year 11 daughter struggling so much

[sorrelli]

To cut a long story short, there have been extenuating circumstances which have meant that my daughter hasn't received much learning support until now, I have been unable to give it and have trusted that she would make good progress. She is well behaved, on time and the teachers say a lovely girl.

Her mock results were absolutely shocking, they were never amazing but they have plummeted, we have both suffered from depression and are getting our lives in order but she is not academic.

I have taken time off work to get better and help her focus. With mostly 1's 2's and 3's over 9 subjects I am now very worried she will not get in to sixth form.

The time we have left will basically be me teaching her all the content from scratch and revising. I am afraid her teachers are not interested in helping, they seem focused entirely on the higher sets getting them the results they want.

So the dilemma lies as follows: do we concentrate on the subjects she enjoys and likely to get highest results: History, Geography, French and English or mainly Maths, Science and English.

Her sixth form subjects rely mainly on Science, English and Maths.

However she is weaker on Maths and Science currently scoring a 1, yes a 1 but requiring a 4/5 to get into sixth form.

Please help me, what do I focus on with her?

The a levels she wants are english, psychology and sociology all requiring 4’s.

A few people do better at sixth form because they take it seriously and apply themselves much more than they did at GCSE but I see what you mean definitely.

Just because they only need a 4 for entry does not mean that it is recommended to do so to achieve A level grades for uni. That is very much a minimum requirement and most students will exceed this. Psychology and sociology probably need that or above in Maths.

Ok.
So.
She needs English and maths to get into any 6th form course. So that's the priority.
A 4/5 usually.
Then I'd be looking at concentrating on the subjects she wants to take at a level and the subjects that interest her.
My ds1 got a 3 in maths in January mocks and a 6 in the actual exams so its definately possible to jump grades, but probably not so much if there is an undiagnosed additional need?
Don't worry about "officially" dropping subjects...just don't revise for them!
I realise this ^ could be seen as terrible advise but ds1 pretty much ignored PE and physics and still got 5s.
It's all about prioritising now.
Bit I echo other pp - it seems a big ask to get into 6th form to do a levels at where she is now.
The jump from gcse to a level is huge.
Maybe a btec would facilitate her path better?

Could vocational qualifications be a better fit for her?

If she can't - or won't - do the work/tolerate exam conditions for a maximum of just over an hour at a time, then she isn't going to like A level study, if they even take the risk of her doing the same again.

Agreed. However it is the entry requirement so I am not sure why a pass is allowed but people at this particular sixth form college do very well and have outstanding results 🤷🏻‍♀️

That’s really good to hear.

I’ve signed up for a sixth form college which are outstanding at finding good study courses for all abilities. They might combine one or two btecs and one a level or two a levels and one btec so we are hopeful to get the 5 passes. Thank you

She’s had a massive change in the recent weeks as the October pre mocks shook her up. Today so far she’s done 3 hours of maths on Seneca using the pomodoro technique and seems determined.

If this motivation is short lived, we will definitely look into vocational qualifications. Thank you

If the college has good results, that's great. You may want to check their drop out rate though (as in how many don't continue to the second year).

there's a youtube study / gcse revision channel that your daughter might like by a girl who didn't do very well in her mocks but did really well in her actual gcse's -

@mummyoftwo thank you that's really helpful, I'll show her that tonight.

My dd is also year 11 and currently planning to do a Psychology degree. Have a look at entry requirements - I just had a quick search and lots of unis accept Btec. The health and social care one would be a good one.

My DD used the freescience , Mr Bruff ( for English) On YouTube and the Seneca website for revision. She also made short revision cards using postcards and keywords. She also struggled with the exams but passed them all in the end, with average grades.

However, she is now at an FE college studying a btec and each assignment or presentation contributes to her overall final result. The course is 3 days a week and she also has a part time job now. This way of learning seems to suit her better and she is glad she didn’t try to do A levels. I don’t think A levels are the best for all pupils.

Good luck to your DD in her exams and whatever path she chooses in future.

I am a tutor op. Pm me and I can send you some resources if you want.

I agree with stinkyeddie about "unofficially" dropping subjects - turn up for the lessons and exams, but concentrate the out of school time on the other subjects. I feel a bit sorry for the teachers of those subjects in suggesting this, as they will be judged on her failure to achieve as well in those subjects, but she'll be better off with five grade 4/5s and the odd 1/2 than eight 3s.

I agree with those saying that it doesn't sound as if she's cut out for A-levels - there's a good reason why some colleges ask for rather higher grades.

www.3minutemaths.co.uk/
This was also a useful site as they work through GCSE questions from past papers and explain their workings.

Just wanted to wish your daughter the best of luck, I hope she can achieve the grades she needs. I wanted to study psychology and sociology at 6 form but didn’t get high enough passes on my GCSE’s so ended up going to college and training to be a chef. I now work in mental health with people with severe mental health issues and plan on gaining more qualifications through work. There are other ways to pursue a career without going to university, there are many options.

My dd is in year 11 too and I’m totally jealous that she will get into her 6 form courses without putting much effort in.

Get her doing as many practice papers as you can now, under strict test conditions so she gets used to it. It sounds like she knows her stuff to be getting 4/5 but might struggle in a test situation?

sorrelli

I'd start with the GCSE papers but not with actually doing them and use the textbooks.

So say you start with maths, have a look at a paper and have DD say / note down how she would answer each question - it's good to do this with post it notes. If dd has no idea then look it up in the text book and ask the tutor.

As she gets more confident start doing the questions, but don't do the full paper, do the first 3- 4 questions on several papers, write the answers out as 'model answers'.

Then as her confidence and skills build she can start with whole papers, first with open books and then on to closed book.

Don't spend long on it, 20 mins a day so it is not a huge task.

sorrelli

I think you have to be realistic. You say your dd isn’t academic and yes she is concentrating now but can she concentrate for the next 5 years.

Will it in the end make her miserable and even if she gets through the GCSEs she then has to tackle A levels and a BTECH, then university

I would be asking her why Psychology.

Is psychology a career that is easy to find a job in. (I think psychology degrees rarely translate into jobs in the industry)

What part of psychology is she going to concentrate on.

What happens if she struggles at university, comes out with a large debt then can’t find a job.

I would be looking at what she can excel in rather than do something that will take huge effort for most likely little reward.

Yes @crazycrofter we have that down as an option! Thank you

@clopper that sounds like a great balance and one that would suit my dd, thank you will definitely look into this.

@mrskeats that is so kind of you thank you

@lanthanum Yes agreed, at the moment I'm unsure whether to focus on science or history after the two english subjects and maths or whether to focus on both. I've looked through spec and Science definitely harder.

Yes, I think I might need to be realistic with dd about doing psychology a level.

Thanks will do and yes she gets very anxious!

@clopper thank you so much for this resource!