GCSE grade 5 considering Eng Lit A level

[greyboy]

Ds got a grade 5 in his eng lit - 5 marks off a 6; grade 6 in his lang - 2 marks off a 7. We are getting both remarked.
He would love to do Lit for A level but is worried he won't do well. We spoke to his teacher who feels that he should do it because he works hard and loves the subject, she also feels that boys often improve at A level because they make maturity leaps in thinking during 6th year. DS has an end of July birthday and wouldn't be what I would consider emotionally immature for his age.
For background he got an 8 in his RS and an 8 in his Geography, a 9 in his French (he's taking French & Biology) and had intended to take Eng Lit but what now?
A subject he loves - Eng Lit and hope he improves and with hard work he can pull it off or a subject he doesn't enjoy but is good at like RS or Geog?

He could try, I was warned about taking it at A level because my GCSE grades weren’t great. But I loved the course, ended up a with a B and took a degree in it and ended up with. 2:1. I would have gone further with it, if I’d had the money! I think I just matured at the right time - I was quite young for my age at GCSE and not quite sure what was needed.

If the teacher feels it’s appropriate and DS loves the subject, then I’d go with that.

He should definitely go for it.

I think you should study what you love. My son just got a 9 in his English lit and a 6 in history and nothing we say will make him switch from history to English for A level. I speak from no authority but that’s what my instinct tells me though!

Could he look at RS A level - it's very different from the GCSE - it's more Philosophy/Ethics - & opinion and debate heavy rather than the often dry parts of the GCSE.

I think if he looks at it and thinks it something he would enjoy then that could be a great option as ultimately it's results that get you into university and he clearly is good at RE and the teachers did a good job.

It depends what sort of A Level grades he's aiming for. With a 5 at GCSE, realistically, he's looking at a D or a C at A Level. If the 5 was an underperformance rather than the best he was capable of, then he could do better.

I've taken students through A Level with Cs at GCSE, and they've enjoyed the course and got a lot out of it. But they went in with a very realistic view of the possible outcome, and were happy to take the A Level given that.

Am presuming he reads loads and isn't afraid of an essay-based subject, and is also not put off by the pre-1900 texts - my students do Chaucer, Webster and Shakespeare as part of their course.

Thank you for all your comments.
No chance he'd do RS for A Level he just isn't interested.
He was put into top set boys for GCSE, who were quite rowdy and he was quite intimidated - never contributed in class - feels that he would have got more from being in a lower set he enjoys expressing his view but could do with being in a more supportive class.
He'll be going for A's and B's in his A levels, I don't think he'd be at all happy with C's and D's - I want him to enjoy his A Levels - he works hard and to do a subject that you really don't like sounds miserable but it's up to him.
He got a 7 in his mock and that was his expected grade, what he was working at all year, so a 5 was a bit of a shock to him (It was AQA and I've see loads of kids who were expected higher grades be very disappointed - so a remark might help as it seems there was a lot of controversy over the mark scheme). He has been give a couple of texts to read for summer homework and he'll crack on with those - I think he's decided he's going to attend English classes for the first week and see how he finds it - if it's not to his liking he'll change to psychology.

I would put AQA papers back for a remark with no hesitation following the comments by examiners earlier this year.

Sometimes working hard isn’t s substitute for talent or understanding what the examiners are looking for. I would be concerned about these aspects for A level where they are critical for an A grade. Or a B. I would be a bit more realistic personally because GCSE Lit is pretty much the same as A level. I don’t think boys improve markedly and few take it!

What does he want to do at university because he’s got a bit of a mix with no obvious subject, other than English or Spanish or both.