Which A2 subjects to take into next year? Advice please!!

[sausagedog12]

My DD got a D in her Computer Science AS. However she was hoping to study Computer Science at University. If she drops the subject for A2 will this spoil her chances to get into a university for this course (bearing in mind most universities only require a Maths A level anyway for the Computer Science course with 2 other facilitating A levels.) or will the university wonder as to why they dropped an A level that they want to do for degree. The teacher who currently teaches the subject is not adequate to put it bluntly and it's not their degree subject. It is not their fault in particular as no surplus Computer Science teachers available. But sounds a bit awful to say this in an interview. No change in teacher for A2 year even though school is more than fully aware of situation. It seems a bit too risky to take CS forward and dropping another subject that she had A and B's in. She definitely wants to drop a subject for next year. Advice greatly appreciated.

Why don't you phone the admissions department of any uni she is interested in and ask their advice?

If they don't require comp sci though, the obvious thing to do would be to continue with the subjects that will net her the best results. Her predicted grades will affect the level of university she will be able to apply for. She may also change her mind about what she wants to study at uni.

I second ringing admissions tutors, I have found them to be really friendly and helpful.

Thank you everyone for your replies. I will certainly get her to phone all her intended university's and hopefully get some feedback from which we can make a decision.

Is she doing other computery stuff outside of the A Level?

If it helps my OH managed a degree in Computer Science despite his grade 2 CSE in Computing (which they ignored).
I suspect the reason that they don't ask for Computer Science at A2 is that they know that this sort of weakness in teaching exists and that many schools don't offer it.
Provided her other A2 subjects (apart from Maths) are facilitating subjects, she should be OK (another Science subject especially Physics or further Maths may be useful though).

It was her best subject and is always on the computer messing around trying out new things. She had an A at GCSE Computing but the teacher left a whole section of programming amongst other things out in the run up to the AS exam and said to learn it themselves. She tried to work things out by herself but obviously that wasn't good enough with revising for other subjects too.
Catslife I myself managed a good degree from a subject that I had a D in for my A level but this was many moons ago and would have thought it would be more competitive now especially in Computer Science. She is taking Physics with Maths and doing very well in them. Was thinking of dropping Geography until this happened.

Very few universities interview any more so no-one will ask why she dropped it. However it seems unrealistic to try and do a degree in a subject where she got D at AS. Even with better teaching it may not have been a stellar result. I would ask at the university but I would not be confident this is the subject for her. Has she other ideas which she could pursue?

I'm not sure, sausagedog. My DS's computing teacher left/was pushed at October half term after the DC complained! They had no teacher until Easter, except for 6 weeks with one borrowed one from another school. The class basically taught itself from the text book and internet. The lowest grade was a C, DS got an A. (grammar school 6th form, though, TBF)

He will drop it and concentrate on maths, further maths and physics which are considered to be 'facilitating' subjects, while computing is less highly thought of. Computing changes so quickly that any study in it becomes dated/obsolete very quickly. DS wants a career in computing but will take a degree in maths.

In the situation you describe with the teaching, I would not take computer science forward. Maths and Physics plus Geography is fine. I would strongly recommend that she continues with programming in her own time - there are many good resources online for this in whatever programming language she prefers.

I know this is an Oxford Uni list, but the suggestions for background reading are very good and will give a good insight into computer science:

www.cs.ox.ac.uk/ugadmissions/why_oxford/background_reading.html

Thanks everyone for your opinions we have taken them on board.DD knows she has a lot of work to do. I personally don't think a whole career path should be changed on the basis of this result. It is still a pass at the end of the day and could quite easily have been higher had work gone in to rectify the situation but I admit that DD (and myself for that matter!!!) probably were in denial that everything would be ok. If the teacher had walked in the beginning we would have then have addressed the situation earlier than what we did. Hindsight is a fine thing. The question of whether she can cope is not in dispute, they require a high maths grade she is on course to get that. Like I have already said I got a D and still pursued that career path for a good degree in a field which I work in to this day.
Thanks Culture Sucks for your link ....very helpful.

Def drop the CS. Maybe if there's coding projects she's done independently she can talk about them in her personal statement?

If she's talking to admissions tutors either now or at open days, I don't think she should hesitate to make clear the inadequate teaching - I'm sure it's an issue that they're quite well aware of.

Good grades in maths, phys and ok in geography will keep far more doors open than two of those and an iffy grade in CS. She should also bear in mind that there are many 'computing' careers for which a degree in CS is not required (or even desirable). A degree in maths or physics could lead to more interesting paths (e.g. I write scientific software - the company is stuffed with PhD chemists and very few CS people).

Good luck to her (and btw, like your name - I've got a sausage dog )

Thanks Errol. Very interesting what you have to say about career paths. I agree that it is better to take 3 subjects she will most likely succeed.Oh Well she will have to choose soon! Thanks again for the great advice from everyone.