How important are A stars at A Level?

[Stopsnowing]

DD trying to decide between two sixth forms. Their A star to B results are pretty much of a muchness across all subjects but one school has much better A star results in the subjects she will study. I am pretty sure she could get As with hard work even if the teaching at one of the schools are not great but it is dawning on me how competitive uni entry is and I am now wondering if she should go to the place where she has the best chance of getting stars?

Really depends on the course she is considering for university. A*s matter for competitive degrees, others maybe not so much. What are her predicted GCSE grades?

A stars are important depending on course and uni. So economics at LSE, or maths at Oxford or Warwick or sports science at Loughborough - yes you will need A stars. OTOH if you are looking at a less competitive course or a course at a less popular uni (so biological science at Lboro or English at Warwick) then not so vital.

I do think that good teaching is really important tho so the place with more A stars in her subject looks like the badger to me.

A stars indicate not only a good understanding of the subject but also the examination board’s expectations
For my kids A stars were and are a must due to the universities they chose and their degree choices.
Solid work will get you an A. An A star requires a bit more and teachers who know the Board well will be the difference ( the kids might also have been tutored, sorry to say)

Tbf I would hope that all teachers of A levels would know the requirements of the board they teach. Surely that's a given? I am very well versed in the boards I teach and bc I tutor, that's multiple boards. An A level teacher in a school will only need to know about one board after all.

Predicted grades are mainly 9s with a couple of 8s. She doesn’t have any idea yet what she wants to do at uni. The teaching is very good at her current school but it is very small and I had thought a larger sixth form would broaden her horizons a bit and that with hard work she could get As but now I am thinking very focused teaching like she has at present might be the difference to get A stars. She is very strong in two of her A levels.

Does the larger sixth form get some A*s in her subjects? If so, then I wouldn't worry. The mix of grades will depend more on the candidates than the teachers.

No there is just one A star in all the subjects she wants to do. Other subjects at the school have a higher proportion of A stars.

She doesn't have better chance of getting A stars at the place with a slightly higher proportion of them. It wasnt her getting the A stars was it - it was a load of other kids. For all you know all the kids there should all have got A stars but didn't cos the teaching was crap. And the kids who went to the first place all came in with D grade GCSEs and managed to get As.

I hear you @titchy and I do agree in general that xxx result doesn't mean your DC will get those grades at that school...

But if there is strong evidence of higher grades in your subjects then that really does suggest better teaching. A school near me has really excellent teaching at A level for DD's big subject (eng lit) - DD got a B but I bet in that school she might have achieved an A. She had other reasons for not wanting to switch tho which I respect.

What subjects @Stopsnowing ?

What are the entry criteria/size of intake at each sixth? Comparing proportion of A stars is only relevant if you expect the intake to be broadly similar. Though, if the sixth form getting the poorer results is more selective, that would definitely be point to note.

Also, are you only looking at one year? If so, that will be massively skewed by individual cohort.

I'd say as long as some children are getting A stars, then the teaching is not likely to be a concern.

Surely intake factors in here, clary? DD has had (IMO) excellent teaching for English Lit A level, but it's only her and one other student that are expected to a have a chance at an A star. However, most of her class had 5s at GCSE, so were never really expected to be A star material. And, for a subject like English (STEM subjects different) independent study is very important.
(Her sixth form has high progress scores, which is something else that OP might to look at).

What subjects? IMO it's harder for a good student to get an A star in Humanities/essay type subjects than in STEM subjects. There's alway the risk you might have a bad essay in an essay subject, whereas STEM questions tend to have a more exact answer.

Yeh for sure @shepherdsangeldelight there are numerous factors and I agree that intake is one.

DD and a pal both got 9 for GCSE Eng lit and both got a B at A level - only one student in the cohort achieved an A - which does rather make me wonder, tho I agree that that is very anecdotal. The intake was strong overall so the A level grades were disappointing.

If a school is getting a healthy percentage of A and A star grades in whatever subject, the advantage of this is that these departments/teachers have a better idea of what higher grade work looks like and what you need to do to get one than a department where only the odd pupil gets grades like these. Yes, quite a bit of it will likely be intake, but I think a student aiming for high grades is much more likely to achieve them in a place where students are regularly supported to try for them, personally.