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Secondary education

Connect with other parents whose children are starting secondary school on this forum.

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Original poster

Any science teachers on here?

18 replies

dingit · 17/06/2015 16:48

Physics A level
Dd wants to this next year ( with a view to doing engineering). I know it will depend on her GCSE grades, but she is worried if she will cope with it. I think she will.
She got an A* for additional, and is predicted an A for further additional.
She is doing A level maths. ( she has her GCSE in the bag)
She hopefully is going to a very good sixth form. She is also a very good worker, revises and does lots of past papers.

Anyone agree, or can offer any words of wisdom?

OP posts:

TeenAndTween · 17/06/2015 17:20

I'm not a science teacher, so this reply is partly just a bump for you.

From what you've written I don't see why she is concerned. If she can't cope with it, then who could?

todayiamfat · 17/06/2015 17:22

She will cope I am sure. I'm a science teacher and i did A-level physics without A-level maths. I was the only one on the course who didn't do maths and i did struggle a little. Still got a B though.

Original poster

dingit · 17/06/2015 17:35

From those two replies I think it's just her lack of confidence. She told me she was rubbish at English, yet her teacher said he would have welcomed her into his A level class. You can't teach confidence, can you?

OP posts:

minionwithdms · 17/06/2015 20:35

I'm not a teacher, but having done AS Physics I have to say that Maths really did help with it - just in reinforcing the basic mechanics used. I'm sure she'll cope fine

twentyten · 17/06/2015 20:38

Has she done anything with etrust or stem ambassadors etc? Their uni taster courses etc are fab- Sutton trust etc too. Really helped my dd. and if she is hood at maths- go for it!

kscience · 17/06/2015 20:41

I am a Science teacher and with the changes in the A level curriculum this year (bigger focus on maths) I would highly recommend that she takes maths and physics together. Also if looking at engineering she will need both and Further maths or another science.

Look at the universities she is interested in and the entry requirements for different courses.

If she has A's in Science and Maths and is a hard worker I would welcome her into my year 12 class with open arms

AnathemaPratchett · 17/06/2015 20:42

She'll be just fine. She's got the science, the maths, and the work ethic

TheFallenMadonna · 17/06/2015 20:47

If she's got A Sciences, early Maths (A?), then she is in as strong a position as anybody. And if she wants to be an engineer, Maths and Physics are what she needs.

Original poster

dingit · 17/06/2015 20:50

She plans to do chemistry.
Further maths is a problem as they are only allowed to do it if they got an A*, but she got an A albeit in year 9.
We are going to apply to the sutton trust next year. I only know about it through mn, the school haven't mentioned it at all.

OP posts:

addictedtosugar · 17/06/2015 21:13

Not a science teacher, but did bio, phy, chem & maths a level, science BSc and masters, and work sourounded my engineers.

Go for it. The opportunities in the work place are vast, interesting and, in general, well paid.

I echo the suggestion of looking at some possible uni courses ( based mainly on I wouldn't mind living in X city, and a guess at which sort of engineering). Also worth looking at Imperial & Manchester as big engineering centres.

Original poster

dingit · 17/06/2015 21:17

I think she has her eye on imperial, but she would probably commute, which has it's downsides.

OP posts:

OddBoots · 17/06/2015 21:19

Have the school not had her doing any maths at all since Y9? Even if she hasn't she should be in a good place to argue that an A in Y9 is as good if not better than getting an A* in Y11 although she may have to do some revision over the summer to make sure she is still familiar with it all.

Original poster

dingit · 17/06/2015 21:21

She's done additional odd boots

OP posts:

OddBoots · 17/06/2015 21:23

Ah, phew! :) I'd be surprised if a sixth form didn't accept that as an A*. Not that it matters if she doesn't want to do further maths A Level.

Original poster

dingit · 17/06/2015 21:33

She's considering it. We have to go and see them with her grades, we can have a chat then.

OP posts:

noblegiraffe · 17/06/2015 22:27

If she had sat her maths gcse in Y11 then she would have got an A*. She shouldn't be prevented from taking further maths by her school's idiotic decision to enter her early. The additional maths should be enough to get her onto the course, but if they huff I'd query why they are trying to discourage a able girl from taking further maths and would it be the same if she were a boy?

If she's bright, a hard worker and good at maths and science, A-level Physics should be fine. She'll need it for engineering anyway so there's no point in being needlessly scared of it.

Original poster

dingit · 18/06/2015 09:35

Thanks noble, I'm not sure how I will get on with the boy argument, as she's going to an all girls sixth form

Physics exam tomorrow, I lay awake worrying about it, I need to get a grip!

OP posts:

murphys · 18/06/2015 09:52

I'm not in UK so I don't know if this is helpful at all, but I'll explain how it works here. I also not sure of age of your dc as I don't know years etc that UK use.

So for example my son is 16 and in Grade 10 (two more years left of school). He takes science which is made up of chemistry and physics. He cannot take one without the other as its one subject split into two. Certain subjects go hand in hand with each other. So in order to take science, he HAS to take straight Math. By straight math - this is higher grade level, as there is another option of Math which is Math Literacy which is basic math. Every student must take either Math or Math Lit along with languages and life skills subject. The others they can select.

So for an example - if he should fail Math (straight), and he decides to drop it next year and take Math Lit, he will also have to drop Science, as it cannot be taken without straight Math. I do understand why, as in physics so much of the subject is math orientated.

Also, our universities will not enrol a student doing a science degree without having passed maths with less that 70% pass.

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