A level choices for yr 11’s who’ve missed big chunks of curriculum

[ContessaVerde]

Hi, I’m not sure if there is a thread already about A level choices.
I just think it’s particularly tricky for young people to decide; my dd did a maths taster where she was told that the basis for A level was the higher level maths gcse content.
She was in set 2, doing higher level, got a 7 in her December mocks, bit feels she’s missed so much content she’ll never be able to keep up.
I’ve heard in the past that even getting a A isn’t good enough to do A level maths, you really have to have nailed all the content with an A * just to consider it.
So surely Maths A level is now only advisable in a very few cases where schools did carry on delivering the curriculum through the lockdowns?

I’m wondering if maths is the only subject that massive gaps in teaching is going to affect?

It’s shoddy that there aren’t going to be any catch up progammes to try and make up for thhe gaps and it will just be on individual schools to muddle through.

Anyone else feeling like this year group is going to be badly affected ongoing?
Anybody got any good ideas about how to overcome the challenges?

Thanks

very few cases where schools did carry on delivering the curriculum through the lockdowns?
Surely most schools did?

Sciences will have the same problem.

My dd did A-level maths this year. Some GCSE topics aren't studied in further depth for A-level so not knowing some stuff won't be the end of the world. What kind of topics is your dd strong in?

Some subjects at A-level require no specific GCSE knowledge so she can start sixth form like a "normal" year.

I don’t think so, certainly not the first lockdown. The d of e suspended the curriculum, many schools weren’t able to provide online learning, and the exams were eventually cancelled due to the fact that so many pupils had missed so much curriculum.

@TotorosCatBus
She is strong in science, especially physics, not that thrilled about maths anyhow and is now feeling like it will be too much.
But everyone is telling her that if she wants to take physics she must do maths.

My ds is doing a level maths this year, after getting a 7 in gcses last year, and is doing just fine. I think it would depend on how well the teachers are doing at filling any gaps they come across.

[quote ContessaVerde]@TotorosCatBus
She is strong in science, especially physics, not that thrilled about maths anyhow and is now feeling like it will be too much.
But everyone is telling her that if she wants to take physics she must do maths.[/quote]
It’s really hard to do physics without maths. Lots of places near us make them do ‘maths for physicists’ extra courses if they don’t do a level.

I have a year 11.

If I had a year 11 who was going on to A levels I would be encouraging them to 'finish' the GCSE syllabus in any subject they were continuing on with to A level.

If she is staying on at her current school they will expect gaps and presumably account for them. If she is moving to a different school which taught better over lockdown, or moving to a large 6th form college, then filling gaps in advance may be more important.

But everyone is telling her that if she wants to take physics she must do maths.

Who is "everyone"? If it is her school I'd be concerned that the physics teachers aren't used to having non-mathematicians in the class and so won't have recent experience of teaching the maths skills required. However, both my current and previous schools are happy to take physics students without maths and have dedicated "maths for a level physics" work at the beginning of year 12 and again in year 13.

Missing GCSE content has been a bit of a problem this year (I teach physics) as many year 12 students stopped work in March last year and didn't ever do the independent study during study leave which really helps them embed the knowledge. I expect the same will be true next year, though in our case the students did have to sit pretty rigorous assessments in June so I hope that helped!

My youngest is in year 11 and will be studying science A levels. They have been told to ensure they have no gaps in curriculum and will have baseline tests in September to ensure those coming from other schools have covered everything. There have also had some extra lessons for physics to cover the small part of the spec which wasn’t taught before they left.

The summer work is quite heavy but tbh is good practice for A level.

Who is "everyone"? If it is her school I'd be concerned

She’s hoping to move as her school has been poor for SEN support.

The place she has been for a taster is telling her that she should be doing maths.

Really useful ideas here re: needing to complete the curriculum independently.
She’s found the disruption to school really stressful, and has benefitted for having a bit of time off to recuperate a bit. The assessment period was gruelling.

I’ll discuss with her about doing some independent study to make up lost ground.

Do we think that maths and science are more affected by this than other subjects?

In which case the d of e needs to think about it because they were already struggling to get students to do stem.

Neither DD1 school or her new college have said anything or given any advice about filling in any gaps.

We've asked for advice on here with maths and got some good sugestions - and also found some Bridging the Gap books in a few of her next years subjects and got some AS-level study guides so she can look at next years syllabus.

I'm a little worried about one AS-level sceince she wants to do that came out as B - least that's the preliminary grade - enough to proceed to AS level but they'd predicted A* for most of the course (Wales kept A_G grades) so we'll have to see how she gets on with AS level and try and fill any gaps in ourselves.

DS's school made them work through these books as prep for A level.
www.cgpbooks.co.uk/secondary-books/as-and-a-level/maths/mbr72-head-start-to-a-level-maths-(with-online-edi

Do we think that maths and science are more affected by this than other subjects?

I think maths and some sciences are going to be expecting to build on knowlege the students should have learnt to some extent - that's not going to be true for the new subject DD12 is taking and I'm not sure about Geogrpahy or other humanties subjects.

I suspect that maths, science and MFL will be more impacted as those subjects build more on knowledge whereas humanities build on skills. Though going into A level on a lower skill base will have its own issues I guess.

A motivated student studying for an hour a day could get quite a lot covered in July and August I would have thought.

Do we think that maths and science are more affected by this than other subjects?

For A level Sciences pupils often start Y12 with different prior knowledge because some pupils will have taken 3 separate Sciences and others will have taken the Combined Science 2 GCSE route.

My dd is staying at the same school (a grammar school - they have all done triple science)

They have been told they have to consolidate the entire spec before September- students coming from a different school will need to be familiar with their syllabus and if not done triple fill in the gaps.

They have various other activities to do and need to read / make Cornell notes for the first modules they are studying in September.

They have various maths for chemistry/ biology etc things to do over holidays. They will be tested on these in September and if don’t achieve min mark will have to retest (this is the norm).

They’re in a strong position as school switched to live online lessons from day 1 back in Mar 2020 and have run normal timetable the whole way through. Those coming from outside have to ensure their knowledge is at same level.

They’re in a strong position as school switched to live online lessons from day 1 back in Mar 2020 and have run normal timetable the whole way through.

Yeah, this is not the case for my dd at all.
It feels like the gaps between selectives/private and comps etc is just getting wider.

Thanks for the suggestions about bridging materials, I’ll have a look at these with my dd.

@ContessaVerde I don’t think it’s necessarily that private / selective = good company = bad - I know some non selective schools who were excellent and some grammars which were beyond awful. My children were fortunate to be at a school whose provision was great.

I would recommend your dc prints off the full gcse spec for all the subjects they’re taking at A level and consolidates them thoroughly. If they haven’t already been told it would also be useful to ask which are the first topics they will be studying in Sept and make notes on them.

There are cgp maths to biology etc books which would also be good to go through.

I would work on the assumption that the school is expecting them to know thoroughly the entire (higher single science) spec for everything they are studying using notes, text books, physics & maths tutor etc etc.

CGP has tons of stuff plus we are required to get the relevant exam board textbooks for A level.

My ds’s school is very much not back teaching to fill in the gaps - a large part of A level is independent study so this is a great time to hone those skills.

Comprehensive not company!!

Thanks Kitty!
Yes you are right, the academic route will require independent study skills which my dd does need to work on.

She is also considering other routes as well; she’s a bright girl who has been targeted high grades, but aware that doesn’t always mean A level is the best route. Especially with dyslexia.

Will definitely be looking for maths for physics materials, even looking at that kind of stuff will help her see what she’ll need to do so wether she’s got it in her.

It's two months until A-level courses start, so there's time to fill in gaps in GCSE knowledge and do some practice. There are loads of resources online.

This would also be good preparation for the independent learning required for A-level studies.

DS was in Y11 last year, and didn't have any teaching after March. He was worried about the six month gap and then the jump to Maths A-level so he worked through the AQA Level 2 Further Maths course by himself over the lockdown and summer holidays (we ordered the textbook online).

Tumbleton, sounds like your son did really well with the independent study side of things, well done him.

@TeenMinusTests

I suspect that maths, science and MFL will be more impacted as those subjects build more on knowledge whereas humanities build on skills. Though going into A level on a lower skill base will have its own issues I guess.

A motivated student studying for an hour a day could get quite a lot covered in July and August I would have thought.

Certainly I would recommend anyone going forward with MFL this year to spend time over the summer revising vocab and making sure verbs are secure; maybe watch a couple of TL films for fun. That's true every year tho really, but more so in 2021.

At Ds's sixth form if you are doing physics but not maths A level then you also have to do core maths to help with the maths side of physics. I believe it is the same if you are taking computer science too.

And yes, a 7 at GCSE in maths isn't automatically going to get you an A* or an A at A level unless she really works for it. But she does have the whole summer to do any bridging work. I know everyone needs a break but considering the average teen must be awake for 14 hours then that is a lot of time that they have every day. It would be very easy to block out time to work on the 3 subjects your DD will be taking at sixth form. Like a mini school day.

DD took higher maths early and got an A* and was intending taking A level. She was then entered for an additional level 2 maths qualification (not a GCSE). The teaching (and teacher) was appalling over lockdown, they pretty much didn't have any. She struggled with the assessments, thinks she has barely scraped a pass and is in no way considering A level now. Lots of yr11 here have been influenced by how much or how little support they have over the last year and have changed their options accordingly.