it on minimal lesson time, many of them never cashed it in).

The important thing is that he doesn't drop Physics if it's required or recommended for what he may want to do in the future.

It really depends on what other AS levels he is taking OP. Is he taking other Sciences or Maths? Does he need a Science subject for university entrance - if so dropping Physics early may possibly affect which degrees he is able to study.
What have the teachers said about his progress so far? How much of the course has he actually done? Has he done the most difficult parts of the course already?

I would love to know how many Vet Med students have only 3 AS levels. It is one of the most difficult courses to get onto. Do what the universities say actually stand up to scrutiny when students are selected?

Have you asked his school what they think, OP? I know some seem to be reluctant to allow DCs to drop subjects even though sometimes it seems to be the sensible thing to do.

Time will tell re vet science, hopefully 3 plus welsh baccand the many many many weeks of work exp and the extra curricular activities will do it, not to mention the As or A*s at A level. Thank you for the reminder though Milly or I might have forgotten!

Ds dropped his 4th AS (biology) at the start of the 2nd term of y12.
Has had offers from 4 unis and is waiting for a reply from the 5th.
The school was reluctant at first something to do with contact hours but this was overcome by agreeing to go to supervised study sessions.