What’s going to happen with A’levels? Unfinished GCSEs syllabus

[Billythegreat]

DS did brilliantly in the subjects he’s talking for A’levels - 8s and 9. He hasn’t finished the syllabus for any of the subjects though especially the sciences and I believe they’re quite difficult subjects, Chemistry, Biology and geography. He’s going to a college for A’levels as his school doesn’t go beyond GCSEs so I’m worried they won’t know where his gaps are. Will this be a problem?

For Biology and Chemistry A level students often have different starting points because some of them will have done Combined Science GCSE and others will have done separate Biology, Chemistry and Physics.
So A level teachers will be used to some students having "gaps".

This might be a bit unfair, but I would hope that someone capable of 8/9s in the sciences, progressing to A level, would have spent some time June-August filling in the gaps themselves using the revision guide / seneca / youtube.

It never really occurred to us until I spoke to a friend yesterday who said her dc had finished the syllabuses at her school. She also sat formal exams with full papers whereas my ds did short tests on one or two topics only and they were told what was going to be included. I thought all schools had done this so now I’m a bit concerned even though her dc got lower grades than mine.

Your DS has a couple of weeks before school starts up again I guess. Even 2 hours a day can make an inroad. He will at least know what he doesn't know.

I wish he’d been able to stop on at the school where he did GCSEs but they don’t do post 16.

None of the schools round us have 6th forms. But I am aware that this year the 6th form colleges have sent out 'prep work' to the y11s joining them, (at least for some subjects).
Has the new college not sent anything? (Or is DS studiously ignoring it?)

Hi, I’m a physics teacher doth GCSEs and Alevel so I hope I can help a bit even though it is a different subject.

The Alevel moves quickly and there is a lot to cover and while the college will be aware there are gaps there isn’t that much space to spend covering it. She will also be expected to be proactive, if there is a topic she is struggling with then encourage her to speak to the teacher.

I would send a bit of time over the next couple of weeks going over some of the basics, so for chemistry look at bonding, moles (especially the calculations) and maybe have a look at some topics that have been missed.

She could use something like Seneca learning, they have Alevel transition topics that would be a quick way to get up to speed.

app.senecalearning.com/classroom/course/9127b1a4-7e1e-4394-a184-ef26ed6d64c3/section/c6d14211-4b1b-4d30-836b-c8930f4d9803/session

You could also pick up some Alevel transition books for her to work through. www.amazon.co.uk/Head-Start-level-Biology-Level/dp/1782942793/ref=sr_1_3?dchild=1&crid=361YJEJ0OR48N&keywords=a+level+transition&sprefix=A+level+tr%2Caps%2C149&tag=mumsnetforu03-21&qid=1629555658&sr=8-3

Hopefully this will set her off to a good start.

I agree with Teen, DS should be filling gaps himself over the summer. Many sixth forms set bridging work, too.

Even if DS could stay at his sixth form it wouldn't solve the problem of not finishing the syllabi. While it would mean teachers potentially have more knowledge of what was missed, A levels have enough content of their own, there will be limited time available to teach GCSE content.

We’d not thought about it at all, in fact I forgot they’d cut loads out the syllabuses. DS changed what he was originally going to do at college as he got such high grades we thought it would be a shame not to go for it at A’level so haven’t received any bridging work from them yet.

At dds sixth form bridging work could be downloaded from the website.
Assuming he was taking Triple Science and the school have completed at least all the Higher level Combined Science topics then there shouldn't be an issue.
However it is up to him to identify where the gaps are and ask for help/do extra work as needed.

DD's biology tutor said it usually goes quiet in the summer, but this time he has got a lot or sessions with ex y12, & y11 students.

We were thinking because he got 8s and a 9 he’d be at a big advantage but I will get him to check the college website.

Biology and chemistry - YouTube cognito covers every topic.

Geog - less important as different schools take different topics

He will be at an advantage for the topics he studied, but not for the ones he didn't. Also he should remember that everyone there will have probably a 6+ (or even 7+ depending on requirements), and that results this year aren't necessarily consistent across the board anyway.

Many students will have an 8 or 9, and having an 8 or 9 doesn't mean he won't have to work, including independent study, at A level.

Op while it is great that he got 8s and 9s in his chosen A level subjects, and he may well have gained similar grades in actual exams, I mean it kindly when I say this won't put him at any great advantage.

ds2 got 889 in his a level subjects in the 2019 exams; he still found A levels a lot of work and certainly wasn't streets ahead of the rest of the class. And of course this year more students will have these grades. All will likely have 6 and many 7. Some will have 8 or 9.

It does sound slightly as tho your ds has switched to these subjects because of his grades; that's one good reason but I hope he also likes these subjects and if uni is an option, has some thought about where they might take him.

I would contact college on Monday and ask for ideas of how he can catch up. Maybe take a look at some of the GCSE support online to fill in on the missing topics.

I think he will be at a disadvantage. His grades were based on only a few topics and they were told in advance what they would be, so he seems to have missed much of the syllabus. He needs to catch up as much as he can or he will be behind from the start.

You could find the gcse syllabus online and he could go through the statements and find out what he has missed and needs to catch up.

If he achieved 8's and 9's there should be no problems going forward.

However, If he was the best of a bad year/school and achieved those grades by default then there will be issues when it comes to the next stage.

Either way, he certainly won't be alone.

It’s good that you’ve identified this issue while there’s still time to do something about it, and I feel that you’ve been let down by the school and college for not communicating with each other (assuming lots of pupils go on from the school to the college and that this isn’t a one off) so that catch-up work could have been put in place over the summer.

I also feel that this illustrates the whole farce around the way that GCSEs were handled this year. There is just no way that grades can be compared between schools this year with such different methods of assessment and from this year and previous ones. My son had countless assessments as well as end of year exams on the whole syllabus. He got a 7 which I think was probably quite fair and also probably fairly in line with previous years, and although lower than your DS’ grade it sounds as if he would be in a far stronger position to start the A level course (although he’s chosen humanities so it’s not an issue). Almost all the students from his school continue to sixth form so I do wonder if this makes a difference, as they would have to handle the consequences of pupils being underprepared to start the A level course if they hadn’t covered all of the GCSE content.

Your DS clearly has aptitude for the subject and I’m sure has worked hard but it just seems farcical that such a high grade could be achieved on the basis of short tests on one or two topics only, after being told what was going to be included, and after missing out chunks of the curriculum. I don’t mean this unkindly, but it doesn’t really seem fair on the students to award them GCSEs on this basis as there’s just no comparison with previous years, and they just won’t be equipped to start on the A level syllabus, particularly in the sciences which builds on previous knowledge.

As others have said I would get in touch with college urgently and put a plan together to catch up on the work missed. Good luck to your DS. He’s obviously bright so I’m sure will be fine if he can take the time now to cover the missing material. Free science lessons.com on YouTube would be a really good starting point.

Ds is the year above so finished school in March 2020 with the syllabus complete. His college had 2 sets of bridging work on its website, the normal one they do every year and some additional based on these kids being out of school for 6 months before starting A-levels. Ds’s college is absolutely shite and they did this so I’d be surprised if others didn’t have this too. It’s different for your ds as he hasn’t covered specific things that other students will have been assessed on. He should look is the syllabi and identify gaps and familiarise himself with these topics. As others have said, YouTube and Seneca are both excellent resources. A-levels are a big step up so he needs to do this now rather than when he realises he’s neck deep in a topic he doesn’t have a basic knowledge of. Remember almost everyone in his new classes has picked sciences because they are their best subjects and they have good grades so while his 8/9 grades are excellent and he should be very pleased they aren’t going to put him head and shoulders over others the way they may have done in gcse.

I don’t know how the gcse could have been handled better but like Sparklefish I think that the new y12s are in for a rough ride. Y11 hasn’t done it’s job of preparing this cohort for A-levels. It’s not the kids fault but it is the kids who have to rise to the challenge. If they get to the end of y13 without any more lockdowns then nobody is going to suggest they get an easier time in their A-levels because such a balls was made of their GCSEs.

Were all his GCSE grades awarded in the same way, not just those subjects? It might be better if he takes the subjects he’d originally chosen at A level if he had done the whole syllabus in them, and they were examined more traditionally - even if he got a lower grade. It sounds like he’d done a last- minute change of mind after getting his results.

My year 11 has had loads of work set by the college too for A level prep. I think they finished the syllabus for those subjects, but it was literally last minute.
Maths and science a levels are hard. Missing topics will be difficult.
I think a lot of year 12s will struggle this year unfortunately, even those with fabulous grades. It's so unfair for them.

@Cathpot

You could find the gcse syllabus online and he could go through the statements and find out what he has missed and needs to catch up.

The 2019 papers are available on the various boards’ websites. He could try the papers, self mark and work his weaknesses using YouTube videos and topical qns on various websites.