AS Results

[iamdisappointedinyou]

I posted this in Teenagers to get the parents? POV. I?m posting here to get the teachers? POV ? I should imagine that you have seen this many times.

Help. DD is in Y12: she is reasonably bright but lazy and unmotivated. She has just got the result of her January AS modules. Her ALIS tests predicted A grades but she got Bs and Cs. We had a long list of Universities that she was thinking of applying to but she will only be eligible for 2 of them if she carries on at this rate.

What do I do?

What can you do? She's a sixth former, it's up to her to pull the finger out.

One thing to remember with AS grades is that the pass range is from A-E, compared to A-C for GCSE. That means that the pass band is stretched. B's and C's in A-level is equivalent to A's and B's in GCSE.

If she has genuinely underperformed, she can always resit the modules.

May be this will be a bit of a wake up call for her. You can't do much except point out that she won't be going where she wants to go if she doesn't put in the work?

Thanks for comments so far.
Where have all the other teachers gone?

I have a small AS class this year and 7 of them did worse than THEY expected ( and Alis predicted) they did what I expected because they haven't worked that hard this year. It is a really big jump between GCSE and AS and it takes a while to develop sophistication and maturity needed to approach A level essays.

If your DD is anything like my girls, they don't want to work at their A levels, they want to be spoonfed. What your daughter needs to develop is the motivation to get on with her revision herself. Is she disappointed? If so she needs to treat January like a practice and have another go in the Summer.

Lots of kids do this - they get good GCSE grades then oophs. I always liken the change to - GCSE's you push stuff in and at A level you have to pull it out. Even at AS they have to do work outside of the lesson and the homework that they scribble has to be of a reasonable level. 'Lazy and unmotivated' has to pull her finger out as she will be in competition with other kids for her university place ...... and she certainly does not want to be doing resits when she taking A2.

I agree with happykatie, A-levels are hard! There is a massive jump between them that they may well not be prepared for! Keep in mind that AS levels were introduced for a reason! They are there to create more of a stepping stone for students to hopefully make the transition a bit easier.
She may not have done brilliantly well in these exams but there is still plenty of time to recover from this.

ALIS is based on her GCSE profile and simply pedicts what students with her GCSE grades generally go on to get at A Level. i.e someone with 10A*s is likely to be predicted 4 As as A Level.

It does not really take into account motivation etc. Thus a really hardworking student may have peaked at GCSE and has no chance of doing the same at A Level. Equally a clever but lazy student may have done brilliantly at GCSE but will not do so at A Level. It's based on a graph of averages.

She can resit in the summer or next Jan. My advice is apply to places that need high grades and some that require lower grades, thus keeping her options open. She will not be applying until Oct/Nov so I'm not sure why you are worrying about it now.

I am worrying now because I wanted to arrange Open Day visits; there's no way I'm trekking all the way to Durham if she doesn't stand a chance of getting in.

Miraculously, she has started revising for the summer exams and resits!!

She can go on open days after she has applied and is starting to get offers. Loads of my 6th formers go on open days in Jan and Feb.

Also, she will have only done certain modules in Jan so she will not have her full AS grades until August. They always do better in the summer 'cos it feels more like proper exam season and therefore revise a lot more. I'm sure she will be fine - it's amazing how clever kids always manage to pull it out of the bag. They just like to worry their parents and teachers in the meantime!!

I would much rather research Uni's and then decide where to apply.
I don't understand the modern system where you apply and then find, too late, that you have wasted half your options because you have chosen unsuitable places or the course wasn't what you thought it was.

She can go to open dfays in year 12 before sheapplies to university. They encourage ther students at DD2's colege to do this.

DD2's colege advise them to research universities and go to open days in the spring term of year 12.