Redo year 13

[Essexmum69]

Does anyone know if it is possible to re do year thirteen this year (A2) ? School are saying no as the A levels have changed. So does this mean that DC wanting to resit A2s will have to start completely again from year 12 ?

Depends on the A levels. Some are the new linear ones (sciences, maths) but others have one last year of year 13 left to run. You would need to look at the specification for each individual A level. Theoretically though, as there is supposedly less coursework, it wouldn't be impossible to sit the new A level. However, probably not a good idea as the reason for resitting a year is usually that they have struggled to keep up and this would add extra workload.

It would also depend on how you were doing this. I think the Government have tried to prevent this by stopping funding for any student trying to resit the same subjects but will allow starting new courses.

So if a student were to resit as a private candidate that would be ok but it's less straight forward if a student wanted to return on the same courses as a year 14 student.

Sciences. Good AS results As and Bs but let down by A2 practicals. Would be able to just resit papers as external candidate if it was written papers but can't do that with the practicals, hence the need to redo the year. We have been told finance is not the problem any other year they would have said yes, but not this year due to the new A levels. We cant think of any other option other than starting again with the new specs.

Worth contacting the exam boards to ask if they are offering resit opportunities for this year group. The practicals can be tricky and in my experience pupils don't improve massively enough to make a grade difference. Would clearing be a better option instead of resitting the year? A sixth form college or private school for one year as an alternative?

Sadly nothing in clearing. We were hoping raising his practicals from a "u" could make the difference along with a couple of other units.
Another school for one year is what we want, but they would need to be teaching the old syllabus which is sounding unlikely.

No other school will teach the old specifications, sorry. There should be a retake opportunity though - the exam boards should have one extra chance for this age pupils (like the old November retakes from years ago). Do give them a call and ask how they are giving these pupils this chance. Failing that a local college may offer a one year A level.

Have you checked out the UMS mark of the coursework? This is more important than the grade as it's the number of overall UMS marks for all the modules away from the next grade boundary that counts. (Disclaimer, I only really know Biology OCR)

Retaking the modules may give enough UMS marks to do this without the practical element?

There are indeed resit opportunities for this legacy cohort. I don't know if passing the practical is compulsory though under the old spec. New spec requires practicals to be passed, though these aren't graded. Can a private crammer help? They'd have labs he could access.

Or look at degrees with a foundation year which will need lower grades?

The final exams for this legacy cohort are in the summer of 2017 - papers available for resit candidates. Can you contact his exam board direct and ask their advice with regard to resitting practicals?

Before making a decision, I would check with the relevant exam board about resitting practicals. There must be provision for this sort of change somewhere.
Was he aware of anything going wrong in the experiments? Did he/the school fill out all the paperwork correctly? Do you have the UMS or breakdown of marks? You need to ask the school to check this asap.
Am also sending a pm.

The UMS of the worst practical was 17. No idea what went wrong, he assumes he must have misunderstood the task.
However yesterday he managed to get an offer through clearing for a less well known RG (same city) for the same course so he has decided against resitting which was his initial instinct. Thank you for your advice though.

That sounds like a much better choice for him! I wish him well with his course.

Good news and all the best - definitely a much better idea.