Meet the Other Phone. Only the apps you allow.

Meet the Other Phone.
Only the apps you allow.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Secondary education

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

Year 12 woes

30 replies

Bovrilly · 07/06/2021 18:15

My DS is about to get his AS level grades (we are in Wales). He has struggled all year with physics, partly due to lockdown but also it's just so difficult. He's sure that he has failed it.

Has anyone's DC been in this position? Did they cut their losses and give up one of their A levels after year 12? What did they do instead? Is it possible to do something else in a year alongside the Y13 syllabus for his other two subjects, maybe privately if not in school? Or maybe people start a new subject but do it over two years, so ending in Y14? I have no clue what the options might be, but it would be good to get some ideas ahead of the inevitable chat with his teachers if they feel that giving up physics is the best way to go.

The good news is that this year the AS level grade doesn't have to count towards the A level, so he could in theory continue with physics and start Y13 with a clean slate, but a) I'm not sure how successful that would be given that he found Y12 difficult and b) I don't think he will want to do that. He might be persuadable though, and we could find a tutor to support him.

Any advice / uplifting stories of success after having to drop an A level grateful received!

OP posts:
Bovrilly · 12/06/2021 21:28

Thank you Treacle, yes he is going to have to face whatever happens, whether he likes it or not. It's not going to be fun but hopefully one day he will be happily at the next stage, whatever that may be, and kinematics will be like a bad dream 🙏

OP posts:
Mearemart · 14/06/2021 17:54

We"re in England and my DS is doing his y12 mocks at the moment. He got a 9 in physics in the y11 CAG's but has found A level a step up. He's mentioned a couple of times that he doesn't rate his new physics teacher, and I know that schools generally struggle to find good physics teachers. Is there an element of that do you think?

The issue for my DS has been that teaching has been fairly cursory and then they've been bombarded with problems to solve for homework via an online app (home-made by the teacher) which doesn't help them to see where they're going wrong, and it has undermined his confidence. At some point I realised he didn't have a text book and was relying on (bad) lesson notes and googling. I pointed him to Isaac Physics, which for some reason he didn't take to. Much more recently I realised there's actually an official text book for the course, so I bought him that, which he seemed grateful for. Fingers crossed it will help!

I actually have a physics degree myself, and tried to mark one of his past paper practices the other day I struggled a bit with the marking scheme, so it was a bit approximate, but somewhere between a high C and low B I think. He was disappointed with that, but I was able to explain how he could have gained marks for exam technique - basics like writing out the equation before plugging the numbers in, and underlining the answer. It worries me that that hasn't been baked in by now - probably because of the online nature of the homeworks he's been doing. Hmm

VorpalSword · 14/06/2021 18:20

Do you have his actually grades yet rather than his feeling on how he got on? (Which can be widely off the mark at times.)

Bovrilly · 15/06/2021 20:57

@VorpalSword

Do you have his actually grades yet rather than his feeling on how he got on? (Which can be widely off the mark at times.)
Yes Vorpal he got Maths B Biology C Physics D

So physics better than feared but the other two not as good. He was expecting AAU. But at least is allowed to stay for Y13. I think he'll continue with all three and we will need to look at some help from a tutor, and see if with a lot of hard work, he can manage ABB or something. He is not very forthcoming at the moment...

OP posts:
Bovrilly · 15/06/2021 21:07

Could be, Mearemart. DD has the same teacher as DS and neither of them like him. DS has probably not helped the situation by being reluctant to admit that he's finding it hard, and he hasn't asked for help when he should have, but of course all that was much more difficult over lockdown. I talked to his year tutor earlier in the year when he got a disappointing mid year report. She said ordinarily they would be offering extra sessions and mentoring, but all impossible over lockdown. When he did knuckle down and catch up with work he hadn't done, they wouldn't even mark it Confused

He needs a big dose of confidence, a lot of love, a few home truths and a massive kick up the arse. Which he will receive! But ultimately it's up to him, I can't do it for him. (Literally, I can't do physics to save my life Grin)

OP posts:
New posts on this thread. Refresh page