What grades would you expect at a-level if you achieved these GCSE's grades?

[judy121]

If you achieved mainly 4's and a couple of 5's and failed 2 GCSE's, what grades would you expect at a-levels?

I would question whether A levels were the best option and look into alternatives

Most schools wouldn’t allow you to take A-Levels, the chances of dropping out would be very high and you’d be looking at Es or Us.

Same as pp...for mainly level 4's, I'd not think A Levels would be the right path. Certainly many A Level courses wouldn't accept those levels anyway.

I would probably think D for any that were done though, and a lot of work needed to get there.

Cs and Ds I suppose. Where my older dd went you had to have a 6 in the subjects she wanted to do and 5s in maths and English language.

My youngest is in year 11 now and we are looking at alternatives to A levels as she doesn't enjoy school particularly and isn't as academic as her sister. A levels are hard.

Look at BTECS. As long as can be relied on to do coursework.

Wouldn’t be doing A levels. I am not aware of any school which allows a levels without at least 5x5’s and many asking for much higher. I think anything below a 6 or a 7 for maths and science is too low to get decent A levels and would be better off looking at alternative

Fwiw, Dd3 got 7s and 8s and a 6 and a 4 in French which we don't talk about and she's finding A levels really difficult.

Btecs are great and you can get to uni with them if that helps.

I wouldn't expect this candidate to be accepted onto A levels, unless there was extenuating circumstances

Unless there are extenuating circumstances A levels would not be a suitable next step.

One of my DDs got 2,3,6 and the rest were 4/5s. For A levels she got C,B and a distinction in btec.

DD didn’t sit her GCSEs (covid) so it’s hard to know if she would have done better given the chance.

DD got mostly 6s and is really struggling with A'levels. We really debated whether it was the right thing but school said that as she was 6+ she'd be ok. She isn't.

Might slightly depend on what GCSEs and what A-levels.

For example if they were doing something like A-level Photography and hadn't done GCSE then they might still do okay. They're likely to struggle still on the writing parts but they might find they were good on the analysing photographs and practical side.

If they'd coasted at GCSE and put their head down and worked at a number of subjects they might find that they could do much better.
I knew someone who got a set of Cs at GCSE, and pulled himself together at A-levels, got As (no A*) and went off to university to do medicine. That would be the exception rather than the rule, and he really did work incredibly hard-having done as little as possible for the past 12 years of school!

I would think that if they had worked for the level 4s and were doing the same subject at A-levels, then they'd be doing well to get an E.

I would expect them to be accepted to do A levels.

For the child's sake, I'd be looking at another route to where they want to be.

UNLESS there's some majorly extenuating circumstances you haven't mentioned.
and even then I'd be looking at alternative to catch them up.

Wouldn't be allowed to at out school. Minimum points required is 44 plus grade 6 as a minimum in A level subjects

Our school would recommend BTECs unless the A-levels were in a subject never studied or there was reason for the grades eg hospital stay.

Your child can still go to uni with BTECs btw.

My son got similar grades to what you describe and ended up with 2x distinction star and 1x merit (BTECs) BTECs were great for him as he was forced to continually study rather than wing the exam.

Really depends on the child, I got similar, 4b & 3c in old money, I have adhd (although I didn’t know it then) found school really dull but loved college and got ACC in my Alevel and went on to get a good degree.

most schools wouldn't let you take an A level in a subject where you got any less than a 5 at gcse. a lot will have 6 as the minimum if they are keen to not sully their results tables with lower grades. There might be an exception if any of the 4s could be explained by something easily rectified e.g. having misunderstood a major question in the exam, if the teacher feels they were consistently working at a level that would have got at least grade 5 if it weren't for such a circumstance.

As an 18 year old child maybe E’s? As an adult with a bit of life experience maybe higher?

there are so many interesting apprenticeships and btecs out there I wouldn’t bother with a levels if grades predicted low

My DS school (selective private) you need an 8 to be able to do subject at A level and minimum 6x grade 7 to be able to stay on for sixth form.

Assuming the GCSEs represented their true ability and the A levels were in middle of the road subjects then I'd guess 2 Es and a U.

Depends on the child. My boy got 4's in his GCSE's. We went into school and debated with head of year about his suitability to do A levels and they said yes he could but only 2. My DS was adamant he wanted to do 3 A levels which we all agreed to. Head of year basically put his name down and said they expect him to drop one quickly.

My DS got home that day, unplugged his X Box and started taking school seriously. He's not academic but began to show some structure in taking notes and revision cards etc.

He came out with 2 x B's and a C at A level and had 4 university acceptances which he turned down eventually.

He still has the xbox in his bedroom on a shelf unplugged. Ive told him to get rid but i think he likes to remind himself.

Aw. That's a really nice story.

A Levels are souch harder than GCSE and even kids with an 8 find Maths hard. Look at doing BTEC's providing they work hard and don't let themselves fall behind on coursework. Some are 100 practical and continuous coursework. My Forster son is doing BTec in Sport and he gets about 2 weeks to complete each piece of coursework then hands it in and next assignment given. It has certainly made my child more organized. I have half an hour rule. When he gets in from college he must do half an hour or n coursework before he does his evening activities. Plus 1 hour each day over weekend. This is enough to keep him on track with handing in work to meet deadlines set. Foster son says many people on his course have fallen behind and now find it almost impossible to catch up as 2 assignments behind. To be successful at BTEC you don't have to be particularly smart but you do have to look carefully at assignment and work consistently every day to keep up. Plus Foster son is very good at Sport and all practical work they do.

I'd expect Es or Us too. Of course some pupils may beat that, especially if they underperformed at GCSE due to laziness and had a mindset turnaround. But most would be getting Es/Us.

I think a BTEC would be a better route. An Extended BTEC Diploma is the 'equivalent' of 3 A levels. Not the same, but can open up the same UCAS points meaning a route to university is still possible, though generally for a course related to the BTEC.

My DD1 did a L3 BTEC Diploma. In my limited view, it is easier to pass a BTEC than to pass an A level, but getting the top grades of Distinction or Distinction* requires a lot of hard work and good analytical skills.

BTECs probably cover a wider range of areas than you realise. (See also T levels which are taking over BTECs in some disciplines).