Please or to access all these features

Add post

Watch this thread

Save thread

Start a new thread

Flip thread

Hide thread

My feed

Active Unanswered threads

Getting started FAQ's

Unanswered threads Acronyms Talk guidelines

Hide shortcut buttons

Talk

Secondary education

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

Flip

1 2

Original poster

What happens if dd passes all Gcses except English?

27 replies

Disneygirl37 · 13/12/2018 10:30

My daughter is in year 11. She just got her mocks mostly level 5 &6 and a level 7. Math got a 3 just off 4 (previously got 4 in year 10 exams had a wobble with mock). Teacher seems confident she will pass math.
English has been a real struggle through out secondary. Had supply teachers for 18 months new teacher every few weeks. She has had a tutor for 6months. She got a level 3 in her year 10 exam but only got a level 2 in her mock. She seems to be doing well at the tutors but she has lots of exam anxiety especially around English and math.
What happens if she passes everything except English ? Will they still let her do a levels or a level 3 at college?
Her predicted grades are all level 4 and above, but just concerned about English.

OP posts:

Lara53 · 13/12/2018 11:29

She will be able to go to college, but will need to re-take English

EduCated · 13/12/2018 11:45

You need to find out from the college what their specific requirements are. I would hope that they would allow her to take A Levels whilst retaking English, but they may not.

KittyMcKitty · 13/12/2018 11:45

I think it depends on the 6th form / college. Some ask for minimum grades in English/ Maths some let students resit them alongside their courses. Similarly some A levels may require minimum grades in English/ Maths / another subject in order to study them. The schools admissions policies will have all the details.

Bobbybobbins · 13/12/2018 12:06

Depends on the school or College's admissions policy. We take students who have got the grades for the subjects they want to study but have just missed Maths or English then they resit it in year 12.

titchy · 13/12/2018 13:01

Each sixth form will have its own requirements. Some will be happy to take her, others won't. You'll have to check their websites.

As an aside have you not applied for several sixth form places by now?

LIZS · 13/12/2018 13:08

Many colleges will accept either a language or literature pass to progress. Does she follow up sample papers by going through the mark scheme? There are often easy marks to gain by making some basic points.

Oliversmumsarmy · 13/12/2018 13:13

She will be able to go to college, but will need to re-take English

It depends on what she wants to study and which college.

Ds’s college take those that didn’t pass GCSE English and or Maths but other colleges in the area don’t.

MaisyPops · 13/12/2018 18:57

It will depend on what she wants to do.

Some will take her for a level 3 course and she can resit her English.

Other courses might have an English requirement.

Have a look at individual colleges and see what courses are there

Satsumaeater · 15/12/2018 17:34

Many colleges will accept either a language or literature pass to progress

I was also wondering if she was likely to get a 5 in English lit, which might be enough.

Faithless12 · 15/12/2018 17:36

Depends on many variables, how badly she fails, the college/school and her A level choices.

yaela123 · 16/12/2018 09:38

In our local 6th form she would be able to take 3 A levels but would also have to resit GCSE English alongside it (rather than doing an EPQ). But as others have said, it is different depending on where you go.

DataEducator · 17/12/2018 22:47

The grade requirement in order to avoid having to resit level 2 English at post-16 is a grade 4 in either English language or English literature.

However sixth-forms and colleges may have their own entry requirements to be able to study certain courses.

ChocolateWombat · 18/12/2018 15:57

It's worth remembering too that lots of colleges require 6 or 7 in the GCSE subject to continue to A Level too, as well as an overall points requirement. Some more selective schools ask for every subject to be a 5 or above.

People on MN often like to say 'when I was at school 4 Cs at GCSE was enough for A Levels' but don't realise that the demands of A Levels are high and that to have a reasonable chance of a good grade at A Level and it an E or U, pretty good GCSEs (and not 4s or 5s and even not 6s in some subjects) are needed. I just say it because A Levels aren't for everyone and too many kids get steered into them with meduocre GCSEs and little chance of success and then struggle with the next stage too, when uni seems the next step but a limited range of courses might be available to those with low A Levels, but some will still take your £9k per year for something which might be questionable in value at the end. I'd just say, consider seriously if A Level is the right route - it isn't the be all and end all, nor the best for all.

TheFrendo · 18/12/2018 16:02

Can you really go on to study A levels without both English and maths?

RomanyRoots · 18/12/2018 16:11

If she goes to college they will either ask to do resits if her report suggests she is capable of passing, or take a level 2 functional skills for Maths, English or both.
I did this as would never have passed a GCSE Maths.
It doesn't hold you back, I have a hons degree 2.1 and a PgCE plus a masters.

Satsumaeater · 19/12/2018 09:04

As an example, my son has the offer of a place at sixth form college and they are asking for 6 GCSES grade 5 or above, with a 5 for English language and a 6 in MFL.

I don't think A levels are harder than they were when I did them (1990) and I did much better in my A levels than I did in my GCSEs. Sixth form colleges that write off kids without stellar GCSE results across the board are being short-sighted, not least because by the time you get to A level you can finally get rid of all the subjects you are rubbish at and concentrate on the ones you are good at.

But you do need a 5 in English and Maths for most careers.

ChocolateWombat · 19/12/2018 10:16

But the statistical evidence in a large number of subjects, is that starting an A Level from a 5 at GCSE (and often a 6 too) leads to a very low grade or fail at A Level. This is why Maths almost always wants a 7 now and Sciences often want a 7 or 6.

Does it really do 16 year olds any good to be welcomed onto A Levels when they have a 5 in a certain subject, without the likely outcomes being made clear? Those schools and colleges want the funding and desperately need the funding, so aren't always entirely clear about likely outcomes.

I'd simply advise anyone making choices to ask their school or college for very clear information on what the likely outcomes at A Level are from the GCSE starting point and then to decide if that seems worthwhile. The vast majority don't do better in their A Level subject than they did in it at GCSE and in a number of subjects, anything below a 7 is likely to result in E/U - it's really important information.

TheFrendo · 19/12/2018 12:48

What A levels can you reasonably do without maths or English?

I would have thought that the sciences and essay based subjects would be out.

RomanyRoots · 19/12/2018 13:02

TheFrendo

Have only recently been told that my dd is likely to pass English and Maths, we were told unlikely until recently.
She will do A levels even though she has predictions of 4/5 in all subjects apart from one of 8/9.
Some colleges/good HE institutions aren't bothered about the A level results as long as they have done them.

AlexanderHamilton · 19/12/2018 13:06

What A levels can you reasonably do without maths or English?
I would have thought that the sciences and essay based subjects would be out.

Ds may not pass English but is capable of doing Music A level (he can write essays on music set works and analysis but not on literature texts as he struggles with inference.

Piggywaspushed · 20/12/2018 08:05

satsuma
But you do need a 5 in English and Maths for most careers.

That simply isn't true; you need a 4, unless you can cite examples. All unis (bar one) 'require' 4s in maths and Englsih (lang) as their minimum entry, although obviously most students have more than this.

Hang in there, OP! If your DD, has got 5s and 6s in other subjects (presuming they are being reasonably accurate which is another thread!) she might well get a 4 or above in English. Unless there are very specific SEN issues, it is rare to get all 5s and 6s and not achieve English at 4 because of the writing skills required to egt 5s and 6s in many GCSE subjects.

If she does struggle a bit in maths , and in English, she will need to choose her A levels wisely. And, yes, in many many schools, many subjects may not be available to her.

Piggywaspushed · 20/12/2018 08:09

chocolate, the reality is there are not viable alternative routes for most students at grade 4/5 type level. Not everyone wants to do practical apprenticeships or BTecs, and these aren't even really available in quantity or quality in many parts of the country.

My DS got a range of predominantly Cs/5s at GCSE (with 6s in maths and Eng Lit and As in MFL , balanced by a D in Geog). His 'Minimum Expected Grades for his A Levels (an ALPS predictor) are CCC, , so hardly the Es and Us you speak of as the 'likely outcomes'. I think that was true maybe 10 -15 years ago. His actual predcitions for A Level are BCC.

ChocolateWombat · 20/12/2018 14:45

But in Maths, that would be the likely outcome from starting points of less than a 7.

It does depend on what you study - some subjects are harder than others and a higher GCSE is needed for likely success. There will always be exceptions, but statistics do speak for whole cohorts of thousands. It's also the case that over 2/3 of predictions are over-inflated in response to the final achievement.

I agree that for students with a clutch of moderate passes it is difficult to know what to do.

I guess a child who has some As and 6s in with their mostly 5s or 4s can do well if they choose and are guided wisely towards the right subjects and know that something like maths isn't likely to see a great outcome from less than a 7. That's the key thing isn't it - having accurate information, and too often students don't have it and for example might end up doing maths when something else would be likely to lead to a better outcome. It also depends on what you want to do and where you want to go next. Very selective schools are usually looking for their students to be capable of a B at A Level because a B is often the minimum offer for Russell Group Unis and such schools want to say almost everyone who wants a place at such a Uni gets one (recognising of course the other courses where somewhere else might be better).

Some people would say that the debt incurred from gaining a degree from a place not valued highly be employers isn't worth it - that such degrees don't lead to graduate jobs. However, again here are a range of experiences and everyone has to decide for themselves and their children. Not everyone can get top drawer GCSEs or A Levels or degrees or jobs and everyone needs to move onto the next stage doing something. I just think that students and parents need to push harder for information so they can make informed choices, and that too many start courses without realising what the likely outcomes and next stages are. If you have all the info and then make the choice, then fair enough.

Oblomov18 · 20/12/2018 15:09

Grade 4 or 5?
What grades does she need for your local sixth form?

I'm only asking because our school has a sixth form, but it's so Uber competitive, to even get in, AND I'm sure I was told that, in order to cope with the A level, the student would need to get a really solid GCSE in that subject, ideally a 7, I think they said.

Did I get that wrong? If you are struggling to get a 2 or 3, is A levels wise?

Dubaduba1 · 20/12/2018 15:37

This reply has been deleted

Message deleted by MNHQ. Here's a link to our Talk Guidelines.

Flip

1 2