Depressed DD - what if she can't sit her A2 exams?

[Stopmakingsense]

DD18 is depressed and anxious and is due to see a psychiatrist this week. Her A2 exams are the week after. She does very little and is withdrawn and distant. This has been coming on for weeks but she has only just agreed to get more help (has been having anxiety problems all year). Clearly any treatment isn't going to be in time for the exams. Will she have to take them anyway? If Psychiatrist says she shouldn't - what happens then?

You need to speak to the schools exams officer asap and see if she can defer for a year. You also need to speak to the head of sixth form to check she would be able to return next year and would not have to start again.

Hi. I am no expert though similar happened to a friends DD. She somehow managed to get OK results, in the B/C range rather than the As she was capable of. Despite having struggled to get to school for a while.

It's tough and I would love to offer you . Is there a certain amount of knowledge she can bank? The advantage my friends DD has is that when she reaches a point when she can move forward with her life she has the grades that will allow her to take a vocational or applied degree. Which would be a good first step.

But equally if taking the exams is too much, then it's too much. Her health comes first.

Please talk to the exams officer. I know at GCSE students who are really sick only need to sit 50% of exams to get qualification, I have a feeling we had a student a couple of years ago too ill to sit A2, I think they sat one exam - but that is dependent I guess on having sat AS exams successfully and if they have done coursework. If she is going through UCAS the school also needs to contact the prospective uni's too (that would be head of sixth with us).
Priority is of course medical help, and see if school would allow her to 'resit' yr13 if necessary (dependent upon new vs old courses). Hope this helps.

I had a student once who was not well enough to sit one A2 module so OCR calculated her grade based on her performance in the other A2 module and her AS modules. It was done mathematically and somehow based on the performance of other students in her cohort as well (can't remember how that worked); she wasn't just given her predicted grade. So she ended up with a B rather than the A we had predicted her.

Thank you everyone. I am going to speak to school on Monday. She has done all the AS modules and the coursework. We are not expecting her to get her predicted grades anyway, and her health is much more important. I just don't want to cause her more stress (or future difficulties) by not sitting the exams. Or have her start medication which might mess with her head even more and then have to sit the exams. Good idea to contact the unis (if she is well enough to go, that is). And she really isn't in a fit state to make any decisions.

Agree with the others that you need to contact the sixth form. There may be a process that can be followed if she is too ill to sit the exams (a doctor's note would be needed).
Priority is of course medical help, and see if school would allow her to 'resit' yr13 if necessary (dependent upon new vs old courses)
Would also like to confirm that there will still be resit exams available next year even if any of the A2 courses that she is taking are being reformed to linear ones.

It's a pity shge didn't seek medical help sooner, because GPs prescribe beta-blockers for anxious students.My friends DC used to have panic attacks in exams and this helped him a lot.But it takes the body time to get used to them so probably not a solution for your DD

Hi
The question of resitting exams next summer if needed depends upon the subject - I think the 'new' courses from last September (history, business, Soc, psych and others...) will still offer a 'legacy' exam next summer but the school won't be teaching the same course as the current yr12 are already immersed in new course - BUT other subjects (Geog, rs, G&P etc) are still on old course so will have another year of teaching old course, so shouldn't be a problem.
So, I have a yr13 student resitting a course next year but she will have to teach herself as I no longer teach the course. Does that make sense?? Your head of sixth should be able to offer help but hope this is clear. Good luck.