A level choices - 2023

[Blubell46]

Morning,

Dd has finally completed her GCSEs and she has just chosen her A levels. She is doing Maths, Economics and Spanish!

My ds has just completed his A levels which were Maths, Biology and Chemistry.

Our family background is sciences so I have no clue about Spanish and Economics.

Please can you advise on any tips for when she starts?

She is a child who does well in studying last minute and I have told her this can not happen at A levels, so trying to give her a few ideas to ponder over...

Thank you

Hi op I’m an MFL specialist so it’s great that she has chosen MFL.

What was her GCSE grade? If she got 7+ then she should be off to a good start in terms of grammar and vocab.

She’ll study a film and a book, so one thing to do might be to look at the spec and watch some of the films on there.

She could also usefully go over some grammar and vocab such as verbs.

She’ll need to do a research project on a topic related to Spain or Spanish (my dd did Les Mis for French, a student once did a German football team, so it can be quite wide ranging) - this won’t be for a while but it’s also worth having a think about. Hth

Thank you..she got an 8...which was a surprise to us all! We are pleased for her.

I have just looked it up and she is with the AQA board.

Her listening isn't strong and got an average score so o think she will need to improve on that.

She is a typical teenagers- are there any series or movies she can watch so she can improve?

Thank you

An 8 is great, well done her.

As far as movies go, as I say, watching the ones from the spec cannot do any harm. Was she not given a summer revision pack by school?

The A level topics are very different from GCSE - quite political and to do with current issues. Spanish is not a spec I know well but for example, in French you need to know about strikes and industrial unrest; in German you cover the fall of the Berlin Wall. So Spanish news websites might be helpful.

But that will all covered in class- at the moment doing some Spanish on a daily basis will help, as I say, revision of verbs and vocab. Quizlet might be helpful here.

For listening, there will be lots of exercises in the book when she gets to that stage. School should have a link to the audio. For the A level listening exam you can pause and replay the audio- but need to be aware of the time! But that gets rid of the panic for some, if that was the issue.

Ds is doing economics and loves it. For his exam board there is a combination of multiple choice questions and 25 mark essays. For A levels and GCSEs for that matter there are lots of resources online, youtube being an incredible one. My advice would be she needs to keep on top of the workload and if she feels like she didn't understand something then to talk to her teachers.

Re maths if she is coming in on a 7 then her A level grade is likely to be much lower than she thinks, more like a C or a D. If she is coming in on a 9 then she will have a better foundation of knowledge to build on. Again, keep up with the workload. And yes, lots of children who sail through GCSEs come unstuck for A levels.

Yes, what grade did she get in maths?

Name changed for this.
DC has just done economics, a language (not Spanish) and another subject at A level.
Got A*s .
Like you we are more science-y and don't speak the language.
I would say that the things that helped dc were:

1. working right from the start
2. spending a long time each week preparing for the session with the language assistant (school gave them 30 minutes a week with a native speaker) who did "cards" with them which was how they did their oral exam - DC probably spent 2-3 hours a week preparing for that
3. learning the "speech" bit of the oral exam to perfection
4. I don't know how to explain it but the speech bit had to be something they were interested in. DC managed to overlap that significantly with one of the cultural aspects they learned a lot about in lessons. So then it was easier to answer the questions about the speech because the vocabulary was already known.
5. Reading the (long) set book and watching the set film several times.
6. Reading other "simple" books in that language eg Agatha Christie.
7. Duolingo every single day.
8. listening to podcasts in the language.
9. Watching TV series on Netflix etc with subtitles. Comedies were the easiest.

I know that sounds a lot but DC put most work into the language as they needed As and were really worried about it, based on statistics of A level results and native speakers etc.

For economics we got a subscription to the Economist (this also helped with their other subject) but they found economics really easy so I don't have any other "advice" on that.

My DS did Spanish and economics. ( dropped Spanish but for staffing reasons) . He watched Pan's Labyrinth and The Motorcycle Diaries over his summer and loved them. He also read Carlos Ruiz Zafon ( in English!).

He loved economics. Didn't do maths and got an A star.

@Howhaveihadalinguistchild well done to your dc gaining A star in MFL! Yes I agree (as does dd who took French) that a lot of work is needed. Time with the assistant sounds great!

Yes the speech in the speaking exam you mention is the research project. I agree that if this is something from a topic on the spec that makes it a bit easier. You have to do a 2 minute speech abd then discuss for 9-10 minutes so it needs to be something where there is an argument - eg I worked with a student who spoke about a french argot used by young black French people and why it was important to them which was fascinating.

@Piggywaspushed
Your DS did economics at A level without Maths?

Yes, loads of people do!

The colleges and school sixth forms DS1 has applied to have some suggested "bridging" work for each subject, including a workbook for Maths. I can see the argument for this but I also think it's quite difficult for students who know they need quite high grades and are still deciding between options (his school is 11-16 so he always had to move regardless of grades) to focus on this from the start. I'm just hoping everyone else won't have completed the bridging.

In my dept (maths) we check they’ve done it and they have to complete it within a week if they haven’t.

@noblegiraffe

Hi my dd got an 8 in maths and is taking it for A level.

Dear all,

Thank you for all your suggestions...will have a chat to her.

@noblegiraffe Yes, thanks for that info on the bridging work. I think his new school probably does something similar, looking at the booklet, and that he does need to get cracking.

Mine too.
I don't think there's much proper maths in economics A level really.

@Piggywaspushed @Howhaveihadalinguistchild
Thank you for this information.
Schools around us all ask for 7 in Maths to be able to do economics.
DD was set on doing economics and missed 7 by 6 marks.
School have therefore not allowed her the option and she is gutted.
She will still have to do Maths (not at higher level) as it is an IB school. I am wondering if there is any option to negotiate at all.

There is a lot of maths in IB economics compared to the A level if that helps.

@P0llyP0cket
Thank you!
Would you by any chance know if the Maths at standard level would be enough to do the economics?

The school I teach in just asks for the entry standard to other humanities subjects for A level (which, belive it or not is 4+ for English and for economics a 4+ for maths). Nothing seen as 'special'.

I revised with DS and , whilst there were lots of graphs, he really didn't have to actually 'do' maths. He did get a 7 at GCSE.

His school had so many people want to do economics that the teacher was allowed to set some kind of 'special' entry requirement so his class was fairly able.

Interesting... my DS wants to take English Lit, French and Economics for A-level; he got 6 in French and 5 in Maths (GCSE) so they're allowing him to start French & Economics on a trial basis (they ask for 7 in both English & Maths for the latter).

I almost think he should be starting a 4th A-level alongside, in case he ends up not being able to continue with (at least) one of his original choices

Any MFL teachers out there - with a 6 at GCSE (and that after a late-flowering flurry of effort), what will his likely A-level grade be (ballpark)..? I'm aware there's a big jump up in content/difficulty.

@Piggywaspushed
Thank you again!
I am thinking of asking for a trial in economics for 6 weeks. Only because she has to do Maths anyway.
Not very hopeful school will accept but atleast we tried.

I guess you will always be at the mercy of a school's entry requirements. Schools do need bums on seats for funding so there is often at least some flex.

My honest answer @HBGKC is that I would certainly prefer a student to have gained a 7 at GCSE to take A level. The course starts with an expectation of knowledge of vocab and verbs which would normally see that grade at GCSE.

If a student I expected to gain a 7 had a mare of an exam for some reason which led to a lower grade (or similar circumstances) then that's a different matter - your DC's teacher will have that insight of course. In terms of likely grade it very much depends of course. A C would be a good result.

Does a late flurry of effort mean that he could have done a lot better if he had worked all the way through? Or do you mean he really is a 5 student but worked very hard to gain the 6? The former is a better situation in terms of A level obviously (as long as he is prepared to work now!).

It's a big jump for sure. Has he done a lot of French since the exam (which was 10 weeks ago after all)? Did school provide any bridging work over the summer? If not, I would at very least suggest some revision of things like irregular verbs and basic vocab in the next week or so.

Thanks @clary.

If he'd worked hard all the way through he could certainly have got (at least) a 7; he's one of these infuriating v. bright-but- v. lazy types, drives us and all his teachers mad.

He likes and respects his French teacher a lot, so I'm hoping that will also help him to commit to work hard from the get-go for A-level. He's actually been in France for the last 2 weeks, and has French family and a half-French parent who hasn't taught him any French so hopefully regular mini-immersions in the language will also help.

(Sorry for thread derail!)

Apologies I might have misunderstood.
DC had an 8 in maths at GCSE and "gets" maths although I think would have struggled with it at A level.
I think at their school a 6 at GCSE is a requirement for A level (and that includes a 6 in maths for economics).