Lower 6th A'level initial exam results terrible for DS, is this normal?

[shelbys]

Hey some advice from from those who have been through A'levels. My son did really well in his GCSEs 8,9 in his chosen A'levels (Maths, Physics, Geography). Its not going well esp in Maths and Physics and I am totally shocked at his current predictions (D's and E)... He says its much much harder, but his college will predict his grades in May for uni applications - and I am just floored - is it really that much harder? He's working well or so it would seem... Help?

Don’t worry about you not being a maths expert. The teacher will talk to DS while you are there.

And the teacher should clarify exactly what homework and independent study DS should be doing and where to find it and when to discuss it with the teacher if he doesn’t know how to do it

They haven't gone really fast, this is the pace at A level and your son got 8s and 9s for these subjects so is clearly capable. Is he revising effectively? Lots of them have end of topic tests and some students rely on memory as it is only the last 3-4 weeks of teaching and it lets them down. Maths is harder and needs daily practise to achieve a high grade. He has time. How much does he want to improve his grades?

Is he using his free periods to get his homework done? Is he doing the extra work set? Is he doing any work at home? At weekends? If you work out how much free time he has per day then work out how much he is spending doing school work. Ds2 finishes today at lunch, he comes home but uses those free periods this afternoon at home to do any work. That still leaves him with at least 5 hours this evening to piss around doing whatever else he wants which in his case includes learning stuff for his uni subject so he can write about it on his personal statement.

@JillenTavau no I guess it hasn't gone fast but it feels like that in terms of the amount of homework that comes home/ constant mini tests. I think he's working but maybe not as effectively as he should. Plus we have had some good conversations yesterday - he needs to go back over his tests and work out what went wrong. It's a new way to think for him I think - he is definitely one of those who liked the GCSE spoon-fed approach. Plus this is the first child going through A'levels for us - its a big learning curve.

My kids (both the Maths whizz and the other one) both said the Maths teaching went very quickly. There was little time to consolidate one topic before moving to the next. It’s a whole different pace. And thus requires extra hours put in at home.

It's a bit late to be finding this out but it's not unusual.
Yes A levels are a big step up/ A few years ago the A levels were modular and it was common for youngsters to do badly in the first exam and get a real shake up.
However I do thing you have been let down by the college if there has been no warning that his performance was falling short.
A good school will make it plain to all the Y12s right at the start of September that they need to up their game and work much harder. Any that are not getting the marks on each topic should be told what they need to do. Perhaps your DS has been told and hasn't mentioned it to you?

@Silversalt I think probably complacency by him and us - and yes I dont think messages from college were filtering through - they have warned them but I thought he would uplift from Nov assessments (giving him a chance to settle in etc). Anyway, all advice is appreciated and next steps meeting tutor next week and parents eve in a couple of weeks

@shelbys if he is bringing homework home, how many free periods does he have in school and is he actually using them? Both my sons did/are doing 4 A levels and still had 5 hours of free periods in the school timetable. Is he working in those?

The mini tests are to work out whether they have understood the content so I would be asking what he got on those tests. Has this come out of the blue for your Ds or not? I will be honest and say maths is harder but as noble has often said it requires work. Children can start to slip at the start of the year, shown by the mini tests, for some this is a wake up call and their teachers usually tell them they need to be doing more studying so they nip it in the bud. Some take this on board and some don't.

As I said they usually have plenty of free time both in sixth form and at home. He could now choose to spend it some of it going back over stuff he has done and practising maths. Looking at the papers he has done where could he have gained more marks? At Ds's sixth form they get the student to look at the mark scheme and then correctly work out the answer and that work is on the exam paper in a different colour so they can see where they need to focus their revision in future. Good luck, no one ever said A levels were easy but he has time to turn this around and pull up his grades which it sounds like he wants to do, which let's face it, is half the battle.

imo with the maths there is less spoon feeding at a level. Ds’s maths teacher used to say to him: think about what you have in your maths toolkit and how you can apply it to the question. My dd is taking maths and further maths and including home study does about 20 hours if maths per week, practice is vital.

great ideas @JillenTavau thank you :)